CITY OF CLAREMONT
CITY COUNCIL MEETING
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2022
7:00 P.M.
A regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Claremont, Minnesota was held on Tuesday, September 6, 2022, at 7:00 p.m. at Claremont City Hall.
Members present: Mayor Tasha Dahl, City Council Members Jacob Klejeski, Hunter McGovern, and Deb Ellis. Council Members absent: None. There is 1 vacant city council seat.
City staff and others present: City Administrator Evan Brown, Clerk/Treasurer Elizabeth Sorg, Maintenance Director Brian Styndl, First Responder Director Casey Dahl, and City Engineer Derek Olinger.
There were no changes to the agenda.
PUBLIC INPUT
None
CONSENT AGENDA
The Consent Agenda consisted of: Minutes of the August 2, 2022, City Council Meeting and Automatic Renewal of a Sewer Fund CD. Motion by Ellis to approve the Consent Agenda, second by Klejeski. Motion carried unanimously.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
PERSONNEL COMMITTEE
Administrator Brown held a 90-day performance review for Maintenance Director Brian Styndl. Council all agreed he has been doing a great job. Motion by Klejeski to give Styndl a 3% raise, second by Ellis. Motion carried unanimously.
FINANCE COMMITTEE
Motion by McGovern to approve the financial reports, second by Ellis. Motion carried unanimously.
Motion by McGovern to approve the amended list of bills to be paid, second by Ellis. Motion carried unanimously.
PUBLIC HEALTH & SAFETY COMMITTEE
The First Presbyterian Church submitted a request to use the Fire Hall October 29. There was concern about keeping all the equipment that is in the building secure and safe, a fire department member(s) would need to be available to move the fire trucks outside during the event and then back in, and liability concerns. The council suggested that the Legion is available for rent and possibly the former school gym. Motion by Klejeski to deny the request to use the Fire Hall, second by Ellis. Motion carried unanimously.
Council directed Administrator Brown to check into whether the city should allow rental of the fire hall and possibly a policy to rent it.
PLANNING & ZONING COMMITTEE
Nothing at this time.
EDA
Community Specialist Robert Harris turned in an update on CEDA activities he has been working on.
Gatorbak and Dean Schuette turned in additional invoices requesting the total reimbursement from the business façade grant. Both grant applications requested $2500 and a payment was made previously to them for ½ of what the previous invoices were. Now they submitted more invoices that equaled more than $2500. Gatorbak was previously reimbursed $1200 so motion by Mayor Dahl to approve reimbursing Gatorbak $1300, second by Ellis. Motion carried unanimously. Dean Schuette was previously reimbursed $2275 so motion by Mayor Dahl to reimburse Dean Schuette $225 for ½ of his façade grant improvement, second by McGovern. Motion carried unanimously.
MAINTENANCE DEPARTMENT
Maintenance Director Brian Styndl contacted TruGreen and Owatonna Groundsmasters for weed control at the 2 parks. Motion by McGovern to contact Twin Creek Farms/Jeremy Gnagey for a proposal also as he has done some work for the city before and go with the lowest price bid, second by Ellis. Motion carried unanimously.
Henning Park still has pea rock where the park equipment used to be, and weeds are growing there. Council agreed to have Styndl haul out the pea rock and have Hodgman Drainage or DeCook bring black dirt in, whichever is cheapest.
Styndl asked if the council would like the ball diamond removed at Henning Park. Council said it will be removed but not until the new ball diamond is finished. It is hard to keep up with the weeds growing there so Klejeski will check on prices for a sterilant. For the rest of the summer he was told to use up the weed killer inventory at the shop and continue to keep the weeds under control.
The Julia Street storm water pond and the storm water pond south of the railroad tracks are overgrown with shrubs, trees, and weeds. The city doesn’t have the equipment to get it under control and an excavator would be best to dig it all out. Council asked Styndl to get prices on what an excavator would charge to clean up the ponds and depending up on the price, 1 or 2 of the ponds will be done this year.
Engineer Olinger will contact Dodge County Highway Department to see if they would put up a sign directing semi traffic out of town to old highway 14 when possible.
Elm Street is in need of rock and Styndl got a quote for $600 to put gravel down from the railroad tracks to the 2nd driveway. The city will plan on bringing in more gravel next spring. There are also millings at the city shop for sale that would do all of the brush dump road for $1200 or crushed rock hauled by Styndl would be $1000. The millings are already in town so that would be easier and less travel time. Motion by Ellis to approve using the millings to put on the drive for the brush dump, second by Klejeski. Motion carried unanimously.
Styndl could use a grapple for the skid loader to clean up trees around town and will plan on purchasing one from the sale of the black truck.
There are 2 trees on the west side of Henning Park that are dead and the branches have been falling. The property owner will be sent a letter that he has 14 days to remove them.
PARKS COMMITTEE
The council has been discussing putting a walking trail around the storm water pond south of the railroad tracks. A 6’ wide trail by 6” deep of rock from County Road 3 to around the pond is approximately $6000. Motion by Ellis to buy rock and possibly fabric for the walking trail, second by McGovern. Motion carried unanimously.
Mayor Dahl will reach out to find updates on the new ball field.
PEOPLESERVICE
Their reports were in the packet.
CITY ATTORNEY
Not present.
CITY ENGINEER
City Engineer Derek Olinger went over a rough estimate of how much the water and sewer bill would need to be raised to help get funding through MN PFA for the water tower project.
The street project is almost complete, just a few more manholes need to be done.
OLD BUSINESS
The 2004 black truck received a bid at Hogfest for $6300 but it seems that party may not be interested anymore. If they don’t want it, it will be placed back on MN Bid with a minimum bid of $6000.
Motion by McGovern to approve the 2023 Proposed Budget, second by Ellis. Motion carried unanimously.
Motion by Ellis to approve Resolution No. 22-20: Resolution Adopting the Proposed 2023 Tax Levy, second by McGovern. Motion carried unanimously. The proposed levy is set at 10% higher than last year.
NEW BUSINESS
The council will have a meeting for public input on the 2023 budget and levy December 6 at 7:00 p.m.
Motion by Ellis to adjourn the meeting at 8:24 p.m., second by Klejeski. Motion carried unanimously.
ATTEST:
Elizabeth Sorg, City Clerk/Treasurer
Tasha Dahl, Mayor
