Council Members Present: Mayor Mike Fitzgerald, President Jeff Watts, Pat Burton, Greg Koropatnicki, Jennifer Martin and Allen Huttunen
Absent: VP Ron Fritz
City Employees Present: Lisa Hall/Auditor, Gary Helland/ Public Works Superintendent
City Attorney Present: Rob Fleming
City Engineer: Brad Bail
Others present: Blaine Eisenbeis-PFD Chief, Crystal Volk
Public Portion-Crystal stated the need for places to live in Pembina. She gets calls every week. She also brought up the need to reduce spending and to keep up on the maintenance on what we have. Also asked why mosquito fee was spent on pickup and ranger and why each unit of apartment building would be charged instead of by the meter.
Meeting called to order by Mayor Fitzgerald at 6:06 p.m.
Changes to Agenda
Add ditch east end of MCI, hole in street by Widme’s, Docs, Gastrak and corner by Hager’s, cleaning of community center and professional building, sander, Oivind, generator at school, budget, snow removal, hydrant flushing, order of agenda, weeds on Stutsman and 2nd Street, update on office hours, pickup, PTO and job logs. Motion by Burton second by Koropatnicki to approve agenda with changes. Ayes all present. Motion carries.
Motionby Burton,second by Watts to approve September’s meeting minutes. Ayes all present. Motion carries.
Committee Reports:
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Fire Department- Chief Eisenbeis informed council the department purchased a command vehicle. The office, bathroom and kitchen have all been updated. Still waiting on grants but they are backed up this year. The state has issued a new mandate on radios that will be another required expense. Pancake breakfast will be the first Sunday in December. Asked council about cosigning loan on a new rig no more than $150,000. Motion by Huttunen second by Martin to cosign for the fire department loan up to $150,000 providing the information is brought back to the council before going forward. Ayes all present. Motion carries.
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Valley Landfill- In 2020 dumpster fees increased 10% and for next 2 years will increase another 10% each year. Down one truck currently looking for a used one to purchase.
Employee Report/Concerns-
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Port water- Motion by Watts second by Burton to charge 28 hours at 400 gallons/hour for a total of 11,200 gallons. Ayes: Watts, Burton and Martin. Nay: Koropatnicki and Huttunen. Motion carries.
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Oivind- Will be done end of October. There is still work for him to help with.
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MCI east end railroad bed- use brush mower to clean out
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Holes in street- Gary will patch again. The one at Gastrak has been patched multiple times this summer but the trucks ignore cones and it doesn’t set decent.
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Sander pickup- Needs repairs. Move into the other pickup again.
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Snow removal- Equipment is ready just to put blade on. Koropatnicki inquiring about putting 6th Street south and Old Hwy 81 on priority list for removal. Asked Blaine if he is still available when needed and what his hourly equipment/operator rate is. Blaine informed that it is $75 per hour.
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Hydrant flushing- Inquiring when Gary will be doing it. Scheduled for next week. Lisa put on face book this afternoon and has signs for around town to put up tomorrow.
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Weeds on Stutsman & 2nd St- Huttunen stated quite a few weeds on Stutsman St west of 2nd Street.
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Job Log- Office will start to do a generic daily job log with top few items daily.
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Leave Transaction- Koropatnicki showed a report from previous years and asked if it could be included in packets. Lisa will start printing monthly for council.
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Generator- Relay on generator at school which is for emergency shelter is bad and school wondering if city will pay half of the repair. City will pay half of the bill for repair.
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Cameras- Tabled.
Old Business
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Spot Bar- Motion by Koropatnicki second by Burton to advertise the commercial lot for $50,000. Ayes: Martin, Watts, Burton and Koropatnicki. Nay: Huttunen. Motion carries.
Engineer Report/Brad Bail – Gave an overview of the low head dam removal request. Cost share would make the city’s portion $2515 to go forward with the study. Tabled until new council can review further. Brad put Pembina in again for IUP to stay on the list. Suggested we have the city flown and said would be $13,500 to do so.
Attorney Update / Rob Fleming-
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Update condemned buildings- Will get the letters sent out to the property owners.
Council business/concerns:
Update & Business: Mayor –
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Complaints- Complaints need to be submitted in writing with name attached no later than 7 days of such said incident. Once complaint is received council has 7 days to review and decide if complaint holds merit. Complaint can be handled without needing a motion of council and notify complaint submitter of such said action otherwise. It will be need to be added to agenda of scheduled meeting. This way we have documentation. This is in reference to any type of complaint.
Update & Business: City Auditor/Lisa Hall
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Budget- Watts previously spoke with Lisa about doing a more detailed budget than what is currently done. Lisa will look into what is available on current program or get example from Watts and create one.
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Motion by Burton second by Koropatnicki to approve September financials. Ayes all present. Motion carries.
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Temp help wage- Motion by Burton second by Koropatnicki to pay temporary help $10 per hour for helping in office. Ayes: Watts, Huttunen, Koropatnicki and Burton. Nay: Martin. Motion carries.
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Water/Sewer rates (lagoon) - Lisa spoke to Drayton and they have a rate on their bill strictly for lagoon for $5/month. Tabled.
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Office hours update- No change. Hours are still 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and it is posted on door, face book and answering machine. After Lisa’s next appointment on October 26th with the orthopedic surgeon she will update.
New Business:
Motion to adjourn by Martin at 8:18 p.m.
By: Mayor, Mike Fitzgerald
Attested to: Lisa Hall, Auditor
