November 13, 2024 Regular City Council Meeting Minutes

Call to order:

The regular Randolph City Council meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by Mayor Marie  Jacob.  

Roll Call:

Present:

• Mayor Marie Jacob

• Council Members Jacob Friedrich, Todd D Carlock, and Tony Price

• Treasurer Sandy Nicolai and Clerk Mary Haro

• Also, in attendance was Bolton & Menk engineer, Matt Blazer.

Approval of Agenda:

Mayor Jacob would like to add shoveling of sidewalks to the agenda under new business.  Motion to approve the agenda with the addition was made by Jacob, seconded by Friedrich.  All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 5:0.

Public Comments:

Amy Cassidy would like to be informed if anything comes before the council regarding the  business being planned by her residence. The company had some other things that they  needed to deal with before they can move forward with their project

Prior Meeting Minutes

A motion to approve the October 9, 2024, regular council meeting minutes was made by  Friedrich, seconded by Carlock. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 5:0. 

Treasurer's Report and Payment of Bills:

There was a problem with our printer so we were not able to cut any of the checks prior to  tonight's meeting. Sandy will print them and Mayor Jacob and Clerk Haro will come in  and sign them when they are ready. We do have the bills to review including the one to  Northland Grading in the amount of $1,602,876.93.  

Motion to approve the payment of bills including Northland Grading was made by Jacob and seconded by Friedrich. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 5:0. 

Old Business

Randolph Trailblazers 

Greta forwarded to us a License Agreement for the Trailblazers Snowmobile Club to use  for their snowmobile trail a 25 foot strip of land on the city property by the sanitary sewer  holding ponds. This has been approved by the state. The reason it is a license is so the city  can revoke it if it is not used properly. Friedrich made a motion to approve the License Agreement for Randolph Trailblazers  Snowmobile Club to use City Property for their trail, seconded by Price. All voting in  favor, none opposed, motion passed 5:0.  

Sewer Inspection Fee 

Clerk Haro talked to Mark the building inspector and he indicated his hourly fee is $100  and he thought it would take between 1 – 2 hours and would have to do another inspection  when the tanks are broken down or filled. It was asked what if they are done at the same  time so another inspection is not necessary. The city doesn't want to make money on this  so it would be just to pay Mark for his fee. $200 seems reasonable. Also it was asked if  he will be on site for the inspection or will he allow photographs. He will be onsite for  these inspections. There were a few that have already been inspected and they were told  there will be a fee that they will need to pay once it is established. We should invite Mark  to a meeting in December or January to discuss this further with him.  

New Business

Canvass Votes 

The mayor Marie Jacob received 176 votes with 30 write ins for a total of 206. 

Council members, Todd Carlock received 82, Jacob Friedrich received 190 and Randy  Ferguson received 133 with 6 write ins for a total of 411. 

Special election council member Tony Price received 200 with 1 write in for a total of 201.  Treasurer Sandy Nicolai received 222 for a total of 222.  

Clerk Haro made a motion to approved Resolution No. 24-12 regarding Canvassing the  2024 Municipal General Election Results, seconded by Mayor Jacob. All voting in favor,  none opposed, motion passed 5:0.  

Sewer Project 

The city wide water shut down went well with no issues. Everyone is off the temporary  water and dewatering is done for the season. Pipe installation is completed for 2024 and  the rest will be pushed to next year. Paving for the school will be done tomorrow and then  the east side on Friday all the way to 56 and then paving the city roads will be done next  week. They will also be working on driveways. This is weather permitting and will be  done by Thanksgiving as that is when the asphalt plant shuts down. The median over by  Duncan was removed per Dakota County. The concrete work wrapped up today and the  rest will be done next spring as it doesn't cure when it is cold. Because of some private  utility areas those areas will get gravel for the winter. They will keep working on top soil  while they can. 

Matt received some complaints about the speeding of some of the dump trucks in town so  he will discuss this with them. Signage will go back up but it depends on the weather for  the painting to get done on the roads.  

We are hopeful that we will not need dewatering done next year on Dickman. They just  pulled out last week so Matt is waiting on the final numbers but we may be over a little on  the amount for the dewatering.  

Every road will have pavement on it. There will be one layer on every road except the  county road which will have two layers and then every road will get another layer next  year.  

They were looking at doing the force main but with the weather they didn't want to make  a big mess. That wasn't a must to be done. They are ahead of schedule and they did all of  the optional items this year.  

It was noted that homeowners should be told if their sidewalk is not going to be paved  because of snow removal. Tell them we are done for the year for concrete but the work  will be done next year.  

Michael Morris the sewer operator asked if we could let him know if we are moving  forwarding with his company as he wants to start planning for services down the road and  we agreed that we will go with his company. Matt will work with Greta to get an agreement  drawn up for his services.  

Matt asked if the lead service line mailing went out. Clerk Haro indicated that she did mail them all out. The Department of Health has to have a record of every homeowners water  service line. They want to know what type of service line is on the public side and then on  the private side. Is it galvanized, lead, unknown or none of those (more or less cooper or  plastic)? With the sewer project we are going to find out what they are because of the  digging that is happening. This was due in August and since we didn't know what most  homeowners had, they indicated that the line was unknown. They haven't seen any lead.  If the house was built as 1985 or newer, then they were exempt from getting the letter that  was sent out.  

It was indicated that at the end of the project we will have a map that indicates where our  water mains and connections are located.  

Removal of Snow from Sidewalks 

We have increased the amount of sidewalks in town. Mayor Jacob copied the ordinance  regarding snow removal which states homeowners are responsible for shoveling. In the  past we have paid Otte's to plow them but they were not doing all of them. We need to get  on track and let the homeowners know they are responsible for shoveling their sidewalks.  We also need to enforce it. What if the sidewalk is not on their property but it was noted  that the right-of-way is part of their property. We need to make sure we have correct  property lines. We need to find out how much it will cost to plow them. The county will not plow them. If the homeowner does not take care of it, then we have to plow them and  then bill them for it. We should at least let homeowners know about the ordinance. We  will table this until next month and will check with Greta regarding the ordinance and if  we should post it so people are aware of it.  

Council Member Reports

Carlock asked about the restrooms. Marie has talked to three different contractors and no  one is getting back to her with a bid. We want to try to get a grant but we need an estimate  to proceed. We will keep moving forward on getting this completed.  

Jake noted he is concerned about doing the locates once the sewer project is completed.  Bryce does the water locates currently. It was noted that we should add sewer locates to  Bryce's duties. We should establish a scope of work for Bryce and invite him to the  meeting.  

It was noted that the hallway was painted as a community service project. We still need to  move the case in the meeting room to a different location and then the rest of the hallway  will be painted.  

Mayor Jacob received a complaint that a sidewalk was not being replaced. She told them  to come to a meeting to discuss it. It is a sidewalk that should be replaced but they will be  responsible for half of the cost when it is and if it is replaced.  

It was noted that Bryce finished flushing the hydrants except for 3 of them on Dawson due  to the road was all mud.  

Reed talked to Marie about the addition that was being planned for the fire hall and  indicated that the siren is on a pole that was supposed to be moved. Reed is waiting on  Dakota County to get back him on the cost to move it.  

Mr. Kelley discussed with Mayor Jacob about some land south of Chub Creek to purchase  from the Fergusons they were looking at for future use and asked about having water and  sewer services run to that property. It was noted that this would be a developers cost and  not a city cost.  

Adjournment

Motion to adjourn the meeting made by Friedrich, seconded by Carlock, the meeting was  adjourned at 8:32 p.m. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 5:0.