CITY OF CLAREMONT
CITY COUNCIL MEETING
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2023
7:00 P.M.
Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, a regular City Council meeting was held on Tuesday, October 3, 2023, at 7:00 p.m. at Claremont City Hall.
Members present: Mayor Tasha Dahl, City Council Members Jacob Klejeski, Hunter McGovern, and Deb Ellis. Members absent: Krystal Sultze.
City staff and others present: Administrator/Clerk Elizabeth Sorg, Maintenance Director Casey Dahl, City Attorney Mark Rahrick, City Engineer Derek Olinger, PeopleService Representative Nick Viker, and Donna Gregory.
The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.
AGENDA
Motion by Ellis to approve the agenda, second by McGovern. Motion carried unanimously.
PUBLIC INPUT
None
CONSENT AGENDA
The Consent Agenda consisted of the Minutes of the September 5, 2023 Regular City Council Meeting, Resolution No. 23-22: Acceptance and Appreciation of Donation, and Approve Renewal of Off-Sale, On-Sale, and Sunday Liquor Licenses for the Claremont Pub. Motion by McGovern to approve the Consent Agenda, second by Ellis. Motion carried unanimously.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
PERSONNEL COMMITTEE
Nothing at this time.
FINANCE COMMITTEE
Motion by McGovern to approve the financial reports, second by Ellis. Motion carried unanimously.
Motion by Ellis to approve the amended list of bills to be paid, second by Klejeski. Motion carried unanimously.
Three money market accounts mature in October. All 3 will be cashed in upon maturity and put into the checking account. Once the pay requests for this year’s projects are paid, finances will be reviewed and money will be reinvested.
PUBLIC HEALTH & SAFETY COMMITTEE
Dodge Center Ambulance held a Teams meeting for all Dodge County officials regarding the monetary issues they are having. They are discussing starting a Joint Powers Agreement with all Dodge County cities and townships or having a handshake agreement so that cities and townships pledge or levy so much money every year. They will continue discussion on this on November 8.
PLANNING & ZONING COMMITTEE
Donna Gregory at 113 3rd Street applied for a variance to build a fence closer to the right of way than allowed by city ordinance. She would like to put a 4’ tall fence 12’ into the right-of-way, which is about 22’ from the edge of the road. She does understand and has written on the application “I understand that if the City of Claremont should need use of the right of way that I would need to take down the fence.” She also understood snow from the snowplow could come close to it and it would be her responsibility to repair it if it got damaged. Attorney Rahrick will draft an agreement for removal of the fence at her cost if the right of way access is ever needed. The Planning & Zoning Committee recommended that the council approve the fence being a minimum of 20’ from the edge of the road and to follow all other requirements of the fence ordinance. The council reviewed the pictures of the fence she would like which is a California style fence which is a style of chain link and typically connects at the top and bottom with wood beams. The fence ordinance states fences in front of the house need to be decorative. The term "decorative fence" means a wood vertical post and wood horizontal rail fence with no more than 3 rails or a wood picket type fence with at least 4 inches of open space between each picket. She will need to apply for another variance for the style of fence she would like. Motion by McGovern to approve the current variance application being 12’ into the right of way contingent upon Gregory signing an agreement for right of way access if needed as stated above, second by Ellis. Motion carried unanimously. Planning & Zoning will hold another public hearing for the style of fence.
EDA
Per the Development Agreement with Arden Homes (Matt Durand), he has the right to the 3 lots already transferred to him as long as construction starts by February 1, 2024. He had exclusive right to market and sell the rest of the lots until April 1, 2023. So they will now be available to others. He will be invited to come to the next council meeting to give an update.
MAINTENANCE DEPARTMENT
The skid loader is now 10 years old and not working well. Maintenance Director Dahl contacted 4 businesses for prices for a new skid loader with the trade in. John Deere had 2 that were smaller than what the city currently has for $25,430 and $23,430; Northland Farm Systems had a price of $71,500 but wouldn’t respond with a trade in value; Ziegler could order one and it would come in April or May at the cost of $47,782; MN Ag Group has a Case at the cost of $39,000 which included a grapple and a new dirt bucket. Maintenance Director Dahl recommended purchasing the skid loader from MN Ag Group. The attachments for the current skid loader will work with the one from MN Ag Group. There are funds in the 4M Fund that were set aside for a snowplow and not used. Motion by McGovern to purchase the skid loader from MN Ag Group for $39,000 and use funds from the 4M Fund, second by Klejeski. Motion carried unanimously.
The trailer frame and axel are broken and unsafe to drive on the road. Following the guidelines of the Purchasing Policy, Maintenance Director Dahl got 2 estimates for a new 6’ x 12’ trailer and Administrator/Clerk Sorg authorized purchase of a new one from Lowe’s at the cost of $2998. The old one will be taken in for scrap.
CHS went to a different system for fuel. They will put a meter on our tank and when there is fuel used, it sends CHS the amount of gallons that is used so you don’t pay for the fuel in the tank until you use it. The city also has the option to buy the whole tank of fuel at a price they lock in. The city needs another tank, one for fuel and one for diesel. The current tank that the city has will be turned into a gas tank and purchase a 500-gallon diesel tank from CHS at cost which is around $2000.
PARKS COMMITTEE
Nothing at this time.
PEOPLESERVICE
Their reports were in the packet.
PeopleService operator Nick Viker explained the Oak Street lift station pump is very dated. The oil gets milky, the control panel is very old, retrofitted, and a safety concern. City Engineer Olinger suggested getting a quote from MN Pump Works for the pump, a separate quote for the control panel, and a quote for secondary power, which is required for lift stations now.
The Hayes Street lift station pump #2 should be rebuilt as it has had milky oil in it for 3 years now. MN Pump Works will also give a quote for this pump.
CITY ENGINEER
Most of the sewer outfall project is finished except televising the line. Motion by Klejeski to approve Pay Request #2 for $4,773.75, second by Ellis. Motion carried unanimously.
Most of the water tower rehab is done except the recirculating pump. Motion by Ellis to approve Tanksco’s Pay Application #2 of $133,095.71, second by McGovern. Motion carried unanimously.
MN Department of Health is now requiring every household to have their service line inspected and the type of material to be documented, they are looking to remove all lead pipes. They have grants available for this and the inspections will be done by Bolton & Menk at no cost to the city. Since Bolton & Menk will be at the homes doing the service line inspection, it would be a good time to have sump pump inspections also. The findings of the sump pump inspection and service line will be on-line GIS mapping. The estimated fee for the sump pump inspections is $9,250 - $11,750. Motion by McGovern to move forward with the sump pump inspections using the GIS mapping service, second by Ellis. Motion carried unanimously.
In 2022, someone asked about purchasing the property south of the Fire Hall. The city has had problems getting a surveyor. It appears that the mapping of Main Street is incorrect. Bolton & Menk estimated roughly $10,000 for the survey and could most likely be higher than that. The person that asked about buying the property has since bought another property and might not be interested anymore. At this time, the council is not interested in selling that land so they will not do the survey.
ADMINISTRATOR/CLERK
Dan Murphy, City Building Inspection Services, turned in his resignation and will no longer be available as building official effective December 31, 2023. Administrator/Clerk Sorg is looking for a replacement.
Sorg is also looking for an alternate website provider as the one that is currently used will be raising their price by over $1500/year.
CITY ATTORNEY
City Attorney Rahrick asked if the council is interested in having a cannabis use ordinance. They asked him to draft one for review.
OLD BUSINESS
None
NEW BUSINESS
None
Motion by Klejeski to adjourn the meeting at 8:17 p.m., second by Ellis. Motion carried unanimously.
ATTEST:
___________________________________ ____________________________________
Elizabeth Sorg, Administrator/Clerk Tasha Dahl, Mayor
