DRAFT – These minutes are not official until approved at the next regular City Council meeting.

City of Bigfork

Regular Meeting March 13, 2007

Members Present: Mayor Amy Tendrup, Linda Koppelmann, Eugene Rajala and Richard Salmi

Absent: Jean Lexvold

Also Present: Police Officer Clint Sova, Public Works Superintendent Chuck Almhjeld, Julie Aakhus, Robert Johnson, David Waters, Boone Danielson, Jim Manske, Matt David, Caroline Welch, Al LaTrace, Gene Collins, John VanNyhuis and David Asher

Mayor Tendrup called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.

Public Forum: Tendrup asked anyone wishing to address the Council to do so at this time. As no one wished to do so, the public forum was closed.

Tendrup asked for additions to the agenda. Rajala asked that health insurance for new employees, the recent water leak and missing liquor from the liquor store be added. Storlie presented Resolution 2007-05 to be added to the agenda. The agenda was approved as amended in a motion by Koppelmann, seconded by Rajala, motion carried unanimously (MCU).

Consent Agenda Salmi asked that item #6 be pulled for further discussion.

#1- approval of the minutes of the February 13th regular City Council meeting

#2- approval of the Police Report for February 2007

#3- approval of the City Clerk’s Office Report for February 2007

#4- approval of the Budget Report for February 2007

#5- approval of the Public Works Department report for February 2007

#6 removed for further discussion.

Motion by Rajala to approve the Consent Agenda, seconded by Koppelmann, MCU

Copies of documentation relating to any consent agenda item are available at the City Clerk’s office.

Commissioner's Reports: Airport Commissioner Salmi reported that Rajala had cleared trees from the south end of the runway. Salmi stated he would continue to work on getting the rest of the cracks filled as well as having the buildings painted. Tendrup reminded him that there were a few volunteers who were willing to do the painting. Rajala was thanked for his work.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS:

Consent Agenda Item #6: Salmi questioned claims from the Law Office of Shaw & Shaw and Short Elliott Hendrickson Inc (SEH). Storlie explained that the bill from Shaw covered work done on annexation and gas franchise. The bill from SEH covered two months' worth of services including work on the airport mound system rehabilitation, amendments to the City's Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) permit, significant industrial user agreement with Bergquist, Division Avenue refunds, revision and submittal of the airport Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) and Iron Range Resources (IRR) grants, and miscellaneous zoning items. Motion to approve the claims paid in the amount of $13,696.93, including the February 15th and 28th payrolls, and to approve the claims for payment in the amount of $24,484.81 by Rajala, seconded by Koppelmann, MCU.

Engineering Updates: Tendrup noted that City Engineer Julie Kennedy had sent a memo to the Council with her updates as she was unable to attend the meeting. The first item to be addressed was the City's Future Projects Planning Schedule. Kennedy noted that the Schedule had been amended as discussed at the last Council meeting. Storlie reported that Itasca County has penciled in County Road 78 in the City as being a possible municipal state aid project around 2010. This means that the City can complete a cooperative project with the County. Kennedy has indicated that this could also be a good time to look at relocating the sanitary forcemain and sewer pond access road and recommended that item on the Schedule be moved from 2007 to 2010. Motion by Rajala, seconded by Koppelmann to approve the Schedule with the recommended revision, MCU.

The second item from Kennedy's memo was the airport mound system. She reported that it was her understanding that the Council was not interested in pursuing a joint project with the City of Effie. She also noted that Storlie had been directed to obtain information on the possible abandonment of the system. The information obtained from the US Army Corps of Engineers indicated that the City would be in breach of their agreement with the Corps if the system were abandoned and they could be forced to pay back the grant dollars from the Corps that were used to install the system. In addition, the City would not be eligible to participate in Corps grant agreements in the future. City of Effie Mayor Matt David was present and inquired about the possibility of using the grant dollars to hook the airport and Bergquist up to Effie's new system. Storlie had contacted the Corps about this and was told that if Effie was interested in serving Bergquist with their new system, that would be fine; however the City of Bigfork's agreement with the Corps was to maintain a system for the municipal airport and the Corps intended on holding the City to that agreement. David stated that it wouldn't be worth it for Effie to try to connect Bergquist unless Bigfork's grant dollars could be used to help pay for it.

Rajala stated that he was in favor of getting rid of the mound system. Tendrup stated that we are legally tied to it through the grant agreement with the Corps. Furthermore, the MPCA has given the City until the end of 2007 to correct the failing system. A decision was necessary in order to allow time for the rehabilitation project to be designed, bid and constructed before that deadline. Salmi asked if Effie could take over Bergquist and the City could fix the mound just enough to handle the airport bathrooms. Public Works Superintendent Chuck Almhjeld stated that the rehabilitation of the mound would be the same whether or not Bergquist is connected to it so it wouldn’t save any money to not include them in the plans for rehabilitation. Tendrup reminded the Council that the rehabilitation project will not cost the City of Bigfork any money as there are grant dollars in place to cover the costs. Rajala felt that we were in a corner due to the agreement with the Corps. Koppelmann agreed that the City really had no option and made a motion to authorize Kennedy to finalize engineering plans and specifications for the rehabilitation of the mound system and submit them to MPCA for approval, seconded by Salmi, MCU.

Salmi asked for a running account of the costs and reimbursements related to the mound system project so far.

Annexation: A letter was received from City Attorney Andy Shaw reporting on his and Tendrup's visit with Bigfork Township at their last meeting. The letter noted that the Township had stated their intention to fight the City on annexation. Salmi stated that any talk of annexation should have gone through the Council and accused the Planning & Zoning Commission of contacting Shaw without Council's knowledge. Tendrup reminded Salmi that the Council had directed the Planning & Zoning Commission to begin discussing areas for annexation. She pointed out the minutes of the last Council meeting where a motion was passed to direct her and Shaw to attend the next Bigfork Township meeting. Salmi disagreed. He stated that the Township was upset because the City's attorney was involved and he felt that annexation could be accomplished without involving the attorney. Tendrup again reminded him that it was the Council who had directed Shaw to attend the Township's meeting. Rajala stated that the motion made was to discuss the annexation of Logger's Inn only but the Planning & Zoning Commission was talking about other properties. Tendrup explained that the Planning & Zoning Commission was directed by the Council to begin discussion of future annexation and that's what they had done. The Council had determined to only pursue the Logger's Inn property at this time and that is all that was discussed with Bigfork Township. Salmi was concerned about the cost of using the City Attorney so much. Tendrup felt that it was more cost effective to utilize professional assistants at the start of an issue and make sure things are done properly than to have to go back and fix things that may not have been done properly.

Streetlights: Almhjeld stated that before he had started in his position, the decision was made to turn off one-half of the street lights. He has counted and there are 80 of them, however he cannot find 40 that, in his opinion, would be appropriate to turn off. He asked for direction from the Council on which lights to turn off. Tendrup noted that another option to pay for street lighting was to set up a street light utility. Almhjeld noted that Minnesota Power would be in the area soon to take down the winter light pole decorations and that would be the time to get the lights turned off. David noted that in Effie's work on a streetscape project, he has learned that it is illegal to have non-uniform lighting and the City could be held liable for accidents if there are light and dark spots. Almhjeld and Storlie were asked to look into the liability and then to come up with a plan of which lights, if any, to shut off.

Welcome to Bigfork Sign: Storlie had contacted the insurance agent as requested at the last meeting regarding reimbursement of the cost of replacement of the sign that was destroyed in an accident. It was recommended that the City pursue reimbursement through the court restitution system before turning anything in to the insurance company. Rajala stated that he would like to see the new sign in place by summertime and so made a motion to accept the quote from NorthTec imaging for replacement of the sign. The motion was seconded by Salmi, MCU.

Resolution 2007-05: This resolution was presented by the City's bond counsel for issuance of a bond to repay the Division Avenue assessments. Rajala asked why the City needed to sell bonds for this and Storlie explained that it is not legal for a City to take out a regular loan and this was the only way to borrow the funds as the Council had voted to do. Rajala stated that he had noticed that the City had just over $11,000 in the liquor store investment fund. As there is no longer a liquor store, he felt that money should be used for the repayments rather than bonding for the funds. Motion by Rajala to transfer funds from the liquor store investment fund, when it matures, to the 1997 Bond Debt Service Fund to be used for repayment of the Division Avenue Assessments, seconded by Koppelmann, MCU.

Water Leak: Rajala stated that when the water leak happened last week, many people assisted the City in finding and fixing it including Salmi, Gene Collins, Doug Campbell, Dave Waters, Tom Gustafson and Lonnie Kacon. Rajala noted that Gustafson had also been called in the past to assist with a frozen sewer line and he felt that both Waters and Gustafson should be compensated for their time. He also felt that the City's maps of the water and sewer system were insufficient and stated they should all be moved into the public works office and organized. Rajala commented that Water/Wastewater/Maintenance Assistant Joe Zimmer had done a great job dealing with the water leak. Rajala felt that Zimmer's ability and effort were 100% and his attitude was 110% and that everyone owed him a debt of gratitude. Tendrup added that she had also heard many positive comments about everyone's efforts. Rajala stated that while the water was off for two days, no one from the Police Department was present and he felt they should have been there to offer help with signage, etc. Rajala stated that the Public Works Department was in need of new tools and recommended that Almhjeld get a new set of tools for each of the Public Works trucks.

Rajala felt that the reason for the leak was that the fire hydrant used to water the greenhouse last summer was not completely shut off, allowing water to saturate the ground in that area. Waters stated that when he worked for the City there was a special meter used for obtaining water from fire hydrants. Almhjeld noted that the proper way to allow use of water from hydrants is to install a vacuum breaker on one hydrant and have everyone use that hydrant for bulk water supply.

A motion was made by Rajala and seconded by Koppelmann to pay Dave Waters $200 and Tom Gustafson $100 for their recent assistance to the City, MCU.

Salmi stated that there is only one line going across the Bigfork River and we should have two. Rajala stated that one of the valves got packed with mud and they weren't able to unclog it. Almhjeld has been made aware of this. Rajala also stated that the lift station near the Rice River bridge continues to freeze and he was under the assumption that this problem would be alleviated when a water/sewer project was done in that area in 2005.

Missing Liquor: Rajala asked what the status of the missing liquor from the liquor store was. The Council had previously determined to reimburse the new bar owner for liquor that was found missing between the time a final inventory was taken and the time it was purchased. Police Officer Clint Sova noted that Police Chief Jon Babcock has been in contact with the parent of the minor who is responsible for the missing liquor and they will reimburse the City a reasonable amount.

NEW BUSINESS:

Itasca County Snowplowing Contract: Motion by Rajala, seconded by Koppelmann to renew the contract with Itasca County for plowing/grading services in 2007/2008, MCU.

Health Benefits: Rajala wanted to make a policy that new full-time hires pay for a portion of their health insurance. Tendrup noted that the Personnel Committee should be asked to review all employee benefits in general and report to the Council and Budget Committee on this. Motion by Rajala to refer this to both the Budget Committee and Personnel Committee, seconded by Salmi, MCU.

Personnel Committee Recommendations: As the Personnel Committee did not meet, there were no recommendations. Recommendations will be made at the next meeting.

OTHER BUSINESS:

Mayor Tendrup adjourned the meeting at 7:26 p.m.

Angie Storlie

City Clerk/Treasurer