December 2013 Minutes

City of Pembina

Pembina, North Dakota 58271

152 W. Rolette St.

Official Minutes December 9^th, 2013 City Council Meeting

Council Members Present: Mayor John Feldman; Council –Bev Burke, Greg Wilmer, Greg Truax and Debbie Stanhope.

Absent: Dan Waldrop.

City Employees Present: Auditor Nancy Thompson and Public Works Ken Norby.

Absent:

City Attorney: Rob Fleming.

City Engineer Absent: Brad Bail.

Others Present: Greg &Corie Koropatnicki, Nancy Feldman, Ceara Burdick, Warren Hillukka, Nate Dalager (HDR Engineer), Brian Erovick (PE County Sheriff dept.), Katherine Olson, Rachel Stegman, and Everett Manning (Pe Ambulance members)

Zoning hearing: No one present

Public Portion

Nancy Feldman – Was wondering about being paid for taking November meeting minutes – She will be paid for taking the minutes

Holly Phillips – Unable to attend .She did talk to a Council member about the street cleaning of snow in her part of town. This last storm the street by her house filled in bad .The streets Jerome and 5^th on that end of town have always been a bad area for the snow filling in during a storm. Discussion was had on cleaning of the city streets during a snow storm.

Brian Erovick – Was here at the request of the Council .Some residents have had complaints about the Sheriff’s dept not responding to calls. Erovick and Council discussed why the Sheriffs’ dept can’t enforce city ordinances. They also talked about the Attorney General’s opinion on enforcing city ordinances. This opinion states, “the duties of a sheriff…do not extend to the enforcement of city ordinances. Erovick informed the Council of a few different contract options with them. The contract price is decided by the PE County Commissioners not the Sheriffs dept.

PE Ambulance – Was here at the request of the Counil.They presented their grant information to the Council and went over the requirement to keep the grant from the state ( see attachment)

Nate Dalager - Gave a levee update to the Council Warren Hillukka was here with Nate for the levee update. They and the Council discussed the SWC cost share agreement for the construction end of this project. At this point it looks like the cost share will be the city pays 40% and the SWC will pay 60 % of the projects construction costs.

Regular Meeting: Called to order by acting Mayor Feldman at 6:40 p.m.

Changes / Addition Made Agenda: Old Business-

New Business:

2. Approval/ Changes Novembers Minutes:

Motion by Wilmer,second by Burke to approve November minutes - Ayes by all present.

3. Old Business:

Bret Corneliusen: A letter was sent to him last month from Fleming letting him know that he would have to find a contractor to come into his home for the cleanup. The city was unable to get a contractor for this. - keep on old business

Coin operated waterier: Still being worked on.- keep on old business
Pest detective (dike): Will contact in spring. - keep on old business
Red River approach: Same as last month will fix in spring 2014. - keep on old business
Fed Ex Sewer hookup: Haven’t heard if this is done. - keep on old business
Community center plaques holders: Wilmer didn’t have time to contact the schools shop teacher about the making of a plaque hanger for plaques to slide in and out of. Mayor Feldman asked Ken if he would contact the shop teacher on this. - Keep on old business
Spot Bar: - keep on old business
Loader Lease – Copies made for city files and copy of the letter from Fleming sent to John Deere. This is done remove from old business.
Ice Rink – Copy of November minutes were given to Ronda Warner. She will contact Ken when they are going to flood rink. There are looking at installing a special hydrant for winter use in the future. Ronda Warner gave ice rink updates to Thompson for Council .(see attachment) –remove from old business

4. Engineer Report/Brad Bail:

Water/Sewer project (update): Nothing new with Spruce has been resolved at this time.

Thompson has been in contact with Bail and Fleming regarding the two asphalt fixes on 3^rd St. She has found one payment for the fix on 3^rd by the coulee. Spruce sent the city a bill for this and the city paid Spruce directly (see attachment).Thompson cannot find any form of payment to Spruce for the fix on 3^rd by the school .She has contacted the school to see if maybe they had been billed for this and they had not . She also contacted Mindak to see if they kept track of the areas the asphalt repairs were done and they do not .They only keep track of quantity used and, said our engineering companies inspector was keeping track of those areas .

5. Attorney Update:

Ernie Ruet D’auetuil – Judge Fontaine has signed order .Thompson has been in contact with Twamley and had a date set of November 26^th for the house to come down. Do to being short handed Twamley was unable to do it that day. A new date was set for December 2^nd because it snowed that day they were unable to proceed as they had snow removal to do .They will contact Thompson when they are able to fit this in . The Sheriffs dept had been contacted to be present for this and will be again when a new date is set.

Police contract: Council discussed the different options they have to contract with Sheriffs dept Fleming will look into this.

6. Employees Report/Concerns

Gastrak approach: Ken let Council know he cleaned it out once and was wondering if it needs to be done again if it was ok. Council said it was ok to do once and awhile

Snow removal: Snow is being pushed out onto the city streets from the contractor who does the snow removal for GSA and it’s after the city has cleaned the snow off. Nancy will send a letter to Blake Skinner (GSA) and also to the contractor and the uptown government building about the snow removal protocol. Ken was wondering if anyone on the Council gave anyone permission to pile snow back behind the Spot Bar and the city water tower. No one present from the Council had given permission for this. Nancy will contact B&T snow removal about the snow from the Corner Bar and that it can be hauled over the bridge and piled where the city has its snow pile.

7. Update & Business: Mayor

CDBG form: Mayor just let Council know he received this form and it needed to be signed. This form is for our water / sewer project grant funds.

8 Update & Business: City Auditor/ Nancy Thompson

Nov Financials: approved by Council present.
Dec JE entries &bills: approved by Council present.
Airport loan – As of date the loan the city gave the Airport $4,000 of the $5,000 has been paid back to the city growth fund.
Election: The absentee ballot ad was put in the paper .The names were drawn from a box for the order they appear on the ballot .Thompson had Allen Huttunen draw the names out .Nancy let Council know she found the three workers needed for the election .The council just needs to approved them and set rate for working the election. Motion by Wilmer,second by Stanhope to approve the following for election offices Gladys Kemnitz election Inspector, Paula Martin and Gene Warner election Judges. Ayes by all present. Motion by Wilmer,second by Stanhope to pay election officers the same rate North Borders School pays for working school election. Ayes by all present.
Natural gas: The Border Station called Thompson asking about natural gas and that they are interested in using that .Thompson informed them that MCI at one point was interested in natural gas also
Additional boat ramp light: Dean Warner spoke to few Rec Brd members about the need for another light down at the boat ramp it will roughly cost an extra $17.00 a month .OTPC needs the city’s approval to move ahead with this. Council wants Thompson to talk to Warren Hillukka on this for next’s months meeting.

9. Committee Reports

Zoning Committee: Public hearing was had at beginning of city meeting and no one came with objections.The Zoning Committee recommends to the Council to zone Lot 8 of block 16 from residential to commercial. Motion by Wilmer,second by Stanhope to rezone Lot 8 of block 16 from residential to commercial. Roll call vote Ayes Burke, Wilmer, Truax and Stanhope. Nays: none. Absent and not voting Waldrop. Motion carries.

10. New Business

Ambulance –Council discussed the local funding match from the city and what the ambulance needs to keep their state grant. Council looked at decreasing the monthly dollar amount they are currently giving the ambulance .So they can try and help the Fire dept out with purchasing the Jaws of Life. They don’t want the funding decrease to hurt the ambulance financially .The committee members present thought they would be ok. The city will give the ambulance $2,000 a month for two years instead of $3,000 the other $1,000 will be used for helping to purchase the Jaws of Life.
Fire Dept: Council discussed the out dated Jaws of Life the Fire dept has and the need for a new one. This is a very important piece of equipment that needs to be updated .The city looked at different options to help the Fire dept in buying the new Jaw of Life. The letter from the Fire dept stated it would cost roughly $35, 00.00 to buy a new Jaws of Life. Motion by Wilmer,second by Truax to take out a 5year loan with CSB for $35,000.00 to purchase the Jaws of Life. Roll call vote Ayes Burke, Wilmer, Truax and Stanhope. Nays: none. Absent and not voting Waldrop. Motion carries. Fleming will draft an agreement between city and Fire Dept for next month’s meeting regarding the Jaws of Life .Also the city wants any donations made for the Jaws of Life to the Fire Dept be paid directly on the loan and a receipt of that will be given to the city office.

11. Adjournment: Motion by Burke to adjourn at 7: 50 p.m.

By: ___________________________________

Council President, John Feldman (acting Mayor)

Attested to: _________________________________

Nancy Thompson, Auditor/Administrator