January 29, 2025 Special City Council Meeting Minutes

Call to order:

The special Randolph City Council meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m. by Mayor Marie  Jacob.  

Roll Call:

Present:

• Mayor Marie Jacob

• Council Members Jacob Friedrich, Tony Price, and Randy Ferguson

• Treasurer Sandy Nicolai and Clerk Mary Haro

• Also, in attendance was Bolton & Menk engineer, Matt Blazer and legal counsel, Greta  Bjerkness of LeVander, Gillen & Miller.

Northern Salt Grading Permit 

Jake, Marie, Greta and Matt previously meet to discuss a letter that Greta received on  January 13th from Progressive Rail’s legal counsel. It appears as though they are going to  proceed with the grading work without a permit due to a federal law in connection with the  railroad. They indicated they have the right to provide transportation to the public. They  think we are trying to hold them up and we are not doing that. We just want them to follow  the rules.  

They indicated in the letter that they have concluded that federal law preempts any state or  local laws. They think they are doing the work of the railroad so they qualify for federal  preemption which means everyone underneath them do not matter. Which is true to a  point. However, if a local ordinance inhibits or prohibits or messes with rail transport, 

that’s messing with interstate commerce which is not allowed. We are not saying they can’t do what they want to do we are just saying they need to do it according to our  ordinances. We can make a case that our ordinances are not preemptive. We can indicate  they still need to get a grading permit and meet all of our ordinance requirements.  

Greta will draft a letter indicating that we think they are wrong. Greta wants permission  from us to send the letter adding solutions to some next steps. We hope to compromise  with them. Matt and the council indicated they have concerns regarding drainage.  

They want to do a interim condition with a 10 acre pad because they have a contract and  are obligated by that. We want to work with them on the long term picture. Bolton &  Menk have not seen a plan for the interim condition and a concern is that the they need to  control the stormwater off of that pad. Their engineer reached out to Matt and indicated  he would have the plan for the 10 acres pad by the end of the week. We don’t know what  the interim plan is for the windmill blades – it is 1 month, 1 year. They indicated there will  be one delivery weekly to Randolph for a period of 15 weeks. Randolph township did  approve to expand the roads in their industrial park in the turn areas so the longer trailers  can get out through the industrial park. 

We should send the letter and tell them we want to work with them and indicated what  steps they need to take. Tell them we are not expecting the entire project but let’s get the  10 acre pad done with the correct drainage and then keep working forward on the rest of  the project. We need to set the precedent now for the railroad properties.  

We can tell them that we are agreeable to amending the code so when the 20 weeks on the  interim plan is done then they are ready to start the next phase. We need to inform us what  they need amended in the code. Spur tracks is a conditional use in the industrial district.  We can limit conditional use in the industrial district to a certain area. Outdoor storage is  an accessory use – which is already in the code. They have to abide by the setbacks,  lighting, parking.  

We could file an injunction with the court which would stop them from doing the work.  Once we send the letter and if they don’t respond and begin the work, we need to submit a  stop work order. If they start working, Jake will contact the building inspector and ask him  to issue a stop work order and if he will not do it then Jake will do it or we could ask the  county to assist us with it.  

Greta will send the letter and tell them all the reasons we think they are wrong and tell them  we want to work together and the next steps to work collaboratively on approving to get to  their goal. Greta will send a draft letter to Jake before sending it out.  

In situations like this in the future we should have a planning commission meeting prior to  our council meeting. We will schedule a planning commission meeting at 6 pm prior to  our next council meeting and invite them to attend the meeting so we can discuss the site.  

They did deposit an escrow of $5,000 but with all of the work that has been completed to  date that amount has been depleted. We have asked them to deposit another $5,000 as it  noted that they are responsible for the city costs. If they don’t pay the money then we can  withhold the grading permit.  

Adjournment

Motion to adjourn the meeting made by Jacob, seconded by Friedrich, the meeting was  adjourned at 7:23 p.m. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 5:0.