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

City of Bigfork

Public Hearing and Regular Meeting October 10, 2006

Members Present: Amy Tendrup, Lonnie Kacon, Amy Pifher, and Richard Salmi

Absent: Jean Lexvold

Also Present: Julie Aakhus, Gene Collins, Tim & Anne Collins, Robert Johnson, Jim Manske, Robin Custer, Sonny Swanlund, Ann McGarry, Carol Pifher, Public Works Superintendent Chuck Almhjeld, Warren & Caroline Welch, Gene Rajala, Dave Schminkey, Stormi Dahlquist, David Asher, Al LaTrace, Police Chief Jon Babcock, Clint Sova and David Waters

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

The public hearing was being held to discuss proposed changes to the zoning ordinance. The Planning & Zoning Commission made a recommendation that the sign regulations be revised to allow attached signs to be up to twelve percent of the building face area in size. The Commission also recommended that penalties be imposed on those who fail to obtain land use permits prior to commencing projects. There were no comments from the public on these items and Mayor Tendrup closed the public hearing at 6:04 p.m. and called the regular meeting to order

Public Forum: Mayor Tendrup asked that any members of the audience wishing to address the Council do so at this time.

Gene Rajala addressed the Council regarding Police Chief Jon Babcock’s retirement proposal. Rajala did not feel that retroactive pay should be awarded or that benefits of health insurance should be continued if Babcock were to become a part-time employee as this would set a precedent for other part-time employee benefits. He stated that the proposal was extravagant and presented a petition asking that the proposal be rescinded.

Gene Collins spoke to the Council on the same subject and stated that if the Council approved this proposal, they had no respect for the citizens.

Carol Pifher stepped to the podium and asked if the people who had signed the petition had been told that the school district would be paying the majority of the costs of Babcock’s wages under this new proposal. She noted that if the City does not have its own police department, you could wait a long time for the Itasca County Sheriff’s Department to respond to a call. Pifher felt that we need law enforcement present in the city and that Babcock’s proposal was not at all out of line. She noted that other part-time employee benefits could be prorated so that a precedent was not set.

Tim Collins spoke next and declared that Babcock is only on duty when he is in uniform so if he pulls someone over in plain clothes, they have the right to drive off. Collins did not feel the proposal should be accepted.

Anne Collins stated that she had telephoned Itasca County Sheriff Pat Medure and asked about having the County patrol the City. By her calculations, the City would save about $3,000 a year by using the County for coverage.

Tendrup closed the public forum.

Tendrup called for any changes to the agenda. Motion made by Kacon, seconded by Pifher to approve the agenda, Motion Carried Unanimously (MCU).

Salmi requested that the claims be removed from the consent agenda for further discussion.

Consent Agenda #1- approval of the minutes of the September 13th regular and August 24th special Council meetings

#2- approval of the Police Report for September 2006

#3- approval of the City Clerk’s Office Report for September 2006

#4- approval of the Budget Report for September 2006

#5- approval of the Public Works Department report for September 2006

#6- approval of the hire of Charles Almhjeld as Public Works Superintendent

#7- approval of Ordinance #128, amending Title VII of the City of Bigfork Code of Ordinances

#8- removed for further discussion

(copies of documentation relating to any consent agenda item are available at the City Clerk’s office)

Motion by Kacon to approve the Consent Agenda, seconded by Pifher. (MCU)

Consent Agenda #8: Salmi requested clarification on claims to Aitkin Implement, Short-Elliott-Hendrickson (SEH), Glen Hopkins and Bruan Intertec. Motion to approve claims by Salmi, seconded by Pifher, MCU.

Dave Schminkey: Schminkey informed the Council that he has been working on getting a skating rink in town. He has looked at an area in the City Park as a possible location and was requesting permission to pursue issues of insurance, maintenance, and proximity to utilities and the snowmobile trail. Swanlund suggested talking to Father Steve as he had worked on this last year and may have some ideas and information. Salmi suggested talking to the school district to see about locating it near the school. Schminkey will explore both of these suggestions. Motion by Pifher to allow Storlie to investigate issues of insurance, maintenance and proximity to utilities and the snowmobile trail, seconded by Salmi, MCU.

OLD BUSINESS:

City Engineer’s Report: Julie Kennedy reviewed that the Council had made a motion at the last meeting to solicit additional quotes for the airport pavement maintenance project. Four quotes were received and SEH is recommending acceptance of the quote from Bergman Companies in the amount of $37,000. The City is responsible for twenty percent of this cost with the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) covering the other eighty percent. Salmi was concerned about getting the project done before winter and wondered if the MnDOT grant would be available next year. Kennedy responded that the grant is not guaranteed. She explained that this is part one of a two-step process necessary to repair the runway. Motion by Pifher to accept Bergman Companies’ proposal and solicit financial assistance from Itasca County, Bergquist and surrounding local governments, seconded by Kacon who volunteered to attend meetings of other local governments if necessary, MCU.

Kennedy updated the Council on the airport mound system. She and Almhjeld met with representatives from Bergquist and the City’s Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) Compliance Officer. The MPCA will not wait any longer for the City to enter into a user agreement with Bergquist for the mound system. Kennedy will be working on drafting the agreement. Tendrup reviewed that the MPCA questioned the design that was submitted due to the fact that the system had failed previously. Kennedy will continue to work with the MPCA to come up with an acceptable design. She reviewed that the geotechnical data supports a mound system design and SEH feels that the previous failure of the system was due to construction issues, not design. Salmi suggested using an alternative system and Kennedy responded that our goal is to get the system removed from our NPDES permit and using an alternative system would not accomplish this goal.

Kiosk Property: The City had petitioned Itasca County for a tax-forfeit parcel of property adjacent to kiosk property. This property is located in the highway easement. Motion by Pifher to drop the request, seconded by Salmi, MCU.

NEW BUSINESS:

Tony Pifher Sewer Hookup: The contractor performing Tony Pifher’s water and sewer hookup is requesting a credit of $400 on the sewer connection fee. Almhjeld explained that there were two different utility maps of the area, one showing the sewer hookup on one side of the road, one showing it on the other. The contractor dug on both sides of the road and did not find a hookup in either place. He is requesting the discount to cover the extra costs for installing a hookup. Motion to allow this discount by Salmi, seconded by Pifher, MCU.

Personnel Committee Recommendations: The Personnel Committee had four recommendations for the City Council, the first of which was the retirement proposal from Police Chief Jon Babcock. Babcock stated that there was a lot of misinformation being circulated and he hoped to clear some of that up. He stated that he does want to retire in order to spend more time with his family and have a personal life again. He clarified that he has spoken with Medure who has stated that the County would not charge the City anything if the police department was kept in tact, as through this proposal. Babcock stated that his work as the School Liaison Officer had brought over $20,000 to the City and felt this was justification for his retroactive pay request. He noted that his budget for 2007 has already been approved and a savings of over $38,000 on that budget would be realized with the acceptance of this proposal. Salmi asked what Babcock is currently making. Babcock responded that he makes $17.06 per hour. His proposal requests a salary of $12,000 per year. The money received from the school district would cover all but three or four thousand of this amount. The proposal requested continuation of the current health insurance coverage and the addition of dental coverage. Tendrup did not feel the City could offer dental coverage to Babcock and not the other employees. She had discussed this with Babcock previously and both agreed to remove that portion of the proposal. Salmi had concerns about the cost of health insurance, vehicle use and maintenance, and workman’s compensation. He did not feel there was enough information and made a motion to table the issue until after the first of the year. Tendrup noted that Babcock would like to retire December 31st of this year and waiting until after the first of the year would be too late. The motion died for lack of a second. Motion by Pifher to send the proposal back to the Personnel Committee for further negotiations and information, seconded by Kacon, MCU. Anne Collins asked if the petition would be forwarded to the Personnel Committee and Tendrup responded that it would.

The Personnel Committee’s second recommendation was to accept the resignation of Michael Hunter as Water/Wastewater/Maintenance Assistant. Motion to accept by Pifher, seconded by Kacon, MCU.

The third recommendation was to hire Michael Love to replace Hunter as the Water/Wastewater/Maintenance Assistant. There is no need to post this position as it was so recently posted. Motion to hire Michael Love as Water/Wastewater/Maintenance Assistant by Pifher, seconded by Kacon, MCU.

The final recommendation was to approve the use of the previously used materials and posting of the now open Casual Maintenance Laborer position. Motion to post the position and approve the materials by Kacon, seconded by Pifher, MCU.

Resolution 2006-23: Motion to approve Resolution 2006-23: appointing election judges for the 2006 general election by Kacon, seconded by Pifher, MCU.

Joint Small Cities Program Grant Application: Motion by Salmi, seconded by Kacon to approve participation in a joint application for a SCDP grant, MCU.

Committee Vacancies: Joyce Thompson has volunteered to serve on the Personnel Committee. Motion to appoint Thompson to the Personnel Committee by Kacon, seconded by Pifher, MCU. There continues to be a vacancy on the Planning & Zoning Commission. Anyone interested should contact the City Clerk’s office.

OTHER BUSINESS:

Salmi stated that the power building and bathroom at the airport need to be painted. Carol and Amy Pifher have already volunteered to complete this in the spring.

Mayor Tendrup adjourned at 7:38 pm.

Angie Storlie

City Clerk/Treasurer