City Council Meetings

Watertown City Council T Regular Meeting Mayor Michael Walters Deborah Everson F Jim Kasheimer Fred McGuire Kay Thul A 2/25/2025 - Minutes 1. Call To Order And Roll Call R Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, the regular meeting of the Watertown City Council was called to order in the Council Chambers of City Hall at 6:34 p.m. on Tuesday, February 25, 2025, by Mayor Mike Walters. D Councilmembers present: Mike Walters, Kay Thul, Jim Kasheimer and Deborah Everson Councilmember(s) absent: Fred McGuire City staff present: City Administrator Dan Tolsma, Administrative Services Director Michael Sommerfeld, City Engineer Phillip Schrupp and Fire Chief Tom Hanson 2. Adopt Agenda COUNCILMEMBER DEBORAH EVERSON MOVED TO ADOPT THE AGENDA AS PRESENTED. COUNCILMEMBER JIM KASHEIMER SECONDED. MOTION CARRIED 4-0 3. Consent Agenda Discussion And Approval COUNCILMEMBER KASHEIMER MOTED TO APPROVE THE CONSENT AGENDA AS PRESENTED. COUNCILMEMBER KAY THUL SECONDED. MOTION CARRIED 4-0 3.A. 3A. 02.11.25 Regular Meeting Minutes 3.B. 3B. 02.11.25 Work Session Minutes 3.C. 3C. Hockey Rink Lighting Pay App No. 1 3.D. 3D. CGPI Application For 696 Industrial Blvd - Resolution Of Support2025-10  3.B. 3B. 02.11.25 Work Session Minutes 3.C. 3C. Hockey Rink Lighting Pay App No. 1 3.D. 3D. CGPI Application For 696 Industrial Blvd - Resolution Of Support2025-10 4. Open Forum 5. New/Old Business Watertown Fire Chief Tom Hanson presented his annual report to the Mayor and Councilmembers. Chief Hanson gave a breakdown of calls. We are currently at 97 total calls for service. 14 of those are fire T related, 80 are medical, 3 rescue calls. 83 of those calls were in the City of Watertown, 4 to Watertown Township, 3 to Hollywood Township, 1 to Woodland Township and 3 mutual aid calls to surrounding communities. Chief Hanson also reported that they received their new radios and are waiting on programming and F installation. As a reminder, Chief Hanson said these came from the requisition we made at the end of last year and was offset by approximately 50% with some State dollars in a grant that we received. Chief Hanson also informed council the fire department is down approximately nine bodies from their authorized membership pool. He has three applications and looking to do an interview hiring process in the A month of March. 5.A. 5A. Water Tower Fence Change Order No. 1 City Engineer Phillip Schrupp presented on a water tower fence change order. The request to install a city standard ornamental fence on top of the retaining wall for the water tower project. On September 3, R 2024, city council awarded the 750,000-gallon water tower project to R.L. Larson. As part of the project, a land swap was needed with the adjacent property owner, Hecksel Machine. As part of the project, a retaining wall was to be built and the existing fence that Hecksel Machine had there was a sheet metal fence, and it was going to be salvaged and reinstalled as part of the project. Hecksel Machine has made a request to install the city standard fence. They are looking to get reimbursed for D the time and material at $90 a lineal foot. However, for outdoor storage in a light industrial area, it is city code to have this screened. So, providing a city standard fence is something that wouldn't necessarily provide the full screening of outdoor storage. Additionally, city code on a retaining wall that we needed to build for this project cannot have a drop off of a retaining wall more than four feet. So, we would have to install some sort of fence to deter people from falling off. The style of fence on top of a retaining wall probably deters people a little bit more than the sheet metal fence that was there. If approved, we would have a change order with the contract for R.L. Larson to get rid of the salvage and then install. We would work with Hecksel to get the new fence installed on top of the retaining wall. Hecksel Machine says they would like to see $90 per lineal foot to cover their labor and materials. It was planned to be reinstalled, so if we do not reinstall it, we will save about $3,500 which then can be retained to pay for some of the offset of cost on the city standard fence. Currently, the project is both trending from a construction standpoint and an engineering standpoint to be under budget. So, there are two things here; discussion on allowing this style of fence and a variance to allow for the non-fully screened, and then two, is just to write a change order. COUNCILMEMBER WALTERS MOVED TO INCLUDE THE VARIANCE TO FOREGO THE SCREENING AND MOVE TO APPROVE RESOLUTION 2025-11 TO AUTHORIZE THE CHANGE ORDER TO REMOVE THE SALVAGING AND REINSTALLATION OF HECKSEL FENCE FROM WATER TOWER CONTRACT AND ENTER INTO AN AGREEMENT WITH HECKSEL MACHINE TO INSTALL THE CITY STANDARD FENCE AT $90 PER LINAL FOOT. COUNCILMEMBER EVERSON SECONDED. MOTION CARRIED 4-0 5.B. 5B. Ordinance 445 - Amending Council Appointment Process City Administrator Dan Tolsma presented a recap on Ordinance 445. Tolsma noted that this ordinance  COUNCILMEMBER EVERSON SECONDED. MOTION CARRIED 4-0 5.B. 5B. Ordinance 445 - Amending Council Appointment Process City Administrator Dan Tolsma presented a recap on Ordinance 445. Tolsma noted that this ordinance would provide for a standard appointment process for anybody to be on our commissions and boards as well as a standardized process for how we notify people of these vacancies. As far as appointments, it states that any applicant would first need to be interviewed by their respective board or commission they have applied to, and recommendation would come to the council for final approval. The notification process we would post in our monthly newsletter and also on our city's website for no less than 21 days prior to taking any action. T Councilmember Thul asked what the actual vacancies were right now. Dan Tolsma reported that there is one on planning commission, one on EDA, two on commission on aging and two or three on our parks commission. COUNCILMEMBER WALTERS MOVED TO APPROVE ORDINANCE 445 AMENDING THE CITY F CODE RELATED TO THE CONCIL APPOINTMENT PROCESS. COUNCILMEMBER KASHEIMER SECONDED. MOTION CARRIED 4-0 5.C. 5C. Ordinance 446 - Amending Commission On Aging Membership Qualifications A Mayor Walters said it would allow someone below the age of 45. Dan Tolsma said the majority of the Commission on Aging will still have to meet that age requirement. COUNCILMEMBER WALTERS MOVED TO APPROVE ORDINANCE 446 AMENDING THE CITY R CODE RELATED TO THE MEMBERSHIP QUALIFICATIONS FOR THE COMMISSION ON AGING. COUNCILMEMBER KASHEIMER SECONDED. MOTION CARRIED 4-0 5.D. 5D. Commission On Aging Appointments D Councilmember Everson wanted to share to the public that these people were interviewed. City Administrator Tolsma agreed that all were interviewed by the sitting members on the Commission on Aging and all recommended for appointment to the city council. They followed the process that we implemented for all of our appointments going forward for any vacancy. COUNCILMEMBER WALTERS MOVED TO APPOINT RICHARD DAILING, CORINNE IBELING AND KATELYN ROLLAND TO THE COMMISSION ON AGING FOR TERMS OF THREE YEARS. COUNCILMEMBER THUL SECONDED. MOTION CARRIED 4-0 6. Other Reports City Engineer Phillip Schrupp reported that work will be starting back up on the water tower since the cold weather. The mill and overlay project will move forward with final plans. An update on the lead service information came through. The Department of Health sent another grant opportunity for us to have our city staff or contract Bolton & Menk to go look at all the houses that we could not identify as lead or copper to then help identify those for the next process to hopefully in the future eliminate those. City Administrator Tolsma reported that talking with our deputies, with the brief warmup they did notice there was a quick spike in car prowlers. A reminder to lock your car doors and be careful as weather warms up. Councilmember Everson reported that Lee Hall from Next Stage was at the chamber lunch. He is contracted with CDA and works with small business owners for free. If small business owners need any help, whether its planning or growing their business. Councilmember Everson also reported that she attended the League of Minnesota Cities Conference. We  warms up. Councilmember Everson reported that Lee Hall from Next Stage was at the chamber lunch. He is contracted with CDA and works with small business owners for free. If small business owners need any help, whether its planning or growing their business. Councilmember Everson also reported that she attended the League of Minnesota Cities Conference. We learned many good things to bring back to be better stewards and advocates for our residents, and I was pleased with the education that they provided. Mayor Walters reported that he and City Administrator Tolsma were down testifying in front of the Senate and House to seek more grants a couple weeks ago. We are currently waiting to hear back, and we feel really good about it. T A second item at the end of last year, the Carver County Sheriff had changed our policing contract. It was discussed at that time that we should add a public Safety Commission, which we did. Now that we are sharing a cop with both Mayer and New Germany, that was a concern of the council. If we have an incident in town and the nearest cop is in the other side of New Germany, it could be a huge issue. So, this F commission was formed. The commission is going to meet the third Tuesday of every month at this time. 7. Claims COUNCILMEMBER EVERSON MOVED TO APPROVE THE CLAIMS ROSTER AS PRESENTED. A COUNCILMEMBER THUL SECONDED. MOTION CARRIED 4-0 7.A. 7A. Claims 8. Adjournment R COUNCILMEMBER WALTERS MOVED TO ADJOURN AT 7:38 P.M. COUNCILMEMBER KASHEIMER SECONDED. MOTION CARRIED 4-0 D 309 Lewis Avenue South; P.O. Box 279, Watertown, MN 55388 _________________________________________________ Michael Walters, Mayor ATTEST: ________________________________________________ Dan Tolsma, City Administrator