City of Pembina, ND

Official Minutes for August 10th, 2020, Pembina City Council Meeting

Council Members Present: Mayor Mike Fitzgerald, President Jeff Watts, VP Ron Fritz, Pat Burton, Greg Koropatnicki, Jennifer Martin and Allen Huttunen

Absent: none

 City Employees Present: Lisa Hall/Auditor, Gary Helland/ Public Works Superintendent

City Attorney Present: Rob Fleming

City Engineer: Brad Bail

Others present:

Public Portion-no one present.

Meeting called to order by Mayor Fitzgerald at 6:00 p.m.

Changes to Agenda

Add slow children signs under Gary, abandoned vehicles under attorney, airport authority under committee reports.

Motion by Burton, second by Fritz to approve the agenda with changes. Ayes all present. Motion carries.

Motionby Fritz,second by Watts to approve July’s meeting’s minutes. Ayes all present. Motion carries.

Huttunen arrives 6:04 p.m.

Old Business

• Degelder offer- Motion by Burton, second by Fritz to set flat rate of $2,000 per lot for any lot. Ayes all present. Motion carries.   

• Salon ceiling/PPB roof- Burton suggested going on roof and using a hose to try pinpoint the leak location. 

• Spot Bar- Lisa spoke with David from Forest River Colony and he advised her they would not have the project done by September 1^st as requested but would be started in September. Motion by Burton, second by Martin to extend the date to September 15^th. Ayes all present. Motion carries. 

• Insurance discounts- Lisa checked with insurance company and there are no discounts for being certified for equipment usage. Also, Lisa let council know that anyone even if not an employee who is operating city equipment doing something for the city will be covered under city’s insurance. 

  Engineer Report/Brad Bail – Brad will email the numbers for the lagoon plans. Will discuss the ditch at 3^rd & Hancock with Gary after meeting.

  Attorney Update / Rob Fleming-

• Abandoned pickup- Pickup on Cavalier Street across the street from Reis Apartments has been sitting there for some time and does not have plates on it.Put notice on the pickup giving 48 hours to move it or it will be towed.

• Update condemned buildings- Gave overview of the building inspectors findings. David Thompson’s house – not suitable for occupancy in current state, Ernie Ruet D’auetuil-uninhabitable in current state and a public nuisance, Corneliusen – condemnable, shed behind 423 W Stutsman- public nuisance and a safety hazard. Motion by Watts, second by Huttunen to get bids on demolishing these buildings before taking next steps. Ayes all present. Motion carries. On house at 152 W Hayden St there have been requests for the stain glass window. Put out on bids before fire department uses for training burn. 

• Lodging tax- First reading of the City Lodging Tax and a City Lodging and Restaurant Tax for the City of Pembina.

   

  Council business/concerns:

• Overtime- Discussion on overtime and how the PTO works. Find the motion that was made allowing PTO to be used towards hours worked. 

• Golf cart- Burton said he has had several complaints about the golf cart being used for reading meters and going through yards. Told Gary to not drive in the yards. 

• Shop keys-GK- Burton and Koropatnicki requesting keys to the city buildings. Motion by Huttunen second by Watts to have Gary make them both a set of keys. Ayes all present. Motion carries. 

• Chales gas log-GK- Koropatnicki asking for clarification on the different locations of where we get gas and what equipment used for. 

• Job logs-PB- Burton said looked good but one was missed. Gary had brought missing one in and Lisa emailed after the others. 

• Grass clippings on street- A note on last utility bill to not blow clippings on street. Put notice in paper, posting on face book and posters hung around town. Clippings on street are nuisance, safety hazard and causes problems with storm drains. Motion by Huttunen, second by Burton to attach fine to ordinance for blowing grass clippings from your yard onto the city street at $100. Ayes all present. Motion carries. 

• Ditch cleaning behind MCI- Koropatnicki had complaint from Jerry at MCI about the ditch not being cleaned. Koropatnicki will show Gary which area he is talking about and Gary will try use the brush mower on it to get it cleaned up. 

• Old pickup- Burton suggests pulling the controls out of it and put sander in other pickup. Take the heavy load springs off and transfer to other one also. Not worth anything to scrap or sell it. Either junk it or keep for parts. 

• SP campgrounds- Koropatnicki said looks good down there now had previously had complaints about not being mowed and trimmed. Also the garbage cans in campground other week were over flowing. Two weeks ago Fitzgerald had thrown away 4 bags of garbage from campground. Huttunen said he had been down there and cleaned that morning they are referring to. Huttunen advised council he doesn’t check it every day. Huttunen stated that if the wishes of council is to have someone drive down there and check campground multiple times a day they will have to find someone else to do it because he is not doing it as a full time gig and is making $40 per week.

   

  Employee Report/Concerns-  

• Blue pump hose- Motion by Koropatnicki second by Burton to purchase the hoses quoted from Ferguson. Ayes all present. Motion carries. 

• Slow children signs- Gary had some residents on 2^nd St and Hancock asking if we could put a slow children sign up. Fleming suggested the green children at play figure. Koropatnicki said to price them out and let them know. 

• Contract mowing- Lisa received an email from Denton Symington asking if city would be interested in hiring him to mow the dikes. No need for hiring as we have used our zero turn for last 3 years to mow dikes. 

  Update & Business: Mayor –

• President/Vice President- Fitzgerald made suggestion that Fritz move to president then appoint a vice president or vice versa. Motion by Koropatnicki second by Burton to appoint Watts as president. Ayes all present. Motion carries. 

• Committee’s meetings- Mayor Fitzgerald requesting that within the next two months he wants all the committees to have a meeting with a report to council stating their goals and any projects coming up. They need to show the community they have some activity. 

  Update & Business: City Auditor/Lisa Hall 

• Preliminary Budget- Motion by Burton second by Martin to raise taxes to 138.5 mills. Ayes all present. Motion carries. Motion by Burton second by Watts to disburse the extra mills with 2 mills to capital improvement and 3.88 to emergency. Ayes all present. Motion carries. 

• Motion by Huttunen second by Watts to approve July financials and August bills. Ayes all present. Motion carries. 

• Schedule Final budget hearing - The public budget hearing will be held on September 8^th at 5 p.m. 

• NDLC Annual Conference- Lisa asked council if anyone was interested in attending this year via video conference. She will email the information from NDLC since most didn’t get the email. Will add to September agenda to get their answers. 

  Committee Reports:

• Airport Authority- Watts did some checking and the land is owned by the airport authority. No one could tell him what exactly an airport authority is. Another question was how they can operate a private business out of it. Fleming informed that an airport authority is still part of the city and can receive mills. Also said it is common for the airport authority to own the property themselves. 

• Fire Department- Chief Eisenbeis unable to attend. 

  New Business: 

  Motion to adjourn by Fritz at 7:43 p.m.

  By: Mayor, Mike Fitzgerald

 Attested to: Lisa Hall, Auditor