President Carlsrud called the meeting to order at 5:00 PM.

Members present: President Carlsrud, Commissioner Magnuson, Commissioner Bishop, Commissioner Erickson, and Commissioner Gulmon

Others City Administrator Crawford, City Attorney Martineck, Finance Director Richter, Administrative Assistant Johnson, Fire Chief Magnuson, Lieutenant Rustebakke.

Pledge of Allegiance

Approval of Agenda

No Changes.

Approval of Minutes

Commissioner Bishop moved to approve the minutes from the September 21^st, 2021 meeting, seconded by Commissioner Erickson.  Motion passed unanimously.

Approval of Consent Agenda

Approve Monthly Reports from the Fire Chief, Electrical Superintendent, Building Inspector Finance Director and Municipal Judge.

Approve Block off Street Request for Connect Church on Central Ave S from 3^rd St s to 4^th St S and then 3^rd St SW to 2^nd Ave SW on October 31st, 2021 for the Trunk or Treat event.

Approve Raffle Permit for St. Catherine’s Elementary School for Drawing on November 5^th, 2021.

Commissioner Gulmon moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Bishop.  Motion passed unanimously.

PUBLIC HEARING

Public Hearing for Issuance of New Class E Alcoholic Beverage Licenses to TBD Inc.  

President Carlsrud declared the public hearing open.

Commissioner Magnuson moved to close hearing, seconded by Commissioner Gulmon.  Motion passed unanimously.

Commissioner Bishop moved to approve issuance of new class E Alcoholic Beverage License to TBD Inc., seconded by Commissioner Magnuson.  Motion passed unanimously.

Public Hearing for the Replat Request of Lots 10-12 of Andrus and Sifton’s Addition. 

President Carlsrud declared the public hearing open.

Commissioner Gulmon moved to close hearing, seconded by Commissioner Bishop.  Motion passed unanimously.

            Commissioner Magnuson moved to approve resolution 2314, a resolution approving the replat     request of lots 10-12 of           Andrus & Sifton’s Addition, seconded by Commissioner Gulmon.           Motion passed unanimously. 

            Open Public Hearing regarding Special Assessments for 5^th Avenue NW Reconstruction       which includes Paving Improvement District No. 118, Storm Sewer Improvement District No. 53, Sanitary Sewer Improvement District No. 65, and Water Main Improvement            District No. 101.

            Deputy Auditor Klein stated the Special Assessment Commission met last Wednesday for the 5^th Ave projects.  The commission approved the assessments as is but had two recommendations.  The first recommendation being the city keep working on the landscaping and grass areas where        needed on boulevards and also that the city pick up the cost of the sealcoat.

President Carlsrud declare the public hearing open.

City Administrator Crawford requested the term the seal coat will be completed in be added and recommended 2 years.  6^th Street will be completed next year which is why we don’t want to do it then, they will intersect each other.

Commissioner Gulmon moved to close the hearing, seconded by Commissioner Magnuson.  Motion passed unanimously.

             Commissioner Magnuson moved to approve the special assessments as recommended by the        Special Assessment Commission with boulevard improvements and the city to pay for the           seal coat in 2023, seconded by Commissioner Gulmon.  Motion passed unanimously.

Ordinance

Approve second and final reading of Ordinance No. 1089, an Ordinance Adopting 2022 City Budget.

Finance Director Richter stated there has not been any changes since the first reading and we have not received any input, comments or letters so I recommend it pass as stated.

Commissioner Bishop moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Gulmon.  Motion passed unanimously.

      Approve Second and Final Reading of Ordinance 1088, an Ordinance Approving Text         Amendments to Titles 11 and 16 of the Valley City Municipal Code. 

City Attorney Martineck stated after the first reading we tabled the second reading of this ordinance for the opportunity to receive comments and evaluate some of the language.  There are some changes that took place indicated in blue.  This has been reviewed by the Planning and Zoning Commission as well.  City staff recommends approval.

Commissioner Bishop moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Magnuson.  Motion passed unanimously.

Resolution

Approve Resolution No. 2316, a Resolution Approving Final Plans & Specifications for Master Lift Station Upgrades and Authorizing Engineer to Advertise for Bids.

Chad Petersen from KLJ stated this was bid earlier this year and the bids came in high.  We’re rebidding the same project with a better timeline and more lead time for materials to start construction early spring next year.  We will bid late October for construction next year.

Commissioner Gulmon moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Magnuson.  Motion passed unanimously.

Approve Resolution No. 2317, a Resolution Approving Final Plans & Specifications for Main Street Storm Sewer Outlet (Elks) and Authorizing Engineering to Advertise for Bids.

Chad from KLJ stated this is to bid the gravity discharge by the Elks building.  Bidding will take place at the end of the month for construction in 2022.

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 $2,383,908.22

Finance Director Richterreported we are at $2,383,808.22 with MRES at $459,000, purchase of Valley Implements at $470,000, BND debt $348,400, Bluescope for the Fire Hall addition invoice of $78,000, Infrastructure and construction was $372,000 the other two sirens were $21,500.  Payroll was high at $428,000 due to paying the annual fire department payment.

Commissioner Gulmon moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Magnuson.  Motion passed unanimously.

Approve Application for Property Tax Exemption for Improvements to 231 2^nd Ave NE.           

City Assessor Hansen stated this is for a 5 year exemption for a commercial property and she recommends a do pass.

Commissioner Magnuson moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Gulmon.  Motion passed unanimously.

City Administrator’s Report

City Administrator Crawford reported that Sandy can only do her job when she knows about projects so if there is anything you know going on out there let her know.  Aprons are being considered for Loves to help with turning and the cross traffic. 

City Updates & Commission Reports

Fire Chief Magnuson reported that this week is National Fire Prevention week so events will be taking place for that.  October 12-13 is the Battle of the Badges blood drive, please donate.  The new rural truck arrived. 

Chad from KLJ provided a construction update.  The milling was completed on Streetscape Phase II by Thursday it should be open.  Signage should happen Monday or Tuesday.  The streetlights and signals should be going up next week as well.  7^th Ave and 4^th St. paving starts tomorrow, most of the concrete work should be complete.  Paving should be wrapped up the end of this week and the seeding and landscaping should take place next week. 

Commissioner Gulmon reported that the finance committee met last week and discussed finances through August of this year.  We also reviewed the sales tax report which was positive, it’s up 41% through July of 2021 which is about $467,000.  That impacts property tax relief, development and R&R funds.  Food and beverage tax is up about 37% and occupancy tax about 21%.  We reviewed the 2021 budget, general funds and public works and things are running pretty much as planned for this year.  Garbage is running at a deficit so there may need to be some adjustments in the future.  Reserves in both the general funds and reserves are strong.  Valley City will receive $992,000 for the American Rescue Plan and that will be used for underground.

Commissioner Bishop thanked the fire department and the unseen work they do for our community and also to the police department and the work they do that we don’t know about.  If you see them shake their hand.

President Carlsrud requested people to respect the piles at the leaf drop site.  Do not drop in the middle of the driveway, try to get it as close to the piles as you can.  We have openings for employee, please check the website. Thank you to everybody.  

Adjourn

Meeting was adjourned at 5:36 P.M.

President Carlsrud called the meeting to order at 5:00 PM.

Members present: President Carlsrud, Commissioner Magnuson, Commissioner Bishop,

Others City Administrator Crawford, City Attorney Martineck via Zoom, Finance Director Richter, Administrative Assistant Johnson, Fire Chief Magnuson, Police Chief Hatcher.

Pledge of Allegiance

Oath of Office for Police Officer Joshua Reign

President Carlsrud recognized Deputy Auditor Klein for successfully completing her certified city auditor course.

Approval of Agenda

No Changes.

Approval of Minutes

Commissioner Bishop moved to approve the minutes from the September 7^th and September 13^th meetings, seconded by Commissioner Magnuson.  Motion passed unanimously.

Approval of Consent Agenda

Approve Raffle Permit for District 24 Republicans for Drawing on December 18^th, 2021.

Approve Parade Application for VCHS Homecoming Parade on September 24^th, 2021 on Central Ave.

Commissioner Magnuson moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Bishop.  Motion passed unanimously.

Josh Johnson from VCPS requested to make a public comment.  He stated back in August there was a conversation regarding school facilities.  Through the covid funds the last couple of years the school has received dollars that up to this point have been unobligated.  Conversation took place around updating the current school structures, building new and consolidating of several schools and offices.  On September 24^th meetings will be announced in the month of October that will invite the community for discussion regarding these topics.

Resolution

Approve Resolution 2313, a Resolution Approving the Replat Request of Lots 2-4, 11-16, and 19-21, Block 1 of Prairie View Addition.

City Attorney Martineck stated at the last PZ meeting the commission heard an application to subdivide existing lots in the Prairie View Subdivision for residential purposes.  There were several community members that attend and once they heard what the plan was to move forward they didn’t seem to have any objections.  That was approved by the zoning commission and city staff is also recommending approval to include the conditions listed in the resolution.

Commissioner Bishop moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Magnuson.  Motion passed unanimously.

Approve Resolution 2315, a Resolution Approving the Replat and Variance Request of Lot 1 Block 2 NP West 5^th Addition and Lots 1-2 and Outlot A, Block 1 NP West 6^th Addition. 

City Attorney Martineck stated this was also presented in the last PZ meeting.  The PZ commission and city staff recommend approval.  There are still some conditions that need to be worked out with the sale that Gwen has been working on.  With that we recommend approval with the conditions that are being listed.

Commissioner Magnuson moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Bishop.

City Administrator Crawford added that Mr. Zubrod is aware of the easement behind his property that Bobby Koepplin is working on.  What we were not aware of is that Bobby had talked about a parking lot down by the area where the shared entrance would be.  Dave is not okay with that.

City Attorney Martineck stated that with the last conversation he had with them his understanding is that he wants the parking to be on the frontage road south of Main Street just south of where the approach would be.  Not sure if that would be an actual parking lot or street parking with signage to the trail.

City Administrator Crawford stated we would have to work with the DOT on the right of way but that part’s different but this resolution is good as is.

Motion passed unanimously.

City Administrator’s Report

City Administrator Crawford stated on the 7^th Ave project they will be getting all the concrete prepped this week and poured next week.  The paving will be the following week.  The paving was pushed back just because Border States wasn’t able to get here.  The temps. still look good and the completion date isn’t until Oct 16^th so they’ll be ahead of that game.

Mike Strom updated that the Streetscape has most of the concrete done on Main Street.  They should be finishing up on the concrete mid next week.  The signals should be all upright mid next week and that way they can order for the company to come up to set the timing.  The mill and overlay is floating in between the 7^th Ave project and the other project.  They’re trying to move that up if they can to the end of September otherwise it could go until the second week of October.  This also has a substantial completion date of October 16^th and they should be on track for that.

City Administrator Crawford stated on the 5^th Ave project there are some seeding issues.  We got them out there today to spray to kill the weeds.  It is our understanding that you have to have that done for 10 days before any seeding is done to make sure the weed killer won’t kill the seed.  We will get a letter out to let that area know what is going on.   

City Updates & Commission Reports

City Attorney Martineck stated there were some interviews with internal candidates for the Assessor in Training position and then formally offered the position to Tina Current.  There is an 18 month plan in place for her with Sandy retiring sometime next fall.  We now have an opening for the Admin I position in Public Works.

Finance Director Richter stated last spring the loan for the fire hall addition was discussed.  An update on the loan through the Bank of ND, we are well on our way of being approved for that loan. 

Fire Chief Magnuson reported that they are making progress on the addition.  Fire Prevention week takes place Oct. 3rd-9th.  The battle of badges blood drive is scheduled for October 12^th-13^th at Stoudt Ross Ford.

Police Chief Hatcher added that anyone can sign up online or call one of the Chiefs to get you signed up.  We are looking for new donors to help expand our pool.

President Carlsrud stated covid numbers are a little higher than they were last year but we have better ways to mitigate and battle covid at this time, get vaccinated.  If you have questions about the vaccination talk to your healthcare provide.  They will be more reliable than Facebook.  To all our employees a thank you. 

Adjourn

Meeting was adjourned at 5:25 P.M.

President Carlsrud called the meeting to order at 5:00 PM.

Members present: President Carlsrud, Commissioner Bishop, Commissioner Magnuson, Commissioner Erickson,

Pledge of Allegiance (Please Stand)

New Business

N2.  Consider Raffle Permit for the Valley City Lions Club on September 14^th, 2021.

Commissioner Bishop moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Magnuson.  Motion passed unanimously.

N1.  Discuss Valley City Municipal Code Section 15-01-12.1 regarding Assessment of Unpaid Utility Charges.

President Carlsrud asked the public for comments.

Dick Lorenz stated he has some rental property and doesn’t object to it going on the taxes but feels the rental owners should get some sort of notice ahead of time.  If the tenants are 30 days late there should be notice.  It would also be nice to get notice when tenants disconnect.

City Administrator Crawford stated we do give notice about 45 days to both the landlord and tenant.

Dick requested notice sooner.

City Administrator Crawford explained our current deposit policy for new accounts.  Also added that we trying to work things out.  Before the landlords weren’t able to call in and check on a tenant’s bill.  We are thinking of having the tenants sign something that makes the landlords able to check the status of the account. 

Mike Payson questioned if anyone has thought about how this affects affordable housing?  Some of the landlords may look at raising rent as a way to help cover the utility bills.  The other concern is energy assistance.  If the landlords are paying the utilities the tenants lose the ability to receive energy assistance.

City Administrator Crawford stated there may be some landlords that choose to do it that way but many won’t because they can’t control how much someone uses the utilities.  For the energy assistance, yes, they have to have the utility in their name to receive the assistance.

Mike Payson added he did not feel the utility bills should not be placed on the landlords, that it should be put back on the city or government.

Dean Ross stated he doesn’t think it’s the landlord’s responsibility.  He bases his rent including the utilities because it’s all electric heat so in the winter it’s substantial.  What happened to making them responsible for paying for their utilities?  Isn’t that why there is a deposit?  What if you get a tenant that is upset with the landlord, will they purposely not pay their utility bill just so the landlord gets stuck with it?

City Administrator Crawford stated the city will still do what they can to get the bill paid.  There is approximately $15,000 per year not getting paid.  A lot has to do with once they are gone there is no way to get to them.  

Commissioner Magnuson added that we are having this meeting to hear from the landlords because we didn’t do that prior to creating the ordinance.  Magnuson questioned if Dean thought the unpaid bills should be put onto the rest of the people’s bills that are paying them because that’s where they’re going now?

President Carlsrud added that we did have 3 public meetings regarding this topic that were published in various places and no one showed up.  It gets to be a cost if we send letters every time for people to show up.  We are here today to listen to ideas because it’s not fair to the people of our community to have $15,000 to go on the tax roll.

Mike Payson added that this could be tough for young investors.  If it’s an average of $15,000/year maybe they city could think about adding that into the budget?

Commissioner Magnuson requested a fair solution.  Dean mentioned that $15,000 is pennies to the city but then someone else will come back and say we just spent $500 on garbage cans and that’s a great deal of money.  So $15,000 we’ll just write off goes to everyone that’s paying utility bills.  Are you okay with covering somebody that’s not paying their bills?  Do you make the deposit $1,000?  Chances are if they are renting they can’t afford that.  Now you’re running the small investor out of business because they can’t rent to them because they can’t afford utilities.  We’re open to suggestions.

Mike Payson suggested assessing it to everyone in the city because it would be such a small amount.  I don’t see that it should be a burden on the landlords when it’s more of a governmental or energy assistance thing.

Commissioner Magnuson stated a question was presented to him by a couple that could not attend the meeting.  Hypothetically if they rented from someone and didn’t pay their bill so the landlord was stuck with it and then they just jump to someone else’s apartment.  Can we track if they’re delinquent?

City Administrator Crawford stated there could be a question added to the form when they apply.

Commissioner Bishop stated what we’re doing now is trying to fix the problem after it happens.  What we need to focus on is not letting the problem happen.  Do landlords run credit checks on their tenants or the city on people coming in to get utilities?  Maybe your deposit is based on your credit score?  Maybe that has to be worked out where the city and landlord has it worked out together.

Mike Payson stated there is a facility in town that has not been managed well and 50% of their units have not been rented.  Think of the burden on that landlord when you’re down 50% of tenants and some that don’t pay rent on time and now they’re getting hit with unpaid utilities.

President Carlsrud stated if we work together we have a better chance of getting the cost causer to be the cost payer.  We can come together to lessen the chance of those getting away with fraud or theft, whatever you want to call it.

City Attorney Martineck added that the ordinance was drafted to be discretionary so it’s not like on January 1^st there will be a drop dead date.  It’s just there if we need to use it.

Adjourn

Meeting was adjourned at 5:44 PM.

President Carlsrud called the meeting to order at 5:00 PM.

Members present: President Carlsrud, Commissioner Magnuson, Commissioner Bishop, Commissioner Erickson, and Commissioner Gulmon

Others City Administrator Crawford and City Attorney Martineck, Finance Director Richter, Administrative Assistant Johnson, Deputy Auditor Klein, Police Chief Hatcher.

Pledge of Allegiance

Approval of Agenda

No Changes.

Approval of Minutes

Commissioner Bishop moved to approve the minutes from the August 17^th and August 30^th, 2021 meetings, seconded by Commissioner Erickson.  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 Sheyenne Care Center.

Approve Parade Application for VCSU Homecoming Parade on Oct. 2 at 10:30 AM on Central Ave from 12 St. NE to the VCSU Foot Bridge.

Approve Block off the Street Request from RL Stearns for the alley running East/West at Ace Hardware from beginning September 8^th for about 2 weeks.

Commissioner Bishop moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Magnuson.  Motion passed unanimously.

PUBLIC HEARING

Public Hearing for 2022 City Budget.

President Carlsrud declared the Public Hearing Open.

Finance Director Richter gave overview of the 2022 budget.

Steve Jorissen commented about the city taxes going up about 10%.  Wondering what is going on?

Finance Director Richter stated there were a couple factors in the 10%.  When you take the increase on the value of your home, I believe it’s 5.8%.  Last year for the budget we reduced our mill levy by 4.51 mills.  We had Covid CARES funds for about $100,000 to offset that, to buy down our mill levy.  We no longer have that so we brought the mill levy back up to what it was before we have the Covid CARES money.

Steve Jorissen asked if what we are saying is that this year budget is pretty much like it was about 2 years ago.  Overall what is the dollar amount that the budget went up?

Finance Director Richter stated for the general fund the expenditures increased $138,609.

Commissioner Bishop moved to close the hearing, seconded by Commissioner Gulmon.  Motion passed unanimously.

Commissioner Gulmon moved to approve the first reading of Ordinance No. 1089, an Ordinance Adopting the 2022 City Budget, seconded by Commissioner Magnuson.  Motion passed unanimously.

New Business

Approve Monthly Bills for the City and Public Works in the Amount of $2,347,996.56

Finance Director Richter reported about $283,000 in PFP because of purchasing the maintenance building and also the two vacant properties.  The new equipment lease for $68,000, BND some PFP debt service due for another $64,000, invoice for the FD addition for $53,000, construction projects are around $750,000 and MRES is another $460,000.  The remaining balance is our employee salaries and insurance.

Commissioner Gulmon moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Magnuson.  Motion passed unanimously.

Approve Valley City Barnes County Development Request for Funds.

Jennifer Feist stated this is requesting $10,000 to assist with the drain analysis in the Northwest Industrial Park. 

Commissioner Bishop moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Gulmon.  Motion passed unanimously.

Consider the Valley City Barnes County Development Corporation’s request to Retain $188,000 of Economic Development Funds.

Jennifer Feist stated this request is because we recently accepted an offer to purchase a building in the Northwest Industrial Park.  We are planning to construct a new manufacturing type building in that area.

Commissioner Gulmon moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Bishop.  Motion passed unanimously.

Consider Granting Easement to Barnes County Park Board for Monson Trail.

Commissioner Magnuson moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Bishop.  Motion passed unanimously.

Approve City Administrator to Negotiate Sale of City Lot Located North of West Main Street in NP Additions 5 and 6.

City Administrator Crawford stated she presented the offer of $48,200 for the property that we own which also included the right of way and the easement for the Monson Trail.

Commissioner Magnuson moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Bishop.  Motion passed unanimously.

Consider Site Authorization for Barnes County Wildlife Federation at the Valley City Eagles Club on April 2, 2022. 

Commissioner Magnuson moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Bishop.  Motion passed unanimously.

City Administrator’s Report

City Administrator Crawford stated we closed on a cold storage building for the PFP.  We also closed on the PFP lots that were able to be built on so we could protect that.  The property to the west is being used as community gardens but we spoke to the owner and they can keep doing what they’re doing until we’re ready to build the flood wall.  The closing on the Valley Implements building should be this Thursday at 9 am.

City Updates & Commission Reports

Chad Petersen from KLJ updated on the construction.  Main Street Streetscape the rain last week slowed progress a little bit along with some of the basement windows we encountered under the sidewalk that has been there for years.  The concrete work on that block should be done early next week and then we’ll be shifting to the concrete work between 2^nd and 3^rd.  We’re making progress and still on schedule.  We’re still waiting for a term date for the mill and overlay on south Central. We have some parades coming up and need to make sure we’re communicating with them.

The recommendation to fix the drain by the Elks is to take bids this fall so there is a contractor in place and get the materials ordered to do the work this spring.

Commissioner Gulmon stated a couple meetings ago a discussion took place about a collaboration with the Park District and CVB about a Marketing Coordinator.  That is nearing completion, interviews are taking place this week.

President Carlsrud thanked to all that worked on the budget.  Our water department has reported that our water supply is in a good position so we aren’t likely to go on any restrictions.  Thank you to our Police Department and the Fire Department.   

Adjourn

Meeting was adjourned at 5:35 P.M.