City of Dennison August 5 Council Meeting

City of Dennison Regular Council Meeting August 5th, 2021

The August Dennison City Council meeting was called to order by Mayor Jeff Flaten on Thursday, August 5th, 2021 at 7:00 pm.

Present were Councilors Ann Anders, Nichole Schloesser and Diane Ruddle, and Clerk Jessica Page. Heidi Cooke was unable to attend.

Approval of Minutes: Councilor Ruddle move to accept the minutes for the July regular meeting and the July 15th special meeting. Councilor Schloesser second. Motion passed 4:0. Councilor Schloesser moved to approve the treasurer’s report, Councilor Anders second. Motion passed 4:0.

Building Permits: Dave Pendelton is requesting a building permit application to build a house up on Prairie Ave. Councilor Anders move to approve the building permit. Councilor Ruddle second. Motion passed 4:0.

Administrative Issues:

1. Parcel Split for Strese/Rowan: Councilor Anders move to approve the Mike Strese split of the parcel identified in D21148 from his large parcel and that Mike Rowan can join his two parcels upon purchase of the other parcel. Councilor Ruddle second. 4:0
2. Joe Johnson, Nerstrand Fire Dept was unable to attend.
3. Goodhue County Sheriff Marty Kelly reviewed the power point from the Sheriff’s office. They are proposing increases in the policing contract over the next couple of years. The Department would like to get back the average salary costs of the deputies for the time that the contract has them in the City of Dennison. The proposed increases would do so. 4.Todd Greseth, Goodhue County Commissioner was present to update the Council on the lawsuit for the garbage ruling. The Judge did side with Goodhue County in that they can require the county’s garbage to go to Red Wing to be incinerated. The two parties who filed the lawsuit plan to appeal the ruling. There is not a force date that the city has to go with as of yet.
4. 5. Josh from Star Exteriors regarding roofing project. Report from ServPro. Ty from ServPro was at City Hall today. He said the moisture readings were very low, so it would indicate that everything is dried out at this time. If it leaks again, we could call right away and he could come again and get readings. Otherwise his recommendation is to professionally clean the carpet to get rid of the odor left behind after the water came in the office area. Josh met with adjuster. The adjuster, Tim Keefe, said they will pay for a new roof. Star Exteriors would like the City to sign a contract so they can provide an estimate to LMCIT. Councilor Schloesser move to sign the contract with Star Exteriors so that they can provide an estimate. Councilor Ruddle second. Motion passed 4:0
5. 6. Force Main Update: Dan and Jeff have been working on an alternate plan for completing the force main. Carley explained that it is not an option to do this. Council needs to vote on the current proposal/change order. Councilor Anders move to approve the change order of $94,500 for the liner repair. Councilor Ruddle second. Motion passed 4:0
6. 7. Phosphorus project: Should the project be bid out again? Burkhardt recommended that it be bid out again. There appear to be interested parties if the bid was put out again as Carley noted that at least one party was unable to get a subcontractor estimate, and in turn, unable to submit a bid. If we get the ad in the paper asap, the bids will be ready to vote on at the September 2 meeting. Councilor Ruddle move to rebid. Councilor Anders second. Motion passed 4:0. September 2nd will be the bid opening.
7. 8. Snowplowing, need to get bids out. Councilor Schloesser move to put bids out, take out April, and the deadline to submit bids ends on the 15th of September. Councilor Anders second. Motion passed 4:0.
8. 9. Dennison Days—request to have the street blocked off for Friday night also. Councilor Anders move to allow the streets to be blocked from the PO to the corner by the Pump House after 5 pm on Friday of Dennison Days. Councilor Schloesser second. Motion passed 4:0.
9. 10. Need to set up team/teams to inspect the sump pumps so that can get done in time for the date set by the PCA. City needs to set a fine for non-compliance. Councilor Scholesser volunteered to do. She had assisted with the inspections with Paul previously. Nate will do the inspection with her. Can start right away. Previously the fine was $100. No changes made.
10. 11. Budget prep work. Will need to submit a preliminary levy amount to be approved at the September meeting. Council will meet September 16th for budget meeting, any other bills, snowplowing.
11. 12. Heidi’s email: Need to inform all the Council when things are happening. Everyone on the Council needs to know what the Mayor is doing while representing the City. Council members got calls from people about the weed spraying. Councilor Anders told one caller that the City hired someone to spray the weeds. They asked why the mayor was spraying weeds. No PPE, what are they spraying with, etc. It wasn’t an issue to be spraying the weeds, but other Council members need to be informed of things so in case someone calls, they can answer the questions. When folks ask council members and they don’t know what is going on, it can cause issues.
12. Citizens Issues: Angie Craig visit: Mayor Flaten met with Angie, then visited the two restaurants in town, the sewer ponds, and met with Pastor Paul and the Dennison Church. An update was requested from Kevin and Paul to see how they are progressing. Would like that for the September meeting.
13. Mayors Issues:
14. Utilities:
15. 1. Update from Nate: New meter in the meat locker/reader Taylor was a reader.
16. 2. Ponds are very low.
17. 3. Koester meter/reader repairs, need authorization due to large cost. Lyle Koester property reader doesn’t work. Not sure if the meter is working or not, or it’s just the reader. Meter is located underneath the mobile home and is not easily accessible. There is a quote from Ben Franklin Plumbing for approximately $1000. No other plumbers would call back or be willing to do the job. Lyle Koester refuses to cover the cost. Nate knows a guy who would be willing to look at it. Will have him get an estimate from him.
18. 4. There was a verbal complaint about the vehicles parked in front of the city maintenance building.
19. 5. Need to approve training for Nate for Class C license. Councilor Anders move to pay for Nate’s training. Councilor Schloesser second.
20. 4:0 Mayor Flaten move to pay all the bills. There was not a second. There were some issues with unauthorized hours being worked/billed by the Mayor. Councilor Anders move to pay the bills excluding the additional hours except for the smoke testing and all future hours and expenses need to be approved before the work is done. Councilor Ruddle second. Motion passed 4:0. It was also noted that the wages for both Jeff and Dan had been set several years ago at the rate they are at. Motion to adjourn the meeting was make by Mayor Flaten. Second by Councilor Schloesser.
21. Meeting was adjourned.