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HomeMy WebLinkAbout[04a] Minutes - August 6, 2018 August 6, 2018 Page 1 of 3 Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, the City Council for the City of St. Joseph met in regular session on Monday, August 6, 2018 at 6:00 PM at the St. Joseph Government Center, opening with the pledge of allegiance. Members Present: Mayor Rick Schultz, Councilors Bob Loso, Troy Goracke. Administrator Judy Weyrens. Members Absent: Councilors Dale Wick and Anne Buckvold. Others Present: Jerry Gohman, Geraldine Gohman, Richard Liquall, Joe Walz, Dave Demars City Representatives Present: Finance Director Lori Bartlett, Community Development Director Therese Haffner, Public Works Director Terry Thene. Public Comments: No one present wished to speak. Approve Agenda: Goracke made a motion to approve the agenda as presented; seconded by Loso and passed unanimously by those present. Consent Agenda: Loso made a motion to approve the consent agenda.The motion was seconded by Schultz and passed unanimously by those present. a. Minutes-Approved the minutes of July 16, 2018. b. Bills Payable-Approved check numbers 053668-053745 and Payroll EFT#001534-001539 and 111540-111547. c. Gambling Report-Accepted the donations and their purposes as presented. Bond Call: Finance Director Lori Bartlett presented the Council with a request to call the 2011A General Obligation Bonds. She stated that in 2011 the City issued bonds of which one portion of the issue was to make capital HVAC and roof improvements to City Hall. As the City has a purchase agreement to sell the facility to Bad Habit, the facility no longer qualifies as a tax exempt building and becomes classified as a commercial property. The original bond documents state that their will not be any commercial use in the building; therefore the bonds will need to be called. The first call opportunity is October 1, 2018. The city has the funds to call the bonds, using funds in the Debt Service Relief Fund. Calling the bonds early will free up$ 23,000 in levy requirements and save approximately$2,720 in interest payments. Loso made a motion to authorize the Mayor and Administrator to execute Resolution 2018-034 calling for the redemption of the outstanding General Obligation Improvement Bonds, Series 201 1A. The motion was seconded by Goracke and passed unanimously by those present. Committee Reports, Personnel: Weyrens reported that the Personnel Committee interviewed seven candidates for the position of Police Officer. The City received twenty one applications and are requesting to offer a conditional job offer to Brent Fandel. Loso questioned what made Mr. Fandel rise above the other candidates. Police Chief Dwight Pfannenstein stated that he had been a reserve for the City, worked part time at the City of Becker and most recently a jailer at Stearns County. He left the City of Becker as he needed full time employment. Schultz stated that he was very articulate and has a well rounded background, including volunteerism. He stated that he was impressed with his interview. Weyrens stated the next step in the process is to offer the position contingent upon the completion of the psychological and physical. Schultz made a motion to offer Brent Fandel the position of Police Officer contingent upon satisfactory completion of a psychological and physical exam. The motion was seconded by Goracke and passed unanimously. Administrator Reports, Colts Academy Update: Weyrens stated that City Staff has been working to identify the needs to start using the Colts facility. The City has already engaged Brothers Fire&Security August 6, 2018 Page 2 of 3 to provide fire monitoring for the facility, which is the same vendor for the Government Center. The School District had an antiquated card access system that is proprietary so that is currently not available. Staff is requesting to add to the system for the government center. The card reader system at the Government Center is at capacity; therefore the system will have to be expanded. This expansion will take care of any future expansion to the system as well. Staff is also requesting to extend the current phone system into the facility. The final item is adding wireless adapter and a switch for computers. The following is a summary of costs: Card Reader System Schwegel Communications$ 7,466.16; Phones Schwegel Communications$ 1,137.84; and Shift Technologies $ 1,000.00 (only estimate). In addition to the stated costs, their will be additional fees from Midcontinent for fiber and services. Schultz made a motion authorizing staff to move forward with the card reader system, phones, computer needs and fiber costs. The motion was seconded by Loso and passed unanimously by those present. Administrator Reports, Government Center HVAC: Weyrens stated that the City continues to have issues with humidity in the Government Center. Public Works Director Terry Thene stated that he has been working with contractors to try and find a solution to the high humidity in the administration and police office portion of the facility. Thene stated that since the building has been built for the future, the system has been designed for full operation to include additional staff. The additional staff would provide for additional heat that would cause the air conditional to operate, removing humidity. Therefore, in order to get the air conditioning to run more frequently, a furnace can be installed in the existing system that would create the same affect as the additional staffing. The cost to add the furnace is$ 15,500. Loso made a motion to authorize the installation of a furnace in the Government Center HVAC, seconded by Goracke. Discussion: Schultz stated that he does not understand the proposed resolution as it does not make sense to him to add heat to force the air conditioner to run more frequently. He questioned how many more bodies would have to be added to the facility to make the system work efficiently. When the City was having an issue with the Council dias, the construction management company went through great lengths to find the cause and solution. Schultz does not believe the same diligence was done with the HVAC system. Loso questioned if a humidification could be added to the unit. Thene stated that the HVAC system includes four HVAC units and they are not designed or capable of adding humidification units. Schultz made a motion to table action on the modification to allow staff to further examine the cause and consider alternative solutions. The motion was seconded by Loso and passed unanimously by those present. Administrator Reports, EAW Initiation: Weyrens stated that City staff has been working with a developer to develop property west of CR 2 and east/north of 194. Based on the size of the development, an Environmental Assessment Worksheet(EAW)will need to be completed. The City is the Regulating Government Unit(RGU)for the EAW process and the first step is to authorize the initiation of the EAW. The cost for the EAW is borne by the developer and in this case the developer engineer will prepare all the required documents for review by the City. Loso made motion ordering the EAW for the proposed development adjacent to CR 2. The motion was seconded by Goracke and passed unanimously by those present. Administrator Reports, Purchase Agreement Amendment: Weyrens reported that Bad Habit has indicated that the closing companies are scheduling six weeks out; therefore, they will not be able to meet the amended closing date of August 16, 2018. They have requested to amend the closing date to September 30, 2018. Weyrens stated that she has also met with Bad Habit regarding the monthly mortgage payment and have agreed to pay$ 3,000 per month with a balloon payment at the end of five years. Loso made a motion to authorize the Mayor and Administrator to execute and amendment to the purchase agreement between the City of St. Joseph and Bad Habit extending the closing date to September 30, 2018 and establishing the monthly mortgage payment at$ 3,000 with a August 6, 2018 Page 3 of 3 balloon payment at the end of five years. The motion was seconded by Schultz and passed unanimously by those present. Administrator Reports, Feasibility Report 2019 Street Improvement: Weyrens reminded the Council that in 2017 the City Council prepared a Street Maintenance Plan which identifies conditions of roads and prioritizes when improvements can be anticipated. The City Council has also requested to start projects in fall so that they can be bin in January or February rather than deal with late construction issues. The budget process for 2018 identified which streets should be improved which was included in the Capital Improvement Plan. The first step in any improvement project is the completion of a feasibility report which identifies the project, clarifies the need, identifies the scope of the project and provides a very preliminary cost sharing table. The cost for the study is wrapped into the project cost and funded through the project costs and bonding. The City Engineer has provided a services agreement to prepare the feasibility report at a cost of$ 20,975.00. Weyrens reminded the Council that ordering a feasibility report does not order the project; rather provided the required information to determine if a public hearing should be conducted to consider ordering an improvement. Loso made a motion authorizing the Mayor and Administrator to execution Resolution 2018-035 Ordering Preparation of Report on Improvements and Execution of the Engineering Services Agreement. The motion was seconded by Schultz and passed unanimously by those present. Adiourn: Loso made a motion to adjourn at 6:29 PM; seconded by Schultz and passed unanimously by those present. Judy Weyrens Administrator