Six resolutions, one ordinance, one agreement, a code of conduct issue and public apologies were all part of Tuesday’s Becker City Council agenda.

 

Two members from the Becker community offered up apologies to council, city staff and the public for how they behaved at the last Executive Session workshop.

 

John Heurung announced he was in attendance during the Sept. 1 workshop and wanted to apologize for being “loud and obnoxious” at the meeting.

 

“I was very disappointed in one council member’s behavior to me and I got an apology afterwards,” Heurung said.

 

Christine Poe also stood at the podium Tuesday and apologized also for her conduct and said she “was troubled there was such a bias towards the golf advisory board.”

 

Adam Oliver was pinpointed by Mayor Lefty Kleis as violating the city’s code of conduct during the Sept. 1 regular meeting as well as the executive session workshop.

 

Kleis cited the city’s pledge of observing 12 rules of conduct and said Oliver violated the order’s #4, #10 and #1 rules. Kleis said Oliver interrupted others, was not courteous or respectful and set a poor example of an elected official by making an obscene gesture to a citizen of the audience.

 

Rule #4 in the pledge states that the mayor and council members must be courteous in their dealings and to not interrupt other council members. staff or citizens when they are speaking at council meetings.

 

Rule #10 cites the mayor and council setting an example for others to follow and Rule #1 says the mayor and council should treat each other, staff and the public with respect and dignity.

 

Mayor Kleis called for a censure of Oliver for his conduct and, of course, Oliver abstained from the vote. Member Rick Hendrickson motioned to call for the censure and since nobody seconded the motion, Mayor Kleis relinquished his gavel to acting mayor, Lori Keller and Kleis seconded Hendrickson’s motion.

 

Keller and Tracy Bertram voted, “naye” to the censure citing they had not seen the obscene gesture committed, so they felt they could not vote against Oliver in this matter. And since Keller was acting mayor at the time of the vote, the censure did not pass.

 

City Planner Therese Haffner asked council to approve a request for a preliminary plat for Fossum Fields Second Addition and the final plat and development agreement.

 

Fossum Fields is located at Opal and Olivia Streets SE. There will be nine lots ranging in size from 12,003 SF to 24,006 SF for future single family homes.

 

Haffner said a public hearing was held on the plat discussed back on Aug. 31 at which time no one from the public who might have concerns spoke on the matter. The proposed plat was reviewed by the city engineer and the planning commission.

 

After reviewal, the planning commission recommended approval based on the following conditions being met:

• All drainage systems must be constructed and operational prior to issuance of any building permit including — but not limited to — any swales, grading and erosion control. Also, an “as-built” grading survey for the entire plat must be submitted to the city for review and approved by the engineer;

 

• Prior to recording of the final plat, the park dedication fee must be submitted to the city in the amount of $17,940;

 

• Upon future development, Outlot A will be required to go through preliminary and final plat approval and is subject to development fees — including but not limited to — storm sewer trunk charges, water trunk charges, sanitary sewer trunk charges and park dedication. Access to Outlot A would need to be secured upon platting of that property.

 

Council approved.

 

Police Chief Brent Baloun brought forth an agreement to discuss for the mutual aid use of law enforcement personnel and equipment.

 

The mutual aid agreement provides for each jurisdiction to provide assistance as requested by any other jurisdiction and outlines the procedures, responsibilities and legal protections for law enforcement personnel that respond to any such request.

 

“It’s standard procedure for all law enforcement agencies,” said Baloun.

 

Tobacco Ordinance Update

Clerk Julie Blesi said federal and state laws have changed since the start of 2015 in regards to tobacco and Minnesota laws say that all liquid — regardless of nicotine content — sold for use in an electronic delivery device, must be in child resistant packaging.

 

In order for Becker to bring their ordinance into compliance, a subdivision to the ordinance regarding packaging needed to be added.

 

Blesi outlined the changes to the ordinance’s wording and asked council to approve the amendment to the ordinance and approve a summary ordinance for publication purposes.

 

2015 Calendar Amendment

Blesi said it was recently brought to her attention the school will be holding a referendum Nov. 3 of this year and since the vote will be held within city limits, the city cannot hold a meeting that night. 

 

Blesi presented a resolution to move the Nov. 3 meeting day to the next day, Nov. 4 to accommodate the referendum vote.

 

2016 Calendar Amendment

Blesi said at the last council meeting, member recommended bringing forth an amendment to Resolution 15-59 which sets the meeting dates for 2016. Notably, Blesi identified the March 1 meeting needing to be moved to March 2 due to a caucus night and the Aug. 2 meeting needing to be moved to Aug. 3 to accommodate the Night to Unite celebration.

 

Blesi discussed the city’s need to have their website redesigned and upgraded because the site has not been modified since it was created in the early 2000’s.

 

Blesi said staff had been looking into options to upgrade the website and they decided to go out and get quotes from two larger, reputable companies.

 

One of the companies was GovOffice and they provided a quote of $4,410 a year with the price locked-in for six years. After every three years, the city would be eligible for a website redesign if wanted.

 

Another company contacted was CivicPlus and they offered a complete redesign for a price of $4,375 annually — locked in for six years and after four years, the city could redesign the site if they so desired.

 

Blesi said she and staff suggested going with CivicPlus since they were more robust and had user-friendly features. CivicPlus is located in Kansas.

 

Member Rick Hendrickson said prior to Tuesday’s meeting, he had a ton of questions for CivicPlus and after talking with them, was generally satisfied with their answers. Member Oliver said he would only vote for going with CivicPlus if Hendrickson was 100% on board with what they can offer.

 

Oliver and Hendrickson both have extensive backgrounds in website configurations and capabilities.

 

After further discussion, Oliver suggested council table the resolution until more questions are answered and everyone feels 100% on board with the direction.

 

Attorney Scott Lepak asked council to consider approving the elimination of the mechanic position at Pebble Creek Golf Club.

 

Lepak said staff several years ago had begun discussion about restructuring the grounds division of the golf course. At that time, there were three full-time positions and staff had the intent to bring that number down to two people. The reason was to decrease the wage-related expenses for the operation, which was struggling financially.

 

Soon thereafter, the superintendent was relieved of his duties and the current assistant superintendent was promoted to superintendent and the mechanic position was retained.

In the last few years, the maintenance division began leasing equipment in an effort to turnover an aging fleet and to reduce operating expense. So, the need for a fulltime mechanic was deemed unnecessary.

 

Due to the changes in operations, Pebble Creek staff intend to recruit and train staff to perform the same duties the mechanic currently performs. Golf Director Troy Malo says the superintendent and seasonal assistant superintendent will be able to handle the mechanical duties on a day-to-day basis including shop repairs, file monitoring, record keeping, sharpening and changing of fluids.

 

Treasurer Sarah Brunn presented the latest budget summary information and the preliminary levy resolution for 2016. The preliminary levy is proposed at $6,139,180 — an increase from last year of 3.55%.

 

This results in a tax rate of approximately 36.4%.

 

Brunn gave a brief presentation of the levy and asked council to establish preliminary levies for the city, EDA and the Fire Hall Refunding Bonds, as well as set a public hearing date and time for final budget and levy approval in December.

 

Member Hendrickson said city staff and council will continue to work diligently to get that 3.55% levy increase lowered, if possible, before certifying to the county.

 

Mayor Kleis announced two safety awards — one for Cindy Kazeck for July and Sgt. Jason Lawson for August. 

 

Kazeck received her award for being cognizant of general facility housekeeping at the Becker Community Center as well as decreasing the potential  safety hazards such as slips, trips and falls at the center.

 

Lawson received his award for his continued practice of safety while at accident scenes, which includes wearing his safety vest for visibility while directing traffic. He was also noted for taking the time to educate and train other officers in proper safety techniques while searching vehicles, protecting them from potentially being poked by needles.

 

The next Becker City Council meeting is October 6 at 5 p.m.