Osakis City Council
Regular Meeting
October 2, 2006
7:00 PM 
Minutes now offered in PDF format to download
October 2, 2006 Meeting PDF

Present: Astleford, Pederson, Timmerman, Hagemann, Emerson

Mayor Astleford called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM

The pledge of Allegiance was spoken.

Motion by Emerson, seconded by Hagemann to approve agenda with additions of September 27, 2006 minutes, list of bills and project #387 and #69. All Ayes.

Motion by Hagemann, seconded by Pederson to approve September 5, 2006 minutes, September 6, 2006 continuation minutes, September 13, 2006, September 15, 2006 and September 27, 2006 special meeting minutes. All Ayes.

Timmerman is disappointed with the abrupt end of the September 27, 2006 meeting with the union rep.

Motion by Timmerman, seconded by Emerson to approve the City bills in the amount of $162,726.60 and Fire Department bills in the amount of $1,602.50. All Ayes.

Project #205: City Crew

Kurt Haakinson - Grade Roads. There is work to be done on all gravel roads. Put gravel on roads if needed.

Project #366: Sanitary Sewer Study

Council received information that was gathered from the Sanitary Sewer Study.

Ken Weber's recommendation is as follows:

1. Smoke - Dye testing and remove inflow sources. Estimate is $48,640.00

2. Televise and disconnect service. Fee includes cost to put in interior or exterior sump pump in houses with problems. Estimate is $76,416.00

3. Additional sewer main television - Industrial park and north west side of town north of Hwy. Estimate is $6,444.00

4. Public awareness - mail, workshop, public hearing, door to door inspection or resident letter. Estimate is $7,785.00

5. WWTF improvement would cost $40,000.00 - start feasibility study for funding and financing of a WWTF.

Council did not make a decision and will review at the next meeting.
Page 1 of 6, October 2, 2006

Project #380: TIF Downtown

Traci Ryan was in attendance. Council will need to pass the attached resolution of the TIF District for downtown.

Bernard (Butch) Sholty completed inspections for downtown. TIF is set up for 25 years. City can decertify at anytime.

Traci will get back to Angela on the delay with TIF District and Roach Project.

Motion by Timmerman, seconded by Pederson to approve to delay set up TIF District and signing the resolution until project is moving forward. For: Timmerman, Hagemann, Pederson. Against: Emerson

Project #381: Vacate 7th Avenue West

Lance Spychalla was not is attendance.

Tabled until next meeting.

Project #130: Docks on Public Property

Council received a letter from the attorney on Wegener's property.

Jim Snyder - Representing property owners of K Street was in attendance.
Would like an agreement with city.

Question before proposal. What is done with the end of 4th and 5th avenues. The city would like to see the end of the roads stay the way they are. The attorney's letter recommends 66 feet easement. Property owners would like to see edge of the road 15 feet. Has to be more than the edge of the road for plowing and maintenance.

Jim Snyder will talk with John and Angela.

Project #249: Planning and Zoning Commission

Council received the Planning and Zoning Commission minutes from September 21, 2006.

Jerry Olson discussed the planning and zoning meeting.

Motion by Timmerman, seconded by Pederson to approve the September 21, 2006 minutes.
All Ayes.

Project #312: Osakis Onward

Council received information on the four-sided clock.

Page 2 of 6, October 2, 2006
Osakis Onward needs approval from the city to submit a MN/DOT permit in the City of Osakis' name for a new entrance sign to be placed along Hwy 27 in the median by Sunset Beach.

Council received pictures and the application.

Clerk suggested the City would request a letter stating Osakis Onward would maintain the sign.

Carol Mihalchick was in attendance and said the sign would be maintained by Osakis Onward or the Chamber of Commerce.

Motion by Pederson, seconded by Hagemann to approve that Osakis Onward has authority to put the City of Osakis name on the permit for MN/DOT. All Ayes.

Council received the September 14, 2006 meeting minutes.

Motion by Hagemann, seconded by Timmerman to table approval of the four sided clock until they receive a permit from the Planning and Zoning on the placement of the clock. All Ayes.

Project #60: Ordinance Change

Planning and Zoning requested a change to the fee for variance requests.

Motion by Pederson, seconded by Timmerman to approve to adopt 205.4 amending ordinance for variance fee of $225.00 and survey. All Ayes

Project #102: Economic Development Authority

Council received the EDA minutes.

Timmerman stated the control board would like to see a representative from EDA on the Control Board instead of a city representative.

Project #170: Osakis Chamber of Commerce

Council received minutes from the September 20, 2006 meeting.

Council received a letter from the chamber asking the city to donate for the cost of the 150 year celebration.

City can and will contribute money. City wants to have an accounting of where the money goes for the150th year celebration.

Carol stated they would like to see the council at the fall dinner on October 14, 2006. The cost is $25.00. There is a chance to win $300.00.

Project #196: Fee Schedule

Current base water rate is $12.00 and sewer is $4.04

Page 3 of 6, October 2, 2006
Council would like to see the long term goal for the cost and income on sewer.

Public information to see where to go and the residence know why the rates are going up.

Project #204: Computer Software

Council received a quote for a Digital Conference Recorder. The cost including tax would be $307.79.

The digital recorder would be used for the council meetings and can be saved to the computer and then saved to CDs later. This would eliminate using a tape or two for every council meeting and would make it much easier to hear when replaying the meeting.

Council also received information from the First National Bank and Asyst program company for direct pay. This program would enable the city to have automatic payments from any bank. The cost for the program for our computer is $515.00 and the fee from the bank to process each account is $25.00 a month flat fee and $.10 each account.

In 2004 the city paid $561.75 and in 2005 the city paid $535.00.

Motion by Pederson, seconded by Timmerman to approve ordering the computer software and the conference recorder. All Ayes.

Project #216: Employee Salary

Gus and Jo Berninghaus are requesting a raise. They last received a raise of $.50 on 1-30-05. That brought them to $9.00 per hour.

Motion by Timmerman, seconded by Pederson to approve a raise to $10.00 per hour starting November 1, 2006. All Ayes.

Project #229: Election Judge

Council received a list of election judges that need to be approved for the November 7, 2006 election.

Motion by Emerson, seconded by Pederson to approve the list of election judges. All Ayes.

Project #233: Sauk River Watershed District

Council received:
September 5, 2006 minutes
September 19, 2006 staff repor
September 19, 2006 agenda
September 19, 2006 minutes
October 3, 2006 agenda

Gary Astleford talked to Sauk River Watershed District and the new administrator to see if we need to put in east side pond, and will get back to the city to see if it is necessary.
Page 4 of 6, October 2, 2006

Project #243: Canvass Votes

Council will need to set up a special meeting on Wednesday, November 8, 2006 for convassing of ballots.

This meeting is unpaid and will take about 5 minutes of time. Meeting can be set up for around 11:00 a.m. This will give us time to prepare the votes cast.

Project #310: Blacks Resort Blocking Lake Street

Black's Resort RV and Cabin Co-op would like permission to block Lake Street on Sunday, October 15th, 2006 from the beach to the bridge for removal of their docks.

Motion by Emerson, seconded by Timmerman to approve removing docks on Sunday, October 15th, 2006. All Ayes.

Project #321: Visitor and Heritage Center

Council received the Visitor Center Control Board minutes from September 19, 2006.

Project #354: OWA

The Clerk spoke with Al Leifort from Douglas County Public Works and he stated that the County has park dedication money from Osakis Township and Orange Township totaling $6,900 that could go towards Park Osagi and Al would go to the township board meetings to ask for this money but would like a representative from the council also attend with him.

Gary or council member will attend meeting with Al Leifort.

Project #386: Street Name

The clerk was contacted by the post office and Douglas County on an address problem on County Road 3 North.

The counties addressing system after city limits counts down and ultimately we end up with two individuals with the same address that live miles apart.

The county would like the city council to consider naming the portion of County Road 3 that is in city limits.

My suggestion is to change County Road 3 North to 6th Avenue West. This address change would affect two residents, West View Apartments and Ray Euerle. The county stated they would provide the sign for the street name.

A resolution was presented by Hagemann, seconded by Emerson to approve the name change from County Road 3 North to 6th Avenue West. All Ayes.

Page 5 of 6, October 2, 2006

Project #69: Information to Council

Council received a rate notification letter from Charter Communications.

Project #387: Crosswalk

St. Agnes school is asking the council for permission to place a cross walk across Oak Street West with a sign on both sides of the cross walk.

They will also be asking the state for permission to put a cross walk across Hwy 27.

Motion by Hagemann, seconded by Emerson to approve a cross walk across Oak Street West and 4th Avenue West for St. Agnes School. All Ayes.


Motion by Hagemann, seconded by Timmerman to adjourn the meeting at 9:50 p.m. All Ayes.

_________________________ _________________________
Mayor - Gary L. Astleford City Clerk - Angela A. Jacobson