President Carlsrud called the meeting to order at 5:00 PM.
Members present: President Carlsrud, Commissioner Magnuson, Commissioner Bishop,
Others City Administrator Crawford, City Attorney Martineck via Zoom, Finance Director Richter, Administrative Assistant Johnson, Fire Chief Magnuson, Police Chief Hatcher.
Pledge of Allegiance
Oath of Office for Police Officer Joshua Reign
President Carlsrud recognized Deputy Auditor Klein for successfully completing her certified city auditor course.
Approval of Agenda
No Changes.
Approval of Minutes
Commissioner Bishop moved to approve the minutes from the September 7th and September 13th meetings, seconded by Commissioner Magnuson. Motion passed unanimously.
Approval of Consent Agenda
Approve Raffle Permit for District 24 Republicans for Drawing on December 18th, 2021.
Approve Parade Application for VCHS Homecoming Parade on September 24th, 2021 on Central Ave.
Commissioner Magnuson moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Bishop. Motion passed unanimously.
Josh Johnson from VCPS requested to make a public comment. He stated back in August there was a conversation regarding school facilities. Through the covid funds the last couple of years the school has received dollars that up to this point have been unobligated. Conversation took place around updating the current school structures, building new and consolidating of several schools and offices. On September 24th meetings will be announced in the month of October that will invite the community for discussion regarding these topics.
Resolution
Approve Resolution 2313, a Resolution Approving the Replat Request of Lots 2-4, 11-16, and 19-21, Block 1 of Prairie View Addition.
City Attorney Martineck stated at the last PZ meeting the commission heard an application to subdivide existing lots in the Prairie View Subdivision for residential purposes. There were several community members that attend and once they heard what the plan was to move forward they didn’t seem to have any objections. That was approved by the zoning commission and city staff is also recommending approval to include the conditions listed in the resolution.
Commissioner Bishop moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Magnuson. Motion passed unanimously.
Approve Resolution 2315, a Resolution Approving the Replat and Variance Request of Lot 1 Block 2 NP West 5th Addition and Lots 1-2 and Outlot A, Block 1 NP West 6th Addition.
City Attorney Martineck stated this was also presented in the last PZ meeting. The PZ commission and city staff recommend approval. There are still some conditions that need to be worked out with the sale that Gwen has been working on. With that we recommend approval with the conditions that are being listed.
Commissioner Magnuson moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Bishop.
City Administrator Crawford added that Mr. Zubrod is aware of the easement behind his property that Bobby Koepplin is working on. What we were not aware of is that Bobby had talked about a parking lot down by the area where the shared entrance would be. Dave is not okay with that.
City Attorney Martineck stated that with the last conversation he had with them his understanding is that he wants the parking to be on the frontage road south of Main Street just south of where the approach would be. Not sure if that would be an actual parking lot or street parking with signage to the trail.
City Administrator Crawford stated we would have to work with the DOT on the right of way but that part’s different but this resolution is good as is.
Motion passed unanimously.
City Administrator’s Report
City Administrator Crawford stated on the 7th Ave project they will be getting all the concrete prepped this week and poured next week. The paving will be the following week. The paving was pushed back just because Border States wasn’t able to get here. The temps. still look good and the completion date isn’t until Oct 16th so they’ll be ahead of that game.
Mike Strom updated that the Streetscape has most of the concrete done on Main Street. They should be finishing up on the concrete mid next week. The signals should be all upright mid next week and that way they can order for the company to come up to set the timing. The mill and overlay is floating in between the 7th Ave project and the other project. They’re trying to move that up if they can to the end of September otherwise it could go until the second week of October. This also has a substantial completion date of October 16th and they should be on track for that.
City Administrator Crawford stated on the 5th Ave project there are some seeding issues. We got them out there today to spray to kill the weeds. It is our understanding that you have to have that done for 10 days before any seeding is done to make sure the weed killer won’t kill the seed. We will get a letter out to let that area know what is going on.
City Updates & Commission Reports
City Attorney Martineck stated there were some interviews with internal candidates for the Assessor in Training position and then formally offered the position to Tina Current. There is an 18 month plan in place for her with Sandy retiring sometime next fall. We now have an opening for the Admin I position in Public Works.
Finance Director Richter stated last spring the loan for the fire hall addition was discussed. An update on the loan through the Bank of ND, we are well on our way of being approved for that loan.
Fire Chief Magnuson reported that they are making progress on the addition. Fire Prevention week takes place Oct. 3rd-9th. The battle of badges blood drive is scheduled for October 12th-13th at Stoudt Ross Ford.
Police Chief Hatcher added that anyone can sign up online or call one of the Chiefs to get you signed up. We are looking for new donors to help expand our pool.
President Carlsrud stated covid numbers are a little higher than they were last year but we have better ways to mitigate and battle covid at this time, get vaccinated. If you have questions about the vaccination talk to your healthcare provide. They will be more reliable than Facebook. To all our employees a thank you.
Adjourn
Meeting was adjourned at 5:25 P.M.