June 2, 2014 Council Meeting

 

  1. CALL TO ORDER – Mayor Reinhardt calls the meeting to order at 7:30 pm.
  2. ROLL CALL – Sippel, Williamson, Bren, Hughes, Reinhardt.
  3. INTRODUCTIONS – Reinhardt introduced the council and staff to the public. Administrator Tolsma, Clerk Lewin, Engineer Pearson, Attorney Beck.
  4. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
  5. ADOPT AGENDA – Williamson makes a motion and Hughes seconds to adopt the agenda. All votes ayes, motion carries.
  6. ADOPT CONSENT AGENDA - Sippel makes a motion and Williamson seconds to adopt the consent agenda. All votes ayes, motion carries.
    1. City Council Work Session Minutes From May 27, 2014 –
  7. PUBLIC FORUM – Catherine Palen, 4352 West Arm Rd – Palen said she dropped off photos and a letter regarding their duress due to the rain runoff at their and Bob Diettrich’s home. She said she is here to request some relief from the city for storm drains and better curbing. She is aware of a portion of West Arm Rd being repaired and she is hoping their side would be considered as well. She said she is representing her neighborhood of six homes. She said the runoff is coming off the trail and the runoff comes into their driveways and yard. Reinhardt said the city shares their concerns. Reinhardt said she thinks perhaps staff and the engineer can look at this situation and come up with a project assessment and options for remedies. Tolsma said he met with Palen and he looked at neighboring properties.       He said this came up at a planning commision meeting in relation to a variance request in that area. He said he will look at this further.       Sippel said this was discussed at the study session. He said one of the things off the table was cleaning the drainage swale next to LF apartments and he thinks this needs to be improved as well. Palen said she agrees with Sippel. Sippel said that is not the only remedy but it is contributing. Reinhardt agrees that the engineer needs to take a look at this. Palen said Shoops' property was surrounded by water and their crawl space was full of water. Bren said she walked the trail yesterday and the drain into the swale was covered with debris, understandably. She agrees with Sippel that the drainage ditch needs attention too. Reinhardt said this definitely needs to be explored.
  8. PRESENTATIONS & GUEST SPEAKERS – none.
  9. PETITIONS, REQUESTS & APPLICATIONS – none.
  10. ORDINANCES & RESOLUTIONS – none.
  11. REPORTS OF OFFICERS & COMMITTEES -
    1. Mayor and Council

      1. LMCD: AIS Training for Local Law Enforcement Officers –

        Reinhardt said there is a request for training. Hughes said the DNR will offer the training. Hughes said the AIS committee is wanting to expand the ability of the law enforcement agencies to be able to cite for violations. Hughes thinks this should be brought up at the police commission meeting so if officers witness this, it gives them another avenue for control. Reinhardt said this is good timing as there is a police commission meeting this Wednesday. Williamson said he wonders if there is an increment of expense related to this. He thinks not. Hughes suspects its a recertification.

      2. Set Date & Time for West Arm Road Drainage & Potential Road Improvement Discussion (Proposed Date & Time: Thursday, June 19th at 7:00 p.m.) –

        Reinhardt said staff has recommended the date. She said this is a result of Kings Road and Warren Avenue and the water runoff coming from the south side of the trail. Reinhardt said this will be an open house type of meeting. Hughes makes the motion for the recommended date. Williamson seconds. Hughes wonders if this can’t be held earlier. Tolsma said this date came about as a middle ground reflecting soon enough but still far enough out for planning. Williamson wonders if everything is ready to go. Tolsma said they’re still working on a few things. There will be a power point set up and by then they will be ready for this meeting. Sippel asked about whether this needs to be published. Tolsma said just the affected residents. Reinhardt suggests publishing because of open meeting law. Sippel suggests all West Arm Rd residents be invited. Reinhardt said they could be invited but she doesn’t want to give the illusion at this point that West Arm Rd East residents will be a part of this. Williamson said with the concerns expressed tonight they might feel they can weigh in on this and a lot of planning has already gone into this initial project. He is concerned about new changes being introduced and the misconception being established that this can be a joint project. He doesn’t want to jeopardize the present project. Hughes wonders about amending the motion to June 12th. Williamson is amenable to this due to the amount of time yet to move this forward.

         

        Pearson has a draft timeline with the assumption the meeting would be held on June 19th. Pearson said the schedule is tentative. He said tentatively the meeting on the 19th the council could at the 23rd work session discuss the meeting results. They could order the feasibility study at that meeting. The next meeting is July 7th so a public hearing could be held at that meeting and order the plans and specs. He said state statute requires ten day notice and the numbers work. He said it will take time to prepare the plans and specs but they could advertise in The Laker on the 29th and submit the ad for bid with publication for July 1st. State statute requires three weeks. They would open bids on August 26th and bids could be reviewed on September 1st with another two weeks for notification to the winning contractor. Pearson said an anticipated completion date would be October 31st. Construction could be finished up to Thanksgiving time. He said permits need to be procured with Dakota Rail and the Watershed. He wants to get dialogue started with the affected agencies. Williamson said there is a lift station project and they should be coming in around the end of June. Williamson is concerned with the logistics of machinery and digging and the impact of the residents. Pearson is aware of this and is confident there won’t be conflict between the two projects. Williamson wonders about possibly moving this to next week. He is concerned about not delaying this too long. He wants to see three or four bids versus one bid. Reinhardt said this could wait until next spring if it becomes critical. All votes ayes, motion carries for June 19th.

         

        Hughes said there will be an emergency meeting of the LMCD board at 6 pm this Wednesday due to high water levels. Sippel wonders if there can be a declaration of no wake on the entire lake versus 600 feet out.

    1. City Administrator

      1. Amended Sign Retroreflectivity Policy –

        Reinhardt thanks Tolsma for making the changes. Tolsma said Beck worked on this and Reinhardt thanks Beck. Tolsma said this is clearer now. He said the main points stick to what was discussed previously. Sippel said this captured his questions and concerns and he is comfortable with this. Williamson said he proposes this be adopted as a policy. He said the signature block doesn’t indicate a status. He wonders if it is status of resolution. Beck said it would be adopted by motion and it’s similar to resolution. Williamson makes a motion to adopt the document presented in its current form as the sign retroreflectivity policy. Sippel seconds. All votes ayes, motion carries.

    1. City Engineer – nothing.
    2. City Attorney – nothing.
    3. Utility Superintendent –

Tolsma said on the West Arm/Kings Rd drainage issue and over the weekend the pump failed. A loaner pump was gotten and he pumped today.  Another pump has been ordered as a backup.  Tolsma said Channel Road is flowing over and receding slowly.  They are looking at sandbags or creating an earthen dyke and pump the street water back into the retention area.  Williamson asks if this is a result of the high water level that is back draining into the retention area.  Tolsma confirmed.  It is the lake level problem.  Tolsma said there is no immediate danger of flooding houses.  He said they would like to clear the water off the road.  Hughes asked about the new pump and the gallons per hour.  Tolsma said it’s higher than what they presently have.  Hughes recommends getting a big pump.  Tolsma said storm sewers are in the news now.  He said fortunately there has been no bypass of the sanitary into the storm.  The pumping amounts are very high.  He said it’s about four times the amount due to I&I.  He said the pumps are so far keeping up.  Reinhardt explained that I&I is infiltration due to stormwater runoff and sump pumps illegally discharging into the sanitary sewer. 

  1. UPCOMING MEETINGS & TRAINING -
    1. June 5 – LMCD Budget Meeting – 11:00 AM
    2. June 11 – Administration Committee – 1:00 PM
    3. June 11 – LMCD – 7:00 PM
    4. June 11 – Planning Commission – 7:00 PM
    5. June 16 – City Council – 7:30 PM
  2. UNFINISHED BUSINESS – None.
  3. NEW BUSINESS & COMMUNICATION -
    1. Bills & Payroll –

Hughes makes a motion and Sippel seconds to pay the bills. All votes ayes, motion carries.

  1. MISCELLANEOUS (Information Only) – Williamson said the ballpark at Thor Thompson is in use.       Williamson said until the recent upgrade of the park where there is better drainage and the ball field is usable after the great amount of rain. Hughes is working to create a high water designation to put out on the cable channels. Williamson wonders what happened to the dynamic signage that was discussed a while back. He said if communication needs to get out, it’s difficult because there are so many ways.   Tolsma said these discussions have started up again just recently.
  2. ADJOURNMENT – Sippel makes a motion and Williamson seconds to adjourn the meeting at  8:17 pm.       All votes ayes, motion carries.

 

                                                                                    _______________________________

                                                                                    Wendy Lewin, City Clerk

 

___________________________________

Dan Tolsma, Administrator