Minutes
2. Land App Update – Appraisal, Property Acquisition, Environmental Report, Funding:
The appraisal for the proposed land app site appraised at $400,000. The document is available for council review after the meeting since it was just received prior to the meeting. Mayor Bateman believes that we need to be at a minimum of $500,000. Engineer Amy Uptmor with Attorney Herrington will begin the acquisition process now that the appraisal is completed. Clerk informed that RD will not be going after funding for the project this year. Cm. Nelson added that this property is not adequate for the tree seed idea as a crop to grow.
3. Sealed Bids for Surplus Dump Truck: Only one bid was received and it was from the Nezperce-Russell Cemetery Maintenance District for $2,500. Cm. Mike Jensen moved to accept the bid, Cm. Lyons seconded the motion, motion carried. Maintenance Cardwell asked if they plan to take the plow? Clerk Schmidt will follow up with the district at their meeting on the 18th.
4. Airport Aid Program – Grant Agreement and Resolution R2022-1: Before the council is an agreement to accept the grant of $252,340.00 to widen the runway by 20 feet and a resolution to accept the grant offer from the State Aeronautics under the Airport Aid Program. Mayor Bateman asked for a motion to suspend the rules, Cm. Jensen moved to suspend the rules while Cm. Lyons seconded the motion. Roll call vote was as follows:
Jensen: Aye,
Nelson: Aye,
Lyons: Aye,
Zenner: Absent.
Motion by Cm. Jensen to sign the agreement and accept Resolution R2022-1 as presented while Cm. Lyons seconded the motion. Roll call vote was as follows.
Jensen: Aye,
Nelson: Aye,
Lyons: Aye,
Zenner: Absent.
Mayor Bateman added that he did a walk-through of the project with JUB Engineer John Watson and that he and Clerk Schmidt will be reviewing the engineering documents describing the services they can offer the city with the project. The grant funds from the state doesn’t includ any engineering fees so the city will have to come up with the funds for any services.
5. Comprehensive Plan – Discussion & Survey Review: Clerk Schmidt forwarded the council the plan a few weeks ago to read. Now there is a survey to complete. Christine Frei of CEDA will compile the survey results for the city. This is all part of what needs to happen to adopt the plan. The council asked for some time to review the survey and will discuss it at the next meeting.
DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS
1. Maintenance
Water: Maintenance Cardwell will order a new hydrant for the shop. Lead and copper samples were completed last month and today Cardwell received a call from IDEQ and 2 of the tests were positive for lead and Cardwell used sites that are not on his approved sight list. Cardwell will be receiving information on what needs to be done to correct the issues. Due to recent rainfall water restrictions were removed however we need to ask the public to conserve.
Sewer: Good news is that the seepage testing at the lagoons passed. Cardwell added that there is dike work to complete.
Streets: Cardwell informed that Knife River finished the projects last week. He will be watching to verify if water runs correctly to the catch basins. He also asked if they would like to see roadway lane white lines from 4th Avenue to 3rd Avenue. He added that we received grindings from the project and he had them grind the asphalt in front of the EMS building and it was cut too deep so maintenance used grindings to fill in what was cut in hopes that the water won’t pool in front of the building any longer. Cardwell added that he will need to put in a culvert at 204 Maple so the sewer is buried. The sweeper has an issue that maintenance cannot diagnose so Cardwell would like to take it to Bell to fix.
Senior Center: Cardwell will be checking out a couple issues at the Senior Center as there appears to be a sink drain problem and a water heater that needs replaced.
Parks: Tis almost the season to hang Christmas lights.
EMS Building: Maintenance cleaned out the gutters on the building and will need a new down spout.
2. Clerk
Museum: Clerk Schmidt informed that the museum needs to be winterized. The Historical Society will be closing the building down until spring. There is a split in the heating oil tank so we need to find one. Kim Ingram offered to help out with a tank as they have one, she would like to donate. Cardwell will take a look and see if it will work.
3. Fire Department – No report.
COUNCIL COMMENT
Trombetta House: Mayor Bateman read a letter that was received just prior to the meeting from the Lewis County Prosecutor Zach Pall releasing the house to be torn down. Bateman informed the council that Roger Trombetta feels that the city was negligent and that if a few things hadn’t gone wrong the house could have been put out quicker and not been a total loss. Trombetta offered that if the city was to tear down the house and pay the taxes owing that he wouldn’t sue. Cm. Jensen suggested that the city have the attorney write a letter to Roger giving him 30 days to clean up the mess. Clerk Schmidt will contact the attorney tomorrow.
ADJOURNMENT: Meeting adjourned at 6:35PM.
Other/Upcoming Events:
Upcoming Council Meetings: November 8th and December 13th at 5:30PM
City Election: Tuesday, November 2nd
The next regularly scheduled city council meeting will be on Tuesday, November 8th at 5:30PM at City Hall.
__________________________ _____________________________
Steve A. Bateman, Mayor Rhonda J. Schmidt, Clerk-Treasurer