Willow River City Council Meeting

May 1, 2017

Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, the Willow River City Council held its regular meeting on Monday, May 1, 2017 at the Willow River City Hall.

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm by Brent Switzer

Meeting began with the Pledge of Allegiance.

Council Present: Brent Switzer, Chris Ketchmark, Sheldon Johnson, and Vickie Whitehouse

Staff Present: Todd Anderson, Kathi Bennett, and Diane Nelson

Others Present: John Mikrot, Dave Kliniski, Rosie Mielke, Natasha Watercott, Tom Jensen, Art Underhill and Mark Lundgren from MSA.

Approval of the Agenda: Vickie made the motion to approve the Agenda and Consent Agenda. Chris second. Motion carried with all in favor.

Mark Lundgren – MSA, Mark sent around a sheet to log the attendance for the public meeting. The MPCA required that we do a public meeting in order to approve the facility plan. Mark also passed out a fact sheet so residents had information regarding what was being discussed. He then gave a recap for everyone an overview of the damages from the flood to the sewer ponds. Our plan is to build a new primary pond and raising up the bottom of that pond about 6 -8 feet to prepare a good barrier between the ground water and the pond. The city and MSA have looked over 5 different plans and decided that this one was the best option. This was the most cost effective plan that was approved by the MPCA. This plan will cost just shy of 2 million dollars and 75% will be funded by Homeland Security and the remaining 25% we are hoping will come from a special bonding session from the state or other special funding that the council and MSA are looking into. The potential timeline is ideally to start tonight and have the contract with MSA approved and then get the specs to MPCA by June 30th so that they have 2 months to go over it and approve it. That way we could bring an approved set of plans with funding by September 30th and start bidding for the work in October. Vicki suggested that people get in touch with Jason Rarick to push for additional funding. Brent and Vicki had met with Tony Lourey the previous week and he is aware of the city’s situation. Tom Jensen suggested that we send a letter to the residents to encourage them to contact the state representatives to push for the bonding session. Diane and Kathi will draft up a letter to send out in the water/sewer bills. Vickie made a motion to approve the contract with MSA pending city attorney approval. Sheldon second. Motion carried with all in favor.

Tom Jensen – Tom addressed the council regarding the sewer line/manhole to the property he purchased from Dale/Terry Wright. He is proposing to put a new manhole in to fix the existing problems with the sewer line. Tom is asking that the council let him fix the manhole and split the costs. It would be $4500 for the city’s portion. Robert’s Excavating would do the repairs. The city would have an easement so that they would own the line. Tom would take care of everything and bill the city. To repair the blacktop would be the city’s responsibility as well. There was some discussion about putting a cleanout down the line. Sheldon makes a motion to accept Tom’s proposal about fixing the sewer line/man hole at the Wright’s old property. Chris second. Motion passed with all in favor. Tom will work with Todd and John.

Dave Kliniski, Willow River Fire Department – Fire runs to date: 50. Tanker #5 is back from the FCI and ready to go. In house air project – we got the hoses run in the west side of the building and need to get the fittings. We got a Central MN EMS grant for $500 and will be getting headlamps. They applied for the $5000 DNR matching grant. They are looking to purchase new radios and pagers with that. Van Thompson has finished the practical portion of firefighter 1 and has taken the written test. Gerard and Dave will be meeting with insurance service office to update records. MN League of Cities recommended that they not do junior EMR program. The Fire Department will be reviewing the DNR equipment list.

Beckie Morse, Water and Sewer- Water level at the tower is up to full height for summer and hydrants have been flushed.

Todd Anderson, Public Works – All of the sand is at the shed. Todd spoke to Todd at the county about painting the curbs on Hwy. 61 and he said that he would furnish the paint if Todd wanted to do it. Todd also talked with him regarding the highway through town being swept and he said that the county doesn’t do any of that. He cleaned off the sidewalks. He hung shelving at the pavilion and he plans on opening it sometime this next week. Todd changed the oil in the one ton and fixed the post by the dam. Todd trimmed the shrubs at the east side of the cemetery. He got estimates on blacktopping where we replaced the culvert. Premier came in as the lowest bid. Vickie said that we need to wait until we can add the new manhole fix to it. Sheldon said to hold on to it. Vickie made a motion to wait until we can get all of the estimates for both projects. Sheldon agreed. Todd suggested that we let one of them know who has it so that we can get on their summer schedule. Todd will get a hold of Ronnie Robert’s to get a timeframe from him as to when he will be doing the work. Todd showed the council some of the brackets that hold the flags and how they get bent. The brackets are not the ones that the FCI made. He is going to try bungee cords to see if that helps. Todd suggested that we get five each year to start replacing them. To replace the whole set would be $48-$58. Todd has 10 usable flags and 10-15 usable brackets. Vickie asked how many we need total. We put up fewer each year because it is so hard to maintain them. Sheldon suggested sending the American Legion a letter to see if we could get donations for new flags. Diane will send a letter. Todd checked into crack seal prices. The cheapest is $54/5 gallon bucket with applicator costing $240. He said that we needed 25 gallons. Sheldon thought it should be done. Chris made a motion to approve buying the equipment for Todd to do the crack sealing. Vickie second. Motion approved with all in favor.

Diane Nelson, City Clerk and Treasurer – Checkbook is in balanced. Financial stuff was put in the Council’s packet. I adjusted the time clock and ordered new timecards. I have not gotten verification that the certified letter to the resident on Willow Street was received yet. I spoke to Rick Frentress regarding the website and he said June would be good for him since school will be out. I also talked to Sheldon about building permit fees. I can’t find the zoning map. Did not know it was in a tube. I will look more. We are registered for National Night out. Eide Bailly has our state reporting which is due in June done. I called Image Design and asked for our logo and he sent it to us and I have incorporated that into our letterhead. The state will not be sending Northern Pine Riders their 4th benchmark payment. I asked if I could be gone for the next council meeting.

Kathi Bennett, Water and Sewer – Kathi sent out 14 friendly reminders, 4 shut off notices, 3 door hangers and no shut offs. Wellhead Protection has been mailed and is good for another 10 years. I worked on the new rate schedule reflecting the changes for the county sales tax.

Zoning, Sheldon Johnson – Sheldon has had some calls but no permits yet.

Old Business

1.  Eide Bailly – We need to make a motion to accept the audit for 2016. Vickie made a motion to approve the audit. Chris second. Motion carried with all in favor.

New Business:

1.  City insurance on the sewer ponds. Diane stated that when the League of MN Cities was out after our flood, she mentioned that our insurance on the sewer ponds was low. She suggested that we look into that. I met with Nancy, our insurance provider, and she checked into it further and determined that we can set the value of it. Only the rip rap, liner and above ground things can be covered. Nothing underwater. Vickie suggested that we wait until we have the ponds fixed so that we better know the value of it. Nancy did mention that we could change it at a later date. Sheldon asked what our insurance costs now? Diane thought it is around $10,000 for all of the city insurance. Sheldon asked that I get a total amount when I get the book for 2017.

2.  Tax forfeited property that the county wants to sell to the city. Greg Beck from Pine County has proposed selling it to us for $1 and the county would do all of the legal stuff associated with transferring it to the city. Sheldon made a motion to buy the land. Chris second. Motion carried with all in favor.

3.  Rick Frentress wanted to know if he could use City Hall for a car wash to raise money for the Drama Club. Vickie made a motion for any school/youth program that is looking to raise money can use the City Hall to hold a car wash. Chris second. Motion passed with all in favor.

4.  The softball fields – Bruce Bohaty contacted Vickie and wanted to talk regarding the ballfield lease. He wanted to know if the city would be interested in leasing the fields along with the school. He said that we would be responsible for the upkeep, insurance, taxes and Sandy would mow. The other option would be that Wildstar (Bruce’s Corporation) has the lease with the school. It was determined that there is no benefit to the City to do an agreement. Chris makes a motion to decline the offer. Sheldon second. Motion carried with all in favor.

Chris made a motion to adjourn. Sheldon second. Motion carried with all in favor. Meeting adjourned at 8:10.

Respectfully Submitted

Diane Nelson