Ellendale City Council
By SCOTT GROTH
Contributing Writer
The Ellendale City Council met Thursday, July 11 with Mayor Swearingen and all Councilmen present. Also in attendance were Josh Otto, Maintenance; Pete Paulson, Municipal Liquor Store, and Mark Lee, Fire Chief.
Otto told the council he had been on the roof of three of the City’s buildings with a prospective roofing bidder. Otto and the salesman checked out the Municipal Liquor Store’s roof, the Community Building and the Fire Hall. The salesman noted to Otto a few recommendations. One, he would take down some of the skirting on the MLS building as this is causing undue stress. On the Fire Hall, he would remove the heating unit because it doesn’t appear to be used. The council did hear some figures for repairs and reroofing, but felt in fairness to other possible bidders not to print the dollar amount. The council moved to get more bids for the Fire Hall and repair bids for the MLS.
Also during Otto’s report, he brought to their attention the need to clean and camera the sanitary sewer in Country View Estates. The council learned at its last meeting about the high amount of gravel in the lift station for that area. Mayor Swearingen and Otto met with the company representative and felt the entire area should be cleaned and televised. The estimate for cleaning the line was $3,375 plus $225 per hour for the camera. The council felt the cleaning needs to be done to prevent further damage to the lift pumps, which will need some rebuilding. The council approved the request for both cleaning and televising.Chief Lee was present to check on the officer pay brought up at a prior meeting.
Lee said the department wasn’t looking for raises, but they were trying to put together their 2014 budget. Swearingen asked council members how they felt about the issue. Council members agreed that though the department members do more than is asked of them, they should hold the line this year on raises. Lee next asked if there was any type of formal application process for new fire personnel. After some discussion, the council asked Lee to write up a job description and then the City could make a formal application from there.
Paulson handed out his report showing all numbers for the month and year to date. He said Ellendale Days proved to be successful for the MLS. Paulson reported that on Thursday evening, the MLS sold the most food for any one day in the short history of food sales. He noted that Friday was sort of a bust with the weather playing tricks again. Paulson felt Saturday was good. Asked if he felt the change in dates was good or bad, Paulson said that for the most part he believed it was a nice change. Paulson asked the council if he should be getting a written statement from the bartender who will be taking maternity leave. The council felt the City should have a written statement, so to have some sort of paper trail.
Claims for the evening totaling $53,797.49 were approved as presented.
The minutes from the June 27, 2013 meeting were approved as presented.
Swearingen reported to the council that the OSHA fine will be $3,300 as they have sent a letter stating such. Swearingen also noted that a person from FEMA was in town inspecting the work which the City had requested monies for. The inspection went well.
During council discussion, a question for Otto was raised. He was asked if he had heard back on any of the water meters that were supposedly not working right. Otto told the council that he hasn’t gotten them all back, but every one so far has been working properly according to the reports. The council talked about the kitchen in the Community Building. It was noted there were some complaints about the kitchen and the shape it is getting into. The council felt the kitchen is used quite a bit and should be updated. Councilmen Reiter and Groth will be looking into the updates. The council also asked about the tree trimming along Highway 30 and the potholes. Both will be looked into and done.
The next meeting of the Ellendale City Council will be on July 25 at 7:30 p.m.