Members Absent: Jeff  Lang 

Others Present:   Becky Kuball City Clerk, Dave Osborne, Police Dan Morris, Jack Schwichtenberg, Steve Nordmeier, Kristalyn Morris, Rich Revering, Jared Taylor, Rick Vollbrect, Darrell Hopman, Michael Angelo  

A regular meeting of the Morristown City Council was called to order on Monday,  
May 3, 2010 at 7:05 p.m. in the Council Chambers at 402 Division Street South by Mayor Kurt Wolf. 

The Pledge of Allegiance was recited. 

Motion by Karsten seconded by Valentyn and motion carries to approve the minutes of the regular meeting held on April 5, 2010 and Special Work Session held on April 19, 2010 as written.  

Financial Report: Motion by Valentyn seconded by Flaten motion carries to accept the financial report ending March 31, 2010 with a balance of $364,329.21 

Morris went over the investments funds. 4-M account is not doing very well. Morris is looking at other investment to see if we can get a better return on our investments. 

Motion by Flaten seconded by Valentyn and carried unanimously to approve the Police Report and schedule for May 2010. 
Osborne stated that he did have a discussion with the property owner that was putting the sump pump water on the neighbor’s yard. The owner has corrected the problem. 
Osborn sent a certified letter to the owner that has the building falling down. They are working on cleaning it up before dam days. 

Fire Department:  
Motion by Karsten seconded by Flaten and motion carries to accept the fire department report as printed. 

Maintenance Report: Minske would like to re paint the yellow on the curbs. Ditches need to be sprayed for the weeds; there is a yellow weed that will burn the skin if it gets on the skin. The storm drain has caused a sink hole behind the phone company it will be fixed this week. Minske talked to Lang about the crack sealing that needs to be done. 
DNR Tanker has been in Minske’s shed for 8 months, and Minske would like to be reimbursed for shed use, tools and electricity. Minske is asking for a reimbursement of $1000. Karsten asked why are he is expected to work on it at his house? Minske said he was told by a certain member of the fire department that because he is a city worker he is expected to work on it. Flaten asked how much we have stuck into the tanker right now. The amount into the tanker right now is between $13000 and $14000. Minske was asked to work on the city equipment, but the city doesn’t have a place to work on it or the tools that are needed. Flaten asked where it was done before.  

Minske said that he had done the work before he was a city employee and was getting $30-$40 and hour to work on equipment or it was taken to Wholesale or Nordmeier’s. Nordmeier stated that his shop is not big enough for the big trucks. Karsten stated that the amount that Minske is asking for is quite reasonable and equals out to be $125 a month. Karsten stated that we could easily be paying this per hour if we had a shop doing the work. 
Motion by Karsten Seconded by Valentyn and motion carries to pay Minske $125 per month from the vehicle maintenance account of the Fire Department budget for his shed and equipment use 

Motion by Karsten seconded by Valentyn motion carries to accept the Maintenance report as presented. 

Zoning Board Report: Motion by Karsten seconded by Valentyn motion carries to except the zoning board minutes dated March 18, 2010 as written. 

Comments from citizens present:  
Osborne questioned the complaint policy and the procedure. There was a complaint about Osborne and nothing was in the minutes to state if he was in error or not. There was a request for a written and verbal apology, because he served a trespass notice. Wolf stated that it wasn’t handled properly. Osborne would like it stated that he did nothing wrong. Wolf talked with the city attorney and Osborne did not violate any law when he served the trespass notice.  
Nordmeier questioned the ordinance on having a permit for windows, siding and roofs. Karsten stated there is a public hearing on May 17, 2010. 
Oakley would like to make an appeal to the new ordinance, 91.04 that does not allow farm animals within the city limits. Would like to suspend the rules and have another meeting for the community to be heard. Would like a petition on this ordinance, and a new hearing be set so there is another chance for the public to be heard. Taylor stated it was in the minutes to put together a committee and discuss the possible options that may be available. Stated they were not invited to the meeting. No one said that if we didn’t attend the meeting it would be passed. Valentyn said he was sure the date was set and stated for the next zoning board. The zoning board admitted there were not any complaints from the community. Taylor states that he agrees that we don’t want a hog operation in town, but there is nothing wrong with a couple of horses. 
Hopman said they were respectful landowners at the last meeting. Not one person from the community came to discuss the ordinance that would be in favor of the new ordinance. He would have never expected that a regular zoning board meeting would be the place to discuss this matter. He couldn’t believe that this was pushed through without consideration and respect for those that are most affected. Oakley would like a recall of the motion. There was no expectation that the next zoning board was going to be the committee. Valentyn said that no one came to the last city council meeting when it was again being discussed. Hopman stated that the agenda was posted very late and not in a timely manner. Kuball stated it was posted on Friday before the meeting. Oakley would like a petition to repeal the requested motion to suspend motion and to appeal the decision. “How many signatures do you need on a petition to open up an appeal?”  Oakley wanted a motion to suspend the motion and hear the voice of the people. 
Karsten remembers asking at the council meeting if the concerned parties would talk to the zoning board to come up with a “happy medium”. She stated that the next zoning meeting was on April115th at 7 pm. She didn’t feel it was reasonable or appropriate to send out a letter to invite, or we would have to send it out to the whole community. Zoning meetings are open meetings. The council believes that if a “set number” of farm animal units are to be allowed in the city limits, there would be opposition from the citizens of Morristown. What we had were two ordinances that contradicted each other. The request was that someone attends the April 15th zoning meeting to discuss it. No one showed up. Consequently, the zoning board sent it back to the council to make a decision. Wolf recommends that the community members start from square one. Oakley questioned how many people do you need on the petition? Wolf I would like to see 50%.  Oakley questioned what is a reasonable amount of time to appeal this ordinance? Taylor would like to see a council member on the committee along with zoning board members. This ordinance only affects the owners on the outskirts of town. Karsten made a motion to rescind the ordinance until after the may zoning meeting on May 20th at 7pm. Wolf seconded the motion. Voting yes –Karsten and Wolf and voting no Flaten and Valentyn. 

Nordmeier stated that you cannot rescind a motion that is already an ordinance. You would need to start over and go through the process again. Taylor argued that the agenda was not posted in time, within the correct number of days  
required. Taylor stated that the city and the persons involved do not have the money to hire an attorney to decide if this issue is being/has been handled properly. 
Oakley stated that maybe we need to take those owners within the city limits and rezone their property. The farm land made this town what it is. Hopman stated that someone who lives outside the city limits brought in the animal units definition just to “muddy the waters”. 
Vollbrect said to use the league of Minnesota to answer some of our questions. “Your getting nothing accomplished arguing back and forth”. 
Karsten requested a proposed amendment for council consideration by the 21st of June. 

Taylor discussed the elimination of the Safe and Sober. Taylor would like the e-mail that Wolf sent to Mark Holm read and posted in the minutes. 
Wolf did not have access to the internet to read the e-mail. Karsten stated that the council was not proposing opting out of the safe and sober campaign. “We were just requesting how it works and how the schedule is decided”. Osborne stated that it was asked if it was possible to get out of the second day and out of the safe and sober. That was something that wasn’t even on the agenda. Valentyn stated that this is what happens when we have comments and concerned. Taylor stated that an email went out from the city. Wolf stated the question that was asked was why Morristown is conducting 2 days when larger towns such as Northfield and Faribault only have one. We were in no way asking to get out of the safe and sober.   

Claims and Accounts: 
Motion by Valentyn seconded by Flaten motion carries to accept the claims and accounts and the late claims dated May 3, 2010. 

Part time maintenance position: Valentyn questions Minske about how much time he would like a part time maintenance person to put in. Minske stated that he would take whatever time he could get. Karsten questioned if a seasonal part time for the summer and on call for the winter would work. Karsten stated we would need to move money within the budget as we do not currently have a budget for a part time maintenance person. Kuball gave the council an option to think about, depending on what they do with the peopleservice contract. “Could you hire someone as a part time maintenance person and a part time water/sewer person with the licenses that the city needs?” Salary was discussed. 
Motion by Karsten seconded by Valentyn motion carries to advertise for a 20 hour a week maintenance position. 

Ordinance 2010-5 tabled until next meeting when the public hearing is scheduled. 

Mary Denzer Ditch: tabled until the next meeting, Lang has the information. 

Minske’s review: Karsten handed out review forms and will need back at the next meeting. 

Southern MN Ad: do not want to advertise the cost is too high. 

Peddlers, solicitors and transient Permit and Ordinance: Taylor said having a permit would deter the gypsy type people from coming into town. Then if they are called in by the public they can be arrested for not having a permit. We could then post it at the city limit that states they need a permit. Karsten will work on the ordinance. Ordinance tabled until the next meeting. 

Taylor read the e-mail that was sent to Mark Holmes from Mayor Wolf and the response from Mark Holmes. 
“My name is Kurt Wolf.  I am the mayor of a small town in southern Minnesota, Morristown.  I was given your name as the Safe and Sober coordinator for southern Minnesota.  In Morristown, we have a festival every spring called Dam Days.  I am sure you are aware of it because there have been several Safe and Sober activities. It has been brought to the Morristown City Council's attention that Safe and Sober has  

been conducted twice each year during Dam Days.  That's twice as often as Faribault's Heritage Days or Northfield's Jesse James Days.  Both communities are larger than Morristown. The city council has asked me to contact you for an explanation, or to find out if it is possible to have Safe and Sober conducted one time like the other festivals in the county.  In no way am I trying to advocate drunk driving, but I would like to see that Morristown is treated similar to other communities in Rice County. Please contact me via e-mail or call me on my cell, 651-500-2040.” 

“Mayor Wolf, 
On behalf of the Rice County MOD Squad, I am responding to your inquiries regarding our scheduling.  The MOD Squad is comprised of all of the law enforcement agencies in Rice County.  Funding for the MOD Squad comes from combining the safe and sober and nightcap programs.  Each agency has a representative that meets to plan the events and dates that we will be working.  Rice County is routinely ranked as one of the top 13 deadliest counties (out of 87) in the state as a result of impaired driving, a list that we don’t want to be on. Since the start of our fiscal year in October of 2009 we have worked 25 high visibility saturations both on-duty and overtime funded. By the end of our fiscal year in September of 2010, we will have worked over 60 of these saturation events throughout the county.  Our mission is to raise awareness and to aggressively patrol to create high visibility traffic enforcement to MOD-ify unsafe driving behavior.  These behaviors continue to include impaired driving, non-compliance of seatbelt use and speeding.  In the past week, 10 people have been killed in the state due to impaired driving and not wearing seatbelts.  9 of the 10 killed were teens.  All of the deaths occurred in greater Minnesota near small communities. We have strong support for our efforts from the Rice County Safe Communities Coalition, Minnesotans for Safe Driving, MADD, Rice County Chemical Health and the Minnesota Department of Public Safety-Office of Traffic Safety.  We are committed to saving lives and reducing injuries.  Our success includes voluntary compliance from drivers, including planning ahead for a safe ride. Our goal is to prevent crashes through education and enforcement so that tragedies with horrible life changing consequences don’t become a reality for anyone living in or traveling through Rice County.  
Lieutenant Mark Holm” 
  
Taylor stated he had 37 people e-mail this to him. He said it is inviting people to drink here and then drive out of town. Flaten questioned how many DWI’s were handed out during Dam Days. Osborne was not sure. Taylor asked “what is the point of eliminating safe and sober?” Wolf stated it was conveyed to the council that if having more safe and sober continues then the celebration may be canceled. “Is that what we want?” Taylor stated yes it was. “People can find a safe driver to take them home”. Wolf questioned why we couldn’t have one during dam days and one another time of the year. Osborne stated that if we have to have a community out drinking to have a good time then maybe we are going in the wrong direction. Flaten said we haven’t had the accidents here to justify. Flaten stated that an officer went around and wrote down license numbers. Taylor said it is embarrassing to him when the community that he lives in sends out a message that we don’t care if you drink and drive here. “I would encourage anyone of you to do a ride along with me some night and see how it all works.” Wolf and Karsten agreed that they would like to ride a shift with Taylor. Osborne said that people from the community contacted him that they couldn’t believe that the council would even consider it. He also feels that there are a couple of very vocal people who tend to intimidate others so that they don’t feel free to voice their opinion. The fights start during dam days after the bars close. Wolf stated the e-mail I sent to Mark Holmes was just intended to be just between him and Mark Holmes. He did not expect that the response would to go out to everyone in Rice County. He was only looking for clarification. His intention was not to opt out of safe and sober. “I do not condone drinking and driving”. Taylor stated “this was your opinion, not the opinion of the city. All the people that come down for dam days with their families just want to come and go home safely”. 
Valentyn stated maybe there should be a letter sent out that clarifies this is not the cities opinion. Karsten stated that she too does not support drinking and driving but added that the council has been told that people won’t come to town because the cops are “pricks”. “So how do we encourage people to come here and spend their money? How do 

 we find the balance between economic growth and a safe community? That is the question Karsten asked at the highway safety seminar in March. They didn’t have an answer and she didn’t expect them to have an answer”.  
Osborne said “I have taken an oath to uphold the law. What part of our job do you not want us to do?  The police department always seems to be the ones that don’t do anything right. People think that they can come to town and drink and drive I think we need to get away from that”. Osborne stated that he thought the community should change the focus on drinking and maybe offer a sober cab for the night so that people are safe when they leave town. 

Motion by Flaten seconded by Valentyn motion and carries to adjourn at 9:45 p.m. 
  

Becky Kuball 
                 City Clerk/Treasurer