Official Minutes for January 11th, 2021, Pembina City Council Meeting
Council Members Present: Mayor Mike Fitzgerald, President Jeff Watts, VP Ron Fritz, Greg Koropatnicki, Jennifer Martin and Allen Huttunen (via phone)
Absent: Pat Burton
City Employees Present: Lisa Hall/Auditor, Gary Helland/PWS
City Attorney Present: Rob Fleming
City Engineer: Brad Bail
Others present: Blaine Eisenbeis-PFD Chief
Public Portion- No one present. Phil Hall stopped at office and asked Lisa to present a couple items. Because of covid asked about moving meetings to the community center. Also, he brought up the recycling bins and people not crushing their cardboard –how can we enforce it.
Meeting called to order by Mayor Fitzgerald at 6:02 p.m.
Changes to Agenda
Under committees add Catfish, attorney- handbook, mayor-job logs, employees-snow removal/OT, council -recycling, PCC, and under city auditor add budget and ambulance budget. Motion by Watts second by Fritz to approve agenda with changes. Ayes all present. Motion carries.
Motionby Fritz,second by Martin to approve December’s meeting minutes. Ayes all present. Motion carries.
Committee Reports:
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Fire Department- Received grant from ND Forest Service which will be used to purchase new hose for the pumper. After department receives available grants they will owe $6000 to $8000 for all new radios.
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Catfish Committee- Inquiring if it is ok to have the cornhole tournament this year if they follow the Governor’s covid guidelines. The current restrictions would allow 130 people to attend. Council agreed they could go forward with this and post signage about social distancing.
Employee Report/Concerns-
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Snow removal contractors- The contractors are piling snow where they shouldn’t and pushing into street after the plow has been past. Motion by Huttunen second by Watts to no longer clean city council driveways. Ayes all present. Motion carries. Motion by Watts second by Fritz to no longer clean the driveways of the volunteers of fire department and ambulance. Ayes all present. Motion carries.
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Snow removal/overtime- Martin inquiring on overtime and if it is being paid when Gary has to go out at 4 a.m. to move snow. Gary informed her that no he is not and was told to account for the extra hours at the end of the week and leave early. He also explained this doesn’t always work so well with example of having to leave instead of stay the 3 hours and finish reading meters to get to Lisa so she can process and mail in policy’s timeframe. Mayor Fitzgerald will discuss situations with Gary’s supervisor Burton.
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Gastrak Bill- Lisa presented amounts paid out for the ditch in front of Gastrak. Paid $5085.00 to J.R. Wastewater and $71,964.10 to Thorlakson for a total of $77,049.10. Council requested from Brad the difference of project cost if a different option would have been chosen. Will revisit next meeting.
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Trees- Deadline to get order in is February 2nd. Lisa presented list of trees and asked if we should order any. Motion by Huttunen to purchase ten trees this year. No second. Motion dies.
Old Business
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Security camera- Tabled. Korpat said to go ahead and remove from old business for now.
Engineer Report/Brad Bail –
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Survey- The surveyors have been up and will be setting pins soon along 4th Street.
Attorney Update / Rob Fleming-
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Update condemned buildings- Did not have zoom meeting since all the property owners would not be at same point in condemnation process so will wait until they are and have it then.
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Employee handbook- Advised it may be easier to start from scratch for the handbook to update. Mayor appoints Watts and himself to review handbook and bring suggestions to council.
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1st Reading ordinance 3.0206- Motion by Watts second by Koropatnicki to approve the first reading of ordinance 3.0206. Ayes all present. Motion carries. This is the ordinance setting the fine for littering which includes blowing grass onto the street when mowing.
Update & Business: Mayor –
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Job logs- Mayor Fitzgerald informed council he discussed adding more information to the job log with the auditor. The auditor will now include start and stop times, lunch and if any PTO is being used along with what was done throughout the day. Currently these logs were only going to Fitzgerald and Koropatnicki and Gary’s to Koropatnicki and Burton. Lisa asked rest of council if they wanted them emailed as well so she will email both logs to all council members.
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Complaint- A formal complaint was received regarding the unlicensed vehicles sitting in the yard at 275 S. Cavalier Street. Mayor Fitzgerald said he was able to get a hold of the property owner about this issue and gave him two weeks from today to have them removed or city will at home owner’s expense.
Council business/concerns-
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Daycare budget- Lisa presented to council the information from Kacie/Village Daycare. Council would like a more detailed budget including rates.
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Northern Sky contract- While Gary was on medical leave Blaine covered for him when needed. The previous contract has expired so Koropatnicki would like an updated one renewed for February meeting.
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Recycling- Discussed the issue of people not breaking down cardboard. Lisa will put reminder in paper and on face book.
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PCC- Phil Hall requested that meetings be moved to the community center so more room for social distancing. Lisa suggested offering zoom meetings instead since it is so hard to hear in there. Council agreed to zoom meetings. Lisa will post in paper, face book and signs around town about it and let people know they need to contact office by noon the Friday prior to meeting.
Update & Business: City Auditor/Lisa Hall
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Motion by Martin second by Fritz to approve the financials. Ayes all present. Motion carries.
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Motion by Watts, second by Huttunen to accept the Pembina County Emergency Managements Resolution for the Pembina County Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan. Ayes all present. Motion carries.
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Bond resolution- Motion by Watts, second by Huttunen to approve the Resolution Authorizing the Assignment of Paying Agent and Bond Registrar Designation to AMKO Bond Services, LLC, and Authorizing the Execution of the Paying Agent/Registrar Agreement with AMKO Bond Services, LLC. Ayes all present. Motion carries.
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Zelda raise- The tax assessor has requested a raise. Motion by Huttunen, second by Fritz to give a raise of $50 to her annual salary of $1,000.00. Ayes all present. Motion carries.
Motion to adjourn by Fritz at 7:22 p.m.
By: Mayor, Mike Fitzgerald
Attested to: Lisa Hall, Auditor
