City Council

March 23, 2011 CITY COUNCIL AGENDA Tuesday, March 29, 2011 4:30 p.m. Council Chambers, 315 N. Broadway 1. Call to Order 2. Additions / Deletions to Agenda 3. Approval of Minutes – 3/14/11 4. Approval of Accounts Payable Listing 5. Liquor Store Report • ATM Provider Proposals • LS Project Pay Request 6. Safe Routes to School 7. Pelican Place Estates – Improvement Project No. 77 – SE 5th Street 8. Culvert Bridge – OTC No. L5805 9. USDA Rural Development Fire Truck Grant – Reset Hearing to 4/11/11 - 6:00 p.m. 10. Small Cities Development Program Disclosure 11. Board of Review - 4/5/11 - 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. CITY OF PELICAN RAPIDS COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES – 03-29-11 The City Council of Pelican Rapids met in regular session at 4:30 p.m., on Tuesday, 03-29-11, in Council Chambers, City Hall. Mayor Ben Woessner, Council Members James Strand, Kevin Ballard, Steve Foster and John E. Waller, III were present. No members were absent. Administrator Don Solga, Clerk-Treasurer Glenys Ehlert, City Engineer Bob Schlieman, Pelican Rapids School Superintendent Deb Wanek, Liquor Store Manager Bob Leslie, Boy Scout Leader Kevin Bakken, Boy Scouts Tyler Bakken and Jay Fresonke and Lou Hoglund of the Pelican Rapids Press were also present. Mayor Woessner called meeting to order at 4:30 p.m. All present stood, addressed the flag and said the Pledge of Allegiance. Consider City Hall Building Purchase was added to the agenda. Motion by Strand, seconded by Foster to approve the agenda with the additional item. Motion passed unanimously. Council reviewed minutes of 03-14-11. Motion by Waller, seconded by Strand to accept the minutes of 03-14-11 as presented. Motion passed unanimously. Council considered the Accounts Payable Listing of 03-29-11. Motion by Ballard, seconded by Strand to approve payment of the Accounts Payable list as presented in the amount of $21,796.70. Motion passed unanimously. Liquor Store Manager Bob Leslie presented a comparison report for the Liquor Store from 2010 to 2011. Administrator Don Solga reported on the Liquor Store Automated Teller Machine (ATM) proposals from Minnesota National Bank, Card Care Systems and Adam C. Carr. Minnesota National Bank was the only local bank who submitted a proposal for the ATM. Motion by Strand, seconded by Foster to approve a service agreement for an ATM with Card Care Systems. Motion passed unanimously. Liquor Store Project Pay Request was deleted from the agenda. City Engineer Bob Schlieman of Ulteig Engineers reviewed the Safe Routes to School Study background, study area limits and scope and existing conditions. He commented that traffic studies show that 8,000 cars travel on Hwy. 59 daily. Schlieman continued with discussion on the map of Safe Routes to School. Community Impact Considerations include a number of positives. Some of the reasons the sidewalks may be opposed in a residential setting include impacts on trees, sprinklers, landscaping, maintenance responsibilities, perceived lack of need and cost. Engineer Schlieman recommended that Council Members review the study and consider the Safe Routes to School Final Report at a future Council meeting. School Superintendent Deb Wanek commented that the 8,000 cars traveling on Hwy. 59 are a very real concern to her. She sees lots of near misses from her office. Superintendent Wanek thanked the City Council for prohibiting parking on the west side of Hwy. 59 along the High School building. City Engineer Schlieman reported that they will be patiently waiting for drying weather to complete the SE 5th Street and Maplewood Drive road construction by July 15th deadline. Schlieman and Administrator Solga discussed that gravel or rock that would be put down there as a temporary measure is a waste. Wood chips or shredded wood would make a dryer surface. Administrator Don Solga reviewed the Culvert Bridge west of Hwy. 59. Otter Tail County identifies this bridge as OTC No. L5805. Previously the County offered to replace the bridge as though it was in a township at a cost of $20,000 to the City. State financial issues have changed that estimate. Now it will be replaced, if Council desires, using state bonding for bridge and could occur in 2012 or 2014. The bridge needs to be removed or replaced. City costs for engineering, site work and approaches are estimated at $100,000 plus additional $70,000 asphalt for deteriorating parking lots behind those businesses. Mayor Woessner said that it’s important to replace the bridge to allow access to the businesses for customers from parking lots plus deliveries from trucks. Council Member Waller agreed. Motion by Waller, seconded by Strand that Administrator Solga proceed with working on replacing the bridge in 2014, if that date is agreeable to Otter Tail County. Motion passed unanimously. Motion by Waller, seconded by Ballard to reschedule the public hearing for purchase of a fire truck using a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development Grant. The hearing will be 04-11-11 at 6:00 p.m., Council Chambers, City Hall. Motion passed unanimously. Pelican Rapids Firemen Alan Martinson and Jason Fahje have disclosed that they are employed by the City of Pelican Rapids. They have disclosed that they have applied for grants through the Small Cities Development Program and that they will comply with all other requirements of the policy and procedures concerning the selection of applicants for fund monies. Motion by Strand, seconded by Ballard to recognize these disclosures as part of the official meeting minutes. Motion passed unanimously. City of Pelican Rapids Board of Review will be Tuesday, 04-05-11. Mayor Woessner and Administrator Solga discussed the offer from State Bank to sell the City Hall building to the City of Pelican Rapids. The purchase price previously was $300,000 to the City. The costs of addressing the building needs are considerable and the City was not interested in the property at that cost. City has considered constructing a combined city hall and police station on City property across Hwy. 59 from current City Hall at an estimated cost of $500,000. To add a community center would increase the costs greatly. The Facilities Committee considered a new offer from State Bank to sell the City the City Hall building plus the land surrounding the building at $150,000 and State Bank will donate the additional $150,000 value. The building does need a new roof, new windows, new HVAC system and insulation. Administrator Solga reported that looking at City Hall needs in the building downstairs, there are a couple of things to change in terms of a conference room. He continued, “Going forward with this building, there are some grants and low interest loans that are available for public facilities that are not available to private companies.” The Facilities Committee considered that a community center could be located on the upper level of the building. Administrator Solga commented, “We wouldn’t necessarily have to take on that community center from day one.” Solga explained that State Bank received a low bid of $250,000, to separate the HVAC for the upstairs and downstairs. The City’s use would be a little different. Present costs are about $3,000 a month for the lease which includes utilities. The City’s payment on a purchase would drop to $1300, but the City would need to pay utilities which presently run about $2,000 per month. As part of the City’s process to purchase property, the Planning Commission considered the purchase in reference to the Comprehensive Plan. The Comprehensive Plan makes reference to the need for a community center and the Planning Commission found that the purchase of the building would be in agreement with the Comprehensive Plan. Facility Committee and Council Member Steve Foster said purchasing this building would only increase the City’s costs from the lease by $5,000 per year. To build a city hall, police station and community center would require in excess of $600,000. Council Member Ballard pointed out that the City would lose approximately $6,000 in taxes from the building when it becomes public property. Council Member James Strand questioned whether the community center involving only a large meeting room would meet the vision of the community as identified at vision meetings. Mayor Woessner said every meeting he attends involves a discussion of the need for a community event center. This way would provide a way to deliver the event center at a reasonable cost to the community. Council Member Foster said, “This building is an opportunity to meet the needs for a city hall and police station and the opportunity to use the rooms as they are for meeting rooms. In the future and with the changes that are going to happen, this is an opportunity.” Council Member Strand said he would like to have a little better idea of the costs involved in purchasing the building. Motion by Waller, seconded by Strand to authorize Administrator Don Solga to proceed with gathering information on the costs to renovate the building. During discussion, Council Member Ballard said his personal misgivings for this are the economy is in the tank and we’re looking at cuts. He continued, “Now we’re looking at removing another city property from the tax role and going forward with a project that we really don’t have any idea of what costs will be. I’m leery of jumping into a project like this without an idea.” Administrator Solga said the City can control how the costs are added. Mayor Woessner said he thinks that if a whole bunch of people got together as they did in 1976 to build a pool this could be done. “Let’s offer the community a chance to help build a community center,” he concluded. Motion passed unanimously. Motion by Strand, seconded by Foster to adjourn the meeting at 6:12 p.m. Motion passed unanimously. Glenys Ehlert, CMC Clerk-Treasurer