Call to order:
Roll Call:
Present:
Mayor Robert Appelgren
Council Members Sarah Podritz, Jacob Friedrich, and Jacob Toledo
Treasurer Sandy Nicolai and Clerk Mary Haro
Public Comments:
Harlan asked if he could collect the excess materials of wires, pvc pipes, etc. left at the water tower and dispose of them. The Mayor told he could and will let him in the fence to retrieve the materials.
Prior Meeting Minutes
A motion to approve the September 9, 2020 council meeting minutes as written was made by Friedrich, seconded by Podritz. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 5:0
Treasurer's Report
We received approximately $9,150 in water bill payments. Sandy will be preparing the water bills next week to be sent out.
Mayor Appelgren asked Bryce if the water tower repairs have been completed so that we could pay Classic and Bryce indicated that they have not contacted him. He heard from the company that was to analyze the work and they went up to Classic to get payment and he hasn't heard anything further. So, payment will not be paid yet. KLM indicated that the part that hooks up to the phone will be paid for them because they upgraded it without our knowledge.
Motion to accept the treasurer's report as written was made by Podritz seconded by Toledo. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 5:0.
Approval to Pay Bills
We paid Bituminous for the potholes and we did a final benchmark for the Randolph Trailblazers as we noticed that it was not paid to them.
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Motion to approve the payment of bills for October as written was made by Podritz and seconded by Toledo. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 5:0.
Sandy received a check for the Fire Relief Association that should be deposited, and a check written to them. Appelgren made a motion to approve the $10,000 in and out to the fire department, seconded by Friendrich. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 4:0
Old Business
No old business.
New Business
Liquor License for Nate Icaza for R Bar
The paperwork for the R Bar liquor license has been prepared and submitted to the Sheriff's Office but because of COVID it is taking longer. We are waiting on the document from them. All of the insurance is set up. Ashley will send everything to Mary. They were hoping to purchase it by November 1st, but it will most likely be later. Clerk Haro told them she will submit the paperwork to the state when she receives it and be in contact with them.
Motion by Appelgren to approve the liquor license for R Bar for these two months of 2020 contingent on getting his paperwork back, seconded by Podritz. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 5:0.
It was asked if they purchased the lot next door. They have not yet but they are working on it. There is a purchase agreement on the lot until December 1st. It was noted to them that it zoned Residential and would need to be rezoned.
Appointment of Election Judges
Clerk Haro has a list of election judges that needs to be appointed prior to the general election set for November 3rd. Motion to appoint the Election Judges of Colleen Taubman as head judge, Michelle Splichal, Mary Haro and Lisa Price for the General Election set for November 3rd was made by Appelgren, seconded by Friedrich. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 4:0. Haro abstained from the vote.
Dakota County 2021-2025 Capital Improvement Program
A motion was made by Haro to approve Resolution No. 20-09 supporting the adoption of the Dakota County 2021-2025 Capital Improvement Program seconded by Friedrich. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 5:0.
Dan Wenstrom
Dan gave an update on what is happening at Hereford Hills. The excavation work was done three weeks ago. He talked with Mr. Kelley and he called and indicated he was happy. It has been seeded. A company out of Dundas is going to come and fix the fence and they should be able to fix it one day within the next few weeks. He did his best to put it back together so no one could get in the area. Some of the slopes are steep and no matter what we do kids are still going to drive through there and he will to try and figure out something to stop that. Apparently, some kids have built an area by Carl's land at the north side of the fence with hammocks, etc. There is some stuff going on there and wanted us to be aware of it.
Regarding the 4th Addition, his engineer sent Matt his proposal and Matt responded with some concerns which they will take a look at, so they are working on that. He heard we had an issue with the letter of credit. His bank thought the project was done and was asking why the money is still sitting there and he told them it is because it is. He talked with them the next day and they asked what happened and he told them to release it and he would finance it with someone else. He was going to find another bank which he was in the process of doing and the bank said if it is easier they will extend it out until the project will be done hopefully within the next three to six months. He apologized for the confusion.
Sarah expressed her concern regarding the letter we received from Eagle Bank regarding the letter of credit for DRW Holdings LLC. with Dan. She indicated that she had a problem with it because the letter indicated that he had called the bank and told them that it was released and it was clearly noted in the meeting that it was not released and she said although he had been asking for it to be released for six months, the list of items to be completed had been sitting there for almost a year because we talked about it in January. She noted that it was not okay for him to tell the bank to release the letter.
Sandy indicated that she has a bill that Dan is responsible for from Bolton & Menk and gave him a copy of the invoice to pay.
Miscellaneous
Mayor Appelgren discussed the Facebook page. When we started the page, we indicated there would be no political or for sale or garage sales postings. It's about city business and if it's not about city business it should not be put on there. Since our web page is up and running, he would like to see the Facebook page taken down or call it something else other than the City of Randolph. Sarah indicated when she took it over there were no rules posted on the page and when she took something down or censored some people, she received push back. She posted rules be kind and courteous, no bullying or hate speech. She turned off comments because people were not being nice. If we want to turn it into a different title, she is fine with that. Jake Friedrich said the city deserves to have active communication and ways to get things out to the community. Have it be a positive thing and it is valuable for the city to have. Post on there no political stuff, no garage sale items. Use it for city council meetings or items such a dog missing or lose. Todd Carlock mentioned that he started a Facebook for sale group called Randolph/Hampton For Sale so we could post that on the city Facebook page so people could join that group and post items for sale. He noted some items should not be on the page but limiting free speech is a very dangerous subject and also limiting comments by people regardless if they are tough on people should not be banned but under hate speech they should be but political is free speech and the national election does affect Randolph. If we change it to a community page, then someone from the community should run it but if it stays a city page then someone from the city should run it. No matter what we do someone will be upset about it. We will leave it as is right now.
We had a discussion with Bryce and asked him if he needs help. We have been receiving complaints about the water and if needs help then we need to offer him help. Bob has helped him out with flushing the hydrants. Anything we can do to help we are willing to offer it to him. We need to open up communication. One thing Bryce noted was that the water table is constantly moving so you're going to get different qualities of water. It was noted by a citizen that the hydrants should be flushed on a regular basis every year. We have been flushing they every spring and fall. This year we did not because the tower was down due to the project. Clerk Haro asked him to get her the monthly readings and to get his hours in. If you need help you need to ask.
We are slowing getting items changed out in the wellhouse. There is about half of the items that still need to be replaced. The chlorinator needs to be replaced which is about $2,800. We asked Bryce to get us a price for a new chlorinator and new fan control before our next meeting and bring it to us. Let's do the urgent items now. It was helpful to hear Bryce side and we thanked him for attending the meeting. We told him to stop in and see us once in a while during our meetings.
It was noted that we should try to install more meters. There are approximately 60 people left. Because of COVID that may be tricky but discussed to pick a day and go around to see if homeowners will allow them to be installed.
Sarah asked about the COVID money and will look into what we can spend the money on. Get a good printer and get a computer and router. We can update our technology. Give money to the fire department or we can turn it over to Dakota County. We received $35,000 but it has to be spent by November 15th. We will have a special meeting to discuss the COVID money on Thursday, October 22nd at 6:30 p.m. Also, we indicated hat we will not get paid for attending the special meeting.
It was asked if there was any update on the septic. The house was supposed to vote on it today. We are getting closer. What would be the cost of maintaining it? We would have to hire a person for this job. We have certain steps we must get through. We have three years from the date of the agreement that is signed with the state to complete the project. Its similar to a construction loan. If it turns into a huge amount of money that residents would have to pay, we can say no, or we could pull back on the project – we could just build the ponds. We can use it to what we can afford so the residents are not out. It is for sanitary sewer and things that are impacted by the construction. We will need to get a financial planner.
Jake noted a house on Danel Avenue that has tall weeds and car parts scattered around the yard that needs attending to. We will send them a letter.
It was noted there is a rooster in town, and they are not allowed in town. We will need to find it.
Friedrich asked if we contacted Northfield Wifi regarding that we are going to raise their price on their rental fees for the equipment on the water tower. Sandy indicated that she would get this done soon. Also did we check into switching to Midco; however, we would have to change our email address. We will change the router and see if it works and if it doesn't work then we will check into Midco. Also, it was asked if we could we get rid of the long-distance service to save money.
We received a $10,000 CDBG grant from Dakota County to assist us with the Water Supply Plan. Haro has a meeting with Robyn from Rural Water to move along the wellhead protection plan on Monday, October 26 at 10 am if anyone is interested.
It was noted that the Girl Scouts have asked to use the Hall once a month on a Friday evening for their meetings from 6 to 8 pm. They will need to clean up and sanitize after their meetings.
There is plans for Castle Rock to have an open house on October 30 from 4 – 7.
Adjournment
Motion to adjourn the meeting made by Podritz, seconded by Toledo, the meeting was adjourned at 8:02 p.m. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 5:0.