Called to Order
President Carlsrud called the meeting to order at 2:30 PM.
Roll Call
Members present: President Carlsrud, Commissioner Bishop, Commissioner Magnuson, Commissioner Erickson, Commissioner Gulmon.
Other present: City Administrator Crawford, City Attorney Martineck, Finance Director Klein, Chief Horner, Administrative Assistant Hintz
Agenda Items
Review Monthly Bills/Reports. Finance Director Klein reviewed the monthly bills and reports.
Discuss Hotel Liquor License. City Attorney Martineck shared with the Commissioners that this is a possibility if needed in the future but there is no request currently. The consensus of Commission was to put this on hold for now.
Discussion Regarding Downtown Property Snow Removal. City Administrator Crawfordshared that this topic was brought up by Commissioner Erickson at the reading of Ordinance 1169 at the last meeting. Crawford feels that more discussion is needed on this topic. If there are changes to be made to the proposed ordinance, they need to be discussed as that Ordinance is scheduled for a third reading at tonight’s commission meeting. Operations Supervisor Klemisch joined via Zoom and explained his concern over the increase in time for snow removal to 48 hours. It is currently set at 24 hours.The consensus of the Commissioners was to leave the time at the 24 hours for snow removal now. Vote on the ordinance as is. Then, in the future, revisit this concern and possibly make a change at that time. There was also discussion on the sidewalk requirements in the Ordinance. Currently the Ordinance reads that a permit from the City is required and that a Contractor must do the work to the required City Specs. Some Residents take it upon themselves to fix their sidewalks, when this occurs, they need to follow the City Guidelines and the City will cover 25% of the cost. Clint must review the request first, before work begins and then again when the project is completed. Martineck will confirm if a permit is currently required in Code. If changes are needed, this will be discussed at a future meeting. Discussion on boulevards was also discussed.
Discuss Truck Quotes for Replacement Unit. Electrical Superintendent Senf shared the estimates for a new Unit with the Commissioners. Discussion was had on what the estimates covered and included. His request was for approval to purchase the Dodge Ram that included the truck box with the side built-in tool boxes. Senf feels that this will be the most useful and work best for their needs. The consensus of the Commissioners was to move forward with the purchase of the Dodge.
Department Reports
March Highlighted the Electrical Department Employees.
Sanitation Department Supervisor Swart reported the container count is going up steadily. Please recycle if and when possible to keep costs down. E-recycling was a great success. Special thanks to a couple of her Team Members for going above and beyond. They were approved for the Workforce Safety Technology Grant and now they will be installing a Camera out by the scales to view the loads.
Water Department Water Superintendent Hesch talked about the new cameras being installed at the Water Treatment Plant as part of a Department of Justice Grant that was awarded. They are currently doing their own pilot study for surface water and ground water. They are just running river water to test the aquafer levels. When temperatures start to warm up, they will go back to their normal process. They are planning to dredge the silt off next year.
Electrical Department Electrical Superintendent Senf advised that there were no outages for February. The guys have been working on tree removal & clearing the lines. Spending a little time with cleaning up the Winter Show line and removing the platform currently used. Removing a 3phase line near the Fish Hatchery as well.
Fire Department Fire Chief Magnuson shared last months report with only 8 general calls for service however, there were 22 pages of Chief calls. Saturday night is the annual fundraiser for the Fire Department.
Police Department Police Chief Horner explained that they had more calls this past month then previously. They also had the honor of running the torch for Special Olympics and the pleasure of escorting the Hi-Liner Girls Basketball Team out of town on their way to State. Provided ID scanners to the Winter Show Concert and around town during the event. Compliance Check Training was held here in Valley City on the 4th. This is the first in their series of training throughout the State. Cameras and door fobs have all been updated. Working with the VCSU Communications Class to have social media posts to put out about 2 times a week. A new officer was hired and will begin shortly.
Street Department Operations Supervisor Klemischvia Zoomreported his crews are working on filling potholes and the street sweeper is out and busy. The quotes are back for the repairs at the damaged lift station. Valley Plains site demo will start as soon as it opens up. The cost to fix the soils were figured into the total budget and the dirt will be able to be “farmed: and used elsewhere as needed.
City Administer Crawford shared a topic of parking downtown, and a request for a loading and unloading zone. Crawford asked that the Commissioners think about this and it will be added to the agenda for the April Finance meeting.
City Administrator Crawford asked City Engineer Peterson to discuss upcoming construction projects for the City. The Seal Coat will be going out for bids on Friday. Reline should be going out this week as well. As for the PFP, we are still working on some permits but that will also go out this spring. Planned construction will be in 2025 and 2026. As for 2nd St project, the first step will be to recreate the Improvement Districts. The next step will be to define the Resolution of Necessity and then to define the Benefit to the Properties. That has been discussed and they are using benefit analysis that has been used throughout the State. As for the 2025 funding, we will need to have the final documents submitted to the D.O.T. by the first part of August. The Grant is still available but is slated for 2025 and the funds must be bid and allocated in 2025.
Adjourn
The meeting was adjourned at 4:28PM.