Public Notices August 18

Winthrop City Council Regular Minutes Tuesday, July 6th, 2021 A regular meeting of the Winthrop City Council was called to order by Mayor Kelly Pierson at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, July 6th PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE ROLL: Kelly Pierson, Julie Trebelhorn, Rob Edwards, Dale Malheim, Megan Schmidt, and Pete Machaiek. Members absent: None City Staff present: City Administrator Jenny Palmer, City Clerk Melissa Lorenz, Public Works Director Troy Martin. Audience: Mike Mattison (Winthrop News), Rick Almich OPEN PUBLIC FORUM No one spoke. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Machaiek added item e. under New Business—Trees, Palmer added item h. under Consent Agenda—CSAH Highway agreements. Motion Malheim, second Edwards. Passed voice vote. APPROVAL OF CONSENT AGENDA Schmidt noted a correction to the June Minutes. Mayor Pierson presided over the meeting, not Machaiek, also Edwards noted the date on the agenda packet should be Tuesday, July 6th, not Monday. Motion Malheim, second Edwards. Passed voice vote. NEW BUSINESS a. Introduce Rick Almich as Interim City Administrator (I)—Mr. Almich introduced himself to the council and audience. He is currently interim at the City of Gaylord, he has done a number of interim jobs for various cities in southern Minnesota over the last few years. He was the City Administrator in LeSueur for 26 years prior to his retirement. His term with Gaylord will overlap slightly with Winthrop, but he will make himself available to staff until he is done in Gaylord. b. Search Firm Hire (A)—Palmer provided three RFP’s for search firms in the council packet: South Central Service Cooperative $10,685; David Drown Associates $21,000; GovHR USA $24,000. Councilor Trebelhorn noted that she checked some of the references that David Drown provided and they all said they were very happy with the outcome, even though they were not always the cheapest proposal. Machaiek agreed with Trebelhorn. Edwards was conscious of the considerable price difference but wants to make sure we get the right candidate. Motion Edwards, second Trebelhorn to hire David Drown Associates for the City Administrator search using left over funds from the outgoing administrator salaries. Passed voice vote, Malheim against. c. Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) Energy Efficiency Report (A)— Included in the packet was a report from Minnesota Rural Water regarding energy efficiency of the proposed VFDs. Installing the drives will help alleviate the water hammer problem out in the Northeast section of town. The project will cost $26,534.60, with rebates totaling $3,200 and annual savings of $7,432. The project payback period is 3.14 years. Motion Edwards, second Machaiek to proceed with the project. Passed voice vote. d. 2021-150 Ordinance Regarding Wild Animals in City Limits (1st Reading) (A)— City Attorney Aaron Walton provided council with an ordinance to regulate animals within the city limits. Council agreed an ordinance was needed to regulate certain animals in town but would like to remove the dog language and replace it with referencing our current dog language in City Code before the second reading. Motion Edwards, second Machaiek. Passed voice vote. e. Trees (A)—Machaiek brought up a boulevard tree in front of 413 N. Main that he feels needs to be taken down. Martin said that Belek has looked and the tree and there are trees in town that need more immediate attention than that one. Martin also said that he has been having a difficult time getting Belek to come to town to do tree work so he has contacted Jason Sellner to do some work in town. Sellner has provided the city with his proper insurance information for coverage. REPORTS OF OFFICERS, BOARDS AND COMMITTEES a. ADMINISTRATOR/EDA REPORT—Palmer reported that the “vehicle noise” signs have been ordered from MNDOT, the park pavilion is in it’s final push for donations, ISG has donated $1,000 to the project. Curt Reetz with WWOTA was reluctant to sign the new agreement with the City after some comments in the Winthrop News after the last council meeting. Mayor Pierson, Councilor Trebelhorn, Martin and Palmer met with Curt and we have come to an understanding and he has signed the agreement. Both DFA and Heartland have paid their share of the Phase 2 report for the wastewater reuse project. Both have also agreed to the additional funds for the questions that were asked at the zoom meeting. The service territory agreement is progressing slowly. Three candidates were interviewed for FT Police officer, two are being brought back for second interviews. EDA—Palmer spend 20 hours on EDA related tasks. Met with Rick Almich to discuss ongoing projects, notified loan delinquencies to get payments caught up. Ellen Anderson will be taking over the payments for the Red Rooster loan, the Roger Erickson sign will be moved to the city park. e. ELECTRIC DEPARMENT REPORT—Machaiek updated the council on the MMPA Meeting. i. MMPA Public Summary—included j. RS FIBER REPORT—Councilor Trebelhorn updated the council on the quarterly Joint Powers board meeting that was held. Cities will still have to pay bond payments for 2022, the Co-op board reiterated the point that they are committed to paying the cities back after the bonds are done. They are hitting their targets for new customers and are still on schedule. Townships continue to overwhelmingly support the project and support financially when they can. k. CABLE COMMISSION—Included l. PARK COMMITTEE—Mayor Pierson asked that the park committee update be added to the reports. ADJOURNMENT Motion Schmidt, second Edwards to adjourn. Passed voice vote. Meeting adjourned at 7:54 pm. Melissa Lorenz, City Clerk/Treasurer 46c