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
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:
Motion to approve the agenda was made by Friedrich, seconded by Carlock. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 4:0
Public Comments:
Leon Endres addressed the council regarding the land that we are purchasing from Pat and Leon Endres Trust. He asked that we consider a fair market price for the property.
Prior Meeting Minutes
A motion to approve the August 9, 2023 regular council meeting minutes was made by Friedrich, seconded by Haro. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 4:0.
Treasurer's Report and Payment of Bills:
Sandy hasn’t been able to get online for the account with our CD’s at Castle Rock Bank yet but she noted the amount of interest that we received so far on them.
It was discussed about the McGrath Electric invoice regarding the work that needed to be done from the lightning strike/power surge. We need to discuss about installing a surge protector in the well house.
Mayor Jacob will discuss the invoice for the lawn mowing with Sam as he was gone a week and indicated he would not bill us for it and she wants to follow up on it to make sure we were not billed for that week. It was asked about him weed whipping around the fence since he wasn’t mowing due to the dry conditions and he did not agree to do that and his contract indicates he get’s paid whether he mows or not.
Motion to approve the payment of bills was made by Friedrich and seconded by Carlock. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 4:0.
Old Business
Change Orders
We will table the resolution regarding the amount to allow Bolton & Menk to approve change orders until next month.
New Business
Preliminary Budget for 2023
After review, Haro made a motion to approve Resolution No. 23-14 approving the 2024 preliminary levy at $173,959 and the debt levy at $4,279, seconded by Friedrich. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 4:0.
Conditional Use Permit Application – Randolph Township
Greta prepared a conditional use permit application that will be presented to the planning commission at the Randolph Township for the wastewater treatment facility.
Motion to approve the Application for the Conditional Use Permit with Randolph Township made by Mayor Jacob, seconded by Carlock. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 4:0.
Ordinance Amending Permit Fees
We noticed an error in our code in the fee schedule after it was approved and published so we need to amend the permit fee schedule for plumbing permits, mechanical permits and demolition permits. They should be $126 plus the state surcharge.
Motion to approve Ordinance No. 23-05 Amending the Randolph City Code Section 34.02, Permit Fees was made by Friedrich, seconded by Jacob. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 4:0.
New School House Front Yard
The new school house that is being built would have a very steep driveway and not much for a front yard so we need to cut out the cul-de-sac and make the road a dead end. The cul-de-sac at the end of Cynthia Path was never supposed to be there. It was a temporary cul-de-sac that was installed for construction turnaround, snowplowing and deliveries. There is concrete curbs on both side of the road. What we can do to remedy it is to take out the cul-de-sac on the North side so the property will gain back some frontage. The plan is to cut out the cul-de-sac and make it a dead end and run curb down to the end of the road and make a concrete swale, which is currently soil, so the water runs down.. We received a bid from Frandrup Masonry who has been doing the concrete work at the house. The homeowner owns the land and the cul-de-sac is on their land. The estimate was for $18,000 to do both sides but we will only be taking out the cul-de-sac on north side and leaving it as is on the south side It should cost less since we will not be doing all of the work noted in the estimate.
Matt noted that the temporary cul-de-sac is outside of the right of way but is within the easement. There is an easement of 10 feet.
Motion by Friedrich to fix the cul-de-sac and extend the curb on the north side by Frandrup Masonry, seconded by Carlock. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 4:0.
290th Street
How are we going to make this road better? We talked about doing the grinding but this is not a good option. Jason's idea is to do asphalt milling from Dickman to a little past Davisson until we can get through construction. We may have to do it again next year and this is the best and less expensive solution. This will come out of the street fund.
Motion to have Otte Excavating to repair 290th street with millings made by Friedrich, seconded by Carlock. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 4:0.
He will try to get it done by the end of the week.
Dakota County SWCD re Administration of MWCA
Brian Watson on behalf of Dakota County Soil and Water Conservation District indicated they received an application for wetland impacts that are going to occur with curb and gutter replacement with our road and sewer project. He also noticed that the City of Randolph has never adopted a resolution to adopt the rules under the Conservation Act. The first part of the resolution will adopt the MN Conservation Act so they can move the application forward. If we decide not to adopt the resolution then there would be a moratorium and the project will not occur at least on the wetland impact side of it and we would be in violation of state rules. The second part of the resolution is that we would delegate them to handle the administrative task associated with the state law. They do it for all the communities in Dakota County with the exception of Lakeville, Mendota Heights, Hastings, Apple Valley and Eagan. They have never pushed the small cities because we have never had any issues. This is the first time it has come up for Randolph. We would need to adopt the resolution so that the application can be processed and also to delegate the items listed on the resolution to the Soil and Water Conservation District. There is no cost to the townships or cities. However, the application that they received does not fit these bullets noted in the resolution. They received the application and noticed it and there is now a 30 day comment period. This application is for the storm drain system that will be installed on Dixie Avenue. This is work to be done for Dakota County and Matt Blazer indicated it is all good. Our legal counsel asked to see and review the Resolution. The SWCD will not make land use decisions for local government units. So they will return during our November meeting asking that we approve the application based on what comments they receive.
A motion to adopt Resolution 23-13 regarding Administration of the Minnesota Wetland Conservation Act was made by Haro, seconded by Friedrich. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 4:0.
Randolph/Hampton Fire District Joint Powers Agreement
We will table this until next month’s meeting so everyone has time to review the draft Bylaws that was prepared by counsel. A copy was given to the fire chief so they can also review it prior to our next meeting.
Rod Sauer – Concrete Pad
He explained that he would like to pour a cement pad on the south side of his garage to have his fish house sit on it rather than in his driveway. It was noted to him that there is a 10 foot setback in the area for water drainage. He doesn't need a permit for the cement pad but he was told that he needed approval from the city to put that cement pad in the area. It was noted that if the slab was in the area of that setback that it could possibly be needed to be removed for work to be done in the setback and it would be at his cost.
Motion by Friedrich to approve the cement slab and setback as long as he understands that there would ever need to have some excavation work done in the easement area that it could be required to be removed, seconded by Carlock. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 4:0.
Bolton & Menk Sewer Update
The MPCA permit has now been put online for public comment for the 60 day review which will end on November 12th. They are pushing the state to allow some work to be done for the County on the storm sewers which will start on Dixie and then a pond by the school. They will be grading the road and applying chloride. The plan is to have the road repaved before winter.
The contractor is going to start early in the Spring to get this road done before Lake Byllesby starting filling back up.
A motion for Bolton & Menk to have approval for up to $2500 to have the road graded and then apply chloride on the milled streets for dust control was made by Friedrich, seconded by Carlock. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 4:0.
A citizen asked that we receive more updates on the project.
It was also asked if we could pay someone to plow the road the way it is rather than pay to have the road paved. Would we save money not paving it then? Matt will discuss it with the county. He also indicated that since we own the property where the holding ponds are going, once those crops are harvested, the contractor will move the pipes that are currently on the roads to that property.
Council Member Reports
Marie discussed the roll call voting – we don't have to take any action. Korine suggested sticking to the regular votes for the basic, such as approval of minutes and bills.. Also any member can ask for a roll call vote and she suggested that whoever make the motion votes first, who seconds it, votes second and then followed by the others and the mayor always votes last. She just wanted to make this aware to us. The clerk would call the roll.
Mayor Jacob moved to close the meeting at 8:19 pm to attend a closed meeting to consider an attorney-client privileged legal matter.
Closed Meeting
Mayor Jacob at 8:24 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 ID 31-0060075010 for the sanitary sewer project.
Mayor Jacob moved to reopen the meeting at 8:50 p.m.
Mayor Jacob made a motion to offer $15,000 in damages to Leon Endres Trust and enter into the lease agreement as it was presented subject to a minor modification, seconded by Carlock. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 4:0.
Motion to approve the payment to our building inspector, Beaver Creek Companies in the amount of $8,665.00 was made by Mayor Jacob, seconded by Friedrich. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 4:0.
Adjournment
Motion to adjourn the meeting made by Jacob seconded by Haro, the meeting was adjourned at 8:52 p.m. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 4:0.