Twenty-five minutes of the Becker City Council meeting Tuesday were spent debating a resolution lifting the mayor’s censure from last year.

 

Mayor Lefty Kleis brought forth a resolution at this week’s meeting in an attempt to lift the current censure put into effect in December of 2013. 

 

During the course of the Nov. 19, 2013 workshop, Mayor Kleis was found to be harassing a city employee (Troy Malo) and not following city policies and procedures. He was found to be in violation of his duties and responsibilities as a mayor and affected the rights and interests of the employee.

 

Kleis petitioned for the censure lifting, saying he has met all requirements associated with it including not having further contact with the affected employee. He was also removed from participation in serving the golf and personnel committees and disqualified from participating in evaluations or employment decisions specific to the affected employee.

 

Council Member Adam Oliver had issued a document that listed several “offenses” by Mayor Kleis during his tenure which Kleis publicly denied. Kleis told Oliver of the  number of allegations in the form, “99% of the accusations were lies”.

 

“I want the censureship dropped,” said the mayor.

 

Asking council to approve his resolution, Kleis passed the gavel to acting-mayor Tracy Bertram and requested a vote. He and Rick Hendrickson voted in favor of the resolution (Hendrickson voted “aye” because he said the censure was in reference to the workshop violation and not anything to do with the allegations brought up by Oliver).

 

Oliver voted “naye” to the resolution because he said, “personnel-related issues prevent him from lifting the censure.”

 

Bertram said, “In the last year, I wanted to see the mayor take ownership of the situation and make a change, but I saw none of that,” she said. Bertram also voted “naye”.

 

Brannan gave no explanation for her decision but she also voted “naye.”

 

Community Development Coordinator Amanda Othoudt gave a presentation outlining development within the city and township of Becker.

 

Othoudt highlighted the broadband initiative, business retention and expansion, EDA expenditures and revenues, website statistics and business investment. She also talked about new businesses coming to the area, recently completed projects as well as businesses looking to expand.

 

She stressed how excited she is to see the industrial park fill up and new jobs being created and pointed out that she and staff are working with BNSF to begin construction of a second rail line from Becker to Big Lake slated to begin in 2015. She finished by mentioning a new Area Guide is set to be published in January and will be available with updated information and community maps and handed out at the Becker Business Expo Jan. 24.

 

Treasurer Sarah Brunn asked council to consider approving a resolution in relation to statutory tort limits on the city’s liability insurance coverage.

 

Brunn said Minnesota statutes limit a city’s tort liability to a maximum per claim of $500,000 and $1.500,000 per occurrence. A city can waive these limits if they deem the benefit of waiving the limits goes to the injured party.

 

Brunn said in the past, the City of Becker has opted to not waive the tort limits and she recommended the city do the same for the renewal of the insurance coverage in 2015.

 

“It protects the city if and when the city ever gets sued,” she said.

 

Council voted in favor of not waiving the limits.

 

Brunn said the 2012A GO Improvement Bonds were used to finance improvements in Becker’s Industrial Park and were paid for with a combination of special assessments and the property tax levy. She said the public improvements came in under budget and grant funds were also awarded to help pay for the project.

 

Brunn said the unspent dollars from the capital project fund were transferred into the debt service fund and resulted in a significant fund balance of $530,000.

 

She went on to say a city can decrease debt service levies if adequate funds are available to meet payment obligations, so she suggested the city decrease the 2010A GO improvement bonds debt service levy by $38,522.

 

Brunn had presented council with summary information at the last meeting and Tuesday she was asking for the adoption of the final 2015 budget for the city’s water, domestic sewer, industrial sewer and golf enterprise funds.

 

For water, the budget is expected to come in at $541,000 in revenues with $585,850 in expenditures. For the domestic sewer fund, revenues are expected at $611,150 and expenditures at $955,740. For industrial sewer, revenues are expected at $1,076,000 and expenditures at $890,000.

 

The golf fund has revenues forecasted at $955,000 and expenditures at $1,188,810.

 

Brunn noted the proposed water and sewer budgets include a five percent increase to rates effective Jan. 1 and a $75,000 transfer from the general fund in for capital to fund the golf course.

 

Hendrickson, Brannan, Oliver and Bertram voted in favor of the budgets with Mayor Kleis opposing because of the golf budget transfer.

 

Brunn concluded her presentation by asking council to approve the 2105 general fund budget & levy.

 

Brunn said the overall budget was set at $10.5 million and the proposed levy at $5,928,759. The levy is an increase of 13.7% over last year.

 

The $10.5 million budget includes a budget of $1.1 million for administration, $1.69 million for streets, $1.46 million for parks and recreation, $1.31 million for public safety, $836,000 for police, $451,000 for fire, $27,000 for building inspections, $1.29 million for debt service, $2.43 million for water/wastewater and $1.18 million for Pebble Creek.

 

The EDA budget was set at $114,180, balanced by revenues and expenditures with a levy proposed at $113,280.

 

Brannan, Bertram and Oliver voted in favor of the budgets and levy for the city with Hendrickson and Kleis opposing. The EDA budget and levy was approved unanimously.

 

Planner Therese Haffner asked council to approve a resolution establishing a moratorium temporarily prohibiting solar energy systems as a principal use in the City of Becker.

 

Haffner said staff has received inquiries regarding the potential for constructing solar energy power production on properties within the city limits. She said surrounding communities have also received these inquiries including the City of Monticello.

 

Monticello recently passed the same type of moratorium for their city.

 

The purpose of the new ordinance would be to allow the city to consider and adopt changes to zoning ordinances regulating the potential use of land in all zoning districts for solar energy power production as a principal use.

 

Haffner said solar energy production creates little to no on-site value or local employment nor do they have a need for the city’s utilities such as water or sewer.

 

Council Member Brannan gave a teary farewell speech to the public and to staff and council for their support and contributions during her tenure as council member over the last several years.

 

Brannan lost in her re-election bid to Lori Keller in November.

 

The next Becker City Council meeting is Jan. 6 at 5 p.m. where members Hendrickson and Keller will be sworn-in for their terms.