Police Chief Brent Baloun explained the usefulness and necessity of the police reserve unit and stated that 1,061 hours were donated in 2013 by the reserve officers, equating to approximately $40,000 in savings to the department and the citizens of Becker.

 

Raygor began her service with the reserve unit in August of 2013 and in that short time has established herself as a young, energetic and committed leader among the reserves. She donated in excess of 150 hours this past year to qualify for the bronze award.

 

Raygor, a 2012 graduate of Becker High School, will soon be leaving the police reserves and the Becker area as she has received an appointment to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy to begin further training and service to her country and communities around the world.

 

Raygor was presented  a signed letter from the President of the United States, a certificate and a lapel pin signifying her achievement.

 

 

Jamie Cassidy and Joe Danielson  asked council to approve a resolution entering into an agreement with WSB Engineering to provide preliminary engineering estimates for a trail project along Co. Rd. 24 not to exceed $8,200.

 

The trail project would coincide with a bridge project the county plans to construct in the spring or summer. Cassidy said what the city needs is an estimate for a portion of the trail extending from the new bridge 1,000 feet to the west and 200 feet to the east to get the city out of the flood plain.

 

The trail is part of a future trail and sidewalk project the parks and rec committee has planned for the coming years.

 

 

Mayor Lefty Kleis opened a public hearing to hear any issues or disputes from residents or property owners on 22 properties that have not paid for sidewalk snow removal services this winter season.

 

Nobody from the public spoke at the hearing.

 

Clerk Julie Blesi asked council to approve her certifying the unpaid charges to the county  tax roll in the amount of $2,725 — which includes the $75 snow removal charge and a $50 certification fee per parcel.

 

 

Kelli Neu requested the city enter into a one-year contract with SafeAssure to provide citywide employee safety training.

 

SafeAssure is a safety training consultant based in Willmar who provides a full range of safety training, programming and online MSDS services. Their services would include all the necessary OSHA required safety training for all fulltime, part time and seasonal staff, additional individualized training identified by the city department heads, provide online training for all newly-hired staff on a continuous basis, create and update all the city’s safety programs, policies and manuals and provide online MSDS access for all the city’s facilities.

 

Neu pointed out that having a third party safety provider ensures the city is receiving the necessary OSHA required education — but more importantly — ensure the city’s valued employees are working safely in order to prevent injuries which are costly on a personal level as well asa financial perspective.

The contract and invoice is for the standard $5,450 — the same price as the 2013 contract.

 

 

Mike Abrahamson of Becker talked about how the golf course has impacted  his family in the 15 years they’ve called Becker home.

 

Abrahamson said when his family and he bought the house in Becker, he was not a golfer. He didn’t own any golf clubs and didn’t really see the benefit of the community having Pebble Creek.

 

But, over the last few years, Abrahamson and his son took up the game and he says his son is very passionate about the sport so they both try and hit the links as often as they can. Abrahamson says the time spent with this son in the outdoors doing an athletic activity is so much more rewarding than having his son sit around the house playing video games.

 

Ironically, Abrahamson works for Microsoft.

 

“Even if I wasn’t a golfer,” Abrahamson said. “I’ve grown to appreciate the golf course and what it means to this community and my family.”

 

Adam Maskowski discussed the recent article in the Citizen that talked about the various avenues the council is exploring in dealing with the golf course.

 

Maskowski asked why the golf course topics are reserved for workshops instead of council meetings where everyone could see and hear the proceedings via the television broadcast.

 

Council Member Adam Oliver said it’s because the council meetings are reserved for decision making efforts while workshops are for discussions.

 

Maskowski again said he is very bothered by the fact the city continues to operate a golf course while it continues to lose money. He also said he was disenchanted with the fact some council members were kept in the dark about the late lease payments and the outstanding utilities for the restaurant at Pebble Creek. Maskowski said he thought the restaurant should face penalties or have to pay interest on the money it owes to the city.

 

Dennis Carlson told council he came to Becker 15-16 years ago and at that time, the city council was discussing selling the golf course and was having problems with the then restaurant owner (Flagstix). Carlson said it’s important for council to know the people of Becker voted them into their seats with the hope they’d make the most prudent decisions for the welfare of the citizens.

 

Discussions continued on the situation with the golf course with Hendrickson presenting a timeline and framework for processes in deciding the future of Pebble Creek. In his framework, Hendrickson identified goals, assumptions, scenarios and public input, among other topics. His framework showed the process beginning March 18 and concluding with a decision by May 20.

 

Abrahamson said he didn’t like the idea of the framework having a “concrete” end date because he thought that would put too much pressure on council to make a decision when that deadline approached.

 

Shelly Mattson said she didn’t like the idea of public input being further down the timeline and suggested council get public input up front before pursuing scenarios that my or may not even be relevant.

 

Discussions continued and council finally agreed to have Hendrickson modify the framework document and change dates and have something more concrete to present at the next workshop, April 1.

 

 

Neu opened the workshop by talking about the possible move of Lakes Gas to property owned by the city in the Industrial Park.

 

Neu said Lakes Gas identified a couple parcels they’d be interested in relocating to, but Neu said she thought the idea “was not a good fit.”

 

First of all, Neu said, the 10-acre property identified has a value of $718,000+ and Lakes Gas proposed to buy the property for $10,000 while giving ownership of their current land to the city (valued at $230,000).

 

Neu said Lakes Gas is looking for property in Industrial Park so they can have access to the railroad lines.

 

Council agreed with Neu the property identified by Lakes Gas was not a good fit for the city and proposed Neu assist Lakes Gas in finding an alternative piece of property to move their business to.

 

Amanda Fiedler asked council if they’d be interested in supporting the idea of having the St. Paul Port Authority have Sherburne County administer the PACE program (Property Assessed Clean Energy Financing) for communities in the county.

 

Oliver objected to the idea and said he’d rather see the port authority work directly with Becker rather than through the county on such matters. Council Member Rick Hendrickson agreed with Oliver.

 

Tracy Bertram, Lynette Brannan and Mayor Lefty Kleis all asked that they get more information on the subject before showing their support or opposition.

 

Dave Pesola of the WWTF and Jim Miller of Foth Infrastructure talked to council about allowing Foth to provide a design for the HeadWorks project that includes a vertical screen, a grit chamber and flow diversion.

 

Total cost for the design-only project is estimated at $68,274.

 

Pesola said since LPI has put their effluent treatment facility into service a little over a year ago, that has reduced the organic loading to the city’s WWTF significantly, so much that LPI is considering not using the city’s WWTF anymore.

 

Pesola said  when he and his staff first heard of this possible direction by LPI, they began exploring the possibility of combining the industrial and domestic wastewater flows at the head of the WWTF and treating all flow as domestic wastewater.

 

With that, the WWTF staff would need to construct the flow diversion system, a grit removal system and a mechanical screen in the domestic well to capture and remove debris that is causing major problems with the pumps, floats and transducers.

 

Council suggested the city have Greg Pruszinske work with the city’s attorney to hash out a letter of intent to LPI before making any further decisions.

Pesola and Miller will then re-present the resolution at a future council meeting.

 

To close out the long evening, Oliver had an email he wrote recently get passed out to council and a few guests that addressed the fact the current city council members are lacking leadership in their current positions.

 

In the email, Oliver said, “For all the talk we do as a council about the golf course, LPI, Xcel Energy, etc., we rarely as a body show the courage of character required to lead.”

 

Oliver went on to say council tends to be reactive, relying on staff to go beyond the day-to-day and tactical “how-to” of running a city.

 

Oliver said he thinks many of the council do a good job at being “guardians of the purse”, but said leadership is not only about guardianship, it’s about goal setting and providing direction for the organization.

 

Oliver’s point was to make a resolution to force council to start showing leadership.

 

“I will refuse to accept — going forward — the conclusion of a substantiative conversation without clear direction given by the council to the staff,” his email read.

 

The next city council meeting is April 1 at 5 p.m.