City of Dennison
Meeting minutes
August 1, 2024
The August Dennison City Council meeting was called to order by Mayor Flaten on Thursday, August 1st, 2024 at 7:00 pm. Present were Councilors Diane Ruddle, Heidi Cooke, Nichole Schloesser, Kaylyn Nygaard and clerk Jessica Page.
Council members requested more time to review the July meeting minutes.
Councilor Ruddle moved to approve the Treasurer’s report. Councilor Nygaard second. Motion passed 5:0.
Old Business/Committee Reports/Building Permits: None.
Administrative Issues:
Josh from the Clutchman Car Club, asked if Clutchman can hold the car show in the park this year. Council expressed concerns about possible ruts being formed as the ground is still pretty wet. Josh said they can still use Joe’s lot on the main street. Josh requested that they be approved to shut down the main street between the hours of 8-2 for the car show (8-12 most likely). They would look to have 2 blocks shut down. Councilor Schloesser move to allow the main street in to be shut down from 8-2. Councilor Ruddle second. Motion carried. 5:0
1. Bryan Caffin from Bollig Engineering was present to discuss the PER. Further discussion regarding the GIS proposal from Silversmith. Based on the annual contract fee per year ($571) that would amount to about $6 per household per year. Mayor also asked Bollig if they could produce a map with all the curb stops.
Lead service line inventory. They organized all the plans that they had for the city and made digital copies for us. Everything has been submitted to the state on time. We need to update every year. Eventually will have to do the unknowns.
Silversmith Data systems: Can do it in the future as Bollig will still be using the data points. Hold off for now.
PER: Preliminary Engineering Report: Water system is “stout”. They want to pursue funding for the dead ends. Dept of Health wants to end dead ends, so hopefully this is something that funding will be available for. Bryan noted that the City has Cast Iron pipes from the 80’s, which usually last about 80 years. Could last for 100 years.
Water tower inspection. Liner is good, structure is good, but there are issues are with the mixer. It’s been damaged and should be replaced. The stand pipe is on the floor. They propose to bring the stand pipe up several feet. That way the sediment won’t go in the water. This would be especially helpful when the mixer is running, as currently when running, the water in multiple homes has lots of sediment in it. The Security fence is an issue with the bent posts, and gates. They also felt that the water tower should have a dedicated electrical system. It is currently shared.
Well/well house. The City of Dennison has one well, Dept of Health wants two wells in each community. The well house needs to be rehabbed due to cracked floors, water leaks, etc. It needs to be brought up to code. Bollig also recommends doing a thorough cleaning of the well pipes/pumps to extend the life of the current well. The recommend getting new chemical feeds, along with a generator to keep water flowing in case of an extended power outage. City should keep in mind to possibility of upsizing the building also.
New development: Expand the capacity of the ponds. Either build another pond or expand the ponds when doing things like replacing the liner, which will need to be done sometime fairly soon.
Storm water: Currently have a good system. But City will want to look at working with the County for any changes as County Road 9 has significant impacts of flooding. There are no improvements needed right now. It was shared with Bollig that a storm water collection basin is likely needed near K. Nygaards house due to past water issues during snow melts/rains. There is currenlty no collection basin there.
City Hall improvements. Building needs Tuck pointing/painting. Money is available, but very competitive.
Councilor Ruddle move to submit the PER to Rural Development to start the process for funding and and to other funding agencies. Councilor Ruddle second. Motion passed 5:0.
Bollig wants the City to do an income study for $20,000 to become available for the Small Cities Development Program, as it appears the City is only a few percentage points away from being eligible for this program. An income survey can get more detailed information, and would likely see the City qualify for this funding. It can go up to $600,000and the City can apply twice, so potentially up to 1.2 million available. There are Multiple ways to get the income information. Mail out surveys, knock on doors, etc. Bollig will go down to $2500 instead of $5,000. For the down payment. Councilor Schloesser move to go forward with the income eligibility survey with $2500 down payment. Councilor Cooke second. Motion passed 5:0.
Goodhue County Sheriff’s Deputy stopped by the meeting. He didn’t have any specific concerns for the City.
2. Opus and new billing system: Updates. We worked through the issues from the first billing. They did miss a spreadsheet that was submitted on 6-27, that had payments for 5 folks. Those accounts have been updated and they apologized for missing them. Compiling the quarterly information took a long time, but it should be better for the next quarter, although those 5 missed payments will need to be accounted for. During the last meeting, council members inquired about how many people are using the online convenience/option to pay bills. Lauren said 11 people have used the online portal to pay for 12 accounts.
3. City website: Councilor Cooke forwarded information to the council to review regarding the proposed new city website Ionos. The first year did have an introductory price of $96 and adding the largest email option will make it $101 for the year. The usual price is $10/month so next year it may be more like $125 per year. If the council wants to discontinue with our current website provider (Catalis), then we need to give them 6 months notice of the City’s intention to discontinue, which would be August 29th.
Councilor Schloesser move to switch to the Ionas website, and try it for one year. The City will discontinue with the Catalis website provider. Councilor Nygaard second. Motion passed 5:0.
4. Dennison 2025 to 2027 police contract rates. The City was informed the Goodhue County Board approved the policing rates for the upcoming years as follows: 2025 $87.70, 2026 $90.63, 2027 $93.68. Compared to what the City is paying for the 2024 rate ($40.07 per hour), that is about a 120% increase in one year. Mayor contacted the Sheriff's Office and was concerned about the impact on the City budget and asked if the minimum policing hours per year could be lowered to 200 hours. Mayor was informed the County Board would need to be involved in the decision. Mayor contacted the City of Bellechester to gather information. Historically, they contract for 198 hours per year, and they ask the Sheriff's Department to patrol in town from May through September, 11 hours per week. Jeff called Sheriff for Rice County and asked about Law Enforcement services are handled in Nerstrand with no contract.
Through talking with Todd Greseth. Jeff can call John Huneke to talk to the Sheriff’s Dept. City would like to go with 208 hours a year from the current 260 hours. The county will not adjust the cost as it was a thorough study as to the cost to provide an officer. Major Johnson will be here in Sept. Mayor was going to ask for 4 hours vs current 5 hours a week.
5. City was informed by the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation that the grant the City applied for in April for updating our community comprehensive plan, ordinances and map books was denied. They went on to say it was a very highly competitive grant program. Awards were made to only approximately 16% of organizations. SMIF has another grant opportunity for Small Town Grants until August 26th. That grant is capped at $10,000. Mayor will make another attempt to secure funding through SMIF.
6. Pete Lee Building update. Mayor contacted the city attorney to update her of the situation. No further communication to the City from Pete Lee regarding the sale of the building. No action has taken place to replace/fix the roof since our last meeting. The deadline set by the City for repairs to have taken place will be here soon. A message was left for Pete Lee regarding that.
Council suggested the information be presented to Brittany and she will proceed with sending a letter to the County to continue with the prosecution. (As of August 11th if nothing has been done by Pete Lee)
7. Bids to replace florescent light bulbs with LED bulbs in City Hall and City Shop from Cedar Lake Electric and Muska Electric. At the city shop, the bids included replacing 2 inoperable ceiling lights at the back west wall where Nate has his work area and the bathroom light. The bids also include wiring the water heater to the circuit panel. Cedar Lake included the cost of replacing all the ceiling lights with LED bulbs, too. Provided to the council the lighting retrofit rebate application form. Cedar Lake would help assist the City in submitting the form/cost worksheet, free of charge. Xcel Energy is offering bonus rebates (double the rebate) on LED tubes until November 15th. Mayor asked Cedar Lake who can perform electrical work, since it was brought up at our last meeting that the work could be done by a city employee, possibly. Generally, Minnesota Law requires all electrical work be performed by licensed, bonded and insured electrical contractors and their employees. Homeowners, with strict limitations, are exempt from electrical licensing. At City Hall, to replace the bulbs, the rebates would amount to $166, not including the bonus rebates, and the best guess in 4-5 years it will pay for itself with energy savings. Councilor Nygaard was concerned with how bright they will be. The hall can have different lighting levels. $1695 to do City Hall lighting for Cedar Lake, and $375 to do the shop.
Council would like to look at what isn’t working first, so they recommend looking at the shop first. Councilor Nygaard move to pay for city shop water heater and lights for Cedar Lake Electric for $325 for water heater and $375. Councilor Cooke second. Motion passed 5:0.
8. Propane contract. Current prices? How much left in our tanks? Most tanks are filled over the summer, so should be close to full. $1.54.9 is contract price. Councilor Schloesser motion to do 2500 gallons at the contract price. Councilor Nygaard second. Motion passed 5:0.
9. Budget meeting. Figure out date and time. Approved preliminary levy is due to Goodhue County on September 30th. Set August 28th at 6:00 for the work session.
10. Mayor received word that our LGA amount will go from $13,594 to $19,115 this year, an increase of $5,521. We will also be getting funds from the Small Cities Assistance Account. It will be ongoing and dedicated to cities under 5,000 people to specifically help with transportation needs. In 2024, Dennison will get almost $12,000 from this account. $10,800 will come in July and $1,000 in December. These funds will continue to pay out in future years and will see growth and more revenue sources rolled into this funding stream. Mayor sent an email to the council from the LMC about potential uses.
11. Mayor requested that Century Link reimburse the City for the damage done to 5th Avenue Way last fall when the telephone line/internet was installed in the public right- of-way for the Jeff Hasse property. The claim process has started and the mayor will be submitting supporting documents. $500 cost on that.
12. Mayor requested that Century Link fix beat up/damaged/destroyed pedestal boxes in town. Work is scheduled to begin on 8/9/24.
13. Primary election on August 13th.
14. Filing period for city offices begins Tuesday, July 30 through Tuesday, August 13. Two Council positions for 4 years, and one Council position for two years, along with the mayor for 2 years, are up for elections.
15. AED battery replaced at the cost of $200.
16. Weed Inspector: several folks were contacted about overgrown weeds on their properties. All have responded back and will be working to cut down their weeds. Follow up in two weeks.
17. 5th Ave way qualifies for FEMA assistance $3,000 Sewer pond road and discharges for storms are applying for reimbursement.
Citizens Issues:
Saturday night band was playing after midnight. Need to check on the ordinance to see if a band needs to stop at midnight. Can nicely ask if they can stop at midnight. No Ordinance. Joe always stops at midnight.
Mayors Issues:
Utilities:
1. Update from Nate
2. Bob Flom sprayed city streets and sewer ponds on 7-29.
3. Water samples taken by MDH on 7-22.
4. DO calibration paperwork will be available for the council to review before the meeting. Nate didn’t have ready for this meeting. Will have ready for next month.
Councilor Cooke move to approve the minutes. Councilor Schloesser second. Motion passed 5:0.
Councilor Cooke move to approve the bills, plus the $581.10 for Nate Sparrow. Councilor Schloesser second. Motion passed 5:0.
Mayor Flaten move to adjourn the meeting. Councilor Schloesser second. Meeting adjourned
Next meeting: Regular meeting is Thursday, September 5th at 7:00.
