President Carlsrud called the meeting to order at 5:00 PM.

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

Others present:  City Administrator Crawford, City Attorney Martineck, Finance Director Richter, City Assessor Hansen, Fire Chief Magnuson, Police Chief Hatcher, Sanitation Supervisor Swart, City Engineers Chad Petersen and Tracy Eslinger, Jennifer Feist

Approval of Agenda

Addition NB4 and NB5

Approval of Minutes

Commissioner Magnuson moved to approve the minutes from the January 19th meeting, seconded by Commissioner Gulmon.  Motion carried.

Approval of Consent Agenda

A.  Approve Application for Raffle Permit for the Express Wrestling of Valley City for the activity dates of 1/1/2021-   6/30/2021.

B.  Approve Application for Raffle Permit for the Disabled American Veterans for the activity dates of 7/31/2021- 6/30/2022.

C.  Approve Application for Raffle Permit for Barnes County Ducks Unlimited for the activity date of 4/8/2021.

D.  Approve Application for Raffle Permit for El Zagal Sheyenne Valley Flag Corps for the activity date of       8/21/2021.

E.  Approve Monthly Reports from the Fire Chief, Building Inspector, Auditor, Municipal Judge and Public Works       Accountant.

F.  Approve Monthly Bills for the City and Public Works in the Amount of $1,261,010.33.

Commissioner Bishop moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Magnuson.  Motion carried.

Ordinance

Approve Second and Final Reading of Ordinance No. 1070, an Ordinance Relating to the Annexation of Territory.

City Attorney Martineck stated no changes from the first reading.  This is related to the east interchange where Valley Plains Equipment is planning to build their dealership.  Recommendation is still to approve.

Commissioner Bishop moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Magnuson.  Motion carried.

Approve Second and Final Reading of Ordinance No. 1071, Approving Rezone of Nextera Addition to the City of Valley City.

City Attorney Martineck stated this again is related to the Valley Plains Dealership.  A newly annexed territory was requested to zone as light industrial.  No changes from the first reading.  Recommendation is to approve.

Commissioner Magnuson moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Bishop.  Motion carried.

Approve First Reading of Ordinance No. 1072, an Ordinance enacting a new section of the Valley City Municipal Code relating to Wireless Telecommunication Facility Guidelines.

City Attorney Martineck stated in 2018 the FCC passed regulations that made it easier for telecommunications companies to put up their wireless towers.  Mostly had to do with the fees the cities were charging and the restrictions the cities were putting on aesthetics and the times the cities were taking to process the applications.  Those are the things we really have control over but our ability to assess fees are limited, our control over what they look like is limited and our time to process the applications has to be 60 days or less.  The ordinance spells out everything we are allowed to do under the FCC’s guidelines.  As we move to the second reading of the ordinance we will be working with city staff and KLJ to come up with finalized guidelines before companies come in wanting to put towers up.

Commissioner Erickson moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Bishop.  Motion carried.

Resolution

Approve Resolution No. 2270, a Resolution Approving Final Plans and Specifications for Paving Improvement District No. 119 and Authorizing Engineer to Advertise for Bids.

Approve Resolution No. 2271, a Resolution Approving Paving Improvement District No. 119B and Authorizing Engineer to Advertise for Bids.

Approve Resolution No. 2272, a Resolution Approving Sanitary Sewer District No. 64 and Authorizing Engineer to Advertise for Bids.

Approve Resolution No. 2273, a Resolution Approving Storm Sewer District 52 and Authorizing Engineer to Advertise for Bids.

Approve Resolution No.  2274, a Resolution Approving Water Main District No. 100 and Authorizing Engineer to Advertise for Bids.

Finance Director Richter stated Resolutions 2270-2274 are all related to the 7^th Ave NW and 2^nd Ave NE project.  All five can be read and one motion and one role call is okay as long as you approve to move forward that way.

Mayor Carlsrud gave the okay.

Chad Petersen from KLJ stated this project was bid back in April of 2019.  Bids came in over estimate.  The City reevaluated and decided to hold off on the project.  Funds have become available and were allocated to this project.  One thing to note is that the bid date is anticipated within 45 days of approval.  The resolutions all note to hold all bids for up to 30 days.  Discussion with the ND DQ they recommend to have the option to hold up to 45 days post bid opening.

Commissioner Erickson questioned cost share.

Chad said the project is estimated at $3.8 million with $2.5 million of funds available thru the Prairie Dog Fund leaving approximately $1.3 local funds.  I don’t have what was estimated for special assessments.  A noted we have multiple improvement districts here.  For the street improvements the assessments are capped at the $123 and some change so that number will not change.  Utility Improvements, water and sewer, we have a combination of new services for water and sewer and then for the sewer we have mains that have been replaced but the services have not been.  New services on the water and mains are capped at $4,000 per hookup on the reline segments it’s capped half of the cost up to $3000 and then storm sewer were proposing to special assess at about $.05 per square foot.  There’s a large component of the drainage area that is outside of city limits which is one of the primary reasons we needed to get the funding for this project since those could not be special assessed.

Commissioner Gulmon moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Magnuson.  Motion carried.

Approve Resolution No. 2275, A Resolution Amending Master Fee Schedule-Residential Building Permit and Inspection Fees.

City Administrator Crawford stated they wanted to solidify the actual jobs our employees can do which would be the garage, decks and residential remodels involving structural changes.  The rest would stay as we needed it based on the person that was hired to do it.  We just need to make the change to make it match.

Commissioner Gulmon moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Bishop.  Motion carried.

New Business

Approve the VCBCDC request for $10,000 for marketing.

Jennifer Feist stated we have had a couple of things happen just recently. We have had two of our companies bought out by major corporations.  We are needing to elevate the communication pieces we have because we are dealing with national and international companies.  We have done a good job marketing but we need to raise the bar.

Commissioner Gulmon moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Magnuson.  Motion carried.

Approve Gaming Site Authorization for Valley City State University Foundation on February 1^st, 2021 through June 30^th, 2021 at Brockopp Brewing.

Finance Director Richter stated this is another site VCSU is requesting. This is Brockopp Brewing’s first site.  We’ve had good success and compliance with VCSU’s gaming sites.

Commissioner Bishop moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Magnuson.  Motion carried.

Review and Award bids for 2021 vehicle purchase.

City Administrator Crawford stated the request is to go forward with the bid from Miller Motors that was the lowest cost for the truck.

Commissioner Erickson moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Bishop.  Motion carried.

Approve offering a one-time bill credit of $5 for utility customers agreeing to go to paperless statements.

PW Manager Jacobson stated we have been migrating to new billing software for some time.  Part of that required us to change from the postcard billings to a full page mailing so we have an increased postage cost.  We also bought a stuffer to help get those mailing out.  One of the new functions in the software is to send emails to residents.  We’d like to run a campaign for any residents to allow us to email their bills to receive a onetime $5 credit.

Commissioner Erickson moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Magnuson.  Motion carried.

Approve transferring $95,748 from the sewer fund to the water fund and transferring $136,175 from the electric fund to the street fund.

PW Manager Jacobson reported that we ended the 2020 year with two negative balances.  The water fund is mainly due to the large amount of repairs due to the water main breaks.  We budgeted a loss for the street department of about $258,000.  We came in at about $100,000 loss mainly due to the COVID money that was used.  The sewer fund has $1.3 million cash balance and since the water goes hand and hand with that we would like to use that.  For the street fund I’m asking for the funds to come from the electrical department which currently has $3.6 million. 

Commissioner Magnuson moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Gulmon.  Motion carried.

City updates & Commission Reports

City Administrator Crawford stated there are a few processes in PW that we found weren’t being done and some other things that would be best cost effective.  The first thing is when there is a bill it tells you there is a due date.  After the due date there is supposed to be a late fee.  That hasn’t been charged until they get billed again.  No one was actually getting that fee until they were billed again.  One of the changes is that we will actually be charging the late fees as we are supposed to.  The other part is after a bill goes out a couple days later a past due notice goes out.  From the bill being past due, 15 days later we say you’re going to be cut off.  We will be eliminating the notices.  We’re in talks about the little dam and things taking place there.  About a week ago we received an email that there will be some COVID money coming for R&R projects.  No action is needed at this time, just wanted to make you aware. 

Finance Director Richter stated with the Valley City CARES and the $200,000 we have allocated for that project, the checks are cut and will be issued to the Chamber.

PW Manager Jacobson just wanted to make everyone aware that the bills are now coming in paper form in an envelope, please do not throw them out.  We will also be putting information and notices on those bills so please read them.

President Carlsrud stated he received a letter from the Census Bureau stating the City of Valley City is a valuable member of the 2020 census community partnership and engagement program and thanking us for our participation.  Thank you Scott.

Fire Chief Magnuson we’ve had a lot of odor calls.  Check drains, sewer vents and CO2 detectors.

Sanitation Supervisor Swart gave a shout out to the sanitation department and the hard work they do.  Just a reminder we are looking for another crew member so if you know anybody send them our way.

Chad Petersen stated tomorrow will be our scoping meeting for the 6^th St NW project. 

Commissioner Gulmon stated he and Avis met last week and reviewed financials and we are in a really good place.  Sales tax reports were out in November and was up 9%, Food and Beverage is down 4%.  Starting Saturday the For Love of Local begins.  They have a really organized process and it should go well.  An update to the storage building, we’ve met a couple of times and talked about potentially building on the land pit lot.  We found that a 10,000 sq. ft. building will not work there because the site preparation would take more than $500,000 to prepare the site.  We will be meeting again to discuss other options.

Commissioner Erickson gave props to the individuals that went the extra mile to improve themselves with the city

Commissioner Bishop wanted to remind everyone to be safe with these cold temperatures.  Thanks to the FD and PD because no matter how bad the weather, they still have to be out.

Commissioner Magnuson thanked to all the city staff and crews that are out there doing what they do every day.  Take advantage of the For the Love of Local program.  It’s a good program.  Also, when you’re out and about talking to people invite them to come and look at Valley City.  We have a beautiful city with and want to entice people to be here.

President Carlsrud thanked all the employees, we’ve been busy and will be busier and with this cold weather it makes things more challenging, stay safe.  Our employees that went the extra mile for their continuing education were Tyler Martin, Nick Yokom and Alec Storhoff.  Thanks to all of you, we appreciate your efforts. We do have some job openings so check in at City Hall if you’re looking for work.  Report from our electrical department today, our electricity was on 100% of the time in December, that’s pretty special.  Kudos to our City and Rural Fire Department for their partnership.  Together you’re able to offer services to our citizens which we could not do if we were separate.  Hats off to City County Health. This COVID stuff affects everybody differently and those folks are getting a lot of hours in due to the COVID.  Out of the 1,677 vaccinations given, which represents 13% of our population, CCH administered 1,000 of the shots.  To date we have 43% of the 75 and older group vaccinated and that will be going up and the 65 and older crew will be coming in soon.

City Administrator Crawford added with the cold, there are people that know they have issues with their pipes freezing so be mindful of that.  We don’t have the snow there to insulate so keep an eye on that.

Adjourn

Meeting was adjourned at 5:54 P.M.

 

Tuesday, January 19th, 2021

Via Zoom

President Carlsrud called the meeting to order at 5:00 PM.

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

Others present:  City Administrator Crawford, City Attorney Martineck, Finance Director Richter, City Assessor Hansen, PW Manager Jacobsen, Fire Chief Magnuson, Police Chief Hatcher, Gloria Swart, City Engineer Chad Petersen, Jennifer Feist Aaron Raap, Mike Manstrom, Paul Diegel

Proclamation

President Carlsrud read the proclamation declaring January 31-Feruary 6, 2021 as Catholic Schools Week.

Approval of Agenda

Addition of Proclamation

Approval of Minutes

Commissioner Gulmon moved to approve the minutes from the January 5th meeting, seconded by Commissioner Magnuson.  Motion carried.

Approval of Consent Agenda

Approve 2021 Application to Sell LP Gas for Loves Travel Stop Contingent on the Approval of the Fire Chief.

Fire Chief Magnuson stated due to a change in suppliers, Loves will not have the tanks until closer to the end of February.

No action taken.

Public Hearing

Public Hearing for Approving the Rezone of Nextera Addition to the City of Valley City.

President Carlsrud declared the public hearing open. 

City Attorney Martineck stated the area is outside city limits right now.  It is probably zoned as agricultural and is on the agenda to be annexed into the city.  The proposal is for that to be zoned light industrial, I1.

Aaron Raap added they operate under Valley Plains Equipment, owned by Brandt Holdings Company and Nextera is a division of that which is basically the leasing arm.  We plan to build about half the size of the new store in Jamestown.  We have about 12-15 employees and are looking to grow considerably. 

Commissioner Bishop moved to close the public hearing, seconded by Commissioner Gulmon.  Motion passed unanimously.

Approve first reading of Ordinance No. 1071, Approving Rezone of Nextera Addition to the City of Valley City.

City Attorney Martineck stated the recommendation from Planning and Zoning is to approve the rezone and also before any construction starts we need a development agreement in place both with the city and the water district.

Commissioner Magnuson moved to approve Ordinance No. 1071, seconded by Commissioner Gulmon.  Motion passed unanimously.

Ordinance

Approve Second and Final Reading of Ordinance No. 1069, an Ordinance Creating a Perpetual Restrictive Covenant for Structures to be removed in Accordance with the State Water Commission.

City Attorney Martineck stated no changes from the first reading.  This is putting restrictions on properties that were bought out with state water funds.

Commissioner Magnuson moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Erickson.  Motion carried.

Approve First Reading of Ordinance No. 1070, an Ordinance Relating to the Annexation of Territory.

City Attorney Martineck stated we received a petition from Nextera Properties to annex the property where the Valley Plains dealer would be located.  All notifications went out per law.  The only comments we received were from the DOT which will be addressed when the building permits are issued.  Today’s recommendation is to proceed with the approval of the annexation.

Commissioner Bishop moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Magnuson.  Motion carried.

Resolution

Approve Resolution 2267, Approving PLAT of Nextera Addition to the City of Valley City.

City Attorney Martineck stated before building permits are issued by the city, the land needs to be platted.  We received an application to PLAT the land where the Valley Plains Dealer will be going.  The recommendation from P&Z is to approve that application.

Commissioner Magnuson moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Gulmon.  Motion carried.

Approve Resolution 2268, Approving Replat of Lot 2 of Hi-Line Estates and Legacy Townhomes PUD.

City Attorney Martineck stated P&Z received an application to PLAT additional townhome buildings in the Legacy Townhomes PUD.  The recommendation from P&Z is to approve that application.  We did receive a couple comments from residents in the neighborhood but I believe those have all been addressed to the satisfaction of P&Z.

Commissioner Gulmon moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Magnuson.  Motion carried.

Approve Resolution 2266, a Resolution Authorizing Refinancing Special Assessment Improvement Bonds of 2011 and 2013.

Finance Director Richter stated she has been working with Mike and supports their refinancing and recommend we proceed.

Mike Manstrom added there is a resolution to hire Ohnstad Twitchell to refinance the 2011 and 2013 projects.  Interest rates are historically low.  We won’t be able to get this done until 4-6 weeks.  If the interest rates increase during that time and there is no savings to the City we would cancel at no cost.  It looks like we could save the city around $85,000-$90,000.  At this time we are just asking for approval to start working on it and will prepare the savings at an upcoming meeting.

Commissioner Magnuson motioned to approve, seconded by Commissioner Gulmon.  Motion carried.

Approve Resolution 2269, a Resolution Amending Master Fee Scheduled re Fees for Residential Building Permits and Inspections.

City Attorney Martineck stated this is the same thing we did to the commercial fees.  Since we are now contracting out our inspections and bidding processes this allows the city to assess the fees pursuant to our contract with Midwest Inspections.

Commissioner Bishop motioned to approve, seconded by Commissioner Magnuson.  Motion carried.

New Business

Approve the VCBCDC request for $15,000 to Support the Shop Local Campaign.

Jennifer Feist stated to stay with the formal process of receiving approval of funds we would request $15,000 of Economic Development funds to support the recently approved $200,000 CARES Act campaign that is being launched.

Commissioner Gulmon moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Magnuson.  Motion carried.

Approve Designating $20,000 from Renew and Replacement Fund 290 for 2021 Sidewalk, Curb, Gutter and Driveway Apron Replacement.

Finance Director Richter the request is for a reimbursement to property owners that would be updating their sidewalks in 2021.  There would be a 25% reimbursement to that property owner contingent on providing the City with a quote or estimate from a contractor prior, having a city staff look to determine that it is something that needs replacing.  Upon completion we need the invoice and would replace the property owner 25% of that invoice.  This has been done in the past and has gone well.

Commissioner Erickson moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Bishop.  Motion carried.

Approve Gaming Site Authorization for ND Chapters of delta Waterfowl Inc. on February 27, 2021 at the Valley City Eagles Club 2192.

Finance Director Richter stated this is an ongoing annual event.  The fees have been paid and the application is in good order.

Commissioner Bishop moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Magnuson.  Motion carried.

Approve Task Order for Design Engineering for Master Lift Station Upgrades.

Chad from KLJ both N4 and N5 were two project that were included in the 2021 PW capital budget.  In a previous meeting it was recommending to move on these projects.  The first step is to get the design engineering under contract.  N4 is relating to the Master Lift Station, an hourly contract not to exceed $23,350 to prepare the specs and get out the bid or quotes depending on what the final estimate is.

Commissioner Magnuson moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Gulmon.

Bishop-aye       Gulmon-aye     Erickson-nay    Magnuson-aye  Carlsrud-aye    Motion carried.

Approve Task Order for Design Engineering for West End Lift Station.

Chad from KLJ stated this is the same as stated above but for the replacement of the West End Lift Station.

Commissioner Magnuson moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Gulmon

Magnuson-aye              Bishop-aye       Gulmon-aye     Erickson-nay    Carlsrud-aye    Motion carried.

Approve Task Order for Preliminary Engineering for 6^th Street NW Reconstruction Project.

Chad from KLJ stated this was the project that the city recently went thru the procurement process.  The project is primarily funded thru the NDDOT so this project requires the DOT’s project development. This first ask is the first stage.  Once we are through this they would come back for the final design engineering component.  This project is an hourly not to exceed contract.  Construction is tentatively scheduled for 2022.

As Commissioner Gulmon moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Magnuson.

Erickson-nay    Magnuson-aye  Bishop-nay      Gulmon-aye     Carlsrud-aye    Motion carried.

Approve Amendment to Engineer-Owner Agreement for Paving Improvement District 119 & 119B (7^th Ave W and 2^nd Ave NE).

Chad from KLH stated this goes back to 2018.  The project was originally bid with the full project as described in 2019.  Bids came over what was budgeted so bids were rejected.  In December the City received funds through the state for infrastructure projects.  Since the bids were over 2 years old, updates have been made.  Conversations have taken place with the state engineer’s office about reapplying for the funds for the water main portion so we will resubmit that as part of this package.

Commissioner Gulmon moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Magnuson.

Gulmon-aye     Erickson-nay    Magnuson-aye  Bishop-nay      Carlsrud-aye    Motion carried.

Discuss City Mask Plan.

President Carlsrud stated we were following the Governors order and he made a significant change so right now our mask mandate has expired.  Do we want to go without or extend?

Commissioner Gulmon feels it is important to extend the mandate.  Were so close to getting vaccines to our community and we have a responsibility of trying to support our public health and provide safeguards to our community.  I think we should extend for another 30 days.

Commissioner Erickson does not want to extend.  I think we should leave it up to the businesses if they want to enforce it or not.  We shouldn’t be pushing it on any more than we have already.

Commissioner Bishop stated he has spoken with a fair amount of people since the mandate has been lifted.  If the schools and businesses want to require masks that’s up to them but I think it’s time we let adult make their own decisions.

Commissioner Magnuson stated at first he wasn’t huge on expanding it but beings as close as we are.  I think the businesses could do it but it’s easier if they have something to go back on.  I’m in favor of one month.

Commissioner moved to extend the mask mandate until February 19^th, seconded by Commissioner Magnuson.

Bishop-nay      Gulmon-aye     Erickson-nay    Magnuson-aye  Carlsrud-aye    Motion carried.

City updates & Commission Reports

City Attorney Martineck stated the small cell tower movement.  When it comes to town they’re going to be putting up a lot of new infrastructure that we can’t stop but we can to some extent control how it happens.  We are working with DOT to have some control over the DOT right of way so when Verizon or AT&T comes in with their equipment we will be responsible for the permitting process.  We also need to look at an ordinance so we have a little more control in the areas of town where 5G equipment might be going in.  If you can imagine a backpack size piece of equipment about every 300 feet on a tower, that’s what we’ll be looking at.  So if we can control any aspect of that whether it’s the fees, the aesthetics, those are the types of provisions that we can put in place.  I would expect a proposed ordinance at the Finance meeting next month and possibly a first reading at the following Commission meeting.

Finance Director Richter stated at the last meeting we approved the PILOT for Trademark Tooling contingent on the lease.  They are still working on getting the lease.  We will need to back up the Public Hearing date until we receive the lease.

President Carlsrud thanks all the employees, we had some snow and a lot of work in the offices and evidently you’re making it look easy.  Shout out to Jennifer for the work she does on behalf of the Development Corporation of Valley City and her hand that she’s had on the amendment that we are working to get through to the House and the promotion upcoming with the Chamber.

Adjourn

Meeting was adjourned at 5:46 P.M.