REGULAR MEETING 7:00 PM
CITY OF CASSELTON
Monday, January, 4, 2010
Council Chambers
Present: Mayor McConnell, Councilmen Anderson, Spooner, Sinner, Tillisch,
Also Present: City Attorney Brad Burgum, Public Works Supervisor Kevin Mayer, Cass County Sheriff Deputy Jeff Arth, Sgt. De Wayne Nitschke, Corporal Dean Holland, and City Auditor Brandy Pyle.
Audience Members: Diane Sporell, Gary Sporell, John Siverson, Rob & Joyce Schmalz, Peter Karl and Amanda Gades.
Anderson made a motion seconded by Tillisch to approve the minutes of December 7; City Attorney's Report, Police Report, Municipal Judge's Report, and the delinquent utilities list. All voted aye on roll call; motion carried.
Sinner made a motion, seconded by Tillisch to approve the following bills, refunds and salaries for the month of January. All voted aye on roll call vote; motion carried.
| AMERIPRIDE LINEN & APPAREL INC | $116.69 | Mac's | $140.86 | |
| AVESIS VISION INC | $85.60 | Medica | $3,000.99 | |
| BNSF Railway | $32,000.00 | ND MUNICIPAL FINANCE OFF. ASSC | $30.00 | |
| BROKERS NATIONAL ASSURANCE | $427.80 | ND LEAGUE OF CITIES | $1,130.00 | |
| BURGUM LAW FIRM | $1,350.00 | North Dakota Planning Associaton | $60.00 | |
| CASSELTON BUSINESS ASSOCIATION | $25.00 | ND SEWAGE PUMP | $6,628.00 | |
| CASS COUNTY TREASURER | $9,732.34 | NDWATER USERS ASSOC | $200.00 | |
| CASSELTON DRUG | $27.00 | New Horizons Electric Inc | $1,335.12 | |
| CASS COUNTY ELECTRIC | $472.42 | NORTHERN WATER WORKS SUPPLY | $1,370.20 | |
| CASS RURAL WATER USERS INC | $28,136.48 | ND DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE | $9,189.99 | |
| CITY OF FARGO | $2,518.30 | OTTER TAIL POWER | $4,078.33 | |
| Denise Roster | $100.00 | POWERPLAN | $223.26 | |
| Chad Elbert | $43.72 | Sanders | $134.44 | |
| FARGO WATER EQUIP. | $9,600.00 | SRF Consulting Group Inc | $467.11 | |
| CASSELTON FIRE DEPT | $4,000.00 | SWEENEY CONTROLS CO | $359.00 | |
| Forklift | $148.48 | TEAM LABORATORY | $4,950.00 | |
| HARDWARE HANK | $72.61 | USPS | $219.20 | |
| Haugen Cleaning Service | $360.00 | VERIZON WIRELESS | $146.57 | |
| HOLT LANDSCAP CONST. | $882.00 | XCEL | $158.00 | |
| Ignus Technologies | $47.50 | BREMER BANK- PAYROLL TAX | $3,297.37 | |
| JERRY'S EXCAVATING | $3,895.82 | Choice Financial | $38.47 | |
| JOHNSON PEST CONTROL | $135.00 | ND STATE DISBURSEMENT UNIT | 213.69 |
Anderson a motion, seconded by Tillisch to approve the financial reports for December. General fund $333,087.53; Special Revenue Fund $14,732.52; Debt Service Fund $149,813.61; Construction Funds $386,950.52; Special Assessments $457,569.60; Enterprise Funds $1,101,770.01; Trust and Agency Fund $6,550.06; total $2,450,473.85. All voted aye upon roll call vote; motion carried.
Sgt. Nitschke from the Cass County Sherriff's department introduced Corporal Dean Holland who will be taking over Nitschke's Casselton responsibilities. Nitschke worked with the City for 11 years. Nitschke presented and the Council reviewed the annual police report for 2009.
Councilman Wangler arrived at this time.
Councilman Silbernagel arrived at this time
Sgt. Nitschke discussed the summer vandalism issues.
Public Works Supervisor Kevin Mayer reported on the past month's activities. There will be more overtime this year because of the Christmas snow. He has the Public Works crew scheduled to work nights to remove the piles in cul-de-sacs and near street corners. Mayor McConnell noted that he received a lot of positive comments about the snow removal this time. Mayer noted that there may be monies available from the State for snow removal costs. He is working on putting snow removal cost estimate together. Council discussed the designated emergency snow route that was set back in 1997 which consisted of Langer Avenue, 1st Street North, 13th Avenue north, 5th street north, and 6th Avenue South. Mayer reported that it took about 4-5 hours to initially open the streets and about additional 20 hours to clean the streets out. Martins Avenue had 6-8 foot drifts. Snow removal parking tickets were also discussed.
Rob and Joyce Schmaltz approached the Council requesting 2 a.m. bar closings. They would like to have the same opportunity to stay open that late as Club 94, which is located just outside city limits. Sgt. Nitschke noted that he didn't have an argument against a 2 a.m. bar closing. The Council didn't see anything against it as long as there wasn't a safety issue. Council also noted that the previous bar owners did not request a closing time change when the state law changed. Spooner made a motion, seconded by Sinner to approve the reading of ordinance 260 to amend the liquor ordinance which would allow 2 a.m. bar closing times. All voted aye except for Silbernagel. Motion passed 5:1
Peter Karl presented information regarding the monorail project he has been working on. He requested letters of support from local areas so he can continue to talk to State and Federal officials. He noted that maintenance is $1,400 per year on a monorail system. The Council felt that this project probably would not be feasible as it would be a multi-million dollar project that could not be affordable at this time, rider usage would not be like other more populated areas and, concerns about the transportation for riders once they arrived at the West Fargo Terminal. Mayor McConnell thought that Karl should get West Fargo's approval before requesting Casselton's.
Auditor Pyle presented two bid options for the 4th Avenue Street repair. The first would be to bid it out as a single project and the other would be to attach it to a project like the Safe Routes to School project. Council would like to see the project bid out before March meeting in hopes of getting the project scheduled and completed in the spring.
Anderson made a motion, seconded by Spooner to designate Bremer Bank, 1st State Bank of ND, Wells Fargo and Choice Financial as depositories for the City of Casselton. All voted aye on roll call vote; motion passed.
Sinner made a motion, seconded by Spooner to approve the submission of the petition for the partial vacation and discontinuance of 36th Street. All voted aye on roll call vote; motion passed.
Silbernagel made a motion, seconded by Sinner to approve and direct SRF Consulting to submit the Notice of Intent for the Whistle Free Quiet Zone. All voted aye on roll call vote; motion passed. The City will submit a Quiet Zone grant application to the State in June once the Council approves the City's portion of the project's funding. The Council plans to put an advisory vote on the primary ballot asking residents if the current one cent sales tax collection should be designated towards the Whistle Free Zone, which would reduce the distribution available to Parks and Rec, Economic Development and Infrastructure.
Council discussed Fargo's projected cost estimates for a new diversion. The Council thought that Fargo would have to pay about 200 million dollars. Cass County would also be responsible for 200 million dollars of the diversion project. Fargo is currently collecting 1/2 cent sales to finance their portion of the project. The Council feels that the County will try to pass a sales tax on the general election ballot in November. This raised some concerns regarding financing the Quiet Zone project. The Council discussed the idea of asking for 1/2 cent or a 1/4 cent sales tax increase to fund the quiet zone. The other idea was to finance the project over 10- 15 years to lower annual payments which would also allow the City to finance other smaller projects at the same time. Councilman Sinner noted that he would like to keep this in continuing conversations so that the voters will be informed of the question when it is time to vote.
Sinner made a motion, seconded by SIlbernagel to approve a resolution to adopt the retirement plan as presented by UBS. All voted aye on roll call vote; motion passed. This will eliminate the ambiguity of what is taxable income.
The Council discussed the snow parking tickets that were issued. City Prosecutor Del Losing is going to recommend that some be dismissed and treated as warnings. Signs need to be erected. Attorney Brad Burgum thought that posting the parking restrictions on all entrances to the City might be enough, but will check on it.
Snowmobiles were also discussed. Public Works Supervisor Kevin Mayer noted that he found a jump on the north dike last spring. He is concerned about the integrity of the dike. Authorized vehicle only signs are located on the dikes. The Council discussed banning snowmobiles within City limits and agreed that it's probably a smaller group that is causing the issues and ruining it for everyone and to send a letter to the local snowmobile club requesting help to keep snowmobiles from driving on the dikes and dirt piles.
Tillisch made a motion, seconded by Silbernagel to approve the second reading of ordinance 259 which prohibits parking on boulevards. All voted aye on roll call vote; motion passed.
Silbernagel made a motion, seconded by Sinner to approve the PTO carry over requests from Kevin Mayer and Gary Marier as they could not use it all before the end of the year. All voted aye on roll call vote; motion passed.
Sinner made a motion, seconded by Wangler to declare a snow emergency for excessive snow fall over the Christmas holiday. All voted aye on roll call vote; motion passed.
Garry Sporel approached the Council requesting additional parking for the car show during summerfest. He noted that they expect 300 cars in the downtown area that night. Wangler made a motion, seconded by Silbernagel to approve the car show parking on 8th Avenue North between Front Street and 1st Street North, on Front Street between 8th Avenue north and 6th Avenue North, on 6th Avenue North between Front Street and 1st Street North and on 1st Street North, between 6th Avenue North and Langer Avenue. All voted aye on roll call vote; motion passed.
The Council discussed the City hall project and asked the building committee to contact Lightowler Johnson for help with design and the energy audit.
Motion to adjourn.
Brandy L. Pyle
City Auditor