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:
Mayor Marie Jacob
Council Members Jacob Friedrich, Todd D Carlock, and Tony Price
Treasurer Sandy Nicolai and Clerk Mary Haro
Also, in attendance was Bolton & Menk engineer, Matt Blazer and legal counsel Greta Bjerkness of LeVander, Gillen & Miller.
Approval of Agenda:
Motion to approve the agenda 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 September 11, 2024, regular council meeting minutes was made by Friedrich, seconded by Jacob. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 5:0.
A motion to approve the September 18, 2024, special council meeting minutes was made by Friedrich, seconded by Price. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 5:0.
Treasurer's Report and Payment of Bills:
Water bills were sent out with a note regarding the water shut down on October 17th.
Motion to approve the payment of bills with the addition of the check to Northland in the amount of $1,177,957.07 was made by Friedrich and seconded by Carlock. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 5:0.
Old Business
Public Hearing regarding Vacation of Alley from Dickman to Danel
We opened the public hearing at 7:05 p.m.
A citizen asked what exactly are we planning to do – was it to vacate the south part of the alley. We are looking at vacating the alley between Dickman Avenue and Danel Avenue. Some of the homeowners have been maintaining the property. The property will revert back to the homeowner to the south, which is 33 feet. There will be a perpetual drainage and utility easement over, under and across the vacated property.
Motion was made by Friedrich to approve Resolution 2024-11 vacating a portion of the unopened right-of-way located with the City of Randolph, due to the fact that no citizen opposed vacating the alley and all homeowners adjoining the property were notified seconded by Carlock. Voting in favor, Friedrich, Carlock, Price, Jacob and Haro, none opposed, motion passed 5:0.
We closed the public hearing at 7:17 pm and resumed our regular council meeting.
New Business
Deputy
A Dakota County deputy was present and indicated that they are getting a lot of school bus stop arm violations throughout the county. It is a gross misdemeanor crime when there are children present. He indicated residents are able to complete extra patrol requests online such as for people who go south for the winter to have a deputy drive by and walk around to make sure nothing it out of place. Dakota 911, the County dispatch center is now able to receive non-emergency request for services online. Go to a link and fill out the form and it creates a dispatch call to deputies - which is https://dakota911.gov There have been no updates on the Nicole Mies Anderson case. There have been field training new deputies. It was noted to the deputy that vehicles have been going through stop signs and not stopping at all.
Liquor License
Nate and Ashley Icaza were present to request a liquor license for The R Bar for 2025. They have prepared the paper work and submitted it to the Sheriff's Office. They are waiting for the Certificate of Insurance and will forward that to us once they receive it from their insurance company.
Motion by Friedrich to approve the liquor license for R Bar for the period December 1, 2024 through November 30, 2025 pending the submission of all paperwork and approval from the Sheriff's office, seconded by Haro. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 5:0.
Progressive Rail – Dave Fellon
It was asked that in the future if Dave could forward more information before the meeting to the city clerk so we know what we are dealing with. He agreed he would.
Dave introduced us to OJ Rinehart and Greg Dumke of Northern Salt and Interstate Companies regarding a potential last use for the 29 acres they own. OJ Rinehart gave an overview of the company. They would like to make it into a trans loading pod. They would be bringing in agricultural products, construction materials aggregates, power and wind – wind blades and turbines. They would build a warehouse to store materials to be shipped out. They would hire approximately 30 – 50 people. It was indicated that there may be some outdoor storage for shorter periods of time as they are brought in by rail and then shipped out by trucks. OJ indicated that with the wind blades they would be a short term item as the project is supposed to be completed next year. They would come in around February/March and stored outdoor and then shipped out on trucks.
The blades are very heavy and because of weight restrictions would not be allowed on 83. It was also noted that there is going to be a round about on 86 and 56 in 2026. It was asked if the homeowner in the area was approached. They wanted to come to present this to the council first. It was asked if they were interested in purchasing her property. They indicated if she was interested they would like to have a conversation with her. This is not a 24 hour operation – they operate during normal business hours. There are currently no plans for weekend hours but there could be an occasional truck. Mayor Jacob indicated there were 2 different diagrams – one that brings the rail spurs right up to her yard and the other diagram had the rail spurs on the outside. She indicated she would have a hard time with them bringing with the rail spurs up to her property line while you have a design to shows it around the outside. We are not approving anything but you should keep your options open to keep this away from her property. They want to be good neighbors. It was noted that her approval would go a long way for us. They haven't spoken with her yet. They are hoping to do the grade the land before winter.
Greta noted that the grading would trigger a permit requirement. They are in the process of getting a permit and watershed approval through their general contractor. The permit has not yet been submitted,. They have been talking with Mark our building inspector. It was noted that we can enforce our setbacks. Matt from Bolton & Menk needs to see the plans for the grading permit.
It was asked if they plan to have any bulk tank transloading or any hazardous materials – to which they indicated not at this point. It would be dry materials and maybe if it would be liquid it would non-hazardous material such as calcium chloride. We do not have city water up to that area but they would need to bring it up to them at their expense.
It was asked what kind of assurance are they going to give the city to enforce that the truck drivers will not come through the city. Dave indicated it would be how you set up your partnership with the trucking company. It was noted that it is a public road and we can't stop them from coming through the city, we can ask them not to but we can't stop them. We can educate the drivers not to come through the city.
Greta noted that she was contacted previously re if this would be subject to subdivision statute but then told her to hold off but she wanted to make sure that they were not waiting on her for a determination. From the drawings it’s a lot combination. It is a conforming use. They are using both parcels together so they would not need to do a new plat.
It was asked what type of screen will be installed on the property. They don't want to be an eyesore. They may put up trees or what is required.
It was asked is they ever thought of running the road traffic straight out to Hwy 56 rather than coming down Dickman. They want it be easy for truck traffic so if that route would make more sense they are willing to look at it.
They are looking for guidance on excavating the land, which includes putting in a driveway. They are not putting in tracks or buildings. With excavation being down early it helps with controlling water runoff and put in ponds. This meeting was about introducing themselves to us and showing us their plans and what do we need from us. Matt needs to see a proposed grading plan and they need to do a site plan review. If they want this done before next month's meeting they can ask for a special meeting but Matt indicated it can take up to 3 weeks to review the plans. Mike Slavik also noted that it they need access to the county road, that the site plan has to go in front of the county planning commission otherwise they will not have access to get on County Road 83. Your first step is get the plans to Matt for review.
River Country Coop
John Duchscherer the general manager at River Country Cooperative. They have owned this plant in Randolph since the mid 90's. Some of the plant was built in the 1960's and it was added on in 1970's and it was recently added on the south end in 2012. They need to upgrade the facility. Currently to date they have an office, and shop, and they handle bulk fertilizer. They are looking to build an office on the west side and shop toward the center. They are planning to build next summer so they will start in the spring. They want to tear down the shop and office and rebuild that new. They are going to remove the tower and the loading will be done inside. They are looking to modernize the building. They will clean up the area and excavate the soil and work with the State of Minnesota with the cleanup. They are working with Tom Otte regarding the traffic and road. Trucks will be entering from the north.
They just came for an informational session and to update us on their plans. They asked if we needed anything from them. Matt indicated that he would like to see a grading review.
Appointment of Election Judges
Motion by Friedrich to approve the Election Judges of Colleen Taubman as head judge, Michelle Splichal, Sarah Murray, Mary Haro and one or two more yet to be determined for the General Election set for November 5th, seconded by Mayor Jacob. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 4:0. Haro abstained from the vote.
Fredrich made a motion to approve the appointment of the election judges seconded by Jacob. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 4:0. Clerk Haro abstained from the vote.
Randolph Trailblazers - Easement
Bob Romanowksi was present to ask for permission for the Randolph Trailblazers to have an easement for the snowmobile trail through the land that we purchased for the holding ponds. There has been a trail through this land in the past. It would be a 16 foot wide path on the south end of the property going straight east and west. Matt indicated he doesn't see a problem with this request.
Greta indicated that there are some issues that need to be worked out prior to approving. Greta indicated that she will work on the easement agreement and also we need to check if we need approval from the state because the land was purchased with bonding funds. Matt indicated they will donate their time for checking into this. We will table this until next month.
Sewer Inspection Fees
We will table this until next month as we want to gather some more information. We need to ask the inspector how much time he expects it will take him to do the inspections for the average home and how much he charges per hour. The plumbing fee is $126. Once this is finalized we will add it to our fee table.
Bolton & Menk Sewer Update
The entire sanitary sewer installation along County Road 88 from the east to the west is now complete and also the storm sewer along this road is also completed. Curbs on the west end have been poured and should be paved late next week or the following week. They are working on building the road on the east end. The last construction for this year will be the curb and paving on the east end. Most of the south streets have been started or will start in a few days. Douglas Street sewer is done and Divers Path to the east of the Historical Society has sanitary sewer installed. On Distad Path the sewer installation has been completed but some storm sewer needs to be completed. The south end of Dickman is starting as well as south of Dawson. The city water shut off will happen on October 17th at 9 am to 6 pm but hope to have it done sooner than 6 pm. They will be starting on Dawson to try to get past the school entrance and then go to 290th street and then stop. They will do 291st street after Dawson is done.
The retaining walls along 292nd street are going in. It was asked if mailboxes will be replaced. All the mailboxes were salvaged and reinstalled however if they got damaged they were replaced. All signs will go back to what and where they were – such as no parking and street signs. The flashing sign in the crosswalk will go up.
It was asked if a bucket of millings could be put down on the corner of Dickman and 290th as that is getting bad We need to try to maintain this road since it won't be done until next year. It was asked if we could make the roads wider in the intersections on 290th and Dawson, and 290th and Davisson. The intersections will be wider – they were 25 feet radius and they are going to be 35 foot radius.
Mike Slavik – Dakota County Update
Mike gave an overview of some items. They officially opened up the Byllesby Dam – there was an open house last week and they are just waiting for Xcel to power up which will happen in the next six months to a year. It will double the amount of electricity. It will take a decade to repay the amount that was used for this project and then once that is repaid they are discussing using the revenue from this to fund the parks and trails budget so that would take it off of taxpayers. The County Road 88 project was supposed to be closed at County Road 56 this July; however, the railroad did not sign off on the project until July 1st so they couldn't put it out for bids until they had the signature from the railroad. They wanted it out for bid in early May but it just recently went out. They are going to realign County Road 88 which will move it more north. They are moving utilities so existing County Road 88 will remain open until spring.
There were numerous discussions with city, county and engineering personnel regarding the extra traffic on County Roads 56 and 86 with all the school traffic and there being only one way to get in the city on Dickman. The sheriff has been monitoring it. One suggestion if it continued to be a problem was to have the school resource officer direct traffic as long as the school approved his time away and the sheriff designed a one deputy and two deputy plan on Dickman and 86 but it didn't need to happen. There was more than 100 hours of time put into this issue.
The Dakota County levy for 2025 he indicated will come to about a $35.00 increase in taxes per homeowner.
Mike noted that the county does not maintain city sidewalks. It is the responsibility of the homeowner to take care of them.
It was noted there is a collection for tires, mattresses and papers for shredding for the rural communities which will be held on Saturday, October 19th at the Rosemount facility.
It was asked if he could stop the signs in the crosswalks - The policy is those signs are for commercial and school zone districts and you don't want trucks going through the city above 35 mph so it is to slow traffic down. He said we will have to see how it goes with them before anything can be done. They will not continue to keep putting them up, if they are constantly being taken down. If in the future the signs are not needed, they would look into removing them or moving them to the side of the road. He has brought up this issue to county transportation staff. It was noted that farm equipment will not be able to go through the city which is not a good thing for this farming community.
Council Member Reports
Jake talked about a walking path inside the fence but not allow motorized vehicles through the gates is still in the discussion stage. If we do allow citizens in the fence we should put down some rock in the middle of the pond as dogs could run through there.
Mayor Jacob discussed that we had a pressure valve problem and the water tower overflowed. Bryce indicated that he did not get notification about this issue which was supposed to happen. He said the phone is not working so we will look into that. An electrician was notified immediately and fixed the problem. We do need to flush the hydrants but some roads could become a mess. We will wait until after the water shut down happens to flush them. We will post it on the bulletin board and on the website.
Good luck to everyone at the elections.
Adjournment
Motion to adjourn the meeting made by Friedrich, seconded by Price, the meeting was adjourned at 8:51 p.m. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 5:0.
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