MORRISTOWN CITY COUNCIL MINUTES
    Work Session/Special Meeting
    February 16, 2010
     

    Members Present:  Mayor Kurt Wolf, Council members Jeff Lang and Lisa Karsten 

    Absent: Verdis Flaten, Matt Valentyn,

    Others Present:   Becky Kuball, City Clerk/Treasurer, Dave Sanderson PeopleServices, Rich Revering, Bolton & Menk representative, Dave Osborne Police Chief, Tim Minske Maintenance and Tim Flaten.

    A work session/special meeting of the Morristown City Council was called to order on Tuesday, February 16, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers at 402 Division Street South by Mayor Kurt Wolf.

    The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.    

    PeopleServices Report:
    Sanderson stated there was an error on the January report. There was a return pump failure on the 21st the new pump was serviced. Dahles cleaned out the return, and got the solids out before the install. On the 18th a larger purifier stopped working a switch was replaced. Waste water numbers were not good this month, the city was never out of permit compliance, and the new pump has helped regulate the numbers.

    Motion by Lang seconded by Karsten and motion carries to accept the PeopleServices report as presented.

    Skywarn Report:
    Flaten stated that the Skywarn had helped with the benefit for Shelly Wenker and that there is training on March 3rd. The Skywarn is also taking the Alcohol Awareness training in February.

    Motion by Karsten seconded by Lang, motion carries to accept the Skywarn Report as printed.

    Community Center Report
    Motion by Lang, Seconded by Karsten, motion carries to accept the Community Center report as written.

    Maintenance Report:  
    Minske stated that he is going on vacation and leaving on Thursday and returning on Sunday. He has made arrangements with Dahles that if there is snow they would take care of making sure that the Community Center and streets are taken care of. 

    Morristown City Council
    February 16, 2010
    Page 2

    Minske heard back from Temple Electric about the generator, the generator is a 3 phase and needs to be converted to single phase and it will lose wattage by doing this. Questioned what the city wants to do. If you sell it you will need to convert it. Minske said that the well is 3 phase and could be used there. Randy Meschke has a trailer he would be willing to sell cheap if the city would like to purchase it. Minske will look more into the conversion.

    Motion by Lang and seconded by Karsten, motion carries to accept the Maintenance report as presented.

    EDA

    Motion by Lang seconded by Valentyn and motion carries to accept the EDA report as written.

    Unfinished Business:
    Motion by Karsten seconded by Wolf, motion carries to freeze all city wages for 2010.

    Investment policy tabled until February 22 meeting.

    Squad car replacement Wolf stated he felt it needed to be full council to make a decision on the replacement of the squad car. It was tabled until the next March 1st meeting.

    Floor waxing was done in 2008 and it was decided to wait a year and see how it looks before we decide to re wax it.
     
    New Business:
    Water shut offs: one water shut off agreement was approved.

    E-Charging, Osborne said that the court system is going to go electronic on all complaints. Kuball will be signing as an electronic notary. The city needs to sign a Remote access agreement and a joint powers agreement. There will be some maintenance charges for this service. 

    Motion by Lang seconded by Karsten motion carries to switch to E-Charging with Kurt Fisher signing.

    Dustin Brakemeier would like a copy of ordinance that states how you notify community of rate increases for water and sewer. There is no ordinance that states this, but the city was notified by a letter, public hearing, website, cable channel and published in paper and minutes.

    Tim Flaten came to make a complaint about Tim Minske pushing snow around his vehicle on February 9, 2010. Flaten stated that snow was purposely dumped in front and behind his vehicle. He was parked in the alley by the bank.
    Karsten stated that there is an ordinance that states there is no parking in alleyway. 
    Flaten stated that in 7 years he has never been towed, or told that there was no parking in the alleyway.
    Minske stated he would like to explain that there has been a jeep parked there all last winter and he has asked several times to have it moved and no one had taken action on it. Then on the day in question he almost backed into the car that was sitting in the alleyway, where there is an ordinance that says there is no parking in alleyways. So he put some snow in the front and the rear of the black vehicle so that he didn’t back into it. Minske said that he has asked several times for the vehicle to be moved and he was sick of plowing around it. Minske said he has brought it up to the council and the police department about this issue and nothing has been done about it.

    Morristown City Council
    February 16, 2010
    Page 3
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    Flaten stated that it was a malicious act and should not be tolerated. He stated that he would welcome a knock at the door at 5 in the morning, to be asked to move his vehicle so that it would not be plowed in or towed. Flaten stated he was never notified that there was an issue with the parking in the alleyway. Flaten stated that Osborne told him they don’t like the jeep parked in the alleyway and he moved it to a parking space.
    Lang questioned what Flaten wanted the council to do was he looking for a monetary reimbursement, or what he wanted the council to do. 
    Flaten stated that he did not want any money from the city, but he felt that the city should do something about this issue. Flaten did not give an answer as to what he would like done.
    Flaten questioned if they are going to tow people during dam days, and Wolf stated that he may make an exception for that weekend as there is many people in town.
    Flaten stated the reason for parking there was there was snow in his parking area and he was bottoming out. So he parked where there was less snow and his tires had some traction.
    The council stated that it was not the cities responsibility to remove snow from his parking area and he would need to speak with his landlord and figure out what they could do for him on this issue or how they could make more parking available.
    Flaten stated up until this time he would of backed anything that Minske had done around the city he felt that Minske has done a great job of taking care of the city and donating his time throughout the year.
    Lang stated that he feels that this whole issue is a little bit of everyone’s fault. The city should have declared a snow emergency, Minske should not have put snow there and Flaten should not have been parked in a non parking alley.
    It was decided to put the ordinances on the cable channel, website, and the city will have to start declaring snow emergency.
    If this becomes an issue again Minske is to call Wolf and he will take care of tagging vehicles and having them towed if needed.
     

    B-Top Grant- There is a grant that is going to allow fiber optics in the ground in all the counties, it will allow internet to all City offices. Cost of maintenance would be between $2100 and $4200 per year.
    Karsten questioned who is responsible for fixing anything that goes wrong with the fiber. 
    It was decided to table until Wolf has more answers. Wolf will look into it and get back to the council at the next meeting.
     

    Claims and Accounts
    Motion by Lang seconded by Karsten motion carries to approve the claims and accounts for February 16, 2010 as written.

    Correspondence and Announcements:
    Kuball stated that Alcohol Awareness training is on February 24, 2010 one from 5-7 and another from 7:30-9:30
     

    Motion by Valentyn seconded by Lang motion carries to adjourn. The meeting adjourned at 8:20 p.m. 
     
     

    Becky Kuball
    City Clerk/Treasurer