After a 30-minute discussion Monday the Clearwater City Council voted to table a decision on changing driveway curbs within the Northeast Area Street and Utility Improvement project area.

 

Over the past two months, the council has been attempting to find a workable solution to appease property owners who have had issues with the slope of their driveways.

 

Some have complained about their cars scraping the bottom because of the angle of the pavement. Others are unhappy with the overall workmanship of the concrete paving.

 

A flyer was distributed to property owners asking if they wanted their driveways changed. But not everyone responded.

 

At the last council meeting in May, rather than risk having some property owners come back after the work was done and request a driveway change, members of the council voted to move ahead with changing all 106 driveways to the knock-down lower profile curbs.

 

At the time, they believed it would cost the city $20,000, with the remaining costs being picked up by the contractor and engineering firm.

 

But Monday, Engineer Kevin Bittner said the additional cost to the city would be about $140,000 to cut out and replace all the driveways. And the changes might not last as long as the existing concrete work.

 

“Long term, those 28 to 30-foot sections of curb that’s not continuously poured with the rest, how will that perform over the long term? I would say you would get some settlement there and shifting of those joints over time that will hold water,” he said. “It may not perform as well as the rest of the project and it will look a little bit different.”

 

Mayor Pete Edmonson asked how much of that cost would the engineering firm contribute.

 

Bittner said in discussions when it looked like about 50 driveways would be replaced, Bolton & Menk would have gone as high as $35,000. But he said he doesn’t believe the president of the firm would go any higher.

 

Council directed Administrator Kevin Kress to meet with Bittner to work out the final costs. Rather than wait until the July 5 meeting, council agreed to hold a special meeting in June to keep the project moving. The meeting date has not been set yet.

 

The council tabled a decision to move ahead with a utilities master plan for the annexation area for future expansion of utilities in the event development takes place outside current city limits.

 

Bolton & Menk, the city’s engineering firm, submitted a proposal to develop the plan at a cost of $22,500.

 

Members of the council wanted a more detailed breakdown of the costs involved in the pan. Bittner said he would have an itemized breakdown of hourly costs for the council meeting in July.

 

The council approved an amendment to the employee manual that gives the administrator the authority to disciplining an employee or fire department member.

 

Administrator Kevin Kress said certain situations may require staff to discipline an employee immediately. But the city currently has no immediate resolution if an issue occurs, other than to call for a special closed council meeting to approve a disciplinary action. 

 

“For example, if two people got into a fistfight that were both city employees, nobody has the authority to send them home and put them on disciplinary leave,” said Kress. “There needs to be some discretion if something like that comes across or someone shows up to a call and they’re not in the right mindset, the chief should be able to send them home or I should be able to send them home with the understanding that they broke the rules.”

 

Under the new rules, an employee still has the option to petition to the council, but the decision holds until that time.

 

The council appointed the following election judges for the 2016 primary and general elections: Donna Mae Heaton, Sara Crocker, Diane Stute, Diana Ahl, Heidi Eckerman, Connie Kroeplin, Julyann Granzow, Bonnie Barkosky, Cathy Scott, Betty Loehr and Trey Scott.

 

In other action the council:

• Approved a Temporary on-Sale Liquor License for Rejoice Lutheran Church for its Sept. 24 Fall Festival;

 

• Approved a request by Clearwater Heritage Days organization to waive the special event and sign permit fees, cover portable toilet costs and allow overnight camping for the Rendezvous Re-enactment group at Riverside Park Aug. 5-6;

 

• Approved the vacation of a public drainage easement that crosses five properties in Clearwater Estates;

 

• Approved the final payment of $1,860.58 to Mid Minnesota Hot Mix for completion of the Co. Rd. 75 trail extension project;

 

• Accepted a $100 donation from John and Judy Pazik to the Clearwater Fire Dept.;

 

• Approved the donation of a library sign valued at $600 from the Friends of the Clearwater Library.