Minutes Lewiston City Council Regular Meeting February 10, :00 P.M.

Transcription

1 Minutes Lewiston City Council Regular Meeting February 10, :00 P.M. The regular meeting of the Lewiston City Council was held on Wednesday February 10, 2010 at Lewiston City Hall. Members present: Mayor David Sommer, Clm. John Kanz, Clm. Sean Sannes, Clm. Sharon Trester and Clm. Dave Sanow. Also present: City Administrator Barb Hampel and several city resident. See Exhibit A. 1. APPROVE AGENDA: Motion made by Clm. Sanow, seconded by Clm. Trester to approve the agenda with the additions of water school and swimming pool c.d. and delete Yaggy Colby. All voted in favor. Motion declared carried. 2. COUNCIL MINUTES January 27, 2010 closed: Motion made by Clm. Trester, seconded by Clm. Sanow to approve the minutes of the January 27, 2010 closed meeting. All voted in favor. Motion declared carried. January 27, 2010 regular: Motion made by Clm. Sanow, seconded by Clm. Trester to approve the minutes of the January 27, 2010 regular meeting with changes. All voted in favor. Motion declared carried. 3. ACCOUNTS PAYABLE: The accounts payable were reviewed. It was noted we are being charged for review of letters sent out and review of agenda packets. It was decided to still send the agenda packets, but not copies of letters sent out. Motion made by Clm. Sanow, seconded by Clm. Sannes to approve the accounts payable. All voted in favor. Motion declared carried. 4. CITIZENS CONCERNS: None 5. AMBULANCE REPORT: Holly Hammann stated they had 24 calls in January with 25 patients. Motion made by Clm. Sanow, seconded by Clm. Kanz to approve sending three EMT s to the EMS conference at $425 each. All voted in favor. Motion declared carried. 6. POLICE REPORT: Police Chief Dave Kleinschmidt reviewed the police report with the council. Chapter one of the policy manual is almost done and will be sent out to the committee for their review. Discussion was held on cars not moved for plowing. It was questioned who is responsible for snow removal. The public works people should be notifying the police department of cars not being moved for snow removal. Clm. Sanow questioned what you do when cars are sitting in a snow bank. There is a car on north Benike Street and one on Circle Pines with expired license plates that has sat there all winter. Clm. Kanz stated the owner has been notified. Clm. Sanow stated there is a red box on the other side of the street which will be a problem if we get more snow. 1 of 6

2 A concerned citizen asked who is responsible for snow plowing. They should be responsible for reporting these vehicles in the ditch. Clm. Sanow stated these cars are not in the ditch. They are on city streets in the way of our plows. The concerned citizen questions why the people plowing the snow wouldn t report these. Clm. Sanow stated that our police officers could be finding them too. The concerned citizen stated that the guy coming in contact with the car should be reporting it. Clm. Kanz stated that this is the way it used to be done. Gary used to report it. The concerned citizen stated he worked for the county highway department for 31 years, and they used to turn in those reports. Mayor Sommer stated this will be discussed at the Monday morning session. The Administrator should mention this to Gary that if they see something in their way to let Dave or whoever is on duty know. Richard Ahrens stated he had a question for Chief Kleinschmidt. When he and his wife are walking they see a lot of suspicious activities in town. Some I would say is drug related. Are you aware of what is going on in town? Chief Kleinschmidt replied that yes he was. I have had a few performance reviews before and I have touched on that. They don t want me to handle any drug activity. They want Winona County and the Drug Task Force to do it. So all the information we get will be passed on to the Drug Task Force. Mayor Sommer stated that first of all we did not tell you to not do anything with it. We told you to work in assistance with the Drug Task Force. That is what we told you to do, and if you want us to go back and get the records we can get them. We didn t want you to totally handle them on your own when the S.E. Task Force has all the equipment, the knowhow and the manpower and everything that can assist you on this. This is what you were told. Clm. Trester stated let s move on. End of discussion. The concerned citizen questioned how much training the council has had in law enforcement. Clm. Sanow responded that he has 20 years, 14 days, 1 hour and 20 minutes of law enforcement experience. The concerned citizen stated that the thing I look at here is you hire a Chief like any other council. When they hire a Chief they usually have him run the department. I heard a lot of different things about the town and the council tries to take over that position yourself and you are not qualified. Mayor Sommer stated we are not taking over. The concerned citizen stated you just showed me a little while ago that you are giving him orders Clm. Sanow stated we asked him to do this job. Mayor Sommer asked if he was aware of the background on the incident that we are talking about. Are you aware of the specific incident we addressed with him? The concerned citizen stated that he has heard different things. Mayor Sommer stated we have had the actual report in front of us. What we did was to recommend to Chief Kleinschmidt that this drug force was recommended through various other police agencies too. Not just from us. They are there for the use of all the departments and that is what we requested him to use. 2 of 6

3 The concerned citizen asked how come there was all the static about it. Mayor Sommer asked what static? The concerned citizen said that people were talking about it, that you wouldn t let your Chief do his job. Mayor Sommer stated the citizens concern is over with. Let s move on. Richard Ahrens asked if he could get an answer. The Mayor replied you got an answer. Richard Ahrens asked Chief Kleinschmidt what you have seen, has it been turned over to the county? Chief Kleinschmidt replied Yes it was turned in a long time ago. Karen Ahrens asked who they should contact if they see suspicious activity. Mayor Sommer stated they should contact the Police Chief. It is his responsibility. Clm. Sanow stated you should go though the Law Enforcement Center. Mayor Sommer stated you have to call LEC and they will refer it back to him. The concerned citizen asked why you would have to call the Winona LEC. Mayor Sommer stated that is because that is the way it was set up. That is the way it has always been set up. Hasn t it Dave? Chief Kleinschmidt stated we have a phone in the office. They can contact us here too. Clm. Kanz questioned if they couldn t contact the Chief at city hall. Kleinschmidt stated that they could. Clm. Sanow asked if the phone was manned 24 hours. Clm. Kanz responded no but you just said he had to call LEC. Mayor Sommer stated if you can t get a hold of somebody here by all means call LEC then, but try here first. But when he is out on patrol he can t answer his phone in the office. Richard Ahrens stated that it is his concern that something is being done about what I am seeing that is going on. Mayor Sommer stated that this is the first that I have ever heard that something is not being done by our own police force on drug things, so it kind of takes me by surprise. Clm. Trester stated we get monthly reports and nothing has been said. Mayor Sommer stated there is nothing on the monthly reports of suspicious drug activity so if it is being addressed it is not being reported then. Clm. Trester stated we have to set up a meeting for a performance review. 7. PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Motion made by Clm. Trester, seconded by Mayor Sommer to have the city attorney handle and schedule a performance review and Tennessen Warning for Chief Kleinschmidt. Clm. Sannes, Clm. Mayor Sommer, Clm. Trester and Clm. Sanow voted for the motion. Clm. Kanz voted against the motion. Motion declared carried. 3 of 6

4 Hampel questioned what the issues are going to be, as the last time there were two different lists. Mayor Sommer instructed Hampel to contact Attorney Jennifer Gumbel to set up the performance review. 8. FIRE DEPARMENT REPORT: Fire Chief Charlie Matzke was present. A yearly report was given to the council. The yearly meeting was held with the township officers where the yearly report, budget and review of fire calls were discussed. Motion made by Clm. Kanz, seconded by Clm. Sanow to approve sending 6 firemen to fire training 1 & 2. All voted in favor. Motion declared carried. Matzke stated that the classes will be held in Lewiston. 9. TKDA: Michelle Stockness and Vern Jacobson from TKDA were present to discuss our water situation. We had a meeting with the Department of Health. They wanted to change the blending agreement, but it was found out that this would ruin the pumps. An agreement based on run times won t work because of the nitrates in the water. The Department of Health has requested that the city do monthly samplings at Well # 4 until this fall. At that time, they will consider putting together a run time agreement depending on the outcome of the water samples. If the nitrate level is too high we won t be able to have a run time agreement. TKDA recommends we put in for funding for treatment of Well # 4. Stockness presented several options. They are as follows: Option A Ion Exchange Softening: Is the cheapest option with the least amount of operator maintenance. The cost is $750,000. Option B MMO Radium Removal: This removes iron, requires more training and requires a C license. The cost is $1,025,000. Option C Adsorption: This involves high maintenance costs. The cost is $900,000. Option D Reverse Osmosis: Is not economically feasible. Stockness stated we are still on the PPL list and will resubmit a letter for funding which is due by June. Other sources of funding are a low interest loan through the Drinking Water Revolving Fund. Radium greatly affects our water rates. The next step is to continue testing for the next six months. It was noted we will still be in violation, so letters will still have to go out to the public. TKDA can also make an application for PFA stimulus money. Motion made by Clm. Trester, seconded by Clm. Kanz to have TKDA pursue financing options for treatment of our water on Well # 4. All voted in favor. Motion declared carried. 10. WATER SCHOOL: Motion made by Clm. Trester, seconded by Clm. Sannes to send Gary Babcock to the S.E. MN. Department of Health water school. All voted in favor. Motion declared carried. 11. CD. POOL: Monica Bjork and Karen Hennessy were present to discuss the pool C.D. Presently there is a C.D. in the city s name using the city s federal id number with the name of a private citizen on the c.d., which is illegal. Bjork stated that they would like the city to give them the money back. 4 of 6

5 Hampel stated that she talked with our auditor and here are some points to consider: - Once money is donated to the city it becomes the property of the city. The money is no longer theirs. - The name of the private citizen needs to come off the c.d. It is considered fraud. - The bank has reported that this is property of the city. - This money is under the city s control. - The city can t give the money back, as it is not authorized to make donations. - No private citizen can hold money in behalf of the city. This is misappropriation of funds. - There will be a mandatory compliance finding in the audit. - The city is not allowed to hold fund raisers. We are restricted to participate. - Why would the city council want to put themselves in this position? Bjork stated that the money was never donated to the city. They just wanted to get interest, so they went to the bank with Barry Kramer and set up the c.d. Mayor Sommer stated this money could be put in a trust fund. Mayor Sommer questioned how this can be rectified, and could they request money out of this fund. Bjork stated the pool committee is at a standstill due to the economy. They will be contacting Crescendo. 12. PERSONNEL COMMITTEE REPORT: Clm. Trester stated that the interview process for an Ambulance Director was discussed. They have four applicants who will have a background check. There will be a written test prior to the interview of 10 to 20 questions that should take 20 to 30 minutes. Karla will administer the test and Holly will correct the test. The city council plus Brent Jones representing fire and ambulance and the City Administrator will conduct the interview. The interviews will be done in one evening with questions being given ahead of time. All technical questions will have the answers. They will also receive a copy of the resume. A uniform policy was discussed. We also reviewed the fire department actions items needed to be completed. We will start meeting on the 2 nd Wednesday of every month starting at 5:30 P.M. If we can t meet on this date, we will meet on the 4 th Wednesday at 5:30 P.M. 13. COUNCIL CONCERNS: Barb Hampel we will have to schedule a Park and Rec meeting as the new Summer Rec director called in and quit. Clm. Trester questioned when the audit will be done and when will the furnace installation be completed. Barb Hampel is the council going to officially appoint a building committee? They would like to meet to discuss the purchase of land for a new emergency services building. Motion made by Clm. Trester, seconded by Clm. Sanow to appoint a building committee for a new Emergency Services building. The committee is as follows: See Exhibit B. All voted in favor. Motion declared carried. 5 of 6

6 14. ADJOURN: Motion made by Clm. Sanow, seconded by Clm. Kanz to adjourn. All voted in favor. Meeting was declared adjourned at 8:40 P.M. Barbara Hampel, CMC City Administrator 6 of 6

7

8