CITY OF HOKAH
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MINUTES
MAY 4, 2021 / 6:00 pm
REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING
• CALL TO ORDER: 6:00 PM
• PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
• ROLL CALL: Jerry Martell, Tom Oldenburg, Cindy Priewert, Lee Tippery
• ACTION TO CHANGE AGENDA: Addition of payments to Badger Meter, Farrell Equipment, Gopher State One, Richards Sanitation, Visa Credit Card.
1. Consent Agenda: Motion to accept the agenda with the addition of payments to Badger Meter, Farrell Equipment, Gopher State One, Richards Sanitation, Visa Credit Card made by Martell. Second by Oldenburg. Aye: Martell, Oldenburg, Priewert, Tippery
All items listed under the consent agenda are considered routine by the City Council and will be enacted by one motion. There will be no
separate discussion of these items. If discussion is desired, that item will be removed from the Consent Agenda and will be considered separately.
1.1 Regular Council Meeting Minutes April 6, 2021
1.2 Bills Payable Through: April 30, 2021
1.3 Consolidated Balance Sheet April 30, 2021
2. Filling Council Vacancy-Council Appointment: Lee Tippery discussed the need to fill the vacancy after the resignation of Don Bissen from the Council seat. Tippery reached out to the League of MN Cities and they stated that anyone over the age of 18 and a resident of the City of Hokah could be appointed and there were no other restrictions. Skip Wieser stated the same information. Mayor Tippery made a motion to appoint Tom Bernsdorf. Tom Oldenburg stated that he thought after the meeting on April 6th that the consensus of the Council was to reach out to Mike Walsh who was the only other person on the ballot. Tippery noted that Mike ran for the Mayor seat and not for the Council position and noted that Dan Lorenz had received votes. The Mayor asked for a second. There was no second. Oldenburg noted that Mike Walsh has a great deal of experience being involved on City Council. Lee Tippery noted that he felt it could be good to get younger members of the community involved. Jerry Martell asked the Mayor if there was a problem with Mike Walsh and the Mayor said that he had nothing against Mike. Martell noted that all the Council members ran unopposed. He also noted that the precedence for filling vacant Council seats in the past has been to start with the person with the next highest votes on the ballot. Motion to appoint Mike Walsh as Council Member made by Martell. Second by Priewert. Aye: Martell, Oldenburg, Priewert. Nay: Tippery.
3. Consideration for Item 2: Swearing in of Council Member. Mayor Lee Tippery swore in Council Member Mike Walsh.
4. Library/City Hall/City Center Report: Kirsten Plummer reported that things are going well at the library and noted that there has not been a Board meeting since the last Council meeting so there was no news to report. Mayor Tippery asked if there were any events planned yet this Spring and Kirsten said nothing yet this spring as it is difficult to have indoor events due to COVID. She is planning a Summer Reading program.
5. Water/Wastewater/City Engineer Report: Matt Vetsch reported that he is scheduled to meet with Davy Engineering to review the application for funding the water projects. Vetsch asked the Clerk to provide information on purchasing new meter registers from Meter Technology. The Clerk reported that this was the first month that she had transitioned to using the new meter reading Beacon software. With this new software we are now able to operate with cellular meters which allow the meters to be read without the use of the handheld reader. The Clerk had requested a quote to purchase meters to have on hand for meters that need to be replaced. The cost of each meter register is $235. Meter Technology recommended the purchase of 6 registers at a time as they are packaged by 6. Vetsch noted that the meter heads that the City currently has are under warranty. In order to send in the old meters under the warranty, we need to have the cellular registers on hand to replace while those meters are sent back. Lee Tippery asked what the long-term plan is to replace them all. Vetsch noted that this could be determined when we apply for funding with the water project. If we are not allowed funding, then he recommended that we budget to replace the meter registers a few at a time. The Clerk also noted that the new registers allow the option to have automatic notifications and they can also view their usage any time through the month. The cellular endpoint does 12 readings per day. The total cost for 12 was $2,800. Motion to purchase 12-meter registers at a cost of $2,800 was made by Martell. Second by Oldenburg. Unanimous.
6. Police Dept./City Attorney Report: Bob Schuldt reported there was nothing out of the ordinary on the PD report that was included in the packet. Schuldt had a complaint regarding items that have been left on sidewalks along Main Street. This was also brough up back in 2019 and Bob included a copy of the minutes as well as a copy of the Sidewalk Policy. Schuldt asked the individual to provide a formal complaint in writing and at the time of the meeting he still had not received the formal complaint. Schuldt reported that they would be starting their in-house training in June. They increased the firearm qualification rounds so Schuldt noted that he would need to purchase more ammunition. Tom Bernsdorf asked if the sidewalk complaint was aimed at one business or multiple businesses and Bob said it was aimed at one business. Tom noted that the stuff is brought in and out each day and does not get left out. Bob agreed to that statement and noted that he monitored the situation and that the items were brought in.
7. Emergency Management: Schuldt noted that there were no new updates from the Governor regarding the Pandemic, but he was hoping to hear something soon.
8. Streets / Maintenance Report: Matt met with Scotts Construction and they drove around to assess the streets and determine which areas need to be addressed for seal coating this year. Matt provided a list of the streets and the cost for each area. The total budgeted for street repairs is $20,000. Matt noted that with the water upgrades there could possibly be streets that need to be tore up, so Matt avoided these areas for seal coating. He noted that Cedar Street has had some boils and he feels there is a possibility they may need a new base. It may also be that some water is getting into a crack and it could need to be sealed and that could help the problem. They were looking at Cedar (10th to 5th St.) $12,266, 5th Street (Main to Cedar St.) $6,770, 10th Street (Cedar St to STH16) $1,368, 3rd Street (Ash to Birch St.) $2,209, Alley (Ash St to 6th St) $1,665. And Alleys between Ash & Birch St. West of 5th St $827, West of 3rd St $434 and East of 3rd St $1,136. The total for all projects is $26,675 but Matt will review the list and make sure to exclude areas to keep within the budget. He would like to hold off on 4th Street and do that next year. Motion to approve the quote and to only include areas that fall into the $20,000 budget made by Oldenburg. Second by Martell. Unanimous. James Scholze was in the audience and requested a barricade and a dead-end sign at the end of his driveway because there have been a couple accidents where people continue up his drive and over the hill.
9. Planning Commission / Zoning Report:
5. Permit 2021-03: Don & Sandy Bissen: The Zoning Board reviewed the application for a 50’ x 142’ x 16’ new business/home/private shop. Based on the advice from the League of MN Cities and the City Attorney the building will go back to the original footprint of the structure in a commercial zone. It needs to be noted the maximum height is 36 feet. This application was approved by the Board.
2. Permit 2021-04: Don & Sandy Bissen: The Zoning Board reviewed an application for a 50’ x 80’ x 16’ shop and garage at 47 Main Street and the Board approved the application.
3. Permit 2021-05: Matt Vetsch: The Zoning Board reviewed the application to construct a 16’ x 40’ addition to his shop for camper storage. This application was approved by the Zoning Board.
4. Permit 2021-06: Matt Vetsch: Application to vacate the west side of Lake Street connected to East side of property at 302 Brooklyn Lane was reviewed by the Zoning Board. The Board tabled the request to be able to get more input from adjoining landowners.
5. The Clerk was contacted by a resident asking about requirements to put up a fence. The Board did not receive paperwork and they did not receive enough information, so this was tabled.
Motion to accept Zoning Report made by Oldenburg. Second by Martell. Unanimous.
10. Recreation Board Report: The Clerk spoke with Sam Mullen and she did not have anything to report for the Rec Board. The Clerk was planning a day to meet with the Summer staff to provide training and get all the required paperwork completed. The Clerk also spoke with James Scholze regarding the concessions as the Council had requested that the Concessions for the Pool and Baseball be run together. Cricket was in the audience and noted that he has been running the concessions for 10-15 years and said if the City would like to unify the concessions, then he was okay with that. He asked why the Council would like to turn away the volunteering and why they would like to make this change. The Council had previously discussed the need to bring the baseball concessions together to run all of the funds through the City and also to unify the process. He noted that $750-$1,000 was always turned back in at the end of the year and that the only expense that was taken out was the cost of the Shooky Fink tournament. The Priewert asked how often they would be running concessions and Cricket noted around 5-6 times. Martell asked if there were any issues in the past and Cricket said there were not. After further discussion, the Council agreed that if they wanted to continue to use volunteers that they were okay with that. Cricket also reported a donation from the Lucille Peterson memorial of $150.00.
11. New Business:
5. 2021/22 Insurance Policy Renewal: The Clerk reviewed the Insurance Policy outline noting that the League reported that the Property and Liability rates were flat, the City did notice an increase in property values. Workers Comp rates increased significantly which was in part due to the increased number of claims related to PTSD. Another change impacting the premiums this year involved the reclassifying of the building construction on the fire station and the clerk/police building. The most recent appraisal re-determined the construction on the fire station to be noncombustible instead of fire restrictive and the construction on the clerk/police building to be joisted masonry instead of non-combustible. These two changes increased the city’s property premium by approximately $250 for the fire station and $1,000 for the City Center. The property coverage went from $10,630,500 to $11,604,082. The Clerk also noted that the appraisal was completed at the beginning of the year and since then they have increased it by their automatic yearly value calculations. The Clerk pointed out the City Hall that had increased the premium almost $300. If the City would agree to decrease the City Hall back down to the original assessed value then they would save the premium. Matt Vetsch noted that he reached out to the assessor to change the City Center construction as he feels that the beams are coated in a fire-resistant material and he is hoping to have the change made to bring that cost back down. Motion to approve the Liability Insurance made by Walsh. Second by Priewert. Unanimous.
2. Board Appointments: Mayor Tippery appointed the following:
Rec Board: Lee Tippery
Personnel Committee: Mike Walsh and Cindy Priewert
Mayor Pro Temp: Mike Walsh
Streets Representative: Jerry Martell
12. Old Business:
12.1 MN Basic Code: No Report
13. Council Member’s Comments/Community Input: No Reports.
14. Mayor’s Comments: No Report
15. Staff Correspondence: No Report
16. Correspondence Received:
TIF Inquiry: The Clerk received a request from Don Bissen to pursue a TIF District through the City as he has plans to replace the building that was destroyed in the March fire. The Clerk spoke with the City attorney and she reached out to Mike Bubany from David Brown Associates who has worked with the City in the past. His recommendation was that he felt that it is not financially worthwhile to establish a TIF District because:
1. The cost to setup the TIF District will likely cost between $7,000 and $9,000 between the TIF documentation and the associated legal contract.
2. The required annual reporting, which I expect you would need to hire out, would cost $1,500 per year (our fees dwindle with multiple TIF Districts, but Hokah would only have this one).
3. The City is limited on how much of the tax increment it can withhold for administrative purposes (10%) and it might be that the City would have to supplement those costs with “regular” taxes.
4. The estimated value of the applicant’s second development option (which does not require assistance) exceeds the valuation that the property currently holds.
After further discussion the Board noted that although the TIF district may not be cost beneficial there may be some other funding opportunities. Jerry Martell said that he would reach out and try to see if there were other options.
1. Pay Equity Certificate: The Clerk provided the Pay Equity Certificate noting that the City is in compliance based on the Pay Equity Reporting that was submitted earlier in the year.
2. Statewide Health Improvement Partnership (SHIP) Grant: The Clerk informed the Council of the availability of funds through the SHIP Grant which includes funding for projects that support healthy eating, active living & tobacco prevention. Some examples included promotion of recreation opportunities, signage for farms markets, bike racks, signage or paint for bike trails, community garden supplies, or benches along walking trails. The clerk did send this information on to Celeste Mader who is currently working on the City Community Garden. The Clerk also reached out to Marsha Von Arx who has been in charge of the Farmers Market in the past, however, she informed the Clerk that they currently did not have anyone to run the Farmers Market, so they were possibly not going to have it this year. The Clerk asked the Council if they had any other ideas. Some of the ideas recommended were benches and tables down at Como Falls, gravel on the dike along the river where people walk and possibly paying someone to run the Farmers Market. The Clerk would follow up.
17. Announcements: None.
18. Next Council Meeting
1. June 1, 2021 6:00 PM
19. Items for next Agenda:
20. Adjournment: Motion to Adjourn at 7:20PM made by Walsh. Second by Martell. Unanimous.
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