Call to order: The regular Randolph City Council meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by Mayor Robert Appelgren.
Roll Call:
Present:
Mayor Robert Appelgren
Council Members Sarah Podritz, Jacob Friedrich, and Todd D Carlock
Treasurer Sandy Nicolai and Clerk Mary Haro
Public Comments:
None
Prior Meeting Minutes
A motion to approve the October 12, 2022 regular council meeting minutes and the October 26, 2022 special meeting was made by Friedrich, seconded by Podritz. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 5:0.
Treasurer's Report
We received a direct deposit for real estate taxes.
A motion to approve the Treasurer's Report was made by Carlock, seconded by Friedrich. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 5:0.
Approval to Pay Bills
It was asked what the Media Group invoice was for and it was noted that it was for publications with Cannon Falls Beacon for the election and public hearing.
Motion to approve the payment of bills as presented was made by Friedrich and seconded by Podritz. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 5:0.
Old Business
Eric Brochman, Garage Addition
He indicated he is looking at going forward with a variance. He indicated that he is going to talk to the neighbors before moving forward to make sure they are okay with it. He was told that there are specific reasons for granting a variance and it is not just because he wants one. Clerk Haro gave him the list of items that he has to meet. He is looking at applying for the variance in the Spring. He is looking at 10 feet off the property line, 10 feet off the road and about 7 feet off of the alley way. He has indicated he has been talking to the building inspector. Clerk Haro indicated that he will have to pay the $500 fee when he applies for the variance.
New Business
Election Results
For Mayor, Todd Carlock had 36; Paul Cassidy had 68 and Marie Jacob had 108 votes with 2 write in votes. For Councilmember, Sarah had 183 and there were 6 write in votes. For Clerk there were 39 write in votes with Mary Haro receiving 33 of the votes. So be it resolved, that the Randolph City Council acting as the canvassing board and having the returns of the Municipal General Election results held on November 8, 2022 hereby accepts the 2022 Municipal General Election Results as presented. Clerk Haro made a motion to pass Resolution No. 22-13 Canvassing the 2022 Municipal General Election Results, seconded by Robert Appelgren. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 5:0.
County Road 88 Project
Matt Blazer introduced the people attending the meeting from Dakota County, Joe Connelly, John Sass and John Howard. Dakota County was in attendance to discuss the plan and answer questions. Joe Connelly indicated when they were confronted regarding the sanitary sewer project they indicated it would be a good time to reconstruct County Road 88. Because of so many accesses on the county road that lead them down the path for a three lane road. He noted that there is not a lot of safety or crash history that lead to the three lane road. The plans show a center lane to turn left unto County Road 94 as well as a center lane to turn on Dickman Avenue (Cty Road 83) and at the existing school crossing to get to the athletic field they would like to enhance that crossing by adding a pedestrian refugee in the middle to improve pedestrian crossing. Three lanes downtown at the railroad would provide more safety to cars at the railroad. Plans for sidewalks down both sides of the road. The three lane has its advantages with the exception of the parking to allow dedicated left turns to get out of the thru lane of traffic and helps with rear end crashes. It was indicated to them that this design makes no sense for Randolph. They indicated they could do a two lane road so parking would be allowed on both sides of the road. It was noted that there is not enough traffic through town to warrant a three lane road through town. .It was noted this is a farming community so can the farmers get their equipment down the road with this new design and they indicated yes they can get through. The plans were for sidewalks down both side of the road.
They were happy with getting this feedback. The plans are not finalized yet and it was asked if they will include the city in the design.
PUBLIC HEARING
Clerk Haro made a motion to close the public council meeting at 7:30 to conduct a public hearing regarding the Randolph Wellhead Protection Plan, seconded by Appelgren. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 5:0.
Mayor Appelgren opened the public hearing at 7:31 pm.
Robyn Hoer of the Minnesota Rural Water Association attended the meeting to update us on the city's wellhead protection project. We have been working on updating the wellhead projection plan which is a plan to protect the source of the city's drinking water We are at the tail end of the plan and what the plan does is identify where the water is coming from and what kind of land uses are taking place in the water recharge area and reduce any risk of contamination. Identify ways the city can address the issues by having this plan in place it allows the city to access grant funding to help with the issues that are included in the plan. The hearing is to collect any public comments regarding the plan. They suggest getting a backup power generator. The council needs to approve the plan with any amended changes and send in to the health department for their approval. We will take a few weeks to look over the plan and submit any comments to Robyn. This is protect our drinking water. At the next council meeting we should make a motion to approve the plan.
Mayor Appelgren made a motion to close the public hearing at 7:44 p.m., seconded by Friedrich. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 5:0.
REOPEN PUBLIC MEETING
The regular city council meeting was reopened at 7:44 p.m..
County Road 88 Project Continued
They went over what we discussed. No one wants to lose any parking spaces, not sure about sidewalk, school zone – put in flashing lights, farm equipment concern and turn lanes into the parking lot at the athletic field.
They would like to plan another open house in December to discuss the updated plans.
Dakota County Commissioner Mike Slavik did note that the plans for County Road 88 were pushed up because of the city sewer project as it was not planned for several years so it is a little bit of a rush to make this happen. He did indicate that the road is functioning okay right now. There were other roads in Dakota County that there were planning to put the money towards but it doesn’t make sense to tear up a road after it was just done. Also he noted that the State of Minnesota sets the speed limits on county roads.
Mobile Water Meter
Clerk Haro passed around some pricing on water meters that she found on Ferguson site. We should discuss prices with our current water meter supplier. It was asked if we checked with another city as to how they do work their meter. We should continue to move forward with this issue.
Randolph Historical Society
Larry Lee was present to discuss the permit for the Randolph Historical Society. We indicated that he needs to meet set backs and with the plans for the county road we didn't know if these will change. He indicated there will be street parking only but we had indicated that maybe he would like to put handicap parking in between their building and the R Bar in the vacated alleyway. We told him to work with Mark our building inspector and if Mark gives the okay then we are fine with it. We did ask about the septic system and Larry noted that Dakota County will waive the septic with the understanding that they will hook up to the sanitary sewer system when it is available. They are working with Dakota County regarding the septic.
Sewer Update
Matt from Bolton & Menk held an open house prior to tonight's council meeting to take questions.
They are working on plans for about 60% and still on track for bidding in the January/February timeline. They are working with Korine regarding the testing of the land. He noted that they are currently trying to get right of entry to get the soil borings from the land owner.
He talked with People Source to ask them to come to a council meeting regarding the consultants for what they do and costs. Matt indicated he hopes they can attend a meeting in January or February.
Todd asked about sludge reports and is this a requirement. He will ask his environmental team about these issues.
It was asked about the stakes on properties and if they are the property lines and those stakes are for right of way acquisition purposes only.
Dakota County Commissioner Mike Slavik
He indicated that Dakota County next week sets their preliminary levy and the tax statements will go out. The average county residential property went up 17% in value. There are several positions open in engineering, law enforcement, and social workers. There will be work down in our area in 2023, our street project and the eastern part of county road 88, the following year the western part of county road 88 to 56.
He noted that there is money available for low to moderate income citizens to hook up to the sewer. They only received a few applications for this money. We didn't know that they should be signing up now and it was noted the information is on the Bolton & Menk's website. There is a timeline to use the money up which is by 2026. They are considering doing a direct mailing to the failed systems so they are aware of this program. It doesn't hurt to apply and find if it is available to citizens. The money needs to be identified by 2024 and used up by 2026. The requirements on the sewer project website.
He also noted that Empire Township is becoming the City of Empire. There is a Dakota County township association that is very active and they meet in the Spring and the Fall. We do get invitations to this and with Empire Township leaving the association they have been the driver of the association and they would still like to be part of it so they are considering changing the bylaws to Dakota County Township and Small City Association and have the small cities included in this association. The spring meeting is always around St. Patrick's Day from 8:30 until noon. There are a lot of Dakota County departments involved and give a lot of valuable information and there is a lot of interest to get the small cities involved. He encourages us to participate in this association.
Adjournment
Motion to adjourn the meeting made by Podritz, seconded by Friedrich, the meeting was adjourned at 8:45 p.m. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 5:0.