May 4, 2009
SURREY CITY COUNCIL
REGULAR MEETING/PUBLIC HEARING
MONDAY, MAY 4, 2009
Mayor Steve Fennewald called the meeting to order at 7:06p.m. Present were Council Members Terry Johnson, Blaine Klein, Dana Larsen, Kevin Nelsen, Jarvis Sasse, and Laura Volk. Also present were Alan Estvold (when noted) and Jason Strand of Ackerman-Estvold, Chief of Police Brad Seideman, PWS Greg Lemer, and Auditor Elaine Christianson.
The Agenda was reviewed. Mechelle Holien – 4-H Car wash was added. Due to the number of people attending the meeting and the long agenda, Mayor Fennewald explained that no talking amongst the audience would be tolerated and persons wishing to address the Council would need to stand at the podium.
The Public Hearing was opened. Nathan Jung addressed Council regarding his Conditional Use Application to build a 4-plex rental unit on Lot 24 of Mahoney’s 4th Addition. Mayor Fennewald asked if anyone was at the meeting to speak in favor of the Conditional Use Application. No one stepped forward. Mayor Fennewald asked for a show of hands of those against the Conditional Use Application. Sixteen persons raised hands. Christianson explained North Dakota Century Code 40-47-05 regarding the protest requirements and that a protest petition with over 20% of the immediate neighbors had been filed with her. She also discussed the Planning and Zoning Committees recommendation to deny the application. Resident Chuck Schmidt stepped forward when Mayor Fennewald asked for someone to speak against the Conditional Use Application. Schmidt’s reasons against the 4-plex were related to increased traffic and a 4-plex not fitting into the area of single-family homes and twin homes, especially since this is the only proposed 4-plex unit in the area. No one else stepped forward for additional comments. Next on the Public Hearing, Christianson presented a plat plan of the proposed Myers 4th Addition, which included two lots, the zone change request from Agricultural to Residential on the two lots, and the Planning and Zoning Commission’s recommendation to approve the plat and zone change. Discussion held about additional lots being added to the Southwest part of Surrey before a second access is completed. Derek Undhjem spoke on behalf of Darcy Myers regarding the proposed subdivision. No further comments, motion to close the public hearing – Larsen/Nelsen. Roll call vote: Larsen-aye; Volk-aye; Nelsen-aye; Klein-aye; Johnson-aye; Sasse-aye; motion carried 6-0.
Mayor Fennewald read the consent agenda: Review and approve the April 6, 2009 regular meeting minutes and the April 28, 2009 tax equalization meeting minutes; Approve financial reports and payments of payroll in the amount of $14,239.19 and bills to be paid in the amount of $79,817.32; Approve the Mayor’s Employee Hours, Auditor, Public Works, Police, and Municipal Court reports. Motion to approve the consent agenda – Volk/Johnson. Roll call vote: Volk-aye; Larsen-aye; Johnson-aye; Nelsen-aye; Klein-aye; Sasse-aye; motion carried 6-0.
No business was discussed under Unfinished Business.
Under Monthly Business, Mayor Fennewald called for a motion regarding Nathan Jung’s Conditional Use Application. Motion to deny the Conditional Use Application – Sasse/Larsen. Larsen discussed the 4-plex being a great idea, but being proposed in a bad location. Roll call vote: Sasse-aye; Volk-aye; Larsen-aye; Johnson-aye; Nelsen-aye; Klein-aye; motion carried 6-0. Mayor Fennewald called for a motion regarding the proposed Myers 4th Addition plat and zone change. Motion to deny the proposed Myers 4th Addition plat and zone change – Sasse/Nelsen. Sasse discussed that Myers could resubmit the plat with only Lot 1 to be approved since Myers’ house is already built on that proposed lot however, no additional lots should be approved until a second access is available to Southwest Surrey. Roll call vote: Sasse-aye; Volk-aye; Larsen-aye; Johnson-aye; Nelsen-aye; Klein-aye; motion carried 6-0.
Mechelle Holien appeared before Council to request permission to hold the 4-H car wash at Surrey City Hall on June 6th from 10am to 1pm to coincide with the Surrey City-wide sales. Motion to approve request – Johnson/Volk. Roll call vote: Johnson-aye; Nelsen-aye; Klein-aye; Sasse-aye; Volk-aye; Larsen-aye; motion carried 6-0.
Pat Galvin, formerly of Sweeney Brothers, requested Council trade L90 Loader owned by Volvo for a L40 Loader owned by Sweeney Brothers so that the L90 Loader could be returned to Volvo. Additional discussion was held about other options. Motion for Sweeney Brothers to rebate back $1,000 for unused time on L90 Loader and the L90 Loader would be returned – Sasse/Larsen. Roll call vote: Sasse-aye; Volk-aye; Larsen-aye; Johnson-aye; Nelsen-aye; Klein-aye; motion carried 6-0.
Resident Robert Greene addressed the Council regarding the grackles that are nesting in the Church trees being a nuisance to him and his neighbors. Much discussion held regarding Federal Regulations on migratory birds, the City ordinance regarding discharging a firearm in the City, and liability issues. Motion to issue Robert Greene a permit to discharge a pellet gun in city limits as long as it does not conflict with any North Dakota Century Code – Klein/Volk. Roll call vote: Klein-aye; Sasse-aye; Volk-aye; Larsen-aye; Johnson-aye; Nelsen-aye; motion carried 6-0.
Alan Estvold entered the meeting.
Sasse discussed the amount of time the Mayor has to dedicate to his position, the current pay, and the need for an increase. Christianson discussed North Dakota Century Code regarding Mayor and Council pay. Mayor Fennewald thanked Sasse for the thought, but would not accept any change in pay now. Consensus of the Mayor and Council is to revisit the issue at budget time.
Christianson had received a few verbal requests for Council to create a Street Improvement District to pave 5th Street Southwest. Resident Aaron Thompson addressed the Council stating he was interested to have 5th Street Southwest paved. Resident Jerry Sabbe was asked his opinion and he would also like to see it paved. Motion to introduce and adopt Resolution 2009-03 Creating and Defining the Boundaries for Street Improvement District #27 – Larsen/Volk. Roll call vote: Larsen-aye; Volk-aye; Sasse-aye; Klein-aye; Nelsen-aye; Johnson-aye; motion carried 6-0. Motion to introduce and adopt Resolution 2009-04 Directing Preparation of Engineer’s Report and Cost Estimate for Street Improvement District #27 – Larsen/Klein. Roll call vote: Larsen-aye; Johnson-aye; Nelsen-aye; Klein-aye; Sasse-aye; Volk-aye; motion carried 6-0.
Next, under Monthly Business, discussion was held regarding drainage issues and culverts. Resident Rod Hjelden discussed the drainage problem coming from 4th Avenue Southwest. Potentially a valley gutter needs to be placed across 5th Street Southwest. Christianson will research if funds from District 21 can be utilized for a valley gutter. Resident Chuck Tollefson was on the agenda but unable to attend. Resident Derek Undhjem requested Council waive the water study requirement for Lot 1, Myers 3rd Addition to Surrey as he does not believe bringing in fill will cause an issue. Resident Wes Soper addressed the Council with his concerns regarding the need for a water study as if Undhjem backfills the new lot, it may affect Soper’s property. Larsen discussed the issues that the Ward County Water Board has been dealing with this spring all around the county. Mayor Fennewald asked Council if anyone would like to make a motion to waive the water study requirement. No motion made. Mr. Undhjem inquired exactly what he would need. Larsen instructed that a certified engineer would need to sign off that no impact up or down stream would occur with proposed fill added to Lot 1, Myers 3rd Addition. Under item iv – general/other, Resident Marvin Welsch addressed Council regarding the ditch on the northeast side of Pleasant Avenue North and the north railroad track. Much discussion held regarding Burlington Northern’s land, if a culvert still existed under Pleasant Avenue north of the north tracks, and the downstream issues from pumping the water from the ditch across Pleasant Avenue North. Additional discussion was held regarding the condition of 1st Street Northwest, the frost boil area, and the Montana-Dakota gas line that is under the center of that street. Council directed Lemer to try to pump down the ditch as much as possible while monitoring downstream. Further discussion held regarding opening up the ditch downstream and a concern of where the Enbridge pipeline lays. North Dakota One Call will be contacted to determine location of pipeline.
Under the Mayor’s Report, the Mayor for a Day Contest winners were announced. Awards were as follows: 3rd place – Stephanie Severson; 2nd place – Brynn Klein; 1st place Shaylee Miller. Mayor Fennewald discussed his concerns about the amount of clear water still entering the northeast lift station and water pooling in the back yards. Discussion was held about acquiring additional pumps to be used by residents. Christianson asked Council how they would like to prioritize pump use as all residents should be able to use the proposed pumps. Sasse made the following motion: move the City purchase two 2-inch pumps with suction and discharge hoses at an approximate price of $1,200; these pumps will be checked out for a 24-hour period from a waiting list with a $50 required deposit; if the pump is not returned in 24-hours, the deposit will not be refunded and at which time the city will retrieve the pump; the resident may be billed for repair costs up to and including the replacement of the pumps or hoses if damaged. Motion seconded by Johnson. Roll call vote: Sasse-aye; Volk-aye; Larsen-nay; Johnson-aye; Nelsen-nay; Klein-nay; motion tied. Mayor Fennewald voted aye to break the tie; motion carried 4-3.
Under the Auditor’s Report, Christianson requested payment be issued to Russ Gleave, Ron Burns, and the Surrey Fire Protection District for their help and use of the fire truck on the night of April 15, 2009. Discussion held regarding the fire protection district equipment, duties of a volunteer firefighter, and cost if the City would have had to find a contractor to come to Surrey at the time needed. Motion to allow payment of $100 to Russ Gleave and Ron Burns for their time and the Surrey Fire Protection District for use of their equipment – Volk/Larsen. Roll call vote: Volk-aye; Larsen-aye; Johnson-aye; Nelsen-nay; Klein-aye; Sasse-aye; motion carried 5-1.
Also under the Auditor’s Report, discussion was held on correspondence received from Midcontinent Communications. Christianson explained a new requirement from the Federal Trade Commission called the Red Flag Rule relating to privacy matters and presented a Red Flag Rule policy manual for the City of Surrey. Motion to approve the Red Flag Rule policy as presented – Johnson/Klein. Roll call vote: Johnson-aye; Nelsen-aye; Klein-aye; Sasse-aye; Volk-aye; Larsen-aye; motion carried 6-0. Finally, Christianson discussed she had been approved to attend a training seminar in March that ended up being postponed until May and was requesting permission again to attend the training in Bismarck May 20th and 21st. Motion to allow Christianson to attend training as presented – Larsen/Volk. Roll call vote: Larsen-aye; Volk-aye; Sasse-aye; Klein-aye; Nelsen-aye; Johnson-aye; motion carried 6-0.
Under the Engineer’s Report, Strand informed Council of the pavement settling in the street where the new sewer vault was installed for the northeast lift station. Post Construction has been contacted to have the settling repaired, as their year warranty has not expired. Strand discussed Resident Chad Atterton’s concern regarding the location of fire hydrants in the northeast part of Surrey. Christianson will visit with the Surrey Fire Protection District at their next meeting and report back to Council.
Under the Public Works’ Report, Lemer discussed the cost of a dial-out alarm for the northeast lift station. The cost for Sweeney Controls to install the dialer would be $1,350. SRT would install a phone line for free but there would be a monthly service fee for the phone line. Motion to have Sweeney Controls install the dialer and have SRT hook up the phone line and start monthly service – Larsen/Nelsen. Roll call vote: Larsen-aye; Johnson-aye; Nelsen-aye; Klein-aye; Sasse-aye; Volk-aye; motion carried 6-0. Lemer received an updated quote on switches for the lift stations and cistern totaling $10,343 to have them installed. Much discussion held regarding manual versus automatic transfer switches and the cost and number of generators needed. Lemer discussed the amount of septic dumping 4-U Septic is doing in the lagoon and his concerns regarding the lagoon. The current agreement is 4-U Septic provides a port-a-potty in the park for the summer in exchange for us allowing them to dump. Other septic companies would be charged $20/dump if they used our lagoon. Motion to inform 4-U Septic that it will cost $20/dump effective immediately and that the City will contract for its own port-a-potty directly – Sasse/Volk. Roll call vote: Sasse-aye; Volk-aye; Larsen-aye; Johnson-aye; Nelsen-aye; Klein-aye; motion carried 6-0. Lastly, Lemer discussed the frost boils that have appeared around the city on both paved and graveled streets. Motion to get bids from Bechtold Paving and Keller Paving to fix the three frost boils that appeared in the paved streets – Sasse/Klein. Roll call vote: Sasse-aye; Klein-aye; Nelsen-aye; Johnson-aye; Larsen-aye; Volk-aye; motion carried 6-0.
Under the Police Report, Seideman would publicly like to thank Precision Plus owners Derek Undhjem and Josh Myers, Superintendent Kevin Klassen, Principal Dave Gerding, and staff and students of the Surrey School that help with the flood issue just West of Surrey. Mayor Fennewald inquired about the status of the new police car. Seideman reported the new car was shipped May 1, 2009. It would take approximately two weeks to arrive at dealership. Seideman hopes to have the car in operation by May 15, 2009. Seideman would like to apply for a grant for a mobile data terminal (MDT), a new radio, and a used four-wheel drive to be purchase from state surplus. No matching funds would be required. Motion made to approve Seideman to apply for grant as requested – Johnson/Klein. Roll call vote: Johnson-aye; Larsen-aye; Volk-aye; Sasse-aye; Klein-aye; Nelsen-aye; motion carried 6-0.
Under Other Business, Klein inquired about crack sealing 2nd Street Northeast. Much discussion held that 2nd Street Northeast is in need of more then crack sealing. Consensus of Council is to have Bechtold Paving and Keller Paving evaluate the street, make a recommendation, and provide an estimate of that recommendation for the next meeting.
No other business, Mayor Fennewald adjourned at 10:28p.m.