Official Minutes for April 12th, 2021, Pembina City Council Meeting
Council Members Present: Mayor Mike Fitzgerald, President Jeff Watts, VP Ron Fritz, Greg Koropatnicki, Pat Burton and Allen Huttunen (via phone)
Absent: Jennifer Martin
City Employees Present: Lisa Hall/Auditor, Gary Helland/Public Works Superintendent
City Attorney Present: Rob Fleming
City Engineer: absent
Others present: Blaine Eisenbeis-PFD Chief, Brenda Masloski
Public Portion- nothing
Meeting called to order by Mayor Fitzgerald at 6:00 p.m.
Changes to Agenda
Add street repair-third street, Stutsman and 5th Street, alley adjacent to city office building, Team Lab spraying under employee concerns. Add age of employees under committees. Add Spot Bar lot under old business. Remove burn pile and committee spending limit from under committees. Motion by Burton second by Watts to approve agenda with changes. Ayes all present. Motion carries.
Motionby Watts,second by Koropatnicki to approve March’s meeting minutes with changes. Ayes all present. Motion carries.
Old Business
- Ambulance budget- Council would like detailed breakdown of wages paid out and what the $3000 per month was originally assigned to and what it is being used for now.
- Budget-Lisa will present transfers to start.
- 5th Street Parking- Lisa will ask Terry to have a deputy come through early Saturday morning for the “NO PARKING” enforcement once we make sure signs are in place.
- Tree pile- Motion by Watts second by Koropatnicki to accept the bid of $500 from Enerson Construction to remove the ash from the tree pile. Ayes all present. Motion carries
- Meeting room tables/chairs- Fritz stated what we currently have is good enough for monthly meeting. Discussion dropped.
- Spot Bar- Motion by Burton second by Watts to drop the asking price to $30,000 or best offer and advertise again. Ayes: Watts, Burton, Koropatnicki and Fritz. Nays: Huttunen. Motion carries.
Committee Reports:
- Fire Department- Motion by Huttunen second by Fritz to accept the fire departments proposal to disband the rural department and reorganize under the city. Ayes all present. Motion carries. The new radios are mandatory to have updated by 2024.
- South Pembina- Motion by Huttunen second by Watts to purchase one load of aggregate for $2,146.25 from Bryan Rock. Ayes all present. Motion carries. Motion by Burton second by Watts to accept the donation from Red River Freight that was presented. Ayes all present. Motion carries. Motion by Watts second by Burton to accept the bid from BNB of $2850.00 to roof the pavilion. Ayes all present. Motion carries. Motion by Burton second by Huttunen that the city will apply for self-help funds for the pavilion renovation in south Pembina. Ayes all present. Motion carries. Mayor Fitzgerald brought up age requirements for the janitorial job in south Pembina. Discussion was had. Will wait for applications to come in and review at that time.
Employee Report/Concerns-
- Rental dumpster repairs- All 3 dumpsters have holes that need repair. Gary will price out new dumpsters and the price of new steel.
- Drainage west end along dike/mci drainage ditch- This ditch is not draining due to Gastrak’s culvert. Lisa will contact the water board.
- Summer help- Will hire Oivind along with two other summer help. Lisa will advertise and have deadline for applications in time for May meeting.
- Fire calls- Gary requesting that he be allowed to go on the fire calls without having to clock out. Informed council he is very involved in the fire department. Koropatnicki quoted past minutes of motion allowing employee to make up hours or use PTO for hours missed. Chief Eisenbeis informed council he really counts on Gary during the day when a call comes in. Motion by Fritz that employee does not need to clock out to go on fire call. No second. Motion dies.
- Team Lab spraying- Motion by Koropatnicki second by Burton to accept bid from Team Lab for spraying. Ayes all present. Motion carries.
- Street repairs- Once it dries up 3rd & Stutsman and the square in back alley by city office needs to be patched. Also, the dip on S. 3rd St by playground needs to be looked at when engineer comes up.
Engineer Report/Brad Bail –
- Sewer drain hole- Not present. Tabled.
Attorney Update / Rob Fleming-
- Update condemned buildings- Need to have hearing for the residents who received notice. The Floridians just want an estimate and sounds like they will pay the 1/3rd of demolition.
- 4th Street vacate- Need to republish for another 4 weeks as there was an error on the notice from Blake’s attorney.
- Committee’s spending limits-Fleming informed council that you cannot delegate spending authority to committees. Funds from donations and fundraising can be spent but if they are city funds they must be approved by council.
- Pembina River bridge- Lisa will ask Brad about the report from when they had the drone up to camera under the bridge. Also ask Brad about alternatives for repairing the bridge that may not be so costly.
Update & Business: Mayor –
- Library board/Jennifer Martin- Mayor Fitzgerald appoints Jennifer Martin the library board. Motion by Burton second by Fritz to approve the Mayor’s appointment. Ayes all present. Motion carries.
Council business/concerns-
- Federal building/homeless shelter- Fleming advised there is not anything the council can do to prevent this. There is a deadline for the group looking at doing this. Another party may be interested in it for a business.
- Clean up day- Lisa let council know that Ardis is working on setting a date and help.
Update & Business: City Auditor/Lisa Hall
- Motion by Watts second by Burton to approve the February financials and March bills as presented. Ayes all present. Motion carries.
- Water bill- Resident sent a request to Lisa to have her water bill forgiven after have a break in house while gone causing large usage. City water policy is if the water goes through the meter it is the home owner’s responsibility. Lisa will advise resident that water bill is due in full.
Motion to adjourn by Fritz at 7:45 p.m.
By: Mayor, Mike Fitzgerald
Attested to: Lisa Hall, Auditor
