Freeport City Council Regular Meeting Minutes - July 31, 2002

Also in attendance were Rich Romness, Joel Dasher, Mark Middendorf and Joe Heinen.

Minutes of the June 26, 2002, regular meeting were previously mailed and with no additions or corrections warranted, approved upon a motion by Humbert, s/Boelter, with a vote of 4-0.

Mayor Rodney Atkinson appeared at this time and assumed the duties of president of the council.

Staff Reports

Maintenance Supervisor Joel Dasher appeared to present a written summary of his latest concerns. The report included information on the sewer pond and the need to consider a discharge soon due to high water levels. He also indicated that high moisture content in the well houses are causing the paint to peel and the council consented to allowing both roof ventilators and/or dehumidifiers to be purchased if needed. Dasher then presented a list of the priority street repairs to be done with Caldwell Asphalt and from this list; a motion was made by Heidgerken, s/Boelter, to authorize items 2,4,5,6 & 9, at an estimated cost of $6,204. The motion was adopted by a 5-0 margin.

Dasher also addressed the ball field and the ruts in place due to heavy rains and with those rains, come the need for more frequent lawn mowing. Because the current unit does not cut evenly and causes scalping, he was instructed to secure competitive prices for a replacement model, perhaps before the end of the year. Discussion also ensured on the location of the underground sprinkler system at the ball park and the need to have this lowered since exposure is becoming evident. The council decided that this line needed to be buried a minimum of 24 inches and Dasher was told to contact Mayer's Construction to see if they would stand behind their original installation. The storm drain in the alley behind the Obermiller house was also reviewed because water runoff has come close to the dwelling and rather than rotor-rooter at this time, televising of the line was approved to see if some restriction was in place. Thelen moved to allow Dasher to attend the MN Rural Water workshop in Watertown and Heidgerken seconded the motion. By voice vote, this educational session on August 8^th was approved unanimously.

Romness recapped the results of the July 30^th preconstruction conference with the prime contractor for the Industrial Park project. He stated that no underground installation would begin before September 1^st because of other projects involving Kuechle Underground, but he indicated that the contract, insurance and bond documents would be ready for city approval around August 15^th.

Romness was also asked to comment on the final plat of the Industrial Park and the July 8^th memo from Sam DeLeo of SEH, Inc. DeLeo had listed his concerns in that memo and Romness stated he would follow-up with him on the extension of the 7^th Street name to replace Sentry Road, provide street addresses for the lots after the clerk reveals those numbers and to add the Franklin Sign easements, if they were required. Contact with MNDOT was also needed since this plat lay adjacent to the I-94 right-of-way. From the audience, Mark Middendorf expressed his displeasure with the name of Uhlenkotts Drive now identified in the plat. The council took no action on any changes at this time and the final plat approval was deferred until Romness had made the additions.

Old Business

Attorney Scott Dymoke appeared with a revised easement agreement involving Franklin Sign Company, after he had earlier sent a draft to Steve Anderson of Franklin Sign on July 23^rd and had since revised the document following several phone conversations. He stated that the name of the principal had been amended to read "Keith G. Franklin" since the firm was not incorporated. Among other changes was the expansion of the billboard site contained on Lot 1, Block 1, Industrial Park, from the prior 55 feet to 65 feet wide in order to accommodate the angle of the billboard. Dymoke also stated that second document would have to be executed with the Middendorf Partnership, since they still are the current owners of the land in question. As a result, a motion was made by Heidgerken, s/Humbert, to approve the revisions and allow the mayor and clerk to execute the easement agreement on behalf of the city's EDA. This motion was amended by the makers to include the authorization for Dymoke to prepare a purchase agreement that would allow for the purchase of some 3.3 acres of land (Lot 1, Block 1) between the city and the Middendorf Bros. Partnership. The motion was then passed on a roll call vote, 5-0.

After reviewing a letter written by Attorney Robert Vose of Kennedy & Graven, dated July 25^th, after the clerk had sent him a memo earlier, the council studied the draft resolution that would consent to the change in ownership of US Cable. As a result,

Resolution No. 2002-19, CONDITIONALLY CONSENTING TO CHANGE OF OWNERSHIP IN GRANTEE was introduced and Thelen moved to adopt, s/Heidgerken. By a voice vote, the motion passed 5-0 and the council also expressed their approval of Vose's willingness to represent the city in Cable TV franchise renewal negotiations. Members agreed that his suggestion to form a local cable committee made sense and Mayor Atkinson expressed his desire to serve on this committee when he stepped down from office at the end of the year. The clerk also reported that the second quarter cable TV franchise fees generated $448.36.

A letter from H&H Contracting, seeking a settlement to their earlier claim of $1,390 for water tower maintenance and cleaning this past April, was studied again after they reduced their billing amount to $1,290. Since the city maintenance personnel had to scale the tower to close a hatch left open following their work, members of the council agreed that the amount of their adjustment should include the travel and man-hours for a crew of two, had this firm returned to Freeport as they were asked. With that, they requested the clerk to indicate this amount to be reduced in a reply to H&H Contracting.

Heinen revealed that since the last meeting, Dave Anderson had visited with him about the Welle Addition progress in upgrading the current concrete homes and wished to convey to the city that he has run out of funds and therefore wishes to sell the remaining 13 lots under his control. Rather than seek individual approval to sell the lots as they may come up for transfer to another, Anderson was seeking a blanket authorization to conduct future sales without EDA approval. Rather than allow this concept, Heidgerken moved to recommend a mass purchase agreement for all lots through the efforts of the EDA, s/Boelter. On a voice vote, the motion was passed without dissent and the clerk was asked to place this issue on a forthcoming EDA Board agenda for consideration.

New Business

A summary of the July 24^th EDA Board meeting was given by the city clerk and he replied to councilmember questions about the follow-up items he was asked to seek clarity about, including the fees to be imposed by David Drown Associates for the negotiated bond sale to finance the pending improvements to the Industrial Park and the unresolved purchase agreement terms in the Ellingson/Osendorf (Freeport Properties, LLC), after their legal counsel raised questions about the contract. The meeting of the EDA did result in that body verifying the fact that no remaining payments to David & Kathy Welle were required under the terms of the contract for deed since a final settlement had been made in the amount of $2,126 on or about August 1, 2001.

With the mayor's comments about agricultural issues needing some outside input as they related to city matters, he spoke of the need to appoint someone knowledgeable to form an advisory consultant and report periodically to the council. With that, he named Joe

Wilwerding to be this appointee and the council consented unanimously. The clerk was directed to contact Mr. Wilwerding to see if he was interested in serving and perhaps form some policy guidelines for him to act upon.

The clerk provided a draft Resolution No. 2002-20, leaving blank the names of election judges to be considered for the September 10^th primary election. After studying the list of judges and their party affiliation, Thelen moved for adoption of said Resolution naming Dorothy VanHeel as chairperson, with Mary Goebel, Joyce Hoeschen, Gail Osendorf, Mary Ann Laing and Veronica Finken to assist from 7 AM through 9 PM on the previously stated date, with hourly compensation rates of $12.00/hour for the chair-person(s) and $10.00 for others. The motion passed unanimously.

The members were provided with a statement of charges for police protection services for the first six months of the year 2002, per contract guidelines, in the amount of $3,312.00.

Thelen moved for approval of this claim, s/Hedigerken, and by a vote of 5 ayes and no nays, the motion was approved.

In addition, a current list of payables due outside vendors in the amount of $16,382.89 was presented for action. After some debate, Thelen moved to adopt the claims list with o cover the exception of the amount due to the MN Department of Economic Security for $1,218.00, indicating that this fee for former employee Dennis Katzner's second quarter 2002 unemployment claim may be fraudulent because the city has evidence that said employee was gainfully self-employed during this period. Boelter seconded the motion and by a vote of 5-0, the motion passed.

An administrative report was given by the clerk that included a first half year of cash balances and changes in fund balances. Also made part of the report was written documentation that stated these half year budget summaries:

Budget Actual Pct of Total

The council was also given the opportunity to view the expense tracking worksheets for capital projects underway and study the investment accounts of all funds and the amount of dollars transferred between funds to reimburse the General Fund for checks disbursed during this period. No action was required; however, members expressed their pleasure in seeing such a detailed explanation of the city's financial condition.

A letter from the Central MN EMS was distributed to show that the AFSA will be the recipient of $702 to cover some of the training costs incurred earlier in the year. The clerk had made a request for this grant funding in May after discussing the issue with the fire chief.

A letter from Jim Meyer, seeking reimbursement from the city for damages to his pallet forks caused by the contractor working on the 2000 street improvement project, was read aloud. It stated that if the city did not make payment within 30 days, the claimant would seek relief in the small claims court. No action was taken by the council.

Mayor Atkinson nominated Jackie Atkinson to be named to a 6 year renewal term on the EDA Board. With this announcement, Humbert moved to approve the mayor's action, s/Boelter, and all voted in the affirmative to confirm her re-appointment with a term to expire on 7/13/08.

With no further business to come before the group, the meeting was adjourned at 11:00 P.M. by general consent.