President Carlsrud called the meeting to order at 5:00 PM.
Members present: President Carlsrud, Commissioner Bishop, Commissioner Erickson, and Commissioner Gulmon, Commissioner Magnuson via Zoom
Others City Administrator Crawford, City Attorney Martineck, Finance Director Richter, Administrative Assistant Johnson, Fire Chief Magnuson, Police Chief Hatcher
Pledge of Allegiance
Small Business saturday Proclamation
Recognition of Sherry Keys-2021 Outstanding Plant Operator Award
Approval of Agenda
Addition of N3-N6
Approval of Minutes
Commissioner Bishop moved to approve the minutes from the October 19th, 2021 meetings, seconded by Commissioner Magnuson. Motion passed unanimously.
Approval of Consent Agenda
Approve Monthly Reports from the Fire Chief, Electrical Superintendent, Building Inspector Finance Director and Municipal Judge.
Approve Raffle Permit for the Valley City USBC Assn.
Approve Raffle Permit for the Art Club Valley City High School.
Approve Raffle Permit for SHINE.
Approve Raffle Permit for VCSU Student Chapter of the Wildlife Society.
Commissioner Gulmon moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Bishop. Motion passed unanimously.
Ordinance
Approve First Reading of Ordinance 1090, an Ordinance to Amend and Reenact section 15-02-03 of the Valley City Municipal Code relating to new electric service installation.
City Attorney Martineck stated this is for the owners outside of city limits to pay their fair share for installation and for above ground installations over 200 feet the owner is responsible for in city limits.
Commissioner Bishop moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Erickson. Motion passed unanimously.
Resolution
Approve Resolution 2324, a Resolution to enroll In and Offer the NDPERS Defined Benefit Hybrid Retirement Plan to all Eligible Employees.
City Attorney Martineck stated this is the plan that will be offered to all employees. Resolution 2325 is the Safety Plan and 2326 is the Differed Compensation plan. It is our desire of the city to offer all three of these plans to eligible employees as an option and will be required to all future employees. It is no extra cost to the city and no current employee will be required to go on the plan.
Commissioner Gulmon moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Bishop. Motion passed unanimously.
Approve Resolution 2325, a Resolution to enroll in and Offer NDPERS Public Safety Retirement Plan to all eligible City Employees Classified as Peace Officers or Firefighters.
Commissioner Bishop moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Gulmon. Motion passed unanimously.
Approve, Resolution 2326, a Resolution to enroll in and Offer the NDPERS 457 Deferred Compensation Plan to all Eligible City Employees.
Commissioner Bishop moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Gulmon. Motion passed unanimously.
New Business
Approve Monthly Bills for the City and Public Works in the Amount of $1,780,769.92
Finance Director Richter reported we are at $1,780,770 which includes debt service at $137,419, Forestry & F&B Grants at $33,461, PFP CLOMR, $14,670, Fire Hall Addition at $85,186, West End Lift Station at $276,799, construction projects at $418,313 and MRES at $288,800. The remaining $526,122 is for our regular operations.
Commissioner Bishop moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Gulmon. Motion passed unanimously.
Approve for Signatures the 2021 Barnes County, ND Multi-Jurisdictional Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan once the Plan is approved by the ND Department of Emergency Services.
Commissioner Gulmon moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Erickson. Motion passed unanimously.
Approve Employer Participation Agreements for NDPERS Defined Benefit Retirement Plan, Public Safety Retirement Plan, and Deferred Compensation Plan.
City Attorney Martineck stated for each of the resolutions passed for NDPERS there’s an associated contract. Everything has been reviewed and appears to be in order. The plan is to have these effective January 1st.
Commissioner Bishop moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Erickson. Motion passed unanimously.
Appoint Authorized Agent for NDPERS retirement plans.
City Attorney Martineck proposed to add himself as the primary authorized agent and Brenda Klein, Avis Richter and Gwen Crawford be authorized agents as well.
Commissioner Gulmon moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Erickson. Motion passed unanimously.
Approve City payroll contribution to NDPERS.
City Attorney Martineck stated we are required to designate how much of a contribution that the city will make towards the retirement plan. The city is currently making a 10% contribution to the current plan and we are recommending 10% also be paid towards NDPERS.
Commissioner Gulmon moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Bishop. Motion passed unanimously.
Approve renaming Street Specialist, Sanitation Specialist, and Water/Sewer Specialist positions as Public Works Specialists, reclassifying Publics Works Specialist I as B-21, and creating A-13 Public Works Technician Position.
City Administrator Crawford stated there would no longer be a Sanitation or Street Specialist 1, they would actually be called the Public Works Specialist 1.
Commissioner Bishop moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Erickson. Motion passed unanimously.
City Administrator’s Report
City Administrator Crawford reported that we have been working with the different departments on budgets. We will be setting up individual meetings with the different portfolio holders to go over each of the budgets. We did get the final approval on the aprons for Loves but with the cold weather that will not be completed until spring.
City Updates & Commission Reports
City Attorney Martineck stated that he has done a preliminary review of the 2021 legislative changes and made a list of all the sections in the municipal code it affects. Big thanks to Angeline, she is helping put together a preliminary draft.
Finance Director Richter reported that November 1st was the deadline to send our annual installments for special assessment to certify them and send up to the county auditor so that has been completed.
Fire Chief Magnuson stated they put new doors on the fire department that were funded by some of the funds raised with their fundraisers.
Chad Petersen from KLJ stated over the course of the last year we have been trying to rectify what model to use and so we are through phase 3 of CLOMAR. We have approximately one year to complete the CLOMAR.
Commissioner Gulmon stated cash reserves are strong. As far as electrical we are lagging a little bit due to the warmer weather. Thanks to Carl and Gwen for all the work on the NDPERS program, it’s going to be a great benefit for our employees.
Commissioner Erickson congratulated Sherry. The Transfer Station will now be closed on Saturdays through May.
President Carlsrud thanked all our employees and congratulations to Sherry. In October your electric power was on 100% of the time! An extra shout out to our department heads and thanks for all you do and thank you to our commissioners for serving.
Adjourn
Meeting was adjourned at 5:37 P.M.