The Round Lake City Council met in regular session on Wednesday, October 17th, 2018 at 6:15pm at City Hall.
Councilmembers present were Paul Cunningham, Walon Habben, Gary Larson and Mayor Douglas Knuth. Councilmember Court Baumgard was absent. Others present were Bruce Bentele, Derek Nelson, Bill Lindley, from Clayton Energy via teleconference and Clerk Elaine Walker.
Meeting was called to order at 6:15pm.
Additions to the agenda: Fire Department, On-Call for gas department training payment.
Motion by Larson, second by Cunningham to approve the agenda and the additions to the agenda. All ayes: Carried.
Motion by Habben, second by Cunningham to approve the minutes from the September 12th, 2018 meeting. All ayes: Carried.
Motion by Larson, second by Cunningham to approve the bills and receipts as presented. All ayes: Carried.
Bill Lindley, from Clayton Energy, was present via teleconference to discuss the PEFA, Inc. prepaid natural gas financing. PEFA, Inc. is an Iowa non-profit organization that will be issuing bonds 100% guaranteed by Goldman Sachs and the natural gas purchase agreement will be between the City of Round Lake and PEFA, Inc. There will be no financial recourse to the city and we will be getting a discount on 70% of our 5 year historical usage on the price per MMBTU as a result of this agreement. The bonds will be for 30 years with a negotiation of discount amount happening every 5-7 years. This is a program only available to municipal utilities, investor owned utilities cannot offer this discount, as they do not qualify.
Resolution No. 2018-10-17 – A Resolution authorizing the purchase of natural gas from PEFA, Inc.; approving the execution and delivery of a gas supply agreement and other documents relating to said purchase; approving the issuance of bonds by PEFA, Inc.; and addressing related matters. Motion by Larson, second by Habben to approve moving forward with the process to develop the bond issuing agreement with PEFA, Inc. to purchase natural gas for the City of Round Lake. All ayes: Carried.
Building permit for Gary Larson – to bring in 12’x24’ shed and place on his property as shown in the diagram. All ayes: Carried. Councilmember Larson abstained from vote.
Motion by Larson, second by Habben to approve the 2019 liquor license fees, no change from 2018 fees. All ayes: Carried.
Motion by Cunningham, second by Larson to approve renewing the Blue Cross Blue Shield medical insurance for the city employees. Notice of 6% increase for 2019 was received. All ayes: Carried.
Change to dog licensing for 2019 was tabled.
Southwest Minnesota Broadband had a special meeting to approve one month free to current SW Stream customers. There are some issues on the quality of service for the TV streaming that replaced the former TV source. There are lag and time out issues happening.
Fire Relief Association Fire Aid will be delayed this year. Dennis Bucholz, Clerk Elaine and Dennis Rick’s office are working to get the final documents and signatures needed for this year’s requirements. November 1st will be another distribution date and we are hoping to have everything to the state so we can receive our funds.
Chief Mike Smith is trying to locate all training sheets related to the fire fighters and their equipment testing to submit to ISO and complete requirements for our ranking. There are a few missing from the records at this time.
The Council wants to get the city trucks all lettered so that they are identifiable as the City of Round Lake vehicles. After some discussion, they feel the trucks need replacing before we move forward with the lettering. Bruce and Derek will be checking on pricing to have available for the next meeting in November.
Ben Madsen, from Madsen Surveying, was in City Hall talking to Clerk Elaine about the land on Indian Lake currently owned by the City of Round Lake. He has reviewed all of the documents available from the City regarding this property and gave a rough estimate of cost to complete a full survey of the land of around $2,000-2,500.00. Motion by Larson, second by Cunningham to have Madsen Surveying perform the full survey to get the land ready for auction.
On-Call gas training will be paid $12.00/hour for the modules, videos and the hands on training with Derek. Time sheet will be submitted to Clerk Elaine upon completion of all training. Motion by Larson, second by Cunningham to approve payment as outlined above. All ayes: Carried.
Bruce presented the council with the needs for street repairs for the 2019 season. He was told to contact Nobles County and let them know we would like to be on the list for the following improvements: 5th Ave by the school toward Main Street, possibly doing Minnie Street, 3rd Avenue from Rohrer Street to Harrision Street and possibly from Rohrer Street to Main Street, will evaluate to make sure it’s needed. Bruce will contact Steve Schneider before the end of October.
Derek reported that the New Ulm crew was here to do the gas leak survey of the entire town last week. They had quoted $2,400 and the invoice came in at just under $1,200. He is very happy with the results and will be working to repair the few leaks that were detected. Everything was pretty minor, but it feels good knowing the entire town is checked and ready for the heating season.
October 31st Halloween trick-or-treating will be from 6:00pm-8:00pm.
Daylight savings ends on November 4th at 2:00am, don’t forget to set your clocks back one hour.
The next council meeting will be on Wednesday, November 14th at 6:15pm at City Hall.
City Hall will be CLOSED on Monday, November 12th in observance of Veterans’ Day.
Motion by Habben, second by Larson to adjournment meeting. All ayes: Carried.
Meeting was adjourned at 8:39pm.