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01-30-1989 CC MIN e e e MEETING OF THE ELK RIVER CITY COUNCIL HELD AT THE ELK RIVER CITY HALL CONFERENCE ROOM MONDAY. JANUARY 30. 1989 MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Tra11e. Counci1members Schuldt. Holmgren. Dobe1. and Kropuenske MEMBERS ABSENT: None STAFF PRESENT: Patrick K1aers. City Administrator; Lori Johnson. Finance Director; Steve Rohlf. Building and Zoning Administrator; Russ Anderson. Fire Chief; Dick Fursman. Economic Development Coordinator; Darrell Mack. Sewer Superintendent; Tom Zerwas. Chief of Police; Phil Ha1s. Streets/Parks Superintendent 1. Pursuant to due call and notice thereof. the meeting of the Elk River City Council was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by Mayor Tra11e. 2. Consideration of 1/30/89 City Council Agenda OOUNCltMlMBER DOBEt MOVED TO APPROVE THE 1/30/89 CITY COUNCIL AGENDA. COUNCILMEMBER SCHULDT SECONDED THE MOTION. THE MOTION CARRIED 5-0. 3. City Insurance Agent. Dan Greene: City Insurance Policies Mr. Greene began his presentation to the City Council on the 1988-89 City insurance package by providing a handout on the First National Insurance Agency. This handout provided the City Council with some background information on the City insurance agency and the role which Mr. Greene plays in providing with the City with its insurance coverage. Dan stressed that communication between himself and the City on various equipment purchases and City activities is the essential ingredient in providing good insurance coverage to the City. Dan also indicated that his commission for providing insurance related services to the City is fixed by the League of Minnesota Cities who is the City insurance carrier. Regarding a question from the City Council on how the insurance bids were received. Mr. Greene indicated that. much like the County. the vendors for municipal insurance are well known and the City goes to these insurance carriers with a request for them to submit a valid bid to provide insurance to the City of Elk River. Dan noted that in most cases it is an "all or nothing" package where the City cannot pick the low coverage from eight or ~ine different insurance carriers and combine it into one insurance package. In response to a Council question regarding the City and Municipal Utility relationship for insurance coverage. Mr. Greene indicated that by combining the total city needs into one package. both the City and Municipal Utilities receive a much lower rate for insurance. Additionally. in the past few years there has been a history for Minnesota cities that shows a very low claim rate and accordingly. the League provides member cities with a rebate from their maximum PAGE 2 Elk River City Council Meeting January 30. 1989 e insurance payment toward the end of each year. Dan noted that Elk River. as a growing community. has a very good insurance history. e Dan also provided a second handout. which outlined the City of Elk River insurance proposal. It was noted that the League of Minnesota Cities. who is the current insurance carrier for the city. again. had the low bid for our insurance package. The next lowest bidder was Marinco. which was approximately $50.000 above the league package. It was noted that Penco was not willing to submit a quote for our insurance coverage. as they did last year. Dan noted that the League has again offered the best rates for Elk River. and it is the only insurance carrier that covers everything within the City. The 1988/89 city insurance package has a total net rate reduction from the 1987/88 package. The overall cost is more because of the growth of the City. but the rate has slightly decreased. It was the consensus of the City Council to continue its insurance coverage with the League of Minnesota Cities. The City Council discussed with Dan the merits of a public official workers compensation policy versus a public official accident policy as discussed in the League memo dated December 29. 1988. The Council was informed that the City already has workers compensation coverage for public officials and it is recommended that this coverage be continued. It was the consensus of the City Council to have an ordinance prepared to specifically state that the City Council is covered by the City Workers Compensation Policy. At this time. the City Council thanked Mr. Greene for his presentation and his services to the City. 4. RDF Update from UPA and NSP Representatives UPA Representatives provided the City Council with a handout that discussed its time table for beginning commercial burning operation. The Representatives stated that UPA plans to operate test burns in Unit 1 toward mid February. and test burns on Unit 2 and 3 would begin approximately two weeks after that date. The acceptance test is scheduled for early May and plans call for UPA to be in the commercial burn process by June. In general. the Representatives stated that everything is moving ahead on schedule and that they are working closely with the City Staff to ensure building code compliance and water run off compliance. NSP Respresentatives. Peter Jones and Glen Kaas. provided the City Council with a handout that discusses the operations at the NSP site. It was stated that the commercial start up date is targeted for June 1 to coincide with the UPA start up date. NSP currently has 39 staff members in by April 1, this number is anticipated to increase to 59. As of January 28. 1989. the NSP site had received over 2.000 tons of garbage which had been used on test runs to determine how the operation was functioning. By April 1. it is expected that the NSP plant will be in operation 24 hours a day. It was also noted that the destination for plant rejects. which is garbage that cannot be processed into RDF. is e PAGE 3 Elk River City Council Meeting January 30. 1989 e unknown at this time and is a County decision. Additionally. it was stated that all three ash disposal sites that had submitted proposals had been rejected by NSP. and that at this time it is uncertain as to where the ash produced by burning of RDF will be taken. Additionally. it was noted that NSP is working closely with the City staff to also solve its fire suppression and water run off problems at the building site. 5. Update on City Environmental Issues John Lichtner. from Bruce A. Liesch and Associates. was present to discuss with the City Council. work that he has done on behalf of the City on various environmental issues. John indicated that he has been working very closely with Stephen Rohlf. Building and Zoning Administrator. on many of these issues. Mr. Lichtner first discussed the status of the UPA project. In his letter to Stephen. dated January 16. 1989. he indicated his major concern relating to the clarifier system and waste water run off. This letter also discusses the fire suppression water at the receiving building for the RDF. It was noted that he will continue to work with Stephen to ensure that the City concerns are resolved. e John discussed with the City Council the status of the NSP project as reviewed in his January 24. 1989. letter to Stephen. The two main concerns outlined in this letter relate to the fire suppression water run off and the water run off holding tank at the citizen disposal site. Again. John will be working with Stephen to see that the City concerns are resolved. John then reviewed with the City Council the situation at Danny's Tranny's. or the Dan Karst smelting site. The issue was outlined in John's November 7. 1988. memo to Stephen. John indicated that there are definite soil contamination problems at this site and that some of these soils will have to be removed. Questions regarding ground water contamination still are not resolved and tests will be conducted. Mr. Karst is moving his operation to the City of Ramsey. however. if clean up is needed the cost of such work will be paid for by Mr. Karst. Also. in the November 7. 1988. memo to Stephen, John discussed the problem at Steve's Oil Service located between the RDF site and Highway 10. John indicated that tanks are located on this site without permits and there have definitely been spills from the these tanks on to the soils. A conditional use permit is required from the City for this operation, but none has been received. It was the consensus of the City Council to pursue every legal and environmental angle in order to obtain compliance to the City ordinance and State laws for protection of the ground water. e The final item from the November 7. 1988. memo to Stephen discussed the ground water test at the old city dump site (Hillside Park). John indicated that these water test results are due in early to mid February. Page 4 Elk River City Council Meeting January 30, 1989 e Regarding recent work authorized by the City for environmental tests at the Larry Morrell trucking site, John indicated that there appears to be no problems with either the underground storage fuel tanks or the use of oil for dust control. The preliminary information at this time indicates that the Morrell Trucking site is environmentaly safe. John and Steve briefly reviewed the landfill issues as outlined in the December 22, 1988, letter from Matt Ledvina to Stephen. This letter discussed the remaining work needed to be accomplished by the landfill in order to be in compliance to the City Code. The Council requested John to have Liesch and Associates Inc. investigate the septic dumping in a non-agricultural parcel in the southeast corner of the City. The concern of the Council was that there may be ground water contamination if this septic has a "quick line" into the ground water, versus being spread on agricultural land where it takes much more time to filter into the soils and ground water. The City continue and State Council thanked John for his update and requested that he to work with the City staff in insuring compliance to City Code laws on these previously discussed environmental issues. 6.1. Fire Department Resolution e COUNCILMEMBER HOLMGREN MOVED SUPPORTING THE AERIAL LADDER KROPUENSKE SECONDED THE MOTION. TO APPROVE RESOLUTION 89-8. A RESOLUTION PLATFORM FIRE TRUCK. CQUNCILMEMBER THE MOTION CARRIED 5-0. 6.2 3/21/89 Chamber Meeting It was the consensus of the Elk River City Council that the March 21, 1989, date was acceptable for the Elk River Area Chamber of Commerce Annual State of the City meeting. The City Council indicated that they would like Jackie Schuelein, Executive Vice President of the Chamber. to come to a future City Council meeting to discuss the format for this State of the City Address. 6.3 Central Business District Sidewalk Snow Removal Councilmember Kropuenske discussed the problems experienced by the downtown merchants organization in having the sidewalks be barrier free of snow. He indicated that a contract had been entered into for sidewalk snow removal, but not all the parties had lived up to the agreement and are not paying for the services that were agreed to be performed. There was no consensus from the City Council on how to proceed with this issue. The Council did indicate that they felt the Chamber of Commerce should become active in trying to resolve this problem. e Page 5 Elk River City Council Meeting January 30, 1989 e 6.4 City Board of Equalization Meeting Date COUNCILMEMBER DOBEL MOVED TO ESTABLISH A SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL BOARD OF EQUALIZATION DATE OF MAY 10. 1989. AT 7:00 P.M. AT THE SHERBURNE COUNI'Y ADMINISTRATION BUILDING. COUNCILMEMBER SCHULDT SECONDED THE MOTION. THE MOTION CARRIED 4-0-1. Counci1member Holmgren abstained, as he is employed by the Sherburne County Assessor's Department and will not be able to participate in this meeting. 7. General Discussion with City Staff The City staff and City Council participated in a general discussion on various activities relating to each City Department. The Fire Chief, Russ Anderson, discussed the upcoming bond referendum for the aerial ladder platform truck; the pending door-to-door campaigning by the volunteer fire fighters; the new informational flyer, and the plan for a newspaper insert of this flyer to provide appropriate information to all citizens. The Fire Chief also discussed the recent $15,000 donation from the Eagles Club, which will be applied toward the 1988 purchased one ton fire truck. e Phil Ha1s, Street/Parks Superintendent, discussed with the City Council the status of skating at Lion's Park; cross-country skiing at Woodlands Trail; the finalization of the Lion's Park LAWCON Grant; and an equipment maintenance report. Darrell Mack, Sewer Superintendent, reviewed with the Council the status of the center column for the trickling filter system that is anticipated to be received very soon; the upgrading of the Evans Park lift station; and the painting, maintenance, and repair that is taking place at the sewer plant. The issue of homeowners in the Simonet and Sixth Lane area where sewer has been installed, but the homeowners are not hooking up to the system, was discussed by the City Council. Legal input was requested on this issue. Fritz Do1ejs, Liquor Store Manager, discussed the January sales at the Liquor Store as compared to previous years. Fritz also provided information on 1988 total sales, which broke all previous years' records; the expansion of the building for the new cooler system; and provided the Council with a legislative update on proposed bills that would effect the Liquor Store operation. Finance Director, Lori Johnson, provided the Council with an update on 1989 Equipment Certificates (a legislative change which allows the City to proceed as p1anned);the audit which is anticipated to start in late February; the computer system and some related software problems the City is experiencing; and new rules and regulations relating to employees. e The Chief of Police, Tom Zerwas, discussed with the City Council the process for hiring a replacement to Dave Sievert. who has resigned. It is expected that a new Officer will be on board around March 1, 1989. The Chief also requested the Council consider entering into agreement with the State to obtain another breath test instrument. PAGE 6 Elk River City Council Meeting January 30, 1989 e OOUNCILMKMBER KROPUENSKE MOVED TO APPROVE RESOLUTION 89-9. A RESOLUTION ENTERING INTO AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE STATE AND THE CITY OF ELK RIVER FOR THE RECEIVING ON A LOAN BASIS OF A BREATH TEST INSTRUMENT TO BE USED BY THE ELK RIVER LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFI CERS . COUNCILMEMBER DOBEL SECONDED THE MOTION. THE MOTION CARRIED 5-0. The Chief also reviewed the progress being made to obtain a new copy machine. It was noted that $2,000 was in 1989 budget for this item, but that a copy machine in this price range would not fulfill the needs of the Department. It was the consensus of the Council to proceed with a lease/purchase arrangement for a copy machine in the $6,000 range. If the staff determined it would be more appropriate to outright purchase a machine at this time, this issue would have to come back to the City Council. The Chief also discussed with the City Council parking problems in the Central Business District, and on the streets adjacent to the Senior High School. A general discussion took place between the City Council and the staff regarding the policy of the Police Department accepting financial donations from various non-profit organizations and whether the receiving of such funds directly into the Police Department was appropriate. e Building and Zoning Administrator, Stephen Rohlf, was requested by the City Council to investigate the sign lights at the Bullseye Arcade. Stephen updated the City Council on some mandatory ordinance requirements that will be looked at by the City in the near future, including the flood plain ordinance. 8. Adjournment COUNCILMEMBER HOLMGREN MOVED TO ADJOURN THE JANUARY 30, 1989 ELK RIVER CITY COUNCIL MEETING. COUNCILMEMBER SCHULDT SECONDED THE MOTION. THE MOTION CARRIED 5-0. The meeting of the Elk River City Council adjourned at approximately 11:20 p.m. Respectfully submitted, ?ccf cf(eaL-1~ ~j Patrick D. K1aers City Administrator e