City of Ranier, Koochiching County, Minnesota



City of Ranier, Koochiching County, Minnesota

May 20th , 2013 at 6:30 p.m.

A regular meeting of the Ranier City Council was held at 6:30 p.m. in the Ranier Community Building.

Members present: Mayor Dennis Wagner. Councilmembers: Fred Woods, Brenda Bauer, Todd Coulombe, Tony Cole and City Administrator: Kim Nuthak

Members absent: None

Ranier employees: Maintenance Nick Sears

Others in attendance: Arden Barnes, Don Zierke from Miller McDonald, Kim Lessard, Leon Lessard, Barry Woods, Jeff McHarg

Mayor Dennis Wagner called the regular council meeting to order at 6:30 p.m.

Motion by Councilmember Bauer, second by Councilmember Coulombe and carried to approve the agenda with the addition of the Hazard Mitigation Plan and the moving up of agenda item Miller McDonald Representative Don Zierke.

Don Zierke from Miller McDonald addressed the council regarding the 2012 audit. Mr. Zierke explained the fund balances and how the city is doing financially. Ranier resident and Business Owner Barry Woods questioned how much of the City Administrator’s wages are charged to the Liquor Store. Mr. Zierke explained every other quarter is charged to the Liquor Store. Barry Woods questioned the 2012 Liquor Store profit and questioned if the Liquor Store is worth the liability. Councilmember Woods stated the idea of the Liquor Store was to establish jobs and keep control over the liquor. Barry Woods disagreed with that. Mayor Wagner questioned how the City would be able to amend the General budget if necessary and who would need to be notified. Don Zierke explained the City can amend the budget and the City cannot go over budget based on state law.

Also, Don Zierke explained the Three Points North project and how the amending of the assessment roll which removed 4 parcels would affect the construction balance. Mayor Wagner questioned if we didn’t include the 4 parcels on the water project, why would the City have to locate funds to make up the difference. Don Zierke indicated how the budget was handled for the project. After discussion, the following motion was made.

Motion by Councilmember Bauer, second by Councilmember Coulombe and carried to approve the 2012 City of Ranier Financial Audit from Miller McDonald.

Motion by Councilmember Coulombe, second by Councilmember Woods and carried to approve the minutes from the previous regular council meeting.

Motion by Councilmember Coulombe, second by Councilmember Cole and carried to approve participating in the Hazard Mitigation Plan for FEMA with Koochiching County.

LIQUOR STORE BUSINESS

The Council reviewed the Ranier Municipal Liquor Store operating statement for the month of April 2013 with a monthly profit of $7,521.31 with a year to date profit of $24,536.07.

Motion by Councilmember Woods, second by Councilmember Bauer and carried to approve April 2013 Ranier Municipal Liquor Store operating statement with a profit of $7,521.31.

BUDGET/ADMINISTRATION BUSINESS

Regarding the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau appointment to the board to represent Ranier, Mary Ann Kasich was the only interested Ranier resident to participate. After discussion, the following motion was made.

Motion by Councilmember Coulombe, second by Councilmember Cole and carried to approve Mary Ann Kasich for the CVB Appointment.

Regarding the hiring of the part time summer help advertisement, an additional application from Leon Lessard was received on May 20th and even though the dead line of the advertisement was the 15th of May, the Council recommended accepting the application and hiring the applicant since he is a Ranier resident. The previous recommendation from Maintenance Nick Sears to hire Aaron Davis was disregarded by the council however, Nick Sears firmly agreed Aaron Davis was qualified for the position. Councilmember Coulombe stated they had to take care of their own. Councilmember Woods added Leon Lessard has bills to pay.

Barry Woods addressed Nick Sears and questioned why he did not recommend hiring Leon Lessard. Sears indicated Aaron Davis has been working for the City as the Summer help the past few years and was qualified. Ranier resident Arden Barnes also agree with Barry Woods to hire Leon Lessard since he lives in Ranier and his dad was part of the beginning of the Liquor Store.

Motion by Councilmember Woods, second by Councilmember Coulombe and carried to accept the application from Leon Lessard and approve to hire said applicant for the part time summer help since he lives in Ranier.

After review of the list of bills for the month of April 2013, the following motion was made.

Motion by Councilmember , second by Councilmember and carried to approve the payment of the bills with the exception of the North Koochiching Sanitary Sewer District.

Water $ 30,253.87

General $ 29,696.43

Rec Club $ 0.00

Liquor $ 23,633.15

Total $ 83,583.45

BUILDINGS, STREETS AND GROUNDS COMMITTEE

Regarding a building permit request from Ranier Resident Thomas Bruers, the council discussed the construction of the addition and that it would be built on North Street without any setbacks. Councilmember Woods added this building should be moved to adhere to the setbacks. Ranier resident Barry Woods remembers a creek that flowed from Big Vic through the woods to North Street and asked Councilmember Woods to help Lessard trench the creek in. After discussion, the following motion was made.

Motion by Councilmember Woods, second by Councilmember Coulombe and carried to deny the building permit application from Tom Bruers to construct an addition for the property located at 3500 River Street, Ranier MN.

Regarding a letter from Steven Lindberg, owner of the Loons Nest and Carl Brown, owner of the Roadhouse indicating the approaches to their businesses need improvement and better lighting. City Adminstrator Nuthak met with MNDOT Supervisor Chris Cheney and he will be addressing these issues along with looking into an early detection device notifying emergency vehicles if a train is blocking Spruce Street. Mayor Wagner requested the City Administrator send MNDOT Supervisor Chris Cheney a letter reminding him of these concerns.

WATER COMMITTEE

Mayor Wagner explained a request from the sewer district to have the City of Ranier pass a resolution requesting NKSSD take over a portion of the 12” main sewer line and deem this sewer line an interceptor. Mayor Wagner explained it would cost approximately $156,000 to replace this portion of the sewer line if something were to happen. After discussion, the following recommendation was made.

Motion by Councilmember Coulombe, second by Councilmember Bauer and carried to approve the resolution on the City of Ranier letterhead requesting NKSSD take over a portion of the 12” main sewer line and the said resolution is attached hereto and a part thereof.

Regarding the lift station Ranier currently maintains, Mayor will address this issue at a different time with NKSSD. Mayor Wagner also recommended City Administrator Nuthak continue to hold payment of the NKSSD usage bill until the Sewer district approves the resolution to take over a portion of the main sewer line as an interceptor.

NEW BUSINESS

Councilmember Woods stated there is a 1 year permit for an approved building permit and would like to change the limit of a building permit. Councilmember Cole indicated the property owner would need to request an extension if project is not completed.

OPEN FORUM

Arden Barnes stated if the council would have agreed to the building permit application from Ranier resident Thomas Bruers, it would not have been in the best interest of Ranier since it was an application to build on City property.

Barry Woods addressed the council and indicated no one on the council lives on the north side of the tracks in Ranier and they do not know how the increase in trains and the blocking of the trains is affecting the businesses and home owners. Mayor Wagner indicated that in order to get anything done with the CN railroad, you have to find them in violation of a law/statute. After discussion, Mayor Wagner will keep the council and the public informed on the progress of this issue as the camera was just recently installed to monitor the blocking of the crossing on Spruce Street. Ranier resident and business manager Jeff McHarg also stated the train is also extremely loud. Mayor Wagner explained in order to control the noise of the horn, there will need to be crossing arms installed. Wagner informed Mcharg these arms are scheduled to be installed this year. blocking the train.

Motion by Councilmember Cole, second by Councilmember Coulombe and carried to adjourn the regular council meeting at 8:17p.m.

_____________________________ _______________________________

Mayor Wagner Date

________________________________ ______________________________

City Clerk Nuthak Date

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download