March 13, 2023 City of Gladstone

March 13, 2023 Gladstone City Council Meeting Minutes 6:00 – 8:23 PM Present: Randy White, Bill O’Connor, Darrell Sadowski and Paul Reinbold. Also present: City Auditor Maria Colling, City Attorney Christina Wenko and City Engineer Jeremy Wood. Mayor Randy White called the meeting to order. Council reviewed the minutes of the February meeting. A motion to approve the February minutes was made by Bill, seconded by Darrell and carried by a unanimous aye vote. The Council reviewed the accounts for February. A motion to approve the February bills was made by Darrell, seconded by Paul, and carried by an all-yes vote. PUBLIC MEETING: A recall petition for Councilman Mark Erdman was presented to the Council. – Maria advised that she testified on March 6 after confirming that a sufficient number of valid signatures had been obtained. She said a special election would be held in June. Mark can choose to withdraw within 10 days from the date of certification. If they resign, the council can appoint someone to fill the seat. If he does not resign, his name will be placed on the ballot. – Christina explains ND’s monument in more detail. – Since Mark was not there, Mary was sending him a letter. Final passage of the Dog Breed Fencing Act and Poultry Act. – Christina combines both systems into one. – Added definitions to the dog breed fence provision as discussed in the second reading. – Bill brought up the importance of 6ft. Maximum height requirement in chicken order. The council discussed possible changes but decided to leave them as they were. A motion to approve dog kennel fencing and chicken ordinances was made by Bill, seconded by Darrell, and carried by a unanimous-yes vote. Sheriff’s Report: Chief Deputy Keillor and Sheriff Corey Lee were present. They had no problem reporting. He advised that the council is still looking into the availability of deputies in the town. Maintenance Report: Discussed the proposed Gladstone Welcome Sign. – Maria offers quotes from quality fast print and design jobs. — The council agreed to make a decision in May when the winter weather was over, which would stay on the quotes until then. Maria checks with both sellers. Tony discusses the Bobcat Icebreaker quote. – Received quotes from three local dealers, the cheapest is around $9,000. – The council agreed to have a discussion in the fall to see where our budget is. Tony negotiated a price for 10 feet. Henke Box Plow for loader. – Found one for sale for $4,950. It is angled and goes down to the street. It has rubber skids so it doesn’t hurt the road. Based on online LTL shipping quotes, shipping here costs approximately $800. A motion to approve the purchase of a Henke box plow and freight costs totaling approximately $5700 was made by Paul, seconded by Darrell and voted by all-yes. A new oven quote for the yellow shop is explained. – Tony advised that the existing furnace was repaired and is now working. He believes that a new furnace is not a priority, especially when the hot weather is coming, but it should be considered for next year’s budget. Prosecutor’s Report: The resolution for the sale of city lots was discussed by Christina. – If the council wants to go ahead with selling the lots, she prepared a resolution. – She discussed the BPO which was more than the amount provided by the sorters. – Randy wants to set a low bid. – Bill the town paid $30,000 for the twelve lots, which is $2,500 per lot. – The council is low at $600 per lot but they don’t want to charge too high a price for us to sell and grow the community. – Randy wants you to pick different lots to keep the road accessible. – Bill suggests a minimum of $1250 per lot, understanding that the city is not responsible for bringing water or sewer. Council agreed that the minimum price/fair bid should be $1250 per lot. A motion to raise the minimum lot price to $1,400 was made by Darrell, seconded by Paul, and carried by a unanimous vote. Violation of the winch pet limit is discussed. – Paul confirmed that they have three dogs. – Maria confirms they haven’t had any pet permits since they moved to town, even though they get two notices in the mail every year. Christina asked to receive copies of the ads. – Christina sends another letter. Without a permit, you’re in violation and are fined $100 per day. She will also look to see if we can do anything more than a civil penalty. Command execution update. – Christina spoke with the Secretary General’s office and did not expect them to be motivated to work with us, especially after the $20k bond payment to the Sorensons. We will proceed with civil penalties. Safety handbook – Christina advised council to decide whether or not to implement what they need. – Darrell says he talked to South Hart and Richardton and none of them have the same thing. – Talked to Mayors Randy Taylor and Richardton and confirmed they have nothing and at least full time staff like Gladstone. – Bill said that he does not see interest in it. – The council agreed that we have no one to control us. A motion to remove the safety manual from the agenda was made by Darrell, seconded by Paul, and carried by a unanimous vote. Engineering Report: Council discussed borrowing a curb stop indicator from Jeremy. – Jeremy says they use a survey unit for about $1,000. He said the city was willing to use it and rent it to us if we didn’t buy it. – Council will monitor when the snow melts. Old Business: Maria gives a status update on Monte Martin’s insurance claim. – Maria said that the certified mail was returned to us as unclaimed. – Christina sends a letter to be delivered to the Sheriff’s Department, advising him to move or be towed by March 31st. Old Town Hall Repairs/Proposals – No Improvements. Randy gives Maria Spicer Construction’s contact information to get a quote. Handing over AE2S duties to Tony/Maria – Maria says she needs to get thirteen water samples from the city’s reservoirs, at which point Cal gives an estimated cost of $300 to get them. He said he could use the time to train Tony as well. Another low-cost option is to train Tony to do one and have Tony find the rest himself. Due to Tony’s time constraints, Maria suggests that he get it all and use his time here to train Tony on other things. It was made for $300 by Paul, Darrell’s second, and a unanimous vote to get Cal to approve and use his time to train Tony to get all the hydrant samples. An unplugged quote for providing televised leak inspections is discussed. – Maria offers an Unplugged quote to split the service between four years. – Lorraine Erdman asked if we received other quotes; Randy said he was out for bids and one other company bid. – Jeremy asked if we could receive a digital copy of the investigation; Maria emailed Unplugged and Josh responded quickly confirming we would receive a digital copy. A motion to approve the drain inspection quote from Unplugged was made by Darrell, seconded by Bill and by a unanimous-yes vote. Maria asked the council for any questions on the 2022 financial reports presented at the last meeting. The council advised against it. NDIRF recommends coverage adjustments. – Maria provided a copy of the recommended adjustments. A motion to approve the recommended adjustments resulting in the $78 premium increase was made by Paul, seconded by Darrell and by a unanimous-yes vote. NEW BUSINESS: A muddy issue was reported to the city on 8th Street. – A resident on 8th Avenue reported that the road was so muddy that the school bus and package service could not drive down it, in case emergency services were needed. – Council discussed grading in the spring and adding 3 inches of gravel. Joe Harn wrote a letter to the city regarding the 2022 mowing receipts. – Maria checked past records and found that the 2021 invoice was incorrect and totaled less than an hour. She also confirmed the city’s ordinance requiring the city to send a notice by certified mail to advise the city of the violation and provide a mowing date if not done by the owner. Maria said no foreclosure notices have been sent to her knowledge in the past three years. – In response to Joe, Christina advises to answer our registration questions, remember that the current rate is listed in the city’s fee schedule, and that the 2022 bill be the most recent service total. Prairie Dog Fund Grant Money – Maria applied for and was approved for a grant from the state. The city received $40,800 for municipal infrastructure. She will examine cost metrics and present her findings at the April meeting. A new computer for the maintenance department was discussed. – Tony asks for a new laptop because it is old and slow. – Maria got a quote from Brian Kopp for $480 with a 2 year warranty. – Council agreed that it would be a good investment for future inventory management and online reporting needs. A motion to approve the purchase of a laptop from Brian Cope for $480 was made by Paul, seconded by Bill and seconded by Aye. The Gladstone Volunteer Fire Department has submitted a play area permit application for the council to review. – The Council reviewed the application. A motion to approve the Gladstone Volunteer Fire Department’s game area permit was passed by bill, seconded by Paul, and voted by all-yes. Email payment and online bill payment options for city water bills are explained. – Maria asked residents to give us the option to pay their water bills online. She earned about $200 a month from the company Banyon Partners. The price is high because we don’t have enough accounts to reduce the price with the service charge. – Maria reminded the council that last year we implemented ACH automatic withdrawals which cost the city $10 per month. – Maria also suggested the option to email the city’s water bills each month to anyone who signs up to receive them. Does not include online invoice payment option; Just email our invoices. The cost will be $.03 per email, which is significantly less than the cost of a postcard stamp. – Maria said that both options require us to purchase an additional module from Banyon at a one-time cost. The online billing module is $1,490 and the email billing module is $890. A motion to approve the purchase of the $890 email billing module from Banyon was made by Darrell, seconded by Bill and voted by all-yes. Maria reminded the council of the MGM contract rate increase effective April 1 for waste services. Council approved sending reminder notices to all residents. Motion to adjourn was made by Darrell, seconded by Bill, and by a unanimous vote of aye. February 28th Account Balances General Checking: $343,932.17 Park Checking: $52,809.22 CD #0832: $50,590.12 CD #9423: $100,335.34 ARPA Funds: $42,039.61 February Payroll Jordan $700.00 Maria $3,075.00 Tony $1,386.00 February Bills for Approval AE2S $751.25 AE2S $892.25 CHS $1,600.18 Don’s Furnace $550.85 Forum $328.02 Mackoff $415.50 MDU $222.50 MDU $53.45 MDU $175.84 MDU $175.84 MDU $340.26 MDU $0.12 MDU $109.52 MDU -$63.64 MDU $122.03 MDU -$1,790.23 MGM $4,232.37 Midco $154.15 One Call $0.00 QQP $124.00 Rudy’s $110.00 Runnings $17.70 Runnings $63.28 SW Dist Health $50.00 SW Water $3,539.03 Visa $684.07 WPI $20.04 ( April 12, 2023) 212167