City Council Meetings 2016-2024

MINUTES REGULAR MEETING MOOSE LAKE CITY COUNCIL Wednesday, April 13, 2022, 4:00 pm; City Hall PRESENT: Mayor Ted Shaw, Councilor Walter Lower, Councilor Doug Juntunen, Councilor Greg Sarvela, Councilor Kris Huso OTHERS PRESENT: City Administrator Ellissa Owens, Chief of Police Darren Juntunen, Public Works Superintendent Phil Entner, Deputy Clerk Ryan McKeon, Library Director Laura Helwig, Deputy Register Karen Dahlen, Rob Bender, Mike Kosloski, Eric Senarighi, Bill Irving, Dean Weske 1. CALL TO ORDER A. Pledge of Allegiance B. Approval of Agenda  Motion made to approve Agenda by Councilor Sarvela, seconded by Councilor Huso. Vote: Yes – Sarvela, Juntunen, Huso, Lower. No – 0. 2. CONSENT AGENDA A. Minutes 1. Regular City Council Meeting – March 9, 2022  Motion made to approve the Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of March 9, 2022 by Councilor Juntunen, seconded by Councilor Lower. Vote: Yes – Sarvela, Juntunen, Huso, Lower. No – 0. B. Financial Reports 1. City Accounts Payable – March 2022 2. City Financial Statements – March 2022 3. Liquor Store - Profit & Loss Statement – March 2022  Motion made to approve the Financial Reports by Councilor Huso, seconded by Councilor Sarvela. Vote: Yes – Sarvela, Juntunen, Huso, Lower. No – 0. 3. PUBLIC COMMENT This time is reserved comments from the public on matters not listed on the agenda. Please keep comments to 3 minutes.  Rob Bender – Speed Study; apparently had been requested some years ago so now it is bumped to the front of the line and should be completed in the next week or so. Also, the new bike trail between fire hall and church is under water at this time, Rob wants to know who to address regarding this issue. Mayor Shaw stated he has noticed this as well and this will be looked into during the finishing process. Compost issue – Rob stated the fumes/smoke going through the town is unpleasant. He requests the City look into what is all going into that burnable pile. Rob also requested that this be limited to local city residents. Mayor Shaw stated they are looking into this issue. 4. DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS A. Motor Vehicle Department -Karen Dahlen a. A. Quarterly Report  Update on written exams; doing very well. Karen counted and since December we have done 118 exams.  Happy about the increase in business.  Duluth Examiners are coming down to Moose Lake on Thursdays; however, appointments are needed even for written exams.  First proctor audit took place; went very well. Auditor was very pleased.   Monthly meetings continue with the State; Time with Todd, about 1 ½ hours long at which time the office is closed. B. Police Chief – Darren Juntunen a. Department Report March 2022  181 total calls for service for the month of March.  Debris piling up in yards; residents will start to be notified to do clean up.  Tomorrow there is a Post Board Audit taking place. C. Public Works Superintendent – Phil Entner a. Department Report March 2022  Water Department: 5.36 million gallons of drinking water distributed in the month of March.  2022 MPARS Reporting System – reporting of amount of water pulled out of the ground in 2021. MDH likes to see this less than 10%. In 2020 this was 7%. In 202 this was at 50% of unaccounted water due to water tower painting project. This will decrease for next year.  Nick Peterson successfully passed his Class D water license test in March. Nick is a very good worker and a great addition.  Sewer Department: Collected 11.3 million gallons of wastewater for the month of March.  2022 Sewer Cleaning Program finished last week. Cleaned 21,156 feet of sewer main; 1/3 of the town.  Street Department; puddles everywhere, being taken care of as able.  Snow and ice is almost wrapped up.  Street Department is already over budget for 2022. Hopefully the second half of the year will be better. Road salt usage very close to budget.  Pot hole filling is being completed on a weekly basis at this time.  Right of way trees; there are a lot getting cut down and they all have a reason to come down.  Equipment; Cat-450 loader will have warranty work completed soon.  Campground cleanup will start next week as well as cemetery cleanup. D. Technology/Library Report – Laura Helwig a. Quarterly Report  Library has been doing well with the amount of patrons; numbers are slowly increasing.  Book Sale set for May 27-28.  Summer reading; this season the summer reading program is Read Beyond the Beaten Path. Begins May 31.  Magician will be coming up from Tennessee to perform. More fun programs in the works.  Recently met with AGE to Age to work on networking and getting more programs for all ages.  Looking at getting service animals into the library. E. Municipal Liquor Store Report - a. Quarterly Report  Elaine is working on gathering information for potential projects and will be sharing those ideas at the next Liquor Board meeting. F. City Engineer – Administrator Owens a. Monthly Update- Meeting Minutes  Update on 4th Street Reconstruction Project – bid will be posted in newspaper this week and on bidding system Thursday, April 14th. Bidding process open from April 14th-May 5th.  Applying for some grant opportunities for potential campground expansion; monies awarded in 2023, available in 2024. More information to follow. G. Chamber of Commerce Updates – Mayor Shaw a. Monthly Update  Meeting held today; went over some of the summer projects such as Agate Days, Triathlon, Golf. Much of the time was spend on their Strategic Planning; this was more of a closed meeting due to that. 5. PREVIOUSLY DISCUSSED BUSINESS A. City of Moose Lake Ordinance No. 166 Certificate of Inflow & Infiltration (I&I) Compliance  Fourth reading. More advertising was done per request by the Council. No comments were received.  Motion made to approve Ordinance #166, seconded by Mayor Shaw. Discussion was held. It is not designed to cause a hardship; timelines are set to come into compliance. Vote: Yes – Sarvela, Juntunen, Huso, Lower. No – 0. B. Local Board of Appeals and Equalization Meeting – April 14, 2022, 10:00 a.m. C. Safety Committee Update – Phil Entner  An Audit was completed. Plan is to figure out what we need and not waste monies on what we don’t need. More information will be presented as able. 6. NEW BUSINESS A. Carlton County Riders ATV Club  Eric Senarighi addressed the Council. Carlton County Riders started in March of 2017. Eric has helped mentor smaller communities with ordinances and routes/trails through town. Moose Lake Area ATV Management was formed; met to talk about issues or problem areas. Some issues have been addressed and resolved in a positive manner. Eric thanks the City for working through these together. Eric stated there is a lack of trailhead parking in this region. Ride Command App has some parking spaces that were added due to this. Eric also provided some suggestions throughout the City for possible parking. Eric will share this list with Administrator Owens.  Dean Weske addressed the Council. He states the cooperation has made drastic improvements in the ATV usage. Some concerns he still has is the lack of respect, lack of responsibility of some of the riders which makes it difficult for those that are following the rules. Local residents need to be taken into consideration regarding entrances to trails. Dean stated he is pleased with the re-route that was developed along the Soo Pits/Trail which is near his place of residence. B. Moose Lake Public Library – 2021 Minimum Local Support Requirement  Administrator Owens was informed that the Library fell below the minimal local support requirement in 2021; falling short of almost $7000. Moving forward in 2022 we need to make sure we meet the requirement, but also make up the monies we were short in the year previous. The Library Board has been made aware of this.  Laura Helwig stated the Library Board reached a consensus of what the monies could be used for; updating technology, more programs, possible Saturday hours. Laura spoke to ALS Director who stated this is a normal situation.  Motion made to approve the additional allotment of $7000 be placed into the Library Budget by Councilor Huso, seconded by Councilor Sarvela. Vote: Yes – Sarvela, Juntunen, Huso, Lower. No – 0. C. Columbarium  Mike Kosloski addressed the Council. There has been interest in the purchase of columbarium in the Moose Lake area. Cremation is, by far, the choice of final disposition by a growing margin in the past decade. Administrator Owens stated this was budgeted in 2022.  Motion made to approve the 48 niche columbarium for the amount of up to $40,000 by Councilor Huso, seconded by Councilor Lower. Vote: Yes – Sarvela, Juntunen, Huso, Lower. No – 0. D. Part-Time Seasonal Laborer – Phil Enter  Todd Hoadley is recommended for this position by Phil Enter with the retirement of Leon.  Motion made to approve Todd Hoadley for the seasonal laborer for the Public Works Department by Councilor Huso, seconded by Councilor Lower. Vote: Yes – Sarvela, Juntunen, Huso, Lower. No – 0. E. Wastewater Testing Proposal - Short Elliot Hendrickson Inc.   Phil Entner addressed the Council. New wastewater permit presented which requires a few steps. Phosphorus testing is involved. Phil recommends we do not do this right now as our permit is good for five years, but instead bring this back up to the Council in August.  Consensus given to hold off per Phil’s recommendation. F. 2022 Water Department Repairs – Phil Entner  Two quotes submitted; DSG Dakota Supply Group and Ferguson Waterworks.  Motion made to go with DSG Dakota Supply Group for the quote of $9037.82 by Councilor Juntunen, seconded by Councilor Huso. Vote: Yes – Sarvela, Juntunen, Huso, Lower. No – 0. G. July 4, 2022 Fireworks – Administrator Owens  Two quotes were presented. Councilor Huso brought up the issue that last year’s display was not ideal as people who sat in the park could not see the fireworks display. Discussion held of attempting to find a different location to set off the fireworks. Finding a 100-yard radius is an issue.  Motion made to go with J&M Displays for the amount of $12,000 for a 12-15 minute show by Councilor Huso, seconded by Councilor Juntunen. Vote: Yes – Sarvela, Juntunen, Huso, Lower. No – 0. H. Proposed Flood Hazard Determinations - Federal Emergency Management Agency FEMA  Informational only. Consensus given to not contest this. I. MSOP/DOC Preferred Project Designation – Administrator Owens  City working with Engineers talking about solutions to some of our sewer infrastructure issues. The preferred project is a lining project for total project cost estimation is $633,500. Informational only. J. Riverside Arena – Administrator Owens  The City has been meeting with the MLAHA and School District taking a look at the leases, what items are in the arena. A second joint meeting is scheduled for April 20 at 5:30 p.m. at the Moose Lake School. Looking to do some massive cleanup projects within the arena. K. City of Moose Lake Ordinance No. 150  This Ordinance has not been consistently followed.  A new Ordinance or amendment to Ordinance No. 150 will be presented to the Council next month, consensus given. L. Joint Meeting – MLWSSD – April 26, 2022, 6:00 p.m. 7. REPORTS AND CORRESPONDENCE A. 2021 Tree City USA – Arbor Day Foundation 8. COMMITTEE AND BOARD MEETING MINUTES A. Moose Lake Parks and Recreation – March 7, 2022 B. Moose Lake Parks and Recreation – April 4, 2022 9. ANNOUNCEMENTS Regular Moose Lake City Council Meeting, Wednesday, May 11, 2022 - 4:00 p.m. Moose Lake City Council/Town Board Chambers. Moose Lake Economic Development Authority, Wednesday, April 20, 2022 – 12:00 p.m. City Conference Room Moose Lake Water and Light Commission, Regular Meeting– Tuesday, April 19, 2022 – 1:00 P.M. Water and Light Office.  Moose Lake Housing and Redevelopment Authority Board – Monday, May 9, 2022 – 11:00 A.M. Hillside Manor Office. Moose Lake Area Fire District – Tuesday, May 10, 2022 - 6:30 p.m. – Emergency Response Center. Moose Lake Park Board Meeting – Monday, May 2, 2022 - 6:30 p.m. City Council/Town Board Chamber. 10. ADJOURNMENT  Motion made to adjourn by Councilor Juntunen, seconded by Councilor Huso. Vote: Yes – Sarvela, Juntunen, Huso, Lower. No – 0. Recorded by: Paula Arnold