Dennison City Council Meeting - September 5, 2024

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City of Dennison

Meeting minutes

September 5th, 2024

The September Dennison City Council meeting was called to order by Mayor Flaten on Thursday, September 5th, 2024 at 7:00 pm. Present were Councilors Diane Ruddle, Heidi Cooke, Nichole Schloesser, and clerk Jessica Page. Councilor Nygaard was unable to attend.

The August meeting minutes were not completed at the time of the meeting.

Councilor Ruddle moved to approve the Treasurer’s report. Councilor Schloesser second. Motion passed 4:0.

Old Business/Committee Reports/Building Permits: None.

Administrative Issues:

1. Dennison policing contract with Goodhue County. Jonathan Huneke is in attendance and representing the Sheriff's Department this evening. The mayor attended a meeting with the Sheriff's Department in Red Wing on August 16th. Representatives from the cities of Bellechester, Pine Island, Wanamingo and Goodhue joined the meeting, too. We had the opportunity to discuss our concerns about the policing rates. August 28th, the Dennison City Council during it's budget meeting, decided to contract for 3 hours per week. September 3rd, the Goodhue County Board discussed the policing rates again. The Sheriff's Department recommended revising the policing rates by offering two new options: No overhead costs with phased-in rate approach or 10% overhead with phased-in rates. Goodhue County Board voted to reduce the rates as follows: 2025 71.03, 2026 79.80 and 2027 89.61 per hour. Goodhue County Sheriff's Department will be offering a three year contract and 3.5 hours of coverage per week. Going to still go through at least once per day. Will make a concerted effort to look at the speeders. New contract will be for 182 for new hours, down from 260. Councilor Ruddle move to accept those rates for the new policing contract. Mayor Flaten second. Motion passed 4:0.

2. Review snowplowing bids. One was submitted from Deutsch Excavating. There is a small increase from previous years. Councilor Schloesser move to approve the snow plowing bid. Councilor Ruddle second. Motion approved 4:0.

3. Mayor submitted an application with the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation for the Small Town Grant opportunity on August 26th. Requested funds to update our City's Comprehensive Plan. The grant is capped at $10,000 but requires a 25% match by the applicant. Mayor did request the full grant amount. We can expect to hear by the middle or late October if the City was awarded a grant.

4. Pete Lee Building update. On August 12th, the city attorney sent Mr. Lee a letter informing him the city council is pursuing legal action regarding his property due to his inaction. Mayor called the County Attorney and relayed the city's desire to proceed with the criminal prosecution of Mr. Lee. Mayor emailed information pertaining to Mr. Lee to County Attorney. City attorney recommended assessing her time on the case to his property taxes. Should the City go back to late May when the letter was sent to Mr. Lee to fix the roof/abate his property? (Council agreed that the billing should start as of August 12 against his property.)

5. Mayor is asking the City Council to reconsider approving the bid from Cedar Lake to replace the florescent light bulbs with LED bulbs in City Hall. Mayor is donating $350.00 to the project, and has asked the Dennison Lions Club to match him. With all the rebates available, including the bonus rebates, it would amount to about $320.00. Cedar Lake would help assist the City in submitting the form/cost worksheet, free of charge. Xcel Energy is offering bonus rebates (double the rebate) on LED tubes/bulbs until November 15th. Proposal from Cedar Lake was for $1,570.00. Councilor Cooke move to approve the bid from Cedar Lake contingent on the donations from Jeff Flaten and Dennison Lions club. Councilor Schloesser second. Motion passed 4:0.

6. City website. Mayor sent a letter to Catalis informing them the city council voted on August 1st to discontinue using the website provider. Before sending the letter, the mayor contacted the customer service representative to give him the news. The mayor explained we wanted to sever ties from Catalis at the end of the subscription year, which would be February 28th, 2025. Even though the city requested a non auto-renewal be part of the contract, the customer service representative and his director believe we can't separate after one year. The contract was for three years with escalating costs per subscription year. Mayor is asking to have the city attorney review the Catalis contract to give an opinion about the Subscription Term, Termination and Expiration part, specifically. Council would like the city attorney to review the contract and give us her opinion on it.

7. Mayor met with the Goodhue County engineer on August 22nd to discuss the intersection at County Road 9, Goodhue Avenue, and 1st Avenue Court. The county engineer is still requesting a pedestrian study be done before any improvements occur in the intersection. The mayor suggested applying for Active Transportation grants available through the state. It would fit the criteria, the cost and being a Non-State Aid City, (under 5,000 in population). If the community wants to make safety improvements at the intersection, the county engineer wants the City to take the lead in doing the pedestrian study and applying for any grant money. They would then sign off on the study and grant application. The county engineer suggests not adding a sidewalk next to the bank until the pedestrian study is done. Jess believes the sidewalk by the bank would require moving the utility pole and potentially getting an easement to place part of the sidewalk on the bank's property. Emails sent out to the council regarding the mayor's discussions with the county engineer. Mayor is going to ask Bollig to attend our October meeting to discuss/offer feedback on the intersection.

Want the county to put in writing as to what the County wants the city to do in an actually pedestrian study. Intersection may be a lynchpin as to where the city wants to go.

8. Preliminary levy is due to Goodhue County on September 30th. City budget meeting recommends that Council set it at $195,000. There was a request from a citizen that the Council consider putting into the budget the street lighting for 373rd Street. Request was made in 2019 as well as last year. Resolution 9-2024-1 is for setting the preliminary levy. Past talks with Xcel was about $2000 per pole. Need to get a bid. Councilor Schloesser move to raise the levy to $200,000. Councilor Cooke second. Motion passed 4:0.

9. Goodhue County Hazard Mitigation Plan was available for review and comment from August 20th until September 3rd. It was posted on our city bulletin board and city website. If the council is interested, the Emergency Manager for Goodhue County can talk about the emergency notification system and EM Facebook page and CodeRED.

10. Inventory done of the tables and chairs at City Hall during the State Primary and 14 gray chairs are missing. Last inventory was done in 2015.

11. Mayor met with FEMA on September 4th to present invoices/estimates to hopefully get reimbursed for the flooding events in June. If FEMA approves these expenses, the federal government will pick up 75% and the state 25%.

12. Vehicle noise sign on County Road 9 will be installed this week. Rice County signs will be installed in September, hopefully.

13. Opus and new billing system. Updates: Have finished up the 4th billing period. Have had a few issues. Some

14. Century Link fixed beat up/damaged/destroyed pedestal boxes in town on 8/15/24.

15. Cedar Lake Electric fixed the light fixtures and wired the water heater at the city shop the middle of the month. They also fixed the photo eye on the west security light on the well house. That light had been on constantly for about a month.

16. Mayor and City Clerk met with Lauren Marshall and Jaramie Logelin from the MPCA on 8/27/24 to discuss how the new SIU agreement is working. The meeting went well, and no concerns from Lauren or Jaramie.

17. Toby Kaiser wants to offer his services/proposal to take down several ash trees in town. 14 Ash trees on the boulevard and in the park. Also some dead branches laying in older maples that are just waiting to fall. 2 by fireside are the worst. Action tree service from Nerstrand is who he works with. Will need to look at regulations regarding how to handle the Ash trees. Boulvarde extends approximately 8.5-9 feet from the street. Will look at trees and recommend immediate removal, or next year.

18. Discuss how much we pay to mow city property. Should get an estimate from Terpstra Companies to see what his cost would be. Councilor Schloesse contacted Charlie and he doesn’t have time to mow, so wouldn’t be able to give a bid.

19. Approve Fire contract with Nerstrand at $10,469.95. Councilor Schloesser move to approve the Fire contract with the Nerstrand Fire Department. Councilor Cooke second. Motion passed 4:0.

20. Nate and Jess would like to ask the Council to consider providing some basic insurance (dental, disability,) if they can find program that fit into the amount that they are looking at for COLA increases. Would the Council be willing to look at this? Need to collect some information on different options and present to City Council to consider.

21. Cannibis agreement with Goodhue County to provide oversight over Cannibis sales/distribution/use, etc . Does the City of Dennison need to change the Tobacco Ordinance? What about Rice County? Will they be having the contract coming soon. Will contact the City Attorney and see what she has for recommendations.

Citizens Issues: None

Mayors Issues: None

Utilities:

1. Update from Nate

2. DO calibration paperwork will be available for the council to review before the meeting. Nate didn’t have ready for this meeting. Will have ready for next month.

Councilor Schloesser move to approve the bills. Councilor Cooke second. Motion passed 4:0.

Mayor Flaten move to adjourn the meeting. Councilor Cooke second. Meeting adjourned at 8:18pm.

Next meeting: Regular meeting is Thursday, October 3rd at 7:00.