Call to order:
The regular Randolph City Council meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by Mayor Marie Jacob.
Roll Call:
Present:
Present were Mayor Marie Jacob, Council Members Jacob Friedrich, Todd Carlock and Tony Price, Treasurer Sandy Nicolai and Clerk Mary Haro.
Also, in attendance from LeVander, Gillen & Miller legal counsel, Greta Bjorkman, and Bolton & Menk engineer, Matt Blazer.
Approval of Agenda:
We will add Building Inspector Mark Ceminsky regarding fees to the agenda. We will move the sewer project to the first item and the school permit to the last item. Motion to approve the agenda with the addition of the building inspector was made by Friedrich, seconded by Price. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 5:0
Public Comments:
None
Prior Meeting Minutes
A motion to approve the July 12, 2023 regular council meeting minutes was made by Friedrich, seconded by Carlock. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 5:0.
Treasurer's Report and Payment of Bills:
We received a deposit from Dakota County for a portion of the road project. Also we made a payment to Dakota County for a deposit for the land we are acquiring for the holding ponds.
Motion to approve the payment of bills with the change of the check to Dakota Conty Financial Services, Check No. 52759, to be made payable to Dakota County District Court, was made by Friedrich and seconded by Jacob. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 5:0.
Old Business
Temporary Easement with Doug Duscher
Greta indicated that she got the easement agreement signed by Doug Duscher and he agreed on the payment of $1,200.
Fire Department Cement Apron
We discussed that we should replace the whole apron since part of it is being replaced with the road project. Matt indicated he will get an estimate on the cost of what it will be to replace the portion that the city will be responsible to pay for.
Motion to replace the apron in front of the fire department was made by Friedrich, seconded by Haro. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 5:0.
New Business
Bolton & Menk Sewer Update
Matt noted there has not been a lot of work taking place lately because of project delays. During the week of July 17 -21 the contractor was working on the project when they dug down and they hit ground water and it was higher than expected. It was noted that when the boring samples were done they were down that deep; however, the water is higher
than what the testing showed. The contractor tried to continue to work and tried pumping but couldn't get it to work. They had to pause to come up with a plan and then had a meeting with the MPCA and will have to change the schedule so our special meeting was cancelled. They started working with the MPCA since last July and the permit was submitted in September of 2022 and the MPCA required further testing which was done and everything came back fine but then the MPCA again requested more testing. They are trying to work out the issues with the MPCA. They elevated the permit with the MPCA and then the MPCA informed them that they are not allowed to start construction without the permit so everything had to stop. The project is stopped until the permit is received and then it has to have a 60 day review period. We can review it for 30 days but they plan to turn it around in a day or two. The project is not cancelled. They were never told they could not begin the project without the permit. The first they heard that was on July 31st. It was noted that we do have the permit from the railroad company for the project.
They indicated that they would like to get Stage A completed before winter. We have until December 31, 2024 to encumber the funds for the state grant money.
A citizen did ask about getting bids for the grant money available for the sewer connection from Dakota County. Matt indicated he will get some information to them. Commissioner Slavik indicated the money has to be designated by the end of 2024 and spent by 2026. It was asked that Matt put the information on the website. It was indicated where the sewer lines will go for hook up. They will place a red stake in the yard where they think it should go but they are allowing for flexibility from the residents would like they would like it to go.
Commissioner Slavik did indicate we could reach out to our local state representatives and senators to indicate our frustration since this is a state agency.
The contractor will clean up the project area and get two lanes of traffic open before the BBQ. Dakota County Deputy
Nothing to report. Just trying to minimize congestion with detours with all the road construction happening in the area.
Public Hearing on Adult Cannabis
Since Minnesota has legalized cannabis and they don't have the rules and regulations set, we are having a public hearing on placing a temporary moratorium on new uses and expansion of existing uses related to cannabis businesses.
Motion to approve Ordinance No. 23-03 Temporarily Prohibiting the Establishment of New uses or the Expansion of Existing Uses related to Cannabis Business was made by Friedrich, seconded by Jacob. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 5:0.
Because legislation gives us the right to regulate the use of cannabis in public places we feel this ordinance should be approved so it will be a petty misdemeanor to use cannabis within public property.
Motion to approve Ordinance No. 23-04 Amending the Randolph City Code by Enacting Randolph City Code Section 90.05, Prohibiting Cannabis Use within Public Property and Public Places was made by Jacob, seconded by Friedrich. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 5:0.
Resolution re Dakota County 911
Dakota County would like to add 3 more deputies to patrol the rural and small cities. They cover 350 square miles in the county. Marie attended the informational meeting in Farmington and they discussed how to pay for these deputies. It was noted that we are not paying our fair share to Dakota County. All the bigger cities pay for their own 911 calls but the County has been paying for the rural and smaller cities.
Dakota County proposed a 5 year plan for the rural and smaller cities to help pay for the cost of our 911 calls. The first year the county would pay 80% and the smaller cities and townships will pay 20%, second year 60/40; third year 40/60; fourth year 20/80 and the fifth year we would pay the full amount. The average cost in the rural area would be about a 6% levy to cover the 911 calls and that would be a big hit for a year so that is how this proposal came about. They wanted this to be effective January 1, 2024 but they need to have all cities resolutions approved and a joint powers agreement drafted and signed which would be difficult to get completed before the year of this year. Since more than half of the smaller cities and townships have already approved the Dakota 911 resolution, Commissioner Slavik is asking that they hire the 3 new deputies now. He also indicated that signing the resolution does not actually tie us into joining. What will tie us
in financially will be Joint Powers Agreement and that doesn't get written until the 911 board accepts this. They just want us to consider joining.
It was asked if a community does not join what happens to the cost. They do not anticipate the cost changing. If a community does not join, what will change will be the level of service they receive from Dakota County.
The cost will be about $23 a person after the fifth year, the 1st year is about $4.50/person and increasing each year which would be approximately $2,150 for the first year, $4,230 for the second year; $6,346 for third year; $8,461 for fourth year until $10,576 for the fifth year.
Dakota County is planning on inviting the board members to the 911 Center to give us a tour of the place so we understand how the center operates .
A motion to adopt Resolution 23-12 to join the Dakota911 Joint Powers Agreement was made by Carlock, seconded by Friedrich. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 5:0.
A motion to amend the Resolution 23-12 to add language that we are able to review the JPA, including our legal counsel, before signing the document, was made by Haro, seconded by Price. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 5:0.
Conversion of City Code with American Legal Publishing
The city code has been posted to the American Legal Publishing (ALP) website but the code is not searchable at this time. That cost is an additional $495.00 to convert it. There is also an updating service to send in updates which is Option A – to pay $6.50 per page in Word with redline/strikeout format or Option B - $19.00 per page if they need to review and incorporate the changes online.
Motion to approve the $495.00 to have ALP convert the city code and to go with Option A was made by Haro, seconded by Carlock. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 5:0.
Randolph School Permit
Mayor Jacob on behalf of the Randolph School asked for a permit for the new school house to be built on a lot on Cynthia Path next to last year's school house and also for a visitor's press box on the south side of the football field.
Our building inspector, Mark Ceminsky, reviewed the plans for the press box and made notes which will be 18 x 9 and 10 feet off the ground. He gave them a redline that shows the changes that they will have to follow. Otherwise the permit can be issued if we approve.
Motion to approve the press box permit was made by Friedrich, seconded by Haro. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 4:0. Mayor Jacob abstained from the vote.
The plans for the new house is on the end lot of Cynthia Path and the surveyor is working on a grading permit for the drainage flow. Mark does not have that yet to pass onto Bolton & Menk for their review. The plan does meet the building codes and he did do a redline on areas that he is questioning. It is a 3 car garage structure with a full basement. It is not a walkout. Mark does approve of the permit.
We need to pay attention to the grading for this property and notes that the swale needs to stay there.
Motion to approve the permit for the new school house which was approved by building inspector, Mark Ceminsky, made by Friedrich, seconded by Carlock. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 4:0, Mayor Jacob abstained from the vote.
Permit Fees
Building inspector, Mark Ceminsky, wanted to discuss our permit fees and asked that we have a grading application created so that residents know what they need to supply for the permit. We should have a separate application for a grading permit. Matt will assist with that.
He thought our basic permit fees for were $126.00. They are currently set at $75.00 or 1% of the value of the project. The lowest fee is $75.00. He asked that we make the demo, plumbing, mechanical, gas line and water heater permit fee changed to a flat fee of $126.00. He will do between 2 to 4 inspections for these permits. The $75.00 fee is not even covering his time. He wants it to be fair to residents. We will do this amendment at next month's meeting.
Also concerning the R Bar, he noted that he could not find anything in the ordinances that steel siding could not installed. He approved it because it is in the commercial district and that is allowed.
Council Member Reports
It was asked if anyone is interested in volunteering in helping serve food at the Chicken BBQ they should contact Jake Toledo and they would welcome our help. They serve from 3 – 8.
Mayor Jacob would like to switch to a roll call vote when we do our voting. She wants to make sure everyone is voting. The clerk would say "Councilmember __ yay or nay". It was noted by Carlock that we should do roll call for attendance as well. We will start this at next month's meeting.
Since the streets are not getting done around the school this year, 290th is in terrible shape and we need to discuss what needs to be done. Should we contact Bill's Blacktop
as he indicated that our best value would be to spend $5,000 to fill the holes. Can we just fix the potholes. There is so much traffic with the roads being closed. Matt already has a price to get the road milled. If they pack it after milling it, it is almost turns back into asphalt. Friedrich will gets some quotes and bring them to the next meeting. It was asked if we need to use northland for the grading and yes we should because of liability issues. Matt indicated that they will come back once a week and check on the roads.
We have the preliminary budget to work on next month. What time should we start our meeting next month. We will start at 6 pm.
Mayor Jacob moved to close the meeting at 9:10 pm to attend a closed meeting to consider an attorney-client privileged legal matter.
Closed Meeting
Mayor Jacob at 9:11 p.m. called to order a closed meeting pursuant to Minn. Stat. 13D.05 subd. 3(b) for attorney-client privileged communication to discuss the purchase of the Endres property.at 831-0060075010 for the sanitary sewer project.
Mayor Jacob moved to reopen the meeting at 9:27 p.m., seconded by Friedrich. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 5:0.
Adjournment
Motion to adjourn the meeting made by Friedrich seconded by Carlock, the meeting was adjourned at 9:28 p.m. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 5:0.