Present: Emerson, Pederson, Tholen, Astleford

Absent: Anderson.

Mayor Gary Astleford called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.

The Pledge of Allegiance was spoken.

Motion by Emerson, seconded by Tholen, to approve agenda as presented. All Ayes. Absent: Anderson.

Motion by Pederson, seconded by Emerson, to approve Consent items including City bills in the amount of $812,483.20, September 2, 2008, meeting minutes, September 22, 2008, special meeting minutes. All Ayes. Absent: Anderson.

Craig Dropik was in attendance.

Council received the run totals for the month of September.

Dropik asked the Council to look at the stipend policy of $100.00 and change it to the percentage of calls to which each member responds.

Example: It is required to make 20% of the calls for the $100.00 If someone makes 30% of the calls, they would receive $125.00, or 40% would receive $150.00. Dropik explained to the Council that this would give the First Responders more incentive to respond to more calls. At the present time, about five individuals respond to most calls. The Council did not seem to have concerns, but will consider this.

The First Responder brought the rig to the Head of the Lakes and received a $502.00 donation for doing so.

Dropik thanked Chief Gilson for the radios.

Mark Pomerleau was not in attendance.

The Minnesota Fire Chiefs’ Conference will be held in St. Cloud on October 16th, 17th, and 18th. Mark Pomerleau, Chad Mathews, and Howard Swenstad will be attending.

The cost to attend the conference is $185.00 per person.

There will be costs for the hotel, mileage, and a $30.00 per diem.

Mayor Astleford informed the Council that they had received $50.00 per diem when they had control of their own money. Now that the City has the control of the funds, they will have to follow the City’s Policy. If they feel they want more money, they can take the extra out of the Relief Fund.

Chief Mark Gilson was in attendance.

Council received the monthly Police report for September.

Gilson informed the Council that the computer and rifles for the squads will be installed soon.

Ron Kleinschmidt was in attendance.

Council received the Public Works report for September.

Ron Kleinschmidt updated the Council on the First Avenue East project.

Mark Lee has finished with the water and sewer installation. They are waiting for the cement contractor to finish the sidewalks and curbs so they can finish the rest of the grade. The blacktop will be patched in the south section. The project should be complete in about two weeks.

The final blacktop will be installed in 2009.

Ron Kleinschmidt updated the Council.

The roads have not been passable after Riley Brothers leave the project for the night. The City was considering withholding $15,000.00 from their September payment, but now they have the road back to being passable.

Joe Ketelboeter was not in attendance.

Dan O’Brien was not in attendance. O’Brien was going to present a proposal to the Council for review regarding putting an off sale Liquor Store at the Gas Mart location.

Council received the Planning and Zoning minutes from the September 18th, 2008 meeting.

Holper Enterprises (Gas Mart) has now purchased the Hanson property and will need to rezone that property. Also, a Conditional Use Permit is required for the car was and gas pumps. This public hearing will be held at the next Planning and Zoning meeting on October 14th, 2008.

Doug and Jodi Fredrichs - Permit was denied due to the fact that they are not legal owners of the property and the preliminary plot shows they would be building on common coop property.

Motion by Emerson, seconded by Tholen, to approve the September 18th, 2008, Planning and Zoning minutes. All Ayes. Absent: Anderson.

Clerk Jacobson attended the Flood Risk Open House on September 25th, 2008.

The Risk assessment was done for Douglas County, so Todd County would not have updated flood information.

Two areas in Osakis are in the flood plain. The very last house on King Street is partially in the flood plain, along with the King Street Pond and the area to the lake in front of the pond.

The property owner can prove that their property is not in a flood plain by having a survey done of the property.

If someone were to want to purchase flood insurance, they could not unless the City participates in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). So, if the individual on King Street would sell his house and the bank required the buyer to have flood insurance, he could not purchase it because the City does not participate in NFIP.

If the City decided to participate in NFIP, we would have to adopt an ordinance that regulates flood plains and hazards and when someone would want to build in a flood plain area they would have to bring in fill to be above the flood plain or they could not build.

If the City does not participate, nothing would change. The City residences will not be able to purchase flood insurance. There would be more paperwork to participate at a later time. Because Douglas County is having this Flood Risk Assessment done, it is an open enrollment period to enroll in NFIP.

FEMA did note that of the individuals to claim flood disaster aid, 25% are areas that are not in a flood plain. These properties might be low land that gets flooded for a short time when there are heavy rain falls.

After reviewing the information, Clerk Jacobson does not feel it is necessary to participate at this time.

Consensus of the Council was to not participate at this time.

Council received a letter from the MN Pollution Control Agency regarding the Cities 2007 DMR reports.

Council received a sample policy for "Electronic Funds Wire Transfer Policy" and "Overtime Policy".

Items left to address per our audit are as follows:

Capital Asset Policy.

Liquor Store Check Cashing Policy. We checked into a check verification machine, but the setup and monthly fees are not beneficial. Joe Ketelboeter will review the Check Cashing Policy when he is back from vacation.

Council will review the Overtime Policy at the next Council meeting.

A Resolution was presented by Emerson, seconded by Pederson, to approve the Electronic Funds Wire Transfer Police 05-2008. When put to a vote, the Resolution passed unanimously. Absent: Anderson.

Council received a letter from our Building Inspector, Dan Marthaler, asking to increase his fees for the building permits from the 1991 fees to the 1994 fees.

Council also received the fee schedule for the City for 2008. Council should review this list and make changes as needed. Council also received the utility fee schedule.

Fee schedules would be adopted at the January 2009 Council meeting.

Council will review the fees and discuss them at the November Council meeting.

Council received the Election Judge list for the November General Election. The Council must approve the Election Judges for the General Election.

At the August meeting, the Council approved increasing the Election Judge pay from $6.50 to $7.25. Osakis and Orange Townships are paid $10.00 per hour. The Council considered increasing the wage for the Election Judges to $10.00 per hour. This would increase the pay amount by $350.00 for the Primary Election and $350.00 for the General Election. The amount paid for the Primary Election was $913.00.

Council received an updated Election Judge list at this Council meeting.

Motion by Pederson, seconded by Tholen, to approve the Election Judge list as presented for 2008. All Ayes. Absent: Anderson.

Motion by Emerson, seconded by Tholen, to approve the increase for the Election Judge wage from $7.25 per hour to $10.00 per hour. All Ayes. Absent: Anderson.

Our Bonds for 8th Avenue East and 1st Avenue East projects went for sale on September 15th, 2008.

Briggs and Morgan, our Bond Council, has not been able to sell our bonds with the markets down and the economy in distress. They feel that we still have a chance for the bonds to sell and that we can still benefit from the pooled debt.

We are going to give it one more week to see if the market turns around, otherwise the Council may have to act and decide to sell the bonds conventionally, instead of the bonds being in the pooled debt group.

After this payment to Mark Lee Excavating Inc. and Riley Brothers Construction Inc., we will have to take $450,000.00 out of the City’s savings to cover these funds. This means borrowing from the Liquor Store, Street Equipment, Surplus, and the Sewer Reserve Funds. This would change the balance of our savings to $1,000,000.00.

The Council could decide to wait longer, but with the next payment in October, we will have to withdraw more from our savings account.

Clerk Jacobson received a call from Traci Ryan. Ryan stated that she thought the City should pass a Resolution tonight to sell the bonds competitively. There will be no extra cost for doing this and financing will be less, but interest rates will be higher.

A Resolution was presented by Emerson, seconded by Pederson, to approve to sell our bonds competitively in the bond market and to authorize David Drowns to put together bond specs and go to bid. When put to a vote, the Resolution passed unanimously. Absent: Anderson.

Black’s Resort will be blocking Lake Street on October 4th, 2008, instead of September 27th, 2008.

Council received the results of the Tap Water Monitoring Report for 2008. Each resident has been notified of the results of their test.

Motion by Tholen, seconded by Emerson, to suspend the regular meeting at 8:00 p.m. for a ten minute recess and reopen in workshop for the union. All Ayes. Absent: Anderson.

　_______________________                 ____________________________

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