Called To Order

President Carlsrud called the meeting to order at 2:30 PM.

Roll Call

Members present: President Carlsrud, Commissioner Bishop and Commissioner Erickson, Commissioner Gulmon, Commissioner Magnuson

Others Present:  City Administrator Crawford, City Attorney Martineck, Finance Director Richter, Administrative Assistant Johnson

Commission Topics

Discussion took place around the following topics:

            Estimated 2023 Prairie Dog Funding

            Fargo Landfill Contract

Department Reports

Sanitation Department

Sanitation Supervisor Swart reported they got a new compost turner and have been borrowing a magnet to drag to help prevent flat tires. There is a good pile of wood chips ready for residents to get.  Please make sure your garbage is out by 7:00 AM.  There has been cross-training taking place so the times might not be the same each time and we will not come back if it is not out by 7:00 AM.  There is a culvert that needs to be fixed at the Transfer Station by the main gate and may affect traffic.

Water Department

Water Superintendent Hesch reported we are dry now and people are out watering so we are working some Sundays.  There are signs of some algae bloom.

Electric Department

Electrical Superintendent Senf reported 5 outages-3 squirrels, 1 bird and 1 tree. Lights are being replaced and trees are being trimmed.

Fire Department

Fire Chief Magnuson reported on the fire report for June.  New rescue truck is now on-line.  There are several community events the Fire Department will be participating in.

Fire extinguishers numbers are lower than anticipated.  Part of this is due to permits and the rise in nuisance calls so there will be a plan in place to streamline these and next time you’ll see a rise in the numbers.

Police Department

Police Chief Hatcher reported there will be an exercise with VCSU for a mass casualty incident and the plan is to do a drill sometime in August or September. There is another opening for a police officer again.

Street Department

Operations Supervisor Klemisch reported they are flushing hydrants. The forester has been busy so trees are getting worked on too, and mowing is a full-time job for a few people.

Administration

Finance Director Richter presented the engineering quarterly report which shows we are where we should be.

Review monthly bills/reports

Finance Director Richter reported $2,600,650.21 in expenses for June.

Discuss Contractor License

City Administrator Crawford stated the electricians, plumbers, HVAC all need to be licensed, but contractors do not.  Many years ago, there was one in place but through an initiated ordinance it was eliminated.  Discussion took place regarding whether or not to require contractors to have a license.

Update on Elks.

Chad from KLJ stated they are soliciting quotes for the gates for the discharge to order ahead of time. Hoping to have the bid opening beginning of August.  Construction will be scheduled to take place next spring.  

Discuss City Holiday Schedule

City Attorney Martineck provided a comparison of the city, state, federal and county holidays.  Discussion took place around if any changes should be made to the current schedule.  

Discuss 2022 Spring Flood Updates

City Administrator Crawford reported that she heard July 25^th Biden will declare the federal emergency.  With the steps that need to take place we can start the process and if it isn’t declared we can hold the bids for 30 days if needed.

Discuss Existing Ordinances Related to Parking and Storage of Vehicles, Boats and Trailers.

City Attorney Martineck stated the ordinances currently in place are not easily enforced. The plan is to take the current ordinances and add how it will be enforced and the procedures that will take place.

Update on Crestwood

Operations Superintendent Klemish stated they are running with new water line. We will see if there is any federal funding for this area to have another study on the stability of the ground.

Adjourn The meeting was adjourned at ­4:56 PM.

Called To Order

President Carlsrud called the meeting to order at 3:35 PM.

Roll Call

Members present: President Carlsrud, Commissioner Bishop and Commissioner Erickson, Commissioner Gulmon, Commissioner Magnuson

Others Present:  City Administrator Crawford, City Attorney Martineck, Finance Director Richter, Administrative Assistant Johnson

Department Reports

Sanitation Department

Operations Superintendent Klemisch reported that the 3^rd truck is not up and running yet so just using 2 trucks for clean-up week.  One of our new hires passed half their CDL permit, just need to do the air-brake portion.

Electric Department

Electrical Superintendent Senf reported 4 outages-3 squirrels and one bad underground. Took down some flood walls and will start on the street lighting on 6^th St. Brandon is now back to full time.

Fire Department

Fire Chief Magnuson reported that it was almost a record setting month on calls. The building is 99.9% complete.  The new rescue truck showed up and the radio was put in.

Police Department

Police Chief Hatcher reported the autism fundraiser has finished up with right around $4600 being raised.  We are still working on bringing a program here. The new officer showed up on June 1^st so we are full staffed again.

Street Department

Operations Supervisor Klemisch reported they were busy with clean-up week and the flood has set them behind. Water nodes are in and being exchanged. Crestwood has two water breaks.  We tried fixing one but the hill just keeps sliding so for safety reasons we pulled the guys out. We’re looking at options, there’s a lot of movement going on up there.

Review monthly bills/reports

Finance Director Richter reported $1,574,550 in expenses for May.

Update on Elks.

Chad from KLJ stated they only received one bid on this project.  The engineer’s estimate was $250,000 and the bid was $375,000. We would like to rebid and have it installed early next year. We would also request the City purchase the flap gate and some of the other longer lead time materials so we can get them here and KLJ would reimburse at 100%. This would help expedite things and they would be under the City’s warranty. 

Discuss outdoor seating during warm weather for Main and Central.

City Administrator Crawford stated other cities have food or drinks in downtown outdoor seating areas and it has been requested that we look into it.

Discuss Changing the date of the June 21^st Commission Meeting and July Finance & Commission Meetings. 

Due to Conflicts and the holiday it was requested to change the upcoming meetings from June 21^st to June 22^nd and July 5 to July 7^th.

Discuss City Utility Disposition Letter.

City Administrator Crawford stated this did not need discussion at this time.

Discuss Options for Nextera Extension on Water Main.

City Administrator Crawford stated it would be best for the city if we brought the main down further for further growth.

Discuss NDDOT Transportation Alternative Program-Winter Show Shared-Use Path. 

money.

Chad from KLJ stated the state sent out a notification that they are changing the guidelines of what the Path program looks like, basically how they are funding projects and the cap levels. We would like to resubmit the request due to the new cap levels.

Adjourn

The meeting was adjourned at ­4:45 PM.

Called To Order

President Carlsrud called the meeting to order at 4:00 PM.

Roll Call

Members present: President Carlsrud, Commissioner Bishop and Commissioner Erickson, Commissioner Gulmon, Commissioner Magnuson (4:03)

Others Present:  City Administrator Crawford, City Attorney Martineck, Finance Director Richter, Administrative Assistant Johnson

Department Reports

Commissioner Erickson reported for sanitation that the transfer station will be open on Saturdays from 8 a.m.-noon.

Water Superintendent Hesch reported not much different from last time. Water table is fairly high, aquifer is looking good. Pumpage has been down, people are listening when they have been asked to conserve water usage. Right now, we have no issues getting chemicals.   

Electrical Superintendent Senf reported 1 outage-secondary fault by Riverview Drive.  Making arrangements to get that replaced.  It’s the second fault so we’ll replace as needed.  Getting prepared for summer.

Fire Chief Magnuson reported days away from building being completed.  Rescue truck should be here by the end of the week.

Police Chief Hatcher reported that they made their final hire and are fully staffed again.  The new hire will start June 1^st and is coming from Grafton with about 12 years of service. New engine in one vehicle and other vehicle will be built the end of May.

Operations Supervisor Klemisch reported Nick Yokom passed his test and is now a fully certified operator for our systems.

City Administrator Crawford reported on the plan moving forward.  We had a meeting regarding the flood walls and how they will be put back. Cory and Marshall were put in charge of this and they would like to have sections of the flood wall be color coated and stenciled so next time anyone can do it and the time to do it will be significantly reduced.

Clint added that we can make a slow return to normal and would like the river at 12’ before we have people go back to complete normal meaning until then to still conserve water when possible.  The car washes are now open but we’d like people to limit washing their cars. All pumps running at 17’, if one goes down at that time we have to pump back into the river and then we have to get the health department involved.  On a normal day we pump around 700,000 gallons in a 24-hour period.  Last 19-hour time stamp we were over 2.5 million gallons. We need to decide what to do with the clay.

Gwen added that we’ve been trying to keep notes throughout all this so we can make sure our permanent flood protection plans that are in place align with the process and will make changes as needed.

The flood hotline will be cancelled after today.

Rich said the current outflow will be held today.  The will continue to monitor and adjust as needed as there is another system of precipitation coming through. 

Review the monthly bills/reports.

Finance Director Richter broke down the $2,138,000 million in expenditures for April.

Discuss VCSU Application for Tourism Development Grant/Loan.

Mary Lee Nielson with the Visitor’s Committee reported this was a unanimous recommendation from the Visitor’s Committee.  It was also put on that you pay $75,000 minimum/year but we would like if you are able to pay more to do that to help pay things down earlier and save money.

Adjourn The meeting was adjourned at ­4:50 PM.

Called To Order

President Carlsrud called the meeting to order at 3:30 PM.

Roll Call

Members present: President Carlsrud, Commissioner Magnuson via Zoom, Commissioner Bishop, Commissioner Gulmon, and Commissioner Erickson

Department Reports

Sanitation Supervisor Swart reported Jamestown Communications finished installing the cameras on the trucks.  The Transfer Station is now closed on Saturday’s though May and we have a part time employee that started. 

Water Superintendent Hesch reported this as the first weekend we tried running without Sunday and it will be just fine.  We just have to monitor it.  Commissioner Bishop asked about the standpipe and the water tower up by the armory.  The standpipe has not been fixed.  After inspection it was determined some of the caulking was bad resulting in pinhole leaks.  It will need to be drained and have a contractor some in to fix it.  Clint has information regarding the water tower.

Electrical Superintendent Senf reported zero outages for the month of October.  West end underground project is finished.  Gaukler 36-plex underground is in and we are waiting for the transformer.  Waterfront Meadows contractor will be digging the trench for us.  In regards to the ordinance on the agenda, to make if fair if you aren’t in city limits we would like them to pay the full price vs us paying the 200 feet since they aren’t paying taxes.  Inside city limits they would have to for the overhead after 200 feet.

Fire Chief Magnuson reported the covid third shot will take place at the firehall next week.  We picked up some additional businesses for fire extinguishers.  Should out to the members of our department and the community.  We are getting new doors installed and the funds came from some of the fundraisers we have held.  The building shipped today and should be here on the 5^th and then Enterprise would be here next week.

Police Chief Hatcher reported that on Thursday at 1:30 up at the DOT office the highway patrol colonel will be in town to present some awards to one of the local highway patrolman as well as one of our police officers that helped out on the highway.  One award is a purple heart, very prestigious and not awarded very often.  It’s open to the public.  We are full staffed and the last person finished their field training last night.

Operations Supervisor Klemisch reported the flushing of the hydrants will be wrapping up in the next day or so.  There is a startup planned tentatively for Thursday for the west end lift station.  Construction is wrapping up for the year with some seeding taking place.  Snow equipment is ready. The NW water tower by DQ is in rough shape.  We are trying to get money in the budget but anything we do is pretty minimal right now until we figure out the plan. 

City Administrator Crawford requested to move item 5 with 3 on the agenda.  Discussion has been taking place about c

City Attorney Martineck introduced Katie Henderson, our new Public Works Administrative Assistant. 

Review Monthly Bills/Reports Finance Director Richterreported we are at $1,780,770 which includes debt service at $137,419, Forestry & F&B Grants at $33,461, PFP CLOMR, $14,670, Fire Hall Addition at $85,186, West End Lift Station at $276,799, construction projects at $418,313 and MRES at $288,800.  The remaining $526,122 is for our regular operations.

Discuss Public Works 1.

City Administrator Crawford stated due to some of the hiring issues, the cross work that goes on in different departments and to become more of a team, we are proposing for 2022 is to merge the Street Specialist 1 and Sanitation Specialist 1 to now a Public Works Specialist 1 at the B-21 level.  The Public Works Technician is at the A-13 level for those that come in and don’t have their CDL yet.

Discuss NDPERS.

City Attorney Martineck stated we have looked into NDPERS for a while and have now made some progress getting it here.  There will be a couple different options, one for safety employees such as the FD and PD and another for non-safety employees.  The city would still put in 10% and the employee makes up the difference.  Any current employee can keep their current retirement plan if they choose or go on NDPERS, any new hires would only have NDPERS as an option.

Discuss NDDOT Urban Grant Program Application.

Chad Petersen stated this was discussed earlier in January and the city has benefitted from this program before.  This opened for applications and the deadline is December 31^st, 2021.

Discus NDDOT Urban Grant Program Application for Wintershow Road Shared-Use Path.

Chad Petersen stated this was discussed previously and there was support that this path was desired.  The document shows 8^th Ave to the Regional Technology center split into two phases. 

Discussion regarding Vacate Four Bottle Road Frontage Road.

Electrical Superintendent Senf stated the electrical poles are out of the ground and there is one that is starting to tip.  It would be expensive to even do just the bare minimum fix.  If vacated, the current property owners would gain the additional land up to the right of way.

City Administrator Crawford added that it is currently on our Urban Roads program and we need to get John Deere added.  In order to add one you need to remove one.

Adjourn The meeting was adjourned at ­4:53 PM.

Called To Order

President Carlsrud called the meeting to order at 2:30 PM.

Roll Call

Members present: President Carlsrud, Commissioner Magnuson, Commissioner Bishop and Commissioner Gulmon, Commissioner Erickson (2:45)

Commission Topics

Discussion took place around the following topics:

Commissioner Long Range Planning Ideas,

RRVWSP information

Department of Water Resources Funding

Department Reports

Sanitation Supervisor Swart requested people try to get closer to the piles when dumping in the grass site.  We are looking for another two new employees.

City Administrator Crawford presented some additional options to try to bring in new employees on the sanitation department.  They will post for part-time positions at a higher wage but no benefits.

Water Superintendent Hesch reported he and Clint will be going to a convention next week and Sherry will be recognized for her Operator’s Award.

Electrical Superintendent Senf reported they have given a manufacturer west of town a bid for 3 phase.  Finished up Smith Lumber today.  We’re having trouble getting quotes back for the WAPA sub.  Everyone wants concrete and its sounds like they are hard to push into the ground.  Either we do the work or hire someone in to do the work.  People don’t want to bid since it’s a foundation.

Fire Chief Magnuson reported this week is Fire Prevention week.  We’ll be waiting until spring to have our open house after we get the addition done.  10 true calls of service last month.  Building is on schedule.  Battle of the Badges is next week.  We picked up all the Summit and Bergan’s properties.  It is working and the numbers will increase.

Operations Supervisor Klemisch reported the next couple of weeks will be busy getting everything wrapped up for the season.  Will start flushing hydrants either this week or next week.  We are a little slower since several of the street crew have been getting sent over to sanitation.  

City Administrator Crawford reported that we are still under our contract funds in the engineering and contracting services.  Planning and Zoning is more than what the original plan but we never could have guessed that we would have all this going on.  There is a walking trail that Bobby is trying to establish near the property that Dave Zubrod recently purchased.  We agreed to have the trail on the back side of that property but after some discussion with Bobby is sounds like he would like it in another area but Zubrod is not in agreement with the new area.  Discussion took place and it will still in the original location.

Review Monthly Bills/Reports Finance Director Richterreported we are at $2,383,808.22 with MRES at $459,000, purchase of Valley Implements at $470,000, BND debt $348,400, Bluescope for the Fire Hall addition invoice of $78,000, Infrastructure and construction was $372,000 the other two sirens were $21,500.  Payroll was high at $428,000 due to paying the annual fire department payment.

Discuss Image & Enhancement and Food and Beverage Grant Requirements

City Administrator Crawford requested we change the name of the Food and Beverage Grant to the Valley City Tourism Grant due to people not being clear on what the grant is for.  Reading it now it seems it’s for restaurants but it’s not.  The other is that for $1000-$5000 they are required to provide their financial information.  Many have decided not to apply due to this, they are concerned in providing this information for their competition to see.  It’s also cumbersome for $1000, there is no encouragement to apply. 

Commissioner Gulmon added that the two most critical things required should be that the taxes are paid and credit check.

Decision was made to change the name of the grant and removing the requirement to provide financial statements.

Discuss Request for a Path/Trail along Wintershow Road

Chad from KLJ stated this was discussed as a need at the Longest Table event.  We have a few letters of support for a trail along the road.  The discussion happened before the grant information opened up through the DOT.  The application has a deadline of December 31^st, 2021 and the funding is for the 2025 construction season.

Discuss Benches on Main

City Administrator Crawford stated we found out that we cannot put anything on the sidewalk areas that are the white concrete because of ADA.  So originally the thought was to put the benches with backs against the buildings but now that can’t be done and if we set them on the red they don’t work well.  We’d like to get backless benches on Main and move the ones with the backs on Central.

Discuss recommendations from the Special Assessment Commission regarding the 5^th Ave NW Reconstruction Project.

Deputy Auditor Klein stated the Special Assessment Commission met last Wednesday night and had the hearing for 5^th Ave N. They were fine with the amounts listed but if you saw in the minutes they had recommendations.  They would like the city to work on the landscaping, grass on the boulevards and the other was about the seal coat.  They would like it completed sooner than later and the city pick up the cost of that sealcoat.

Commissioner Bishop asked if we are able to withhold payment from the contractors until they fix the issues.

Chad from KLJ stated we are withholding 2% of the contract, we do still have punch list items that need addressing.

Discuss Stan Ryan Easement

City Administrator Crawford stated basically there was an easement previously developed with Stan and he no longer wants it developed that way.  City Administrator Crawford presented another drawing that has been discussed that will allow further development in that area.

Adjourn

The meeting was adjourned at ­4:53 PM.

Called To Order

President Carlsrud called the meeting to order at 3:30 PM.

Roll Call

Members present: President Carlsrud, Commissioner Magnuson, Commissioner Bishop, Commissioner Erickson, and Commissioner Gulmon.

Department Reports

Water Superintendent Hesch reported that usage for August peaked on the 18^th at 1,381,000 gallons.  The total pumpage from January 1^st to current is 33,254,000 and the average daily pumpage so far for the year is 1,108,000.  It’s usually around 700,000-800,000 but due to the weather it’s up.

Fire Chief Magnuson reported the pumper will be gone for about a month.  The paint is starting to crack and it’s under warranty but it will take about a month to get it fixed.  The rural board is allowing us to move their pumper up to that spot and hopefully in about 2 weeks the new pumper will be here.  They will be marking the catalytic converters on some of our trucks this week.  Preconstruction meeting for the addition is on Thursday, site work is slated to start on the 13^th.  Sunday is the 9/11 motorcycle ride with Gwen as our speaker.  Extinguishers billed out was $2474.82 and we didn’t get $1000 billed out yet for this month. 

Police Chief Hatcher reported that dispatch has moved.  There was also another resignation in the department.  The officer is moving to highway patrol.

Electrical Superintendent Senf reported 2 outages for the month.  One was lightening and the other was failed cutout.  Installing sirens for the fire department.    

President Carlsrud moved to item 5 and 7.

Discuss EV Charging Station

Superintendent Senf stated there has been questions if we will have one.  Superintendent Senf recommended waiting as he is pretty sure the three main dealerships in town will have to put them in on their own and maybe a couple of gas stations.  If we were to do one it would have to be a fast charge and that would be around $80,000 without including the installation or wiring.  Also Tesla installs their own charging stations approximately 200 miles apart due to them having a different type of plug.  You could put one in for about $6,000 but it’s a minimum of 5 hours to charge so if you put that down town, who’s going to stick around for 5 hours to charge their car?  Senf recommends holding off on installing the stations at this time.

Discuss Increase in Cost WAPA Substation Repairs

Superintendent Senf said WAPA asked for additional $80,000 for the sub.  The electrical department can do some of the work if everyone’s okay with it.  It would save about $100,000.  Commission decided to let the electrical department try it and go from there.

Operations Superintendent Klemisch reported there is still an open position in the sanitation department.  We received the cameras to go on the garbage trucks.  Also a reminder of the 32 gallon can limit.

Street department received their new graders and are ready to put them to work.  Also working on some curb stops and old maintenance issues. 

Finance Director Richter stated we changed our agenda format. 

City Administrator Crawford added that Bobby Koepplin had a request to get tree prices on trees for a grant the Beautification Committee had gotten.  The request has been reviewed and there were a couple of changes so at this time it has been sent back to him with the requested changes.

Review monthly bills/reports

Finance Director Richter reported $2.3 million in expenditures for August.  $283,000 in PFP because of purchasing the maintenance building and also the two vacant properties.  The new equipment lease for $68,000, BND some PFP debt service due for another $64,000, invoice for the FD addition for $53,000, construction projects are around $750,000 and MRES is another $460,000.   

Discuss Gravity Drain by the Elks

Chad Petersen from KLJ stated they plan to increase the capacity of the storm sewer system along Main Street.  We have reached out to contractors for pricing and suppliers for availability of materials.  We have found one contractor to do the work this fall.  The issues are we are already in September and we don’t know what kind of fall we’ll have.  We’re recommending waiting until this spring to complete the project.  This project will be KLJ’s project and no dollars will come from the city.

Discuss Removing Cats from Lease Law Requirement

City Administrator Crawford stated there have been requests to remove cats. 

Police Chief Hatcher stated he always thought it was silly to have a leash on a cat but he feels the “animal at large” would still apply if the cat was caught outside their house. 

Review offer to sell City Lot Located North of West Main Street in NP Additions 5 and 6

City Administrator Crawford stated his offer is the same amount but there is an additional section to make the access work.  The other thing requested is that he knows the closing will take a bit so he is requesting to do dirt work prior to closing.  City Administrator Crawford recommended accepting the offer.

City Attorney Martineck stated we would have him sign some sort of agreement so if everything falls through and he already started the dirt work we would be protected.

Ordinance Review

President Carlsrud stated there are several ordinances that are no longer valid.  We will want to start going through and cleaning them up.

Discuss Retirement

City Administrator Crawford stated there has been discussions about different options such as NDPERS.  I would like to have Carl look into it to see what a better option is.  Anyone who is currently employed can choose what plan they want.

Adjourn

The meeting was adjourned at ­4:35 PM.