The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink About1997 [01] Jan 02 Page 3067 January 2, 1997 I Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, the City Council for the City of St. Joseph met in regular session on Thursday, January 2, 1997 at 7:00 p.m. in City Hall. MEMBERS PRESENT: Old Council: Mayor Donald "Bud" Reber; Councilors Ross Rieke, Bob Loso, and Ken Hiemenz. Clerk! Administrator Rachel Stapleton. Councilor Cory Ehlert was absent. OTIIERS PRESENT: Judy Weyrens, Daniel Nierengarten, Louise Hiemenz, Tillie Wasner, Edith Hiemenz, Art Hiemenz, Ken Twit, Mary Niedenfuer, Brad Lindgren, Steve Streng, Art Reber, Mike Hazen, Ellen Wahlstrom, Bob Wahlstrom, Jamie Phenow. CONSENT AGENDA: Loso made a motion to approve the consent agenda as follows; seconded by Rieke, a) Approve the minutes of the December 19, 1996 meeting. b) Approve attendance of Mary Niefenfuer, Ken Twit, and Kenneth Hiemenz àt the Newly Elected Officials conference. c) Approve attendance of Jim Marthaler at a Wastewater Seminar in Bloomington, Registration- $125. d) Approve tuition for three courses of office software training at $70 each for Judy Weyrens and Mary Generous. Ayes: Reber, Rieke, Loso, Hiemenz. Nays: None. Motion carried. I BILLS PAYABLE: Judy Weyrens, Deputy Clerk, presented the bills payable, After a short discussion of the bills payable and clarification of specific bills from the previous meeting, Loso made a motion to approve the bills payable as presented, check numbers 23491 - 23534; seconded by Hiemenz. Ayes: Reber, Rieke, Loso, Hiemenz Nays: None. Motion carried. Loso made a motion to approve the overtime and call outs as presented; seconded by Rieke. Ayes: Reber, Rieke, Loso, Hiemenz. Nays: None. Motion carried. DELINOUENT UTILITY BILLS: No one appeared before the Council to appear delinquent utility bills. Stapleton stated that there are still three bills that have not been satisfied according to policy, OUTGOING MAYOR REPORTS: 1) In honor of Brian Klinefelter Mayor Reber presented a plaque retiring his badge number, 775, to Chief Brad Lindgren. 2) Mayor Reber thanked the Council and public for working with him during his years of service to the City. OUTGOING COUNCILOR REPORTS: 1) Rieke thanked the Council and public for their years of assistance during his twelve years as Councilor, 2) The CORE Committee held an informal end of the year get together. Rieke encouraged the Council to continue discussion and follow through with the recommendations of the CORE Committee. I I I I I Page 30~ PUBLIC COMMENTS: Ellen Wahlstrom thanked Bud Reber and Ross Rieke for their years of i dedication and service. i I Steve Frank stated he really appreciated the work done by the Council. He also wished to make them ~ware that St. Joseph taxes have gone up more than any in the County. He stated a l¡¡¡-ge amount of revenue has been allocated to the EDA He asked about an evaluation schedule of the program. Hiemenz indicated a director is budgeted to begin duties in April or May, It is anticipated funding assistance will be recei,ied to off set the costs of the EDA I Mayor Reber stated the Council had worked on and cut as much from the budget as was reasonable. At 7:20 p.m. it was determined that the Old Business agenda item of7:15 p.m. "Mark Mimbach- Contesting Weed Mowing" was a no show. The oaths of office were taken by Kenneth J. Hiemenz, Mayor; Ken Twit, and Mary Niedenfuer, Councilors, as administered by Clerk/Administrator Rachel Stapleton. Mayor Hiemenz, Councilor Twit and Councilor Niedenfuer took their chairs and the new Council was seated. Mayor Hiemenz called the new Council to order with Councilors Loso, Niedenfuer, and Twit present. AGENDA: Loso made a motion to approve the agenda; seconded by Niedenfuer. Ayes: Hiemenz, Loso, Niedenfuer, Twit. Nays: None, Motion carried. , I 1997 MAYOR'S APPOINTMENTS: Mayor Hiemenz presented his 1997 appointments as follows: I 1. Acting Mayor ......... ............ ...... ... ...... ... Ken Twit 2. Police Commissioner......... ... ..,... ...... ....... MayorHiemenz 3. Street Commissioner.....,... ........,...... ........ Mayor Hiemenz 4. Sidewalk Commissioner ..,...... ,.................. Mary Niedenfuer 5. Weed Control Commissioner... ......... ...... .... Mike Sworski 6. Assistant Weed Commissioner ... ,., ... ...... ...... Mayor Hiemenz 7. Planning Commission ['95-'98] ..........HubKlein {3 year terms] ['97 - '00] ... ... ,.. .Kurt Schneider {9 Member Com} ['95 - '98] ... ... .., .S. Kathleen Kalinowski ['97. '00] ... ,.. ,.. .Maljorie Lesnick ['95 - '98]... ...... DanNierengarten ['96 - '99] ... ... ... Linda Sniezek Ex officio non voting member... ... ,.. ..City Engineer Ex officio non voting member... ... ... . City Attorney 8. Planning Commission Voting Liaison ......... .,. .CoryEhlert 9. JointPlanning&OAB '...........;...........,..... .CoryEhlert 10. Park Board [3 year terms] ['96 ~ '99] ...... ... ... John Anderson ['96 - '99] ... ... ... Joe Braun {7memberBoard} '('95 - '98] ,........ ...IrmaLanier ['97 - '00] ... ,.. .., ,.. Claudette Klein ['97 - '00] ... .,. ... ,.. Ma¡joire Lesnick 13. Water & Sewer Commissioner.................··.... Leo SacHo 14. Water & Sewer Inspector ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ..... Leo Sadlo 15. Building Inspector & Compliance Officer ...... .... Dale Haug 16. Assistant Building Inspector... ... ... ... ... ... .... .... 17. Rental Housing Inspector ... ... ... ............ ......... Alan Rassier 18. Assistant Rental Housing Inspector ................. Hub Klein 19. Fire Chief (annual election, Council confIrmed) Dave Theisen 20. As't Fire Chief (annual e1c, Council confumed) Frank Loso 21. Fire Marshall........................·....·..·..·..··..·.. Dave Theisen 22. Fire Advisory Board ..................................... Dave Theisen .................................... BobLoso ......... ...... ...... ............... Rachel Stapleton .................................... Joe Bechtold 23. Emergency Services Director... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...... Bob Loso 24. Safety Coordinator.......................·..··....·..··.. Bob Loso 25. APOExecutive Liaison....................·..··....·..· MayorHiemenz 26. APO Full Board..........., ...... ..................... MayorHiemenz ............ ... ... ... ............ ......... Planning Chair, Hub Klein ... ..........., ... ... ......... ........... Cory Ehlert 27. APO Sewer District Representative .................. Leo Sadlo 28. Steams County League of Cities Rep ................ MayorHiemenz ... ............. MaryNiedenfuer ['95 _ '98] ................ Thomas Newton, MD ['96 - '99] ......... ........ Ross Rieke ['97 - '00] ......... ........ Ken Twit 30. Police Interview Board... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ..... ... Brad Lindgren ... ..................... ..... ... lvfayor Hiemenz ... ... ... ... ... ... ......... ..... Donald "Bud" Reber ........................ ........ 1'v1ike Loso ........................... ..... Cory Ehlert 31. Official Newspaper ........................... ...... St. Cloud Times 32. Official Depositories.......................·..·..· .... First State Bank., St. Joseph ........................... Zapp Bmllc ............... ... ... ... ... ... ..... Smith Barney Shearson' ........................... ........ Prudential Securities .............................. ..... DainBosworth 33. Investment Advisory Board ... ... ... ...... ... ........ Ken Twit .................. ........ Duane Sorenson .................. ....... Rachel Stapleton 34. Historian................................·..·..·..· ..... Ken Kuebelbeck 35. CORE Committee.......................·..·.., ...... Mary Niedenfuer .............................. ...... Rachel Stapleton .................................... Brad Lindgren 36. Personnel Committee............... ... ... ,.. ... ... . Cory Ehlert ................................. Ken Twit 37. Hiring Committee.......................·..··..·...... Mayor Hiemenz ........................... .......... Bob Loso ........................... ......... Cory Ehlert .............................. ...... Ken TvlÍt 29. Health Board {3 Member} Page3069 I I I I I I ...... ...... .,......,...... ... ...... Mary Niedenfuer 38. Star City Commission {9MemberComm} .... Cory Ehlert ['96 - '99] ................. Greg Reinhart ['96-'99] .................. Bob Krebsbach ['96 - '99] ... ...... ......... S. André :Marthaler ['95 - '98] ............ ...... Duane Sorenson ['95 - '98] ... ......... ...... Linda Sniezek ExOfficio -Admin ................. JudyWeyrens Ex Officio - County Corn, Dist 3 . Rose Arnold Ex Officio...... .,..., ... ............ Dir State MN Job Service 39. St. Cloud Area Economic Partnership... ... ... ... Mayor Hiemenz 40. Alternate, St. Cloud Econ. Partn.................. Cory Ehlert 41. Economic Development Authority {5 Member Authority} Council ['97 - '03]... ....... .... :MayorHiemenz Council ['97 - '02] ............., Ken Twit Community & GP ['97. 'Ol] .., ... ..., .... Ross Rieke Community & GP ['97 - '00] ...... ........ Bruce Gohman Community & GP ['97 - '99] ..,... .... .... Mike Deutz 42. Properties Number Official {Ord. 3]}... ........ ,.. City Engineer , , i Page3070 ¡ NOTE: AI] terms are one year unless noted otherwise. Three (3) year terms begin in January and end in January of cited years I Niedenfuer asked if Cable Commission members will be appointed. :Mayor Hiemenz stated that indivi'dua]s interested in serving will be sought, allowing Commission members to be chosen from interested I individuals. Terms will be established with the appointments. I Niedenfuer made a motion to approve the appointments; seconded by Twit. " I Ayes: Hiemenz, Loso, Niedenfuer, Twit. . I Nays: None. Motion carried, COUNCILORS REPORT TWIT: No report. LOSO: Currently residents that leave for the winter are not allowed to cancel refuse billing. Loso suggested consideration of a change in this policy. There was discussion of the financial impact, and mechanics of a change in the policy. Council agreed to further discuss this topic later in the meeting. NIEDENFUER: No report. Niedenfuer expressed thanks for the opportunity to serve the community as Councilor. Ehlert arrived at 7:35 p.m. CLERK/ADMINISTRATOR REPORTS: I) The City of S1. Joseph dues to the St. Cloud Area Planning Organization dues for ]997 are $5,294. 2) The City received a dividend from the League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust of $9,936. 3) Insurance coverage for elected and appointed officials will be discussed at a future meeting. Page3071 4) The St. Joseph Police Officers Federation has been replaced by the Law Enforcement Labor Services as a negotiating unit. I I PUBLIC COMMENTS: Ellen Wahlstrom discussed the mechanics of the refuse recycling and bag systems. Steve Frank recommended providing information about the bag system on the water bills.' Loso made a motion to recess for 15 minutes at 7:40 p.m.; seconded by Niedenfuer. Ayes: Hiemenz, Loso, Ehlert, Niedenfuer, Twit. Nays: None. Motion carried. Mayor Hiemenz reconvened the meeting at 8~OO p.m. REFUSE CONTRACT: Jamie Phenow representing BFI Refuse Systems appeared before the Council requesting the Council consider extending their refuse contract v..-ith the City. The proposal to e.xtend the contact one year, included keeping the 1997 rate per unit at $11.50 per month, 'with an increase of $.25 per unit for the 1998 rate. Loso made a motion to accept the proposal to extend the contract one year, with retaining the rate for 1997 at the current $11.50 per unit, with the 1998 rate at $11.75, v..-ith the contract ending December 31, 1998. The motion was seconded by Ehlert. Ayes: Hiemenz, Loso, Ehlert, Niedenfuer, TViit. Nays: None. . Motion carried. The Council discussed with Phenow the possibility of suspending billing for residents that are unoccupied for periods of time, such as those that leave for the winter. Loso Viill study the current policy along Viith fmancial and mechanical implications of change. CORE RECOMMENDATIONS: Mayor Hiemenz recommended the Council address the recommendations one at a time. I I. Consider increasing street lighting in some areas. Areas previously brought to the CmIDcil requesting more light were Ash Street EaSt, 4th Avenue :r--."E between Highway 75 and Minnesota Street, and Old Highway 52. Niedenfuer recommended reviewing requests from CORE students. Council was in geneml agreement to contact NSP Company for assistance in assessiIlg lighting needs. 2. Provide means for resident contact with landlords. Mayor Hiemenz indicated persons wanting the name of a landlord ca.TJ. get it from the City Office. There was discussion of requiring the landlord to contact the neighbors through the licensing process, and to have the landlords' association make recommendations. A representative of the Landlord's Association will be invited to meet with the Council to present recommendations. There was also discussion of renters' needs. It was generally felt there was a need to provide renters Viith a contact if they felt the housing is not up to standard The CmIDcil recommended including with the rental certificate (posted on the rental property), a list of names and phone numbers for contacts in this regard Loso made a motion to adjourn at 8:35 p.m.; seconded by Twit. Ayes: Hiemenz, Loso, Ehlert, Niedenfuer, Twit. Nays: None. Motion carried I ~~