Tag Archives: #Finance

Agenda Available

5.3.2022 Finance Agenda

Posted on by

 The City Commission Meeting will begin on Tuesday, May 3rd, 2022 at 4:00 PM CT, at the City Commission Chambers, 254 2nd Avenue NE, Valley City, ND. 

Members of the public may view the meeting online https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84195258373 or listen by calling (1 346 248 7799) Webinar ID: 841 9525 8373

Call to Order

Roll Call

Agenda items

  1. Department reports.
    1. Sanitation Department
    2. Water Department
    3. Electric Department
    4. Fire Department
    5. Police Department
    6. Street Department
    7. Administration
  2. Review monthly bills/reports (10 minutes) – (Finance Director Richter)
  3. Discuss VCSU Application for Tourism Development Grant/Loan.

Adjourn

Minutes Available text with City of Valley City Logo above

4.5.2022 Finance Minutes

Posted on by

Called To Order

President Carlsrud called the meeting to order at 3:30 PM.

Roll Call

Members present: President Carlsrud, Commissioner Magnuson, Commissioner Bishop and Commissioner Erickson, Commissioner Gulmon

Others Present:  City Administrator Crawford, City Attorney Martineck, Finance Director Richter, Administrative Assistant Johnson

Department Reports

Sanitation Supervisor Swart reported that clean up week has been set for June 6-11. Grass sites are open 24/7 all year long.

Water Superintendent Hesch reported fluorescent lights in the WTP in certain spots will be changed to LED.  Meters were received from HACH and will be working on replacing those.

Electrical Supervisor Senf reported the crew has been trimming tree and replacing the purple fixtures around town. They will also replace the ones going out on the highway. Working on the downtown sub with HDR. Trying to line up a crane and sell the transformer. 

Assistant Fire Chief Coit reported on the fire extinguisher services stating they continue to get more customers and it will get busier with time.

Police Chief Hatcher reported they are still working on hiring for the opening.  There are 3 people that are going through the background process.  This month will be the first of the monthly Coffee with Cops program.  If it’s successful we’ll consider doing it monthly.

Kevin Jacobson reported the street department has been doing patching and cleaning.  Water crew has been working on the lead and copper.  There was a water leak that had to be fixed. Some residents have been mentioning orange water. We will work on flushing them but it can look clear doing that and then it sometimes loosens the rust in some of the older pipes.  FI you have rusty water flush your cold water.  Do not turn the hot on until it’s clear or it may get into your hot water heater.

Finance Director Richter stated the quarterly report for general engineering shows they are pretty much right on target.

Review the monthly bills/reports.

Finance Director Richter read the breakdown of the finance report with expenses totaling $1,376,082.

Discuss Placing Recycling Containers Eat of the Water Treatment Plant.

Commissioner Magnuson asked if we could put some on the flat land by the water treatment plant.  After discussion it was decided to check into a different location.

Discuss Reclassification for Administrative Assistant for Public works Accounts.

Katie has given her notice and will be leaving the end of May. The proposal is to change that position as an Administrative Assistant II after Katie leaves.

Discuss Definitions for Alcoholic Beverage License Classifications.

City Attorney Martineck requested clarification in some areas of the alcoholic beverage license to make sure they are well defined and everyone is on the same page.

Master Fee Schedule Update.

City Attorney Martineck stated there will be a resolution to approve several fees based on ordinances that have been passed or will be passed and once again making sure everyone is on the same page.  Discussion of the fees that were being changed took place.

Discuss Project to be included in the North Dakota Water Resources 2023 Water Development Plan.

Chad Petersen from KLJ discussed the plans that were currently on the plan and received confirmation that those projects will remain.

Progress Updated on Elks Building

Chad Petersen provided update with approximate construction beginning later this fall. 

Discuss Infrastructure Funds 2022-2029

City Administrator Crawford presented a printout that each department listed what they felt were improvements that will need to be made so we can have an idea of future funding needs.  

Adjourn

The meeting was adjourned at ­4:51 PM.

Agenda Available

4.5.2022 Finance Agenda

Posted on by

 The City Commission Meeting will begin on Tuesday, April 5th, 2022 at 3:30 PM CT, at the City Commission Chambers, 254 2nd Avenue NE, Valley City, ND. 

Members of the public may view the meeting online https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87363415490 listen by calling (1 346 248 7799) Webinar ID: 873 6341 5490

Call to Order

Roll Call

Agenda items

  1. Department reports.
    • Sanitation Department
    • Water Department
    • Electric Department
    • Fire Department
    • Police Department
    • Street Department
    • Administration
  2. Review monthly bills/reports (10 minutes) – (Finance Director Richter)

3.  Fire Extinguisher Services Financial Report.  (Fire Chief Magnuson)

4.  Discuss Placing Recycling Containers East of the Water Treatment Plant.  (Commissioner Magnuson)

5.  Discuss Reclassification of Administrative Assistant for Public Works Accounts.  (City Attorney Martineck)

6.  Discuss Definitions for Alcoholic Beverage License Classifications.  (City Attorney Martineck)

7. Master Fee Schedule Update. (City Attorney Martineck)

8.  Discuss Projects to be included in the North Dakota Water Resources 2023 Water Development Plan.  (City Engineer)

10.  Progress Update on Elks Building.  (KLJ)

11.  Discuss Infrastructure Funds 2022-2029.  (City Administrator Crawford)

Adjourn

Minutes Available text with City of Valley City Logo above

2.1.2022 Finance Minutes

Posted on by

Called To Order

President Carlsrud called the meeting to order at 3:30 PM.

Roll Call

Members present: President Carlsrud, Commissioner Magnuson, Commissioner Bishop and Commissioner Erickson

Others Present:  City Administrator Crawford, City Attorney Martineck, Finance Director Richter, Administrative Assistant Johnson

Department Reports

Operations Supervisor Klemisch reported there was a PT employee that started last week in sanitation.  With these colder days we are storing our containers overnight at Ken’s sanitation to help them dump easier.

Electrical Superintendent Senf reported 3 outages for the month due to aging infrastructure. We’re changing out lights and will get into tree trimming soon. Other than that, just doing load control.  We get billed monthly just like everyone else and we try to keep the load as low as possible.  The peaks usually happen around breakfast, lunch and dinner. 

West Main the lights are out of warranty but they may still stand behind the product.  Anything East Main has another year so they will be replaced and all the way up 5th Ave NE and 12 St N.

Fire Chief Magnuson reported 17 calls for service last month. One call as a fire that resulted in a fatality. We had the electric guys come out and not sure what they did but they kept everyone in the neighborhood with electricity. Clint came out on Sunday and moved snow, sanded streets and ran the track hoe which was impressive to watch. New building is making progress, the doors ended up needing all new openers so that was added.  There have been some calls about smells in houses, flush your toilets.  If you have a bathroom that’s not used a lot that could be the reason.

Police Chief Hatcher reported on the process of interviewing 4 people last week.  We had 3 we passed on to the background and just within that time we lost 2 of them to somewhere else.

The patch being passed around has the autism pieces for autism awareness.  We will be ordering these and selling them to promote autism awareness and donating the money to the non-profit in Fargo or if someone else has an idea we would consider it.

Operations Supervisor Klemisch reported they’ve been working on some of the corners and widening streets now that the storms have calmed down. Sewer department had a couple lift station issues where we had to swap out pumps but nothing major.

Last night we were called out to Love’s to sand it, another semi was stuck, it continues to be an issue.  We did speak with Mike Gille but right now we haven’t run into an issue to where we couldn’t get to it.

The Street Department pickup has been ordered too, they’re hoping for a late May build.

Review the monthly bills/reports.

Finance Director Richter stated there were $1.2 million in expenditures for January.  The fire hall addition came in at $88,000.  Construction projects other than the fire hall addition were minor at $26,897, we paid our annual liability insurance for auto for $105,625, MRES we paid $386,646, payroll and benefits were $453,392, PFP $18,800 and fund 240 at $47,000 leaving $127,000 for operational expenses.

Consider Moving up Public Works Budget Deadline or at least any Fee Increases.

City Administrator Crawford stated last year we had a fee increase in December due to that being when the budget was finalized. I feel like we need to let the residents know in advance when the rates will be raised and gave a few different options on how to do that.

PW Manager Jacobson stated he would rather not do the budget process earlier because it’s nice to look at the information as late in the year as possible and recommended moving the rate increase if needed into the year effective February or March.

Decision was made to keep the budget process as is and if there will be an increase that will come later in the next year giving residents the proper notice.

Consider Policy for Paying for the First Seal Coat Following a Street Reconstruction from Infrastructure Funds instead for Special Assessments.

Deputy Auditor Klein stated for the 5th Ave project it was agreed that the sealcoat would be paid out of the R&R Funds. We have another reconstruct ion project this summer and have a meeting with the property owners on February 8th and would like a policy that the seal coat will be paid for out of the R&R Funds moving forward.

Discuss having P&Z doing all Variances.

City Administrator stated we have the PZ committee and a separate variance committee. The variance committee has been called together 2 times since in the last year or so and is called together as needed. When there is a plat or replat at the same time as a variance the PZ committee is able to make the decision.  With the number of variances outside of that, why can’t we have the PZ make the decisions on the variances instead of having 2 separate committees.

City Attorney Martineck added that he thought Mike Schell had originally said they had the variance committee in place so they didn’t have to convene the PZ committee for those small of decisions but with the number we have there’s no reason why we couldn’t add it to a PZ meeting.  Right now, the variance board is established by ordinance so if we are to make those changes, we will have to draft new ordinances.

Adjourn

The meeting was adjourned at ­4:18 PM.

Agenda Available

2.1.2022 Finance Agenda

Posted on by

The City Finance Commission Meeting will begin on Tuesday, February 1st, 2022 at 3:30 PM CT, at the City Commission Chambers, 254 2nd Avenue NE, Valley City, ND. 

Members of the public may view the meeting online https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84161742650 or listen by calling (1 346 248 7799) Webinar ID: 841 6174 2650

Call to Order

Roll Call

Agenda items

  1. Department reports.
    • Sanitation Department
    • Water Department
    • Electric Department
    • Fire Department
    • Police Department
    • Street Department
    • Administration
  2. Review monthly bills/reports (10 minutes) – (President Carlsrud)
  3. Consider Moving up Public Works Budget Deadline or at least any Fee Increases.  (City Administrator Crawford)
  4. Consider Policy for Paying for the First Seal Coat Following a Street Reconstruction from Infrastructure Funds instead of Special Assessments.  (Deputy Auditor Klein)
  5. Discuss having P&Z doing all Variances. (City Administrator Crawford)

Adjourn

Minutes Available text with City of Valley City Logo above

1.4.2022 Finance Minutes

Posted on by

Called To Order

President Carlsrud called the meeting to order at 2:30 PM.

Roll Call

Members present: President Carlsrud, Commissioner Magnuson (2:53), Commissioner Bishop, Commissioner Gulmon and Commissioner Erickson (2:39)

Others Present:  City Administrator Crawford, City Attorney Martineck, Finance Director Richter, Administrative Assistant Johnson

Commission Topics

Discussion took place around the following topics:

The Little Dam

Snow Removal

Emergency Route

Department Reports

Electrical Superintendent Senf reported they are starting to take down the Christmas lights.  The lights on Central will stay up a little longer.  Finishing up inventory-the auditor comes on Thursday.  Marshall also stated he walked through the library and noticed the lighting is outdated and updating everything would save them money.  Eventually you will be forced to replace them due to them being outdated.

Operations Supervisor Klemisch reported the downtown took 4 nights for snow removal.  Things are narrow so it will be an ongoing process.  There have been equipment issues, the hook truck was down so we reached out to another company and they were hauling our garbage for us but both of their trucks broke down.  We talked to Jamestown and they let us dump over there.  We received the U-bolt and it is getting replaced now.  There is also a garbage truck down but that piece should be in today.  Everyone has jumped in and helped from different departments, it’s been a team effort. 

Fire Chief Magnuson reported they received back their truck that was getting repainted and that looks good.  They are still working on the addition.  There were probably more rescue calls this year than we have ever had and some of the worst ones were in the summer which is odd.

Police Chief Hatcher reported they had about 10,000 calls for service.  Congratulations to Officer Horner as their family has grown by one.  We have been trying to get bids for our new car.  In August we were told no one could bid anything so we held off until December.  The closing took place last Thursday and the only bid received was from Stoudt Ross Ford.  Should we wait since that was the only bid due to the current issues?  Ford will not put in a bid unless there’s a sales order signed.  We will have another car coming up that will need to be replaced.  Due to the wait, should we order two now? Decision was to just purchase the one vehicle now and the other in 2023 budget.

Review the monthly bills/reports

Finance Director Richter stated there were $990,351 in expenditures for December which includes construction projects at $26,419; fire hall addition at $28,088; MRES at $265,106; payroll & benefits at $469,430; PFP CLOMR at $38,521; VCBCDC at $42,500 leaving $120,287 as the balance for operations.

Discuss Image & Enhancement Grant and Valley City Tourism Development Grant Requirements.

City Administrator Crawford stated we realized these needed to be revamped and have come up with the changes outlined in the packet.

Discuss Love’s Winter Road Maintenance

City Administrator Crawford stated she was not aware of all the issues but now everyone is on the same page.  The calls of service are included in the packet outlining how many times we have been called up to sand, direct traffic or other services. 

Operations Supervisor Klemisch added that a lot of the calls have been after hours.  The trucks can’t make it up the hill so we pay overtime to sand.  Sanding on snow doesn’t work so we have to call in the motor graders.  The last snow storm we shut everything down because we couldn’t keep up while trying to keep the emergency routes open. Gilles Construction has been up there sanding and maybe that is an option to have them help us out.  The DOT’s bylaws and regulations do not allow them to brine it for us.  We are looking at other options for that.  The sheriff’s department has been out there helping as well.  We will do our normal sanding route but the extra calls to keep up is where we’re running into issues.  Loves is not willing to pay Gille for the additional sanding. 

Police Chief Hatcher added if there are any other roads that cause this many issue, we close them.  This is the only entrance into Love’s so we can’t close it.

Operations Supervisor Klemisch stated he already spoke with Gille’s and they said they would help.

Commissioner Magnuson asked who approved this road and if all the traffic studies went to the DOT.

Chad Petersen stated the plans were submitted and reviewed and that he specifically commented to the designers and previous administrator that the grades meet standards but there he was concerned about the grand due to this exact situation but the comment back was that it meets standards.  Back at that point it was originally going to stay Love’s road so maybe the city wasn’t as concerned with it but now it became the city’s road.  There were several times the grade of the road was discussed.

Commissioner Gulmon stated it is what it is and if it is our road, we are responsible to keep it clean or contract with Gille to keep it clean.

President Carlsrud stated if we are paying overtime and are still unable to keep up it may make sense to contract the services out.

Discuss Transportation Alternatives Program

City Administrator Crawford stated this is the one we were going to work with the county.  There are a few things that will be looked at but wanted to make sure you are okay with this because we would be paying half and the county would like an MOU.

Discuss Mobile Home Park Renewal for Viking Drive Estates

City Administrator Crawford stated information from David Wick is in the packet.  We can hold off on the license decision until the next meeting to give more time to look through the information.  There have been several different stories on what has happened in the past with this area so we are looking back to find that information.  We do know that KLJ was asked to look into it in 1997 and basically said it will cost a lot of money to fix it and nothing further happened after that. 

Discuss Rescheduling March 1st Finance and Commission Meeting.

This will be added to the February 1st meeting for a decision.  There may be a conflict on this date.

Discuss Quarterly Finance Meeting start Time.

Quarterly meetings will continue to be scheduled to start at 2:30 if there are topics to discuss.  If not, it will change to 3:30.

Discuss Bids for Police Department Vehicle.

Police Chief Hatcher stated 

Adjourn The meeting was adjourned at ­4:53 PM.