At their Tuesday, Oct. 2, meeting, South Haven City Council members scheduled what they hope will be their last special meeting before inviting public feedback about the new city hall plan that they want to get started this fall.
Even though the call for bids was published in the Advocate and the St. Cloud Times three weeks before the deadline, only three specifications packets were picked up from city hall, according to city clerk Carol Banken. Of those, only one submitted a bid – Liman Post and Beam of Annandale. The single bid was opened during a special meeting prior to last Tuesday’s regular city council meeting. Banken noted that the $288,280 bid did not include the building permit cost but did include cement and blacktop work as well as some landscaping.
Mayor John Lemke and council members Norm Bodeker and Kandice Voigt, were present at the bid opening and there was no discussion about it. Also in attendance at the bid opening was one citizen and a representative from Liman Post and Beam, the company that placed the only bid. During the council’s regular meeting, the rest of the council reviewed the bid and a brief discussion followed. Council member Tony Stanley asked if the council should plan a special meeting or workshop before making a final decision on the project.
"So right now, do we need to sit down and meet as a workshop or special meeting just to be fair to the process? That will then guide our financial discussions," he said. "Our last conversation prior to this bid, we had discussed talking about it as a group and compare the previous option with this and put our final thoughts out there – review both options once they were in front of us."
Voigt said, "I’m comfortable with just moving ahead for the sake of getting a building built for our citizens."
Bodeker said, "I think we still should have some sort of public feedback."
Banken cautioned that the longer the council takes to make a decision, the greater the risk of having to put it off again.
"The only thing I am going to caution you on is that you will need to get this done quickly because you are getting late in the (construction) season so if you take too long, it may be tough to get anything started this fall yet," Banken said. "One (plan) is obviously less money – the pole style building costs less – but the stick built one will probably last longer than the pole style building."
Stanley replied, "That’s why I am saying we should really take a look at it and work it out as a council and then invite the public to see if there are remaining questions if we have time. I don’t have a horse in the race either way, I am just putting it out there to be fair to the process and what we said we were going to do."
Stanley then turned to Lemke and asked his opinion.
Lemke replied by saying, "Kandice and I have done a lot of work on this and the only thing that still bugs me about it is that we never asked for additional bids on the other option but I am ok on this and I will go along with it. We have to move forward – we can’t be looking back. I think we are going to have to do some digging on the financial end to make sure prices don’t go up any more."
With that, the council decided to schedule a special meeting Monday, Oct. 8, at 7 p.m. at the Fire Hall to decide how to proceed with the building. A public informational meeting for any final questions or concerns will be scheduled soon after and before construction begins.
In other items on the Oct. 2 agenda, the board:
■ During a public hearing, approved placing the charges of delinquent accounts on property tax bills if not paid by Nov. 28.
■ Approved changing the November council meeting from Tuesday, Nov. 6, to Thursday, Nov. 8, because of the General Election on Nov. 6.
■ Heard from Sandy Swanson during the Citizen’s Forum. She had concerns of a comment made at the September meeting and wanted clarification regarding the Levy and Budget. She also had questions on the City Hall Project.
■ Heard department reports. Liquor store manager Bonnie Shadduck thanked Stanley for cleaning up all the brush and mess in the back of the liquor store. "The only other thing I want to talk about is getting a handicap sign," Shadduck said. "Someone stole ours and I have someone who comes in on a walker and a couple others with canes so I want to make sure we have that for them. Other than that, everything is going along good. We’ve got lots of off-sales lately, so that’s been good."
Lemke said he would inquire about ordering a handicap sign the next time he calls to order other signs that are needed. Shadduck also said the next band is scheduled at the liquor store Saturday, Oct. 27, and there are two meat raffles this month.
■ Fire Chief Ken "Oscar" Laney reported that September was a slow month with three rescues and one fire call. He also said there was a first responder test scheduled Oct. 3 and that he is still waiting on the decals for the new rig. "I don’t want to put it into service yet until we have the reflection on it so we just need to get those."
Laney also reported that installation of the new siren near the ballpark has been completed and that the South Haven Fire Relief Association has also offered donations to Fairhaven, French Lake and Southside townships for up to $15,000 toward the purchase of similar warning sirens to better cover the South Haven Fire department’s territory. Siren testing should sound the first Wednesday of every month.
Additionally, Laney noted that the Minnesota DNR has a burning ban in effect that also prohibits campfires and backyard fire pits until further notice because of the extremely dry conditions. He said with all the harvesting in the area, South Haven has been fortunate to not have many problems. "We’re lucky we haven’t had a combine or anything start on fire," he said. "But if it happens, we still have the grass rig ready to go."
■ In the Parks and Maintenance report, Stanley said the railroad crossing signs are up and two-way arrow signs will be replaced with curve signs.
"So hopefully we’ll get those taken care of in the next batch," Stanley said. "We are still going through and identifying signs that need replacement and we’ll order more next year again."
Bodeker mentioned that at a recent meeting he attended, it was reported that Canadian Pacific Railroad has been "really abusing the 10-minute rule" for sitting on the tracks and blocking intersections. "Last week, it was reported that it was an hour and a half that they had everything shut down," Bodeker said.
Stanley suggested that people noticing trains at a standstill for long stretches of time should make note of it by writing down the date, time and location of the problem so that when the city calls the railroad company, there will be documentation. "They won’t do anything about it if we can’t tell them when or any other details," Stanley said.
There were also tree trimming concerns raised, especially near the Methodist church and on South Street.
"The concerns are low hanging branches hitting larger trucks or equipment," Banken said.
Lemke added, "Yeah, the garbage truck always hits a few of the low hanging branches down my road."
■ Council member Russ Christinsen reported that everything was going smoothly in the sewer and water department and that there were no breakdowns during the month.
■ Approved pay raises for the mayor and council members from $100 per month for the mayor to $125 per month and from $75 a month for council members to $100 per month. These wages have not been increased since 2006.
"Like I told Carol the other day in the office, if I make $2 bucks an hour I’m lucky," Lemke said. After some discussion, the council determined raises were due because it had been a few years since it had been done.
"Periodically, it should go up," Bodeker said.
Banken added, "I think you should increase it a little bit, maybe $25 a month, because it probably won’t get increased again for several years."
The informational part of the agenda included the following:
■ The post office siding work was completed.
■ Seasonal "No Parking on City Streets from 2 a.m. to 7 p.m." rule goes from Nov. 1 through April 30. Violating vehicles will be towed at the owner’s expense.
■ The public accuracy test for election equipment will be held in October prior to the November election. The date and time for testing is yet to be determined and will be made public when it is decided.
■ The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the South Haven Fire Hall on Tuesday, Nov. 6. Absentee voting is being conducted at the Wright County Court House and the last day for absentee voting is Nov. 5.
Be the first to comment