AKELEY CITY COUNCIL
REGULAR MEETING
OCTOBER 14, 2009
7:00 PM CITY HALL
OCTOBER AGENDA
1. Call the Meeting to Order
2. Pledge of Allegiance
3. Approve Consent Agenda of…
a)
Minutes from September 9th Regular Meeting
b)
September 2009 Treasurer’s Report
c)
September 2009 Bills for Payment from Check # 5978 to
Check # 6096 including Automatic Bank Payments. Check # 6058
was voided due to a copy error.
4. Appoint New Council Member
5. Meri Beth Karl/Jody Karl – Approval for Use of
Meeting Room
6. Bob Winner – Liquor Store Report
7. Frank Thelin – Water/Sewer/Maintenance Report
8. Eric Klein – Police Report
9. Reschedule November Council Meeting Due to it Falling
on Veteran’s Day
10. Set Work Session Date for 2010 Budget
11. Old Business
12. New Business/Public
Forum
13. Adjourn
AKELEY CITY COUNCIL
REGULAR MEETING
OCTOBER 14, 2009
7:00 PM CITY HALL
The Akeley City Council met in a regular meeting Wednesday
October 14, 2009 at 7:00 pm. Mayor Jennifer Mitchell called the
meeting to order. Council members present were: Cliff Johnson,
Jon Johnson and Troy Hegg. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited
by the Council and attending audience.
Motion by Cliff Johnson seconded by Jon Johnson and carried to
approve the consent agenda consisting of the September regular
meeting minutes, the September 2009 treasurer’s report and the
September bills paid from check #5978 to check # 6096 including
automatic bank payments and a notation that check # 6058 was
voided due to a copy error.
Jennifer Mitchell stated that she had just received copies in
her mailbox of the letters of interest for the vacant council
position from Tammy Miller and Terry Chalich. She asked the
Council if they wanted to discuss the topic or if they should
table it so they could talk to both people. Jennifer suggested
having Tammy and Terry come to the work session when the 2010
budget would be discussed and the Council could talk to both
Tammy and Terry at that time.
Motion by Jon Johnson seconded by Jennifer Mitchell and carried
to reschedule the November Regular Council Meeting for Tuesday,
November 10th at 7:00 pm due to Veteran’s Day falling
on Wednesday, November 11th.
Motion by Jennifer Mitchell seconded by Troy Hegg and carried to
schedule a work session for Wednesday, October 28th
at 5:30 pm.
Meri Beth and Jody Karl submitted a written request to use the
meeting room to hold a monthly scrap booking workshop from 5:00
pm to 1:00 am. Since the rental rules and guidelines state that
the hours of use are from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm unless approved by
the City Council, they asked permission to use the meeting room
until 1:00 am.
Motion by Jennifer Mitchell seconded by Troy Hegg and carried to
allow Meri Beth and Jody Karl permission to use the meeting room
once a month until 1:00 am on the dates they are scheduled for
scrap booking.
Liquor Store Report – Bob Winner
-
Bob said the 3rd
Annual Chili Cook Off will be taking place at the Liquor
Store on October 24th. The cost is $10 to enter
the contest and $5 to be a judge. He said the money
collected from those wanting to be judges will go to
“Audrey’s Purple Dream”.
-
The liquor store
will have a Halloween Party on October 31st and
there will be prize money for the three best costumes. Bob
said in the past, the $150 prize money has always been paid
out of the till and he wanted to know if any changes needed
to take place or if he could still list it as a “Pay Out” in
his paperwork. Council members agreed that since it has
always been done that way that he could do it the same way
this year.
-
Bob stated that
pool league will be starting up again and will run about 14
weeks. He said there are about 16 to 17 people in the
league and it is good for business so Bob was hoping the
$800 for advertising could be approved again this year.
Motion by Jennifer Mitchell seconded by Cliff Johnson and
carried to approve $800 from the liquor fund to be used for
advertising the pool league. Jon Johnson abstained.
-
Bob asked the
Council if they wanted to make a decision about the security
system for the liquor store or if they wanted to table it.
Jennifer Mitchell said that she had the total which includes
the entire system and installation at a cost of $5,951. She
said she spoke to the representative from ACS and they were
able to go from 12 cameras down to 7 and that this cost was
about as low as the City of Akeley could get it. Bob said
he received 2 or 3 quotes from other companies which were
higher. Some discussion was held regarding whether to pay
off the system entirely or to go with a 3 year lease which
would cost approximately $8,334 or a 5 year lease which
would cost approximately $9,900. Jennifer stated that the
City would have to go with a 3 year service plan at $45 per
month if the City would choose to pay the total amount up
front rather than leasing.
Motion by Jennifer Mitchell seconded by Jon Johnson and carried
to approve the ACS camera contract consisting of 2 outdoor
cameras and 5 indoor cameras and paying the entire amount of
$5,951 out of the liquor fund.
Water/Sewer/Maintenance Report - Frank Thelin
-
Frank stated the
campground has been completely shut down and drained.
-
The irrigator has
been drained.
-
The swimming dock
was pulled in today.
-
Frank said he is
waiting for the background checks to come back on a couple
of applications for the part-time maintenance job. When he
receives the background checks he said he wants to sit down
with his commissioner to go over the applicants he is
thinking about interviewing.
-
Frank thanked the
“Sentenced To Serve” crew for painting all of the curbs and
crosswalks in town. Frank said he hopes other people
support them and let them know how much we appreciate the
work which was done.
-
The City of
Akeley did receive the FEMA money for the streets which were
affected by the thaw this past spring. Frank said the
amount received was about $4,800.
Jennifer Mitchell stated that Frank Thelin submitted his bill of
attorney fees for the ongoing lawsuit which is now done and
asked of this Council if they would talk about paying his
attorney fees due to his position with the City.
Motion by Jennifer Mitchell seconded by Cliff Johnson and
carried to have the City of Akeley pay $1,191.55 for Frank
Thelin’s attorney fees since it occurred while Frank was on
duty.
Police Report - Eric Klein
·
Eric thanked the STS Crew of Hubbard County for
painting the cross walks and “No Parking Zone” yellow curbs and
stated that he sent a thank you to the Sheriff on behalf of the
City and encouraged him to share the letter with the judges &
commissioners.
·
Two separate agencies have requested again that
the Akeley residents make sure that they have house numbers on
their residences. One of the complaints came from North
Ambulance Service who has had difficulties finding residences in
Akeley. Eric suggested that a reminder be placed in water
billings or a letter be personally served by the police
department. Jennifer Mitchell asked Denise Rittgers if a
reminder could be placed in the water billings.
·
Eric stated that the police department needs
someone to dictate statements since the Hubbard County Sheriff’s
Office has said that due to their work load they are not able to
type them for the police department. He said that the police
department would normally send a CD of the recording to the
County Attorney’s office, but they can’t do it anymore. Eric
asked the Council if the Clerk’s office could help out and that
he has only had 3 this year so far so it shouldn’t be too much
of a burden. Cliff Johnson asked why it would be a conflict of
interest if the police department typed their own statements.
Eric replied that a defense attorney may raise a question that a
policeman typed his own statements. Jon Johnson asked if it
would be a conflict of interest if Wendy (Klein) typed the
statements. Eric said he didn’t think so since it would be
coming from the Clerk’s office and other clerk’s offices type
statements for their police departments. Jennifer Mitchell said
the police department could probably keep doing what they’re
doing now and if it comes to a point where there’s too many the
City could talk to Hubbard County and see what they want to do.
·
On behalf of the Akeley Police Department, Eric
thanked Wal-Mart of Park Rapids for the $1,000 grant he received
a couple of weeks ago for extra patrol and public safety. He
said he will continue to apply for other grants as well.
·
Eric said that he had typed a memo to the council
members concerning the police squad truck. He said he had
talked to Frank Thelin about a truck a Ford Dealership has which
could possibly be purchased as a plow truck for the maintenance
department. Since the police department donated $5,000 from the
administrative fines when the large plow truck was purchased a
few years ago, Eric said he didn’t think it would be opposed to
do the same for a smaller plow truck. The truck he has looked
at is a one ton which is already set up with a plow and the
engine has 30,000 miles on it for under $9,000. Eric said the
reason he was trying to help the street department get a truck
is because he would like to keep the squad truck. He said it is
a great tool for the police department and he has used 4 wheel
drive in the snow just recently when going to a one car
rollover. He stated this is 4 wheel drive country and that Cass
County has purchased 7 squad trucks instead of squad cars.
Jennifer said she has talked to Frank Thelin and they “didn’t
feel the squad truck would be effective as a plow truck and that
a lot of work would have to be done to it that would be silly
costs”. Cliff Johnson said that Frank stated that he had talked
to the salesman about the truck that Eric had suggested and
Frank didn’t feel comfortable with that truck at this time.
Eric Klein said that he and Frank Thelin had talked about the
truck and Eric had received positive feedback from Frank about
it. He also said that due to the red truck having door problems
that it was a safety issue. Jennifer said she didn’t know what
kind of shape the red truck is in and if there is a need for a
truck it is something that they would all have to sit down a
talk about together before a decision is made.
Jon Johnson asked if the mileage reported on the police report
(1,080.8) was for the squad truck alone. Eric stated that it
was for both the truck and the car. Jon stated that the
previous month the mileage was 1,400 and that it was a lot of
mileage and if the squad truck was taken out of service the City
would save money. Jon stated that there are “new cop tires on
the squad car and that the state patrol and Hubbard County gets
by with that”. Eric replied that “they are just tires which are
speed rated and that they are not super, duper traction tires”.
He stated when he worked for a previous city that at times when
there was a lot of snow he couldn’t get around in the squad car
so he had to use a truck from the city fire department. Jon
asked Eric if he couldn’t get by then with the squad car. Eric
said he preferred to have 4 wheel drive since he’s already used
it this month and it’s only the second week in October.
Old Business
Cliff Johnson said at a previous work session there was
discussion about water lines freezing up this past winter and
his was one of them. He said that when the City moved the road
(years before) and they dug his water line it was only dug at 5
feet deep so every other year it freezes up. The previous mayor
said that the City could cover the digging so that Cliff could
insulate it and Cliff was wondering if that was still a viable
option. A 4 foot trench about 15 to 20 feet long would have to
be dug for him to do this. Frank Thelin stated the water main
is 8 feet down and he isn’t sure what happened between the main
and the curb stop but it is very shallow at Cliff’s curb stop
which is causing some of it to freeze up. Jennifer asked if
this is on Cliff’s land or the City’s. Frank stated the City’s
responsibility is from the water main to the curb stop and the
curb stop to Cliff’s house would be Cliff’s responsibility.
Cliff said that the City extended his curb stop out to the road
when the road was moved and there have been problems with
freezing ever since. Frank Thelin said to dig it would cost
between $300 and $400 and he would not be able to dig with the
backhoe near the curb stop so that work would have to be
contracted.
Motion by Jennifer Mitchell seconded by Jon Johnson and carried
to approve to have the City dig up the line so that it can be
insulated with the City paying half and Cliff Johnson paying
half. Cliff Johnson abstained.
New Business
Jennifer Mitchell discussed the new budget for 2010. The city
is facing a major shortage. Need creative alternatives. The
services we currently provide are good services but costly.
Council’s responsibility to keep the people we have living here,
here and not tax them out. Jennifer has spoken to other
communities of our size. Everyone is in the same boat. We need
to look at where we can cut. We have our Maintenance Dept,
Police Dept., Parks and Liquor Store.
Different options that we need to look at:
Tammy Miller & Ardelle McAlpine both spoke as business owners of
Akeley supporting the Police Dept and their concerns of response
time when something does happen.
Jennifer stated that these decisions are completely based on
Financial Decisions. Jennifer also stated that she has
researched other towns and what they are doing. Jennifer stated
that she had spoken with Steve Bolton our City Attorney to
discover that we are all “At Will” employees and can be cut at
anytime. Jon Johnson suggested we table this discussion for the
work session scheduled for October 28th at 5:30pm.
Motion by Jennifer Mitchell seconded by Jon Johnson and carried
to adjourn.
Denise Rittgers
Clerk Treasurer
City of
Akeley
Wendy Klein
Deputy Clerk
City of Akeley
