MINUTES OF THE ROLAND CITY COUNCIL

REGULAR SESSION

FEBRUARY 13, 2006

 

The Roland City Council met in regular session on Monday, February 13, 2006, at 7:00 p.m., at City Hall with Mayor Samuel Juhl presiding.  Council members present at roll call were Duane Canny, Roger Fritz, Bob Hanson, and John Lee.  Absent was council member Jeri Neely.  Also present were 10 visitors and members of the community.

 

Motion by Lee, second by Hanson to approve the consent agenda containing the following items:  agenda, minutes from the January 23, 2006, meeting as written, treasurer’s report, clerk’s reports, and claims as submitted.  All in favor.

 

There was public input at this time from Allan Ludwikowski and Cindy Johnson.  They were present to complain about the snow ordinance tickets that were issued.  Allan said he has lived here since 1988 and it has never been enforced.  The tickets were issued at 5:15 a.m.  He went to bed thinking they weren’t going to get any snow .  His vehicle is usually moved by 20 minutes to 8:00 a.m..  His street still wasn’t plowed at 10:30 a.m..  Cindy stated that she has three vehicles that were on the street because Dan needs to have the driveway clear incase there is an emergency since he’s an EMT and a Fireman.  The council stated that the ordinance has been enforced in the past, but admits it has been spotty.  Allan would like the ordinance changed to give a reasonable time to have the vehicles moved off the streets and put a notice on the TV that the snow ordinance is in effect.  Sgt. Jeff Dodds was present and explained that the Deputies write the tickets during their slack time.  They try to write the tickets before 7:00 a.m. because that’s when they start getting busy with accidents and shift changes.  The council will review the snow ordinance at the next council meeting.

 

Department Head Reports were as follows: 

 

Street Department - Street Superintendent Harold Hovick reported he has been doing maintenance on the vehicles.

 

Water/Wastewater Department - Water/Wastewater Superintendent Dean Uitermark reported the engineer was down to start the DNR application for the water line replacement on Maple Street.  Once the permit is approved by the DNR they can start on the project.  The tentative plan is to start at Green Street and go west and replace the 4” main with 8” main.  The project will be spread out over a couple of years.

 

City Clerk - City Clerk Deneen Frost provided the Mayor and Council members with fliers for the 3^rd session of the MLA classes and the ISO 100 class.  The Mayor and Council members are strongly encouraged to attend the ISO 100 class.  It will be Saturday, February 18^th at the Roland Fire Station.  She also provided the Mayor and Council members with a letter from Waste Management asking the council to put the garbage contract up for bid.  None of the council members have any concerns or complaints with our current hauler and don’t feel they need to make any changes at this time.  She also reported that CCS came to install the cable modem.  Due to the age of the computers at City Hall they are unable to install the modem without some updates.  They will cost approximately $250.00.  This will include a router, ethernet cards, firewall protection and labor.  Consensus of the council was to go ahead with the updates.

 

Larry Ford and Lynn Schulte were present to show the Mayor and Council members the banners the RADC is planning on purchasing for Maple and Main streets.  The banners will be 2 x 3 and will have printing on both sides.  On one side it will say Welcome to Roland, Honoring the Past and Embracing the Future, and the other side will say Velkommen to Roland, Honoring the Past and Embracing the Future.  The banners would stay up all year long, unless they need to come down for the Christmas lights.  They would like to have the council’s approval of the banners.  Motion by Lee, second by Hanson to approve the RADC’s purchase of the banners.  All in favor.

 

There was a short discussion on the budget.  City Clerk Frost stated that an additional contribution request was received since the last council meeting and is included in the new print out they received along with the changes to the contract amount for police protection and the amount of sales tax in the pool budget.  Council member Fritz said he’d like to see the proposed Library budget cut to include 3% wage increase and not a 5% wage increase.  Council member Lee agreed.  Council member Lee stated he’d like to see the Library budget cut to $76,000.  Motion by Fritz, second by Lee to approve the Library budget in the amount of $76,422.  AYE:  Fritz, Lee;  NAY:  Canny, Hanson.  Motion died for lack of majority vote.  Motion by Hanson, second by Canny to approve the Library budget in the amount of $77,000.  AYE:  Canny, Fritz, Hanson;  NAY:  Lee.  Mayor Juhl declared the motion carried.

 

Motion by Fritz, second by Canny to reduce the Contribution budget by $2200.00.  All in favor.

 

City Clerk Frost will make the changes.  The hearing notice for publication will be ready for approval at the next council meeting.

 

Council/Mayor comments consisted of the following:  Council member Hanson asked the rest of the members to bring ideas to the next council meeting for improving Main Street and/or the town.

 

There was no public input at this time.

 

With no further business at this time, Lee moved adjournment of the meeting at 7:53 p.m., second by Fritz. All in favor.  The next regular council meeting will be Monday, February 27, 2006, at 7:00 p.m. at City Hall.