The Round Lake City Council met in closed session to conduct City employee reviews on Thursday, December 6th, 2018 at 5:30pm at City Hall.
Councilmembers in attendance were Paul Cunningham, Walon Habben, Gary Larson and Mayor Douglas Knuth. Councilmember Court Baumgard was absent. City employees in attendance were Bruce Bentele, Derek Nelson and Clerk Elaine Walker.
Meeting was called to order at 5:30pm and closed. After discussion with each employee individually, the meeting was reopened by Mayor Douglas Knuth at 6:15pm.
Motion by Habben to approve a 6.3% increase for all employees to be in effect on January 2019 payroll, second by Larson. All ayes: Carried.
Regular Council meeting was called to order at 6:15pm.
Councilmembers in attendance were Paul Cunningham, Walon Habben, Gary Larson and Mayor Douglas Knuth. Councilmember Court Baumgard was absent. Others in attendance were Jennifer Rehnelt, Bruce Bentele, Derek Nelson and Clerk Elaine Walker.
Additions to the agenda: Lincoln Pipestone Rural Water would like the City to clean snow out by their water shed out by Joe Jones’ property, Final approval for the Tax Levy for 2019, Fire Department Officers for 2019, Correction on the list of liquor license – On Q BBQ not Sunset Grill, Keith Stubbe inquired about getting an off sale hard liquor license.
Motion by Habben, second by Larson to approve the agenda and the additions to the agenda. All ayes: Carried.
Motion by Larson, second by Cunningham to approve the Minutes from November 14th meeting. All ayes: Carried.
Motion by Habben, second by Larson to approve the bills and receipts with the following changes. The payment for the fire department pagers will be billed to the fire department for $450 total. With the change in fund for the payment to Carr’s Tree Service, making it an electric fund expense. All ayes: Carried.
Council reviewed questions from Minnesota Energy and requested more information.
Motion by Habben, second by Larson to approve the City of Round Lake cleaning the snow out by the Lincoln Pipestone Rural Water (LPRW) shed located southwest of town on 340th St. LPRW will call Bruce when they need it to be done. Agreed upon fee will be $200 each time. All ayes: Carried.
Derek reported that the rear end went out on his pickup. Heath Auto is working on repairing it.
Motion to approve the liquor license for L & M Partners, LLC dba Round Lake Pit Stop; Sport Shots Tavern; On Q BBQ and Round Lake American Legion made by Habben, second by Cunningham. All ayes: Carried.
Motion by Larson, second by Cunningham to approve paying ½ of the Senior Center’s property and liability insurance for 2019. All ayes: Carried.
Motion by Larson, second by Cunningham to approve paying bills for the year-end as they are presented to City Hall. All ayes: Carried.
Motion by Larson, second by Cunningham to approve the fire contracts with the townships. We are in the 4th year of the 5 year contracts with a 3% annual increase. All ayes: Carried.
Motion by Cunningham, second by Habben to approve the Fire Department Officers for 2019 with no changes from the previous year. Fire Chief – Mike Smith, Assistant Chief – Cody Dean, Secretary – Al Nickel, Treasurer – Al Nickel, Training Officers – Randy Olson, Jr. & Kevin Turner, Civil Defense Director – Mike Smith. All ayes: Carried.
Property Tax Levy for 2019 was approved in earlier meeting and no changes were needed.
Resolution No. 2018-12-06 – Re-establishing a shared polling location. Re-establishing a combined polling location for the City of Round Lake and the Township of Indian Lake, Nobles County, Minnesota. Motion by Larson, second by Cunningham to approve for the 2019 election year. All ayes: Carried.
Resolution No. 2018-12-06(2) – Resolution accepting donation received – from Jerry Lee Beck for the Round Lake Rescue Squad, for the care they gave to his wife. Motion by Habben, second by Cunningham to have Clerk Elaine write check out to the Fire Department and accept the check as a donation. All ayes: Carried.
Auditor Kim Eisfeld met with Clerk Elaine and Derek to discuss the gas fund and other bookkeeping issues. There are a few changes that we can make to create a cleaner audit moving forward. Motion by Larson, second by Cunningham to approve dividing the “COD” savings account that has a percentage earmarked for multiple funds and sending the share of this account out to the respective funds savings accounts to make the “COD” savings account be for the general fund only. All ayes: Carried.
Motion by Habben, second by Cunningham to allow Clerk Elaine to work with Auditor Kim Eisfeld and determine the correct amount to transfer to each fund’s savings account and still have the cash flow to pay expenses when necessary for each fund out of the general fund checking account. All ayes: Carried.
Auditor Kim Eisfeld also stated that sewer rates were in need of an increase for that fund to pay for itself. This will be part of the discussion when the Council looks at the fee schedule for 2019 in January.
Council reviewed the estimates for the mowers and Bruce’s truck. Motion by Larson, second by Cunningham to purchase 2 Jaycox Kubota ZD1211-60 mowers and receive a $500 discount, making the price for 2 mowers $20,100. Replacement schedules will be around 300-400 hours, making the trade-in higher moving forward. All ayes: Carried.
Motion by Larson, second by Habben to purchase 2018 Chevy Duramax Diesel from Marthaler Chevy in Worthington with Bruce’s current truck as trade-in. All ayes: Carried.
City Hall will be closed for Christmas on December 25th, 2018. City Hall will be closed for New Year’s on January 1st, 2019.
January Council meeting will be on Wednesday, January 9th, 2019 at 6:15pm at City Hall.
Motion to adjourn made by Habben, second by Cunningham. All ayes: Carried.
Meeting was adjourned at 8:48pm.