Ellendale City Council
By SCOTT GROTH
Contributing Writer
The Ellendale City Council met Thursday, July 26 with Mayor Engel and all councilmen present. Also attending the meeting were Clerk Louks, Pete Paulson, Municipal Liquor Manager, Fire Chief Jeremy Reese, fireman Pat Krueger and Sandra Rahn.
The filing dates for persons interested in being on the city Council opened July 31. The office of mayor, a two-year term currently held by Steve Engel, along with two council positions are open. The two councilmen up for re-election are Gene Helland and Duane Goebel. Anyone interested in filing should stop at the City Clerk’s office to fill out the appropriate form and pay the filing fee of $2. The last day to file will be August 14.
The council reviewed the monthly fire department report. The council approved the expenses for the month at $ 922.09.
Reese and Krueger were next on the agenda. Krueger started by telling the council the department had hired a consultant to help rewrite the Relief Association by-laws. Reese said that by redoing the by-laws, the association would and should benefit financially. Kruger injected that the vested years and percentages toward retirement would change some. Reese told the council that everyone currently on the department would be grand-fathered in under the current rules. The council will look over the new by-laws and bring them up for a vote at the next council meeting.Rahn was next to address the council with a couple of questions on her water utility bill. Rahn asked the council consider her questions and let her know what decision the council came up with.
Paulson was next. He started by informing the council that overall Ellendale Days was profitable for the Municipal Liquor Store. Paulson said that there was a nice dining crowd on Thursday and the liquor sales on Friday were good and as expected a smaller crowd on Saturday night due to the event in Geneva. Paulson said he heard many favorable comments on the band Friday night and hopes to have them back July 20, 2013. Paulson asked the council to allow him to look for a cleaning service to clean in the MLS. The council moved to have Paulson research the service.
The council approved the claims for the evening totaling $44,420.20.
The council reviewed and approved the Cash Control, Financial and Disbursement statements.
The council moved to accept the minutes from the July 12 meeting.
Clerk Louks started his report noting again the dates for filing for city council offices. Louks reported to the council that the county had made two contributions to the city. The county contributed $5,000 to the Ambulance Service and also made a $5,000 contribution to the Ellendale EDA. The city will also contribute to the EDA in the amount of $2,267. Resolutions were passed to make the transfer of funds to both parties. The bids for seal coating the streets in Crown Ridge were read. The council moved to take the low bid of $29,976 from Allied Blacktop with the work to be completed by August 31.
Mayor Engel was next with his report for the evening. Engel stated he felt the city should pursue having the developers on the north side of town bring the roads up to par. The council will have legal counsel send notice to the developers about the city’s intent to bring the roads to where they should have been per the developer’s agreement.
Engel told the council he had done some checking on the possibility of putting the question of Sunday liquor on the ballot this fall. The council feels it would be a benefit for the town to have a place to eat on Sundays. Engel noted the council will have to come up with the question for the ballot to send to the county.
Council members brought up that they would like to see a list of what requires a building permit. Councilmen have been asked on different occasions and would like to see a list from the county, which does the inspecting.
The next meeting of the Ellendale City Council will be August 9 at 7:30 p.m.