President Carlsrud called the meeting to order at 5:00 PM.
Members present: President Carlsrud, Commissioner Magnuson, Commissioner Bishop, Commissioner Erickson
Others City Administrator Crawford, City Attorney Martineck, Finance Director Richter, Administrative Assistant Johnson
Pledge of Allegiance
Arbor Day PRoclamation
Approval of Agenda
No changes.
Approval of Minutes
Commissioner Bishop moved to approve the minutes from April 19th Commission and the April 24, 2022-May 1, 2022 Daily Flood Meetings.
Commissioner Bishop moved to approve, 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 Application for Electrician, Plumber and/or Mechanical Contractor Renewal for:
Dakota Electric Construction Co., Inc.
Bentson Electric
On Demand Plumbing
Commissioner Gulmon moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Erickson. Motion passed unanimously.
Ordinance
City Attorney Martineck stated we have had inquiries from utility companies wanting to come in and do work in the right of way. There are some gaps in our ordinances where we could od better to protect the City when these companies are doing the work. City permit and application fee will continue to be required. One of the new changes is that a bond will be required of at least $25,000. Site plan will need to be required and need to be approved by either the operations superintendent or the city engineer. Contractors will need to be licensed and insured and after the project is complete there will be a period of time where the contractor is required to maintain the area where the work was performed.
Commissioner Bishop moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Magnuson. Motion passed unanimously.
New Business
Approve Monthly Bills for the City and Public Works in the Amount of $2,138,122.57.
Finance Director added that April is the month when we have our semi-annual debt service payments which is over $1 million
Commissioner Gulmon moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Magnuson. Motion passed unanimously.
Approve Application for Property Tax Exemption for Improvements to 230 Central Ave South.
Tina Current, Assessor in Training, reported the assessed value is currently at $661,300 and looking at putting at least $300,000 into it which meets the requirements.
Commissioner Gulmon moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Bishop. Motion passed unanimously.
Commissioner Gulmon acknowledged his conflict of interest due to being on the Capital Campaign Committee and will abstain from any comments or voting.
Mary Lee Nielson added that the Visitor’s Committee recommended a due pass and this would not start until after the Wellness Center is paid.
Commissioner Bishop moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Magnuson. Motion passed unanimously with Commissioner Gulmon abstaining.
Commissioner Magnuson moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Gulmon. Motion passed unanimously.
City Administrator’s Report
City Administrator Crawford provided an update on an average during a 24-hour period there are approximately 700,000 gallons of water that run through the master lift station. The other day they recorded about 2.5 million gallons in a 19-hour period which is why we were asking to conserve water. The USACOE will hold the current outflow from the dam. The current pool elevation is 1,267.06 and on the rise. The current discharge is 3,090. They will continue to monitor and reevaluate as needed with precipitation in the forecast. Floodwalls will come down at Viking Drive Bridge tomorrow but will remain at that location until they can get them to storage in an orderly fashion. The first walls up are the last to come down. Clay dikes take some time due to getting bids for removal, getting disposal sites approved, etc. We will move them to the side to open the streets up but the clay may sit on the side for a while. Flood buyouts are assessed value plus 10%. The flood emergency book is being updated as we go to make sure we are as prepared as possible in the future.
City Updates & Commission Reports
City Attorney Martineck reported the flood hotline is now closed so any calls can come to Public Works now. The Public Works doors are also open to the public again.
Commissioner Gulmon stated the finance committee did not meet due to the flood issues taking place. March revenues are outpacing our expenses, cash reserves are strong. June 14th voting takes place and absentee ballots are being mailed out and went on to explain the tax extensions on the ballot and what they are for and how they benefit the community.
Commissioner Erickson stated the Landfill will start being open on Saturdays from 8am-noon. Thanks to the city crews for the awesome job.
Commissioner Bishop thanked the VCFD for the work they did getting the flood walls up and walking the dikes and to the citizens who volunteered to come out. There are a lot of people that went out and did a lot of work that you didn’t see happening. Thank you to all of you that did that. You can be rest assured that we have a top-notch volunteer fire department.
Commissioner Magnuson added not only do we have a top-notch fire department but we have a top-notch everything! Everyone here is pretty new to floods except for a few but you can rest assured that all the departments went above and beyond. It went so smooth, public works crews were amazing. The PFP that was voted for and put up made a huge difference in the amount of people needed, sandbags needed, the materials, the volunteers needed. If you would have been here one day and saw these people working for you, it was amazing.
Chad Petersen reported that 6th St. construction has started. They anticipate doing the watermain tie in next week. Later this month we anticipate the work on 12th St. N and 8th Ave. to get started. There isn’t a firm date yet but will start with the turn lane improvements for Petro at 8th Ave. and Wintershow Rd. Main Street traffic signals are being followed up that everything is still working properly. They did notice that it seemed like north/south traffic it seemed like a long wait so they found in the programming the supplier set the delay so it would stay up longer so they reset that.
Larry Robinson gave kudos on the flood efforts, it was a tremendous effort. On behalf of VCSU, thank you to the Visitor’s Committee and to all of you.
President Carlsrud thanked everyone that was involved in the flood efforts. An entity that wasn’t mentioned was the Core, I have a whole new appreciation for those people. They are concerned about the water that comes here and all the downstream people. It’s a big effort to manage and balance all of that stuff and they did a great job for us so thank you to the Core and again to all of you that did anything to help with this flood fight, it went remarkably well.
City Administrator Crawford added that this was the 5th highest flood in the history of Valley City so it was significant.
Adjourn
Meeting was adjourned at 5:33 P.M.