2019 March 13th Meeting Minutes


The Round Lake City Council met in regular session on Wednesday, March 13th, 2019 at 6:15pm in City Hall.

Councilmembers present were Paul Cunningham, Jennifer Rehnelt, Walon Habben and Mayor Douglas Knuth. Others present were Kelly Meyer, Brad Bergerson, Kim Eisfeld, Deputy Ryan Kruger, Bruce Bentele, Derek Nelson and Clerk Elaine Walker. Councilmember Gary Larson was absent.

Meeting was called to order at 6:15pm.

No additions to the agenda.

Motion by Cunningham, second by Rehnelt to approve the agenda with no additions. All ayes: Carried.

Motion by Rehnelt, second by Cunningham to approve the Minutes from the February 13th regular meeting. All ayes: Carried.

Motion by Cunningham, second by Rehnelt to approve bills and receipts as presented. All ayes: Carried.

Auditors, Jacobson & Bergerson, PLLP were at the meeting to go over the audit report for 2018. Motion by Cunningham, second by Habben to approve the report as presented. All ayes: Carried. Copies will be available at the City Hall, Farmers Insurance and the Post Office for residents to review.

The City has a savings account that is only collecting interest at this point. There has been no activity other than the interest each month for more than 7 years. Keeping track of this account each month and for the audit is cumbersome. Motion by Habben, second by Rehnelt to divide the amount of money that is in this account, $103,108.71 into the savings accounts that are receiving a percentage of the interest according to the percentage that they are each on record for.

Kelly Meyer, United Prairie Financial Network, talked to the council about the current investments and what he learned as to the type of products the City is allowed by law to invest in. He will continue to work on the investment policy with the investment committee and they will have a complete copy for the entire council to approve at the next meeting.

Spring Clean-Up will be held on Monday, April 29th, as motioned by Habben and second was by Rehnelt. The cost will be the same as last year, per Jerry at Schaap Sanitation. All ayes: Carried.

Southwest Minnesota Broadband Services – there are less and less complaints about the TV service as the bugs are being worked out.

With the freezing pipes in town, the City has issued a freeze warning to residents and posted it on the sign at the Pit Stop. Councilmember Habben would like to reach more residents quickly and suggested a survey or sign-up sheet to find a better way to reach everyone in the event of an emergency. Clerk Elaine will be putting a brief survey in the April newsletter to see what method the residents prefer.

Building Permit – Tony Wood, would like to build a garage on the lot line between his property and Habbens. The Council reviewed the request and tabled it. Clerk Elaine will let Tony know that he needs a clearer diagram drawn and he will need a variance to build that close to the lot line.

With the purchase of new truck for Bruce and used boom truck, Kim Eisfeld, auditor needs to know how the council would like the purchase recorded in CTAS. Motion by Habben, second by Rehnelt to apply it to the general fund under the city shop account. Not to be divided out to all funds. All ayes: Carried.

Posters are out for the boom truck bids that are due to City Hall by Friday, April 12th at 4:00pm and will be opened at the April council meeting.

2019 Fire Relief Association met on Monday, March 11, 2019 at 7:00pm at the Sr Center. Officers and trustees for 2019 were elected, list is attached to these minutes in the book. The bylaws are in need of a revision and a committee was selected to work on these.

Bruce Bentele attended the annual wastewater conference last week. He said it went well and there are new regulations coming down the pipe with more testing requirements.

The metal detector needs an upgrade and the parts are no longer available for the unit that we have. Motion by Habben, second by Cunningham to replace the metal detector used for locating. Cost of the unit is estimated to be from $800 – $1,500 depending on the specs needed for the city. All ayes: Carried.

Derek Nelson will be attending the gas conference on April 8th – 11th. Minnesota state gas inspection was last week and Derek reports no violations were found with the Round Lake system and the recordkeeping he does to maintain it.

The radio read program we use for meters is expiring in 2020. Itron needs an upgrade and MVRS needs to be replaced. They require a computer that runs Windows10 and the current computers in the office are running Windows7. Derek and Clerk Elaine will work to gather cost estimates for the two new computers, the new radio software and the software that will be replacing MVRS to have them ready for the May meeting, if not earlier. They want to take a pro-active approach to avoid the rush when everyone else is converting.

Clerk Elaine will be at the Clerk’s Conference on the 19th-22nd of March.

Deputy Ryan Kruger attended the meeting and asked if there were any concerns in the community.

Board of Review will be Thursday, April 25th, 2019 at 10:30am at City Hall.

The next Council meeting will be held on April 17th at 6:15pm in City Hall.

Clerk Elaine will be out of the office April 5th and 8th, she is taking some vacation time.

Motion by Habben, second by Rehnelt to adjourn. All ayes: Carried.

Meeting was adjourned at 8:30pm.