HERON LAKE CITY COUNCIL

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7, 2017, 7:00 PM

REGULAR MEETING

The meeting was called to order by Mayor Freking, with the following council members present; Carol Wagner, Roger FitzHenry, Glenn Kuhnau and Andrew Rasche. Others in attendance were; Dominic Jones, Travis Winter, Brady Powers, Gary Sebby, Jim Eigenberg, Denise and Ed Henkels, Larry Liepold, Chad Diemer, Jerry Christopherson, Ryan Fauglid and employees Police Chief Anthony Fauglid, Duane Hattendorf, Tamara Shelton and Brenda Martin-Granstra.

Approval of Agenda

Council Member Wagner moved, seconded by Council Member Kuhnau, to approve the agenda as presented. Vote on the motion: Freking, Wagner, Kuhnau, Rasche and FitzHenry, aye; no nays. Motion carried.

Approval of Minutes

Council Member Kuhnau moved, seconded by Council Member Rasche, to approvethe minutes of the council meeting of May 3, 2017, as presented. Vote on the motion: Freking, Kuhnau, Rasche, FitzHenry and Wagner, aye; no nays. Motion carried.

Zoning Permit, 912 4th Avenue

Mayor Freking moved, seconded by Council Member Kuhnau, to approve the zoning permit and variance for Lori and Larry Stearns for a front landing and walkway. Vote on the motion: Freking, Wagner, Kuhnau, Rasche and FitzHenry, aye; no nays. Motion carried.

Zoning Permit, 1401 3rd Avenue

Council Member FitzHenry moved, seconded by Council Member Rasche, to  approve the zoning permit for Bev and Gary Hoss for a deck in the back yard. Vote on the motion: Freking, Wagner, Kuhnau, Rasche and FitzHenry, aye; no nays. Motion carried

Zoning Permit, 212 11th Street

Council Member Kuhnau moved, seconded by Council Member FitzHenry, to approve the zoning permit and variance for Chelsea and Scott Buchanan for a fence in the back yard. Vote on the motion: Freking, Wagner, Kuhnau, Rasche and FitzHenry, aye; no nays. Motion carried.

Red Rock Rural Water

The Minnesota legislature passed the state bonding bill in special session in May and theMN Public Facilities Authority notified the city that the amount applied for in 2016, $1,580,769.00, would be available with an 80% grant. RRRWS drew up a water purchase agreement with that amount as a lump sum, which eliminates the variables of contracted bids or actual, final construction costs.

 Lengthy discussion included items, as follows, that the city attorney questioned in the various versions of the water purchase agreement.

  1. The term of the loan was lessened to 30 years, or the length of PFA loan, when that is finalized.
  2. Rate increases will still be at Red Rock’s discretion, but must be justified by increased costs.
  3. The city will always be responsible to purchase 450,000 gallons per month - unless the supply reduction is initiated by Red Rock (except for well failure, drought, equipment failure, water line breaks, power failure, flood, earthquake, war or and/or any other catastrophe).
  4. The quality of the water will meet either the standards at this time or the standards of the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act; however that may change, whichever constitutes better quality.
  5. Red Rock agreed to limit the easement for egress and ingress of the meter building to33 feet.
  6. Because RRRWS has Cottonwood as its founding, or establishing, county, that is where any jurisdictional matters will be brought before the court.

Other items discussed concerning rural water between Red Rock, the city council and staff members included: construction costs, testing (will be HL after the meter), water quality

(Dominic guaranteed better than HL’s), responsibility for fluoride and chlorine residuals (will be HL after the meter, although RR will boost if necessary to deliver at 1.2 mgl), hardness of water (RR- 24 grains vs. HL-45-60), water pressure will be 40 psi (state standard is 45 and HL is used to 57-62 psi, which could become an issue if HL loses tower) and if there was any negotiating the $3.20 per 1,000 gallons cost (RR response was “No”).

Dominic did offer the first month water delivery to be free of charge to facilitate extensive flushing of mains and service lines. Discussion resulted in: Council Member Rasche moved, seconded by Mayor Freking, to approve signing the RRRWS water purchase agreement, with term to be set when loan is finalized. Vote on the motion: Freking, Rasche and Kuhnau, aye; Wagner and FitzHenry, nay. Motion carried    

Wastewater Project

Mayor Freking moved, seconded by Council Member FitzHenry, to approve payment of the GM Contracting’s 5th pay request for $164,181.98. Vote on the motion: Freking, Wagner, Kuhnau, Rasche and FitzHenry, aye; no nays. Motion carried.

Larry Liepold

Mr. Liepold spoke on behalf of the Sacred Heart Church concerning storm sewer issues that have been a reoccurring problem in their parking lot. He informed the council that digging will likely have to go out six feet into 3rd Avenue to replace or re-sleeve sewer line and the price could be $9,000, including curb and gutter replacement.

Gary Sebby

Gary asked the council if they were willing to move forward with rezoning and selling the grass triangle across from the fertilizer plant so he could move his shed there. Council asked if Mr. Sebby couldn’t go ahead with the original plans of setting the shed back even with the fire hall and Steve Rasche’ s storage building.

Gary was under the impression that the old feed mill had to be demolished as a condition of the permit allowing him to place his shed. He said he would talk to John Haberman again and probably just set it there.

Sale of Main Street Lots

Council Member FitzHenry moved, seconded by Council Member Kuhnau, to approve the sale of Lots 11 & 12, Block 17, Original Town, Heron Lake, MN for $500, with Tamera and Mark Moser bearing all costs of title transfer. Vote on the motion: Freking, Wagner, Kuhnau, Rasche and FitzHenry, aye; no nays. Motion carried.

People Service

Operator Brady Powers asked the council if they had any questions from the monthly report in the council packets and there were no comments. Brady also reviewed the letter from People Service commending him for the well maintained water treatment plant.

Public Works

Public Works Director Duane Hattendorf briefly reviewed street work progress and informed council of his scheduled vacation. Council directed him to line up Ken Heideman to mow.

Duane is also lining up some work on a generator so that it can be used for a lift station or the community center. Council also asked staff to follow up on the Koehn’s capping of water and sewer lines at the 10th Street NW demo site.

Police Department

Police Chief Anthony Fauglid reported that May was a very busy month dealing with issues at the Heron Lake Apartments and juveniles illegally riding dirt bikes and ATVs and minors driving recklessly. Tony also briefly discussed conversations with MNDoT concerning dangers at the Hwy 60 and CR 9 intersection and with Jackson County Hwy Department concerning engine braking signs and the newly cut rumble strips on county roads.

Resolution 2017-7, Adopting Jackson County Emergency Operations Plan Updates Mayor Freking moved, seconded by Council Member Wagner, to adopt the Jackson County Emergency Operations Plan, as updated. Vote on the motion: Freking, Wagner, Kuhnau, Rasche and FitzHenry, aye; no nays. Motion carried.

Fire Department

Council Member Kuhnau moved, seconded by Council Member Wagner, to approve signing the SW and WC Regions Fire Associations Mutual Aid Agreement. Vote on the motion: Freking, Kuhnau, Rasche, FitzHenry and Wagner, aye; no nays. Motion carried.

Fire Chief Chad Diemer asked if it was permissible to sell 2 old, non-ARMOR compatible radios to the HL-O bus service, to which the council had no objections. Chad also informed the council that the new pumper/tanker is going into production.

Ambulance, Library, and Liquor Store

Council Member FitzHenry relayed information that the Emergency Medical Services has ordered a new chassis for the ambulance and that the air conditioner at the liquor store has been replaced. A letter submitted from one of the library board members resulted in the following:

Council Member Kuhnau moved, seconded by Mayor Freking, to accept the resignation of Lori Burdick from the Heron Lake Library Board. Vote on the motion: Freking, FitzHenry, Rasche, Wagner and Kuhnau, aye; no nays. Motion carried.

Page 4. HL Council Minutes, June 7, 2017

Claims

Council Member FitzHenry moved, seconded by Council member Rasche, to approve payment of claims as presented, totaling $605,963.43. Vote on the motion: Freking, FitzHenry, Wagner, Rasche and Kuhnau, aye; no nays. Motion carried.

Adjourn

Council Member FitzHenry moved, seconded by Council Member Kuhnau, to adjourn. Vote on the motion: Freking, FitzHenry, Rasche, Wagner and Kuhnau, aye; no nays. Motion carried.

Submitted by: __________________________

Approved:  FitzHenry, Freking, Kuhnau, Rasche, Wagner