The Melrose City Council met in a Regular Meeting on Thursday, October 21, 2021, at 6:00 p.m. pursuant to due notice being given thereof. Present were Council Members Tony Klasen, Justin Frieler, Mark Hill, Travis Frieler, and Mayor Joe Finken, City Administrator Colleen Winter, and City Clerk Patti Haase. Mayor Finken presided thereat.
The Council then recited the Pledge of Allegiance.
A motion was made by Mr. Travis Frieler, seconded by Mr. Hill and unanimously carried to approve the agenda as amended.
Mayor Finken then opened the floor to public comment. There were no comments
The following items were considered for approval under the Consent Agenda
a. Approval of the minutes from the Council’s September 16, 2021 Regular Meeting
b. Approval of bills in the amount of $ 417,839
c. Approval of investments
d. Pay Voucher No. 2 – Mark Lee Excavating 2021 Street Improvement Project.
e. Resolution No. 2021-40, Resolution Designating Polling Place
f. Donation Resolution
1) Resolution No. 2021-41 Donation from the Melrose Lions
2) Resolution No. 2021-42 Donation from the Melrose VFW Post 7050
3) Resolution No. 2021-43 Donation from the Melrose VFW Post 7050
4) Resolution No.2021-48, Donation from the Melrose American Legion Post 101
g. EMT Leave of Absence
h. Full-Time Police Officer Resignation
i. Street/Park Worker Step Increase
A motion was made by Mr. Klasen, seconded by Mr. Justin Frieler and unanimously carried to approve the Consent Agenda items.
The Public Hearing was cancelled as the nuisances had been abated prior to the meeting.
Erik Simonson presented an overview of the CGMC 2021 initiatives. Mr. Simonson expounded on the 2021 CGMC initiatives:
Local Government Aid
Public Facilities Authority (PFA) water infrastructure programs
Municipal PFAS Source Reduction Initiative
Child Care Facilities Grant Program
Child Care Grants to Minnesota Legislative Initiative Foundation for child care business development
Child Care – DEED child grans for taring and business development
Greater Minnesota Business Development Public Infrastructure (BDPA) Grant Program
Housing – Greater Minnesota Fix-up Fund
Housing Greater Minnesota Housing Public Infrastructure Grant Program
Housing Greater Minnesota Work Force Development Fund
Large City Streets
Small City Streets
Alison Voigt with Stearns County Emergency Management presented information on the Copewell Project. The Composite of Post-Event Well-Being (COPEWELL) is an evidence-based model and collection of tools that fosters a community-wide understanding of the complex nature of community resilience as it pertains to disasters. It uses data-driven tools to assess community functioning, predict resilience, and provides resources that communities can utilize to address identified gaps to improve community functioning before, during, and after disasters. A workshop will be held on Tuesday, November 30 at 7:00 a.m. to look at past disasters, and how to react and mitigations plans for any future disasters.
Nick Guilliam from WSB presented the final plans for the RDB Project .
Police Chief Craig Maus presented the Police Department’s September report. He noted there were 343 calls for service during that month, compared to 452 for September 2020. A total of 22 citations were written for the month of September. There were 110 verbal warnings and no written warning. The year-to-date number of calls is 2,899 compared to 2,915 in 2020. For the month of September 2021, the Department received 35 agency assist calls.
City Attorney Dymoke reported on the projects he has been working on for the city.
• Bonner Nuisance Action – Assisted city staff with responding to document discovery request from Jason Steck. Reviewed and redacted confidential information from the documents. Submitted documents to attorney Steck and filed notice of submission with the court. Prepared and filed brief with the court arguing that federal preemption does not preclude Melrose from issuing the nuisance abatement order or requiring submission of a certificate of title before issuing a permit to move a mobile home into the city limits.
• 2021 Nuisance Actions – Prepared proposed nuisance abatement orders and submitted them to city staff for consideration and approval by the Council.
Nick Guilliams with WSB presented the city engineer report.
WSB Project No. R-017370-000 -2021 Street Improvements:
Construction is now complete. WSB and Public Works performed a punch list walk last week and the project can now be closed pending receipt final documentation from the contractor.
WSB Project No. R-015500-000 Melrose Road, Dam, and Bridge:
Roadway: • City drainage and utility easement approved by City. CenterPoint needs to sign the easement documents and then they will be recorded with the County.
• Pedestal removals in the Park have been added to the plan per discussion with Roger A.
• District State Aid will sign plan once State Aid Bridge signs the bridge plans. Will be signed the week of October 11th.
• Opinion of Probable Cost is approximately $5.8M (construction costs)
• Meeting with property owners regarding temporary easements ongoing.
Structures: • Submitted Building Demo Plans/Specs/Bidding Docs on 8/26/2021. o Received comments and will resubmit 9/8/2021
o Preconstruction Meeting was held on 10/8
o Actual demo to being on 10/25
• Revised bridge plans sent to MnDOT Bridge on 9/10. Comments received on 10/8.
• Revised set to be submitted on Wednesday 10/13 for signature
• Revised Dam repair plans and O&M Manual submitted on 9/10. Comments received on 10/5. Meeting set up for 10/14 to discuss and resolve remaining comments.
Permitting: • DNR Public Waters Work permit technical Review started on 7/4/2021.
• USACE permit: In the process of drafting the EA on 8/26/21, but they are still waiting to hear back from their archaeologist about the Section 106 determination.
• MPCA Section 401 Certification was waived on 8/3/21.
• CLOMR application submitted on 6/21/2021. Comments received 7/29/2021 from FEMA. Resubmittal sent to FEMA on 8/30/2021. Meeting with FEMA 9/28/2021 to discuss model. Ongoing conversations with FEMA to finalize submittal. FEMA reviewer has indicated she will be sending to finalize permit pending incorporation of model comment by late October.
• City must send notification letter to impacted property owners. Complete
• DNR utility crossing license applications (electrical and watermain): Received the electric distribution license for signature on 8/31/21 but have not received the watermain license.
• SRWD permit: The watershed’s reviewer (Houston Engineering) sent their permit summary to the district on 9/7/21, so the district should be making a decision soon.
• DNR dam permit submitted on 8/2/21.
Grant: • Submitted the LCCMR Grant application on 4/2/2021.
City Administrator Winter provided an update on the current projects. The city has reached tentative agreements with LELS and AFSCME. The AED has been installed at the Sauk River Park, the Melrose Area Women of Today have installed Lending Libraries at Meadowlark Park and near the bike shelter. The Melrose Area Arts Council will be presenting at the November Council meeting.
Mayor Finken stated that Stearns County has submitted the Construction Service Contract for SAP 073-613-025; CSAH 13 improvements including replacement of Bridge 7163 with new bridge 73576, bridge approach improvements, 1st Street North improvements, repairs to the Melrose dam, and Sauk River channel realignment in the city. A motion was made by Mr. Klasen, seconded by Mr. Hill and unanimously carried approving the Construction Service Contract with Stearns County.
The City has obtained PFA Funding to finance a portion of the WWTF. Therefore, the City will sell and issue a taxable general obligation revenue note of the issuer to the lender in the amount of $2,096,321. In addition to adopting the resolution the Council to give consideration to approving the compliance policy as a condition of the PFA funding. Council Member Justin Frieler introduced Resolution No. 2021-47 Resolution Authorizing the Issuance and Sale of a $2,096,321 General Obligation Revenue Note, Series 2021A, and Providing for its Payment. The motion was seconded by Mr. Travis Frieler with a roll call vote recorded as follows: FOR: Council Member Justin Frieler, Travis Frieler, Klasen, Hill and Mayor Finken AGAINST: None
Staff advertised for the police officer position vacated by Officer Alyssa Engfer Five applications were received. Staff interviewed three candidates on Thursday, October 14. It is the Committee’s recommendation that Mr. Russell Lipinski be hired to fill the position. It is recommended that Mr. Lipinski be hired at the start step on the wage scale, contingent upon passing the physical and psychological exam. A motion was made by Mr. Travis Frieler, seconded by Mr. Justin Frieler and unanimously carried approving the hiring of Mr. Lipinski at the start step on the wage scale contingent upon passing the physical and psychological exam.
Mayor Finken stated that due to an upcoming closing on the property the Hollermann’s are requesting an encroachment into the alley in Block Twenty-six (26), Great Northern Addition to Melrose, which is a dedicated public right-of-way and adjacent to the northerly boundary of the Property. A shed located on the property encroaches on the public right-of-way. The Hollermann’s are requesting permission to continue encroaching upon the right-of-way. A motion was made by Mr. Justin Frieler, seconded by Mr. Klasen and unanimously carried approving the Encroachment Agreement and authorizing the mayor and city clerk to execute the agreement.
Mayor Finken noted that at the Council’s first meeting in January 2022 consideration will be given to making appointments to the various boards and commissions.
Staff is looking to schedule a Special Meeting to conduct a final review of the 2022 Budget and Capital Improvement Plan. The Council by consensus approved the budget meeting be scheduled for Thursday, November 18, 2021, at 5:00 p.m. The Council also approved scheduling the Copewell event with Stearns County for Tuesday, November 30, 2021, at 7:00 a.m.
The following informational items were then reviewed:
a. Utilities Commission’s September 13 Regular Meeting.
b. Correspondence from Mark Meyer
c. Ambulance Report 3rd Quarter
d. The following are schools and/or conferences where registrations were made:
1) Greater MN Cities-Fall Conf/Board of Directors – November 17-19. Attending City Administrator Colleen Winter
e. State Demographer Report
A motion was made by Mr. Travis Frieler, seconded by Mr. Hill, and unanimously carried to adjourn the meeting at 7:00 p.m.
Patricia Haase, City Clerk
-
-
-
-
-
-
-