Committee Minutes

MINUTES/PUBLIC SERVICE COMMITTEE
Monday, October 30, 2000 - 7:00 p.m.

Members present: Kreun, Hoff, Klave.

4. Matter of acquisition of property at 504 South 4th Street.
Jack Caldis stated he is moving out of town and is trying to sell his house, which is located across the street from the water treatment plant, that there were originally 9 houses on his block (from alley to S. 4th St.) that all of the houses are gone except his house and house at the other end of the block which was purchased by the City for the water plant expansion; that people interested in his property but question comes up relative to what will be done with vacant property in the block, and nobody has been able to give him an answer. He stated he can’t sell property the way it sits because of huge question marks and that’s why he proposed to the City to buy the land; that people concerned that something inappropriate could be put there; that the water plant has been great neighbor - that people only concerned about the empty lots.

Mr. Grotte stated the City doesn’t need the land for the raw water project or the flood protection project, that the City is using about a quarter of the block which is on the opposite corner of the same side of the street for the raw water intake drilling rig, that properties in the block were purchased because of clean up of flood damaged homes, and that he is not aware of what Urban Development has planned for that area, that he talked with Mr. O’Leary and he stated they have no need for the property either. It was noted that there was potential for Urban Development to utilize the property at some point in time. Mr. Grotte stated he would assume there would be some residential redevelopment at some point in time, and looking at possibility of moving some historic homes. It was also noted that the housing market is extremely soft and slow in town.

After further discussion it was suggested that they meet with Mr. Swanson whether they can or cannot do, and if it is under Urban Development guidelines or City’s and whether it’s flood related or project related impact, and determine those items.

Moved by Klave and Hoff to receive and file the letter and forward it to the city attorney’s office for appropriate answers that committee is seeking and that at a future date the homeowners be notified as to which committee will be addressing this - whether this committee or Urban Development. Motion carried. (Comm. only)

1. Applications for moving permits:
a) Peggy Sherven to move building from 101 Euclid Avenue to 1527 Chestnut Place
(residence and garage)
Bev Collings, Building /Zoning Administrator, reported that the City purchased the house which was rented and now sold; that Ms. Sherven purchased the house and plans to move it to 1527 Chestnut Place; that they inspected the house, some Code upgrades to be made but very minor, all property owners notified within 200 ft. and public hearing next week. Park District approved route to move the house. Moved by Klave and Hoff to approve the application, contingent upon public hearing. Motion carried.

2. A resolution requesting that the Army Corps of Engineers complete the flood protection system by 2004 and that the Federal Emergency Management Agency develop accurate flood rate insurance maps (firm) through land surveys on individual properties._______________
Moved by Hoff and Klave to adopt the resolution. Mr. Grasser stated that by doing this is going to put us on some tight timelines as far as public comments, items that we may be in disagreement or dispute with the Corps of Engineers are not going to have the ability to be run
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through multiple times through council and public input, and supports this because we need the protection and important to get the level of protection up as quickly as can. Motion carried.

3. Matter of bid for Greenway Clean-up Phase 1, Project No. 5172.
Mike Korman, CPS, Ltd. recommended award of bids for this project, that they received 10 bids, very competitive bids which range from $98,505 to $458,017.50, engineer’s estimate was $485,000. Low bidder was Gowan Construction; that they met with Gowan to make sure they had included all of the work in the plans and specs. in the bid proposal; and explained reasons why their bid was so much lower than others - 1) removal of concrete pavement, Gowan intends to recycle and use as road base material on other projects, 2) imported top soil, Gowan had another project where there was surplus top soil material that they can bring to this project, and project timing, completion date is July 1, 2001 and this will allow the contractor to remove the concrete pavement and de-commission utilities during the winter. He recommended that the bid be awarded to Gowan Construction, including both alternates, for $98,505.00. He stated that the committee should consider the EPA Section 319 funds for river restoration projects, 40% local share and 60% federal and if project awarded to Gowan there is approx. $37,400 that could be used as a local match for that fund. Klave and Hoff moved to accept the low bid of Gowan Construction, Inc. in the amount of $98,505.00.

Mr. Grotte stated they wouldn’t need anything in the motion re. Section 319 funds as they haven’t set up anything to utilize that fund, more of a point of information that amount of money is available to match their fund if they come through with a project. This is greenway betterments, part of the $5 million, so make committee aware of that’s what spending here; that it was planned to be $500,000 and significant savings. Committee asked for a running tally of betterments, including engineer’s estimate.

Upon call for the question the motion carried.

5. Matter of surplus property - garage at 1102 Lanark Avenue.
Mike Yavarow, engineer, stated the house at 1102 Lanark was in bad shape and separated house and garage, did not get any bids on the house and it will be on a demolition package with the Corps; that Easter Seals would like garage to move with one of the houses they have received. Klave and Hoff moved to declare the garage at 1102 Lanark surplus property and that the property be donated to Easter Seals. Motion carried.

Klave stated that there were several houses remaining in Lincoln Park area and asked what the status was. Mr. Yavarow stated there is a house in 500 block of Lincoln Drive and FEMA buyout has to be mitigated and planned to go to the Myra Museum; the house at 505 Maple was purchased and will be on demolition package going to the Corps this week; the houses at 1023 Lincoln, 502 and 506 Plum are being advertised for abatement and included in contract Urban Development has with Gowan Construction. That will take care of the low ones and will be up to Pakenham.

6. Matter of engineering agreements;
a) Geotechnical services during final design, Shannon & Wilson, Inc., Raw Water
Intake and Transmission Lines, Project No. 4769.
Mr. Yavarow reported that Shannon & Wilson completed analysis of the intake and geo-technical testing of the intake lines and now into next phase of the project - design phase of the intakes and the caissons and pre-selection of contractors; this proposal is to provide us with 2
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services and 2 specialties that are not available any place in the area - one is the sinking of the caissons 60’ in diameter 70 ft. deep, and the services for the horizontal directional drilling and this will carry us through the design phase, specification phase, pre-selection phase and the pre-bid. He stated that Greg Fischer who was project manager for our project is now the project manager for their new office in Denver which will be handling the project. Moved by Klave and Hoff to approve the engineering agreement with Shannon & Wilson, inc. for geotechnical services during final design, raw water intake and transmission lines in an amount not to exceed $41,964.00. Motion carried.

b) Construction Service Amendment, GFEG, Forcemain and Watermain Relocations,
Projects Nos. 4814 and 4816.
c) Construction Service Amendment, GFEG, Relocate Sanitary Lift Stations Nos. 1 and 5, Project Nos. 4809 and 4811.
Tom Hanson, WFW, asked these be held to the next meeting.

7. Matter of 2001 utility rate increases:
a) water c) stormwater
b) wastewater d) sanitation
Todd Feland, public works director, distributed copies of summary sheet of proposed 2001 utility rate structure outlining each of the increases that the individual resident will see and as was passed for the 2001 budget; and as part of the sanitation did add a 300 gal. container and would like to add into the mobile container size and add as a new rate in that table. He noted this matter is also included on the finance committee agenda and brought to this committee for review. It was noted that wastewater increases are for treatment plant and about 7% on the basic rate for some lift station rehab work that was done. That increases for water are for new water treatment plant; stormwater relates to southend drainway - City carrying some of the costs. He stated this will be put in ordinance form and brought to council. Klave moved a recommendation to the finance committee for approval. Hoff seconded the motion. Motion carried.

8. Matter of ordinance amendment, Sec. 15-0118(2) Charges; When Payable; Shutting Off Water. Mr. Feland reported this was also included on the finance committee agenda; that in reviewing the ordinance sections (A and B) are outdated and will be deleted, and increased the overtime shut-off fee to $45.00 which will cover City’s cost if send someone out after business hours (2 hours at time and a half). He noted that they did a survey of what other cities do and that information included - all cities very lenient compared to private industry. Hoff stated that anybody in a situation where can’t afford to pay their water bill and have the water shut off, he wouldn’t vote for an increase in turning water back on. Klave and Kreun moved a recommendation to the finance committee for approval. Motion carried; Hoff voted against the motion.

9. Matter of 2001 recycling agreements extension.
Mr. Feland reported that they have one year left of the current agreement with Vern’s Refuse Service, Inc. (Waste Management, Inc.) through the year 2001, that they are also looking at the recycling options with Burns & McDonnell relating to our landfill, etc. but probably want to extend
this contract to its final year, while in the following year decide how to proceed with recycling in the future, presumably under a new contract. He stated he included in his memo several recommended changes - that the cost of the containers be increased to cover actual cost. He stated that the recycling coordinator checked with the contractor and received information of recycling and pro-
cessors; and not a problem providing that information. He questioned whether committee would
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have a problem of extending it for one full year, that there’s no escape clause in the contract; and included a monthly report. It was noted that the monthly recycling report included multi-unit load report - and Hoff stated that with the “frat” houses you could encourage recycling by making monthly totals available to them - put them in competition with each other. It was suggested that an article could be run in the Mayor’s newsletter and generate some interest because our goal is 100% recycling.

Mr. Grasser suggested running the insurance provision by Mr. Swanson, whether increase insurance requirement. Kreun asked what we require of outside contractors to carry for a minimum of liability insurance on services that are provided to the City; and may want to look and standardize some of those services. Mr. Feland stated he would bring it up to Mr. Swanson.

Moved by Klave to receive and file information on 2001 recycling agreement extension and that it be forwarded to the city attorney and after corrections are made to be brought back to this committee at a later date for final action and to include 60 day escape clause. Motion carried. (Comm. only)

10. Matter of Sanitation Department service review
Mr. Feland reviewed memorandum: that Mr. Newman and staff provided costs to run particular pieces of equipment, calculation of what it’s costing us to provide certain collections (the extra collection and the building materials and chipping operation, and white goods collection); survey responses - that people satisfied with services and cost for what they are receiving - however, 75% thought it fair to charge an additional fee for anything outstanding, etc. and at the end of the document some points of discussion. He stated that their goal should be to separate as much inert material from baler, as that is a very high maintenance piece of mechanical equipment; and not to make it so prohibitive to get rid of inert materials that they start being dumped at various locations around town. He stated that residents are being charged for chipping services and white goods collection and they are willing to pay for those services as long as in line; and that curbside alley yard waste collection has been provided by the City for some time. He stated that citizens use the curbside grass pickup; and reduced the extra collection (things that won’t go in the container) to every other week so not requiring customers to call in and set up appointments; and have provided it as part of their basic rate. He stated they did some estimates on the cost of the curbside alley yard waste collection which is about $91,000 every other week, extra collection would be about $54,000/year. He stated they could go to a curbside yard waste extra collection on a demand response fee base system - different that what done currently; and that citizens want a drop-off site for garbage container - one site at Public Works Facility and second site is at baling facility as those are monitored on 6-day basis. Most communities that have a dump site do it on selective days and have it monitored. He stated they also summarized the survey that was done; and that the motion that the CIP committee made back in May did recommend looking at eliminating extra pickups for lawn and extra collections and moving to a fee based system for curb side recycling. He stated they were looking for some direction. He stated they are putting together their manual and asking committee for guidelines.

After discussion it was moved by Klave and Hoff to receive and file and leave it open for further review and bring back at a later date when final action is needed.

Mr. Feland stated they are planning to do the curb side grass pickup next year and that the way they have their collections configured cover through September, and are providing the extra
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collection service and that service is provided every other week and is part of the base fee; and that
if they are going to continue should do it on a date where people know it will be picked up (are doing it on a regular route). Mr. Newman stated they are getting about a truckload (3 ½ tons) each day and runs 5 days a week (takes half route each day); and are trying to keep the inert waste out of the containers so don’t have that going through the baling facility. He stated that grass has to be picked up every week; Kreun stated need to help train citizens to utilize the off-site locations and dump it themselves - save $90-100,00/year and use those fund for new equipment; that we need to spend money on capital improvements and if we can, without raising taxes and people do a little bit of work - Mr. Newman stated that if we didn’t provide the service would wind up with all the grass in the containers and end up baling it and don’t want to do that. He stated we have been providing that service for them for many years and should continue to provide it at this time. Committee stated they may have to charge for that fee and not provide service free of charge. Mr. Feland stated that at the end of this year and into next will be doing a cost of service and bring this back to committee, and look at alternative fee. It was also noted that most of the commercial grass people dump it in the bins that they have provided (fill bins and no room for residents to dump) and costing us money to empty those bins too; it was noted that some communities do not allow that, commercial grass businesses have to haul it to the landfill; or that commercial people bring to specific site. There was some discussion to distinguish some of the services provided in their base rates (curb side yard waste). Mr. Feland stated they will continue to provide their current services and if committee wishes and within next few months come back with a breakdown of their bill to show people what base rate covers ($8.90) or in the manual. He stated they are looking for a new site for the 47th Ave. S. site - possibly move to South Middle School parking lot. Information.

11. Resolution of the city council eliminating the mosquito control study committee.
Chairman Kreun stated this is an inactive committee and following through with what they did (will not affect count or spraying). Moved by Klave and Hoff to approve the resolution. Motion carried.

12. Matter of Change Orders for various projects:
a) Proj. 4654.466, Priority Sewer Repairs, C.O. No. 8
Mr. Grasser stated this is a final change order for Robert Gibb & Sons, Inc. (that after the flood did a contract for emergency repairs of sink holes, etc. and had a unit price contract in place to address those problems: original contract was $113,390 and did a change order to add $971,904.02; and a number of things they anticipated to do under a priority basis ended up shifting
to other contracts and don’t need to expend all of the contract and is a deduct to adjust all the unit prices to the final amounts and closes it out (deduct of $146,586.31). Moved by Klave and Hoff to approve the change order. Motion carried.

b) Proj. 4757.2, Mill & Overlay Downtown Streets, C.O. No. 2
Roger Grimsley, A/E, stated the project was funded 80% by Fed.Hwy. money, 20% by City of Grand Forks matching funds, contractor is Strata Corporation and construction completed as of September 30; change order is in amount of $19,454.76 non-participating funds for two additional blocks on Division Avenue that weren’t slated for milling and overlay and repair. He stated that the entire project came in approx. $88,000 under budget. Moved by Klave and Hoff to approve the change order. Motion carried.
c) Proj. 4854, Forcemain Replacement on Columbia Road from 17th to 24th Ave. S., C.O. No.5
Tom Hanson, WFW, reviewed change order - Molstad Excavating, Inc., contractor, $3,500.00, and stated that US West come in and put fiber optic cable where the trees needed to, and eventually
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they relocated it and we closed out the CDBG project, and have $2200 that would come out of Wastewater Capital Improvement funds for the work that was initially under contract, another $1300 would come out of that but the City would attempt to recoup those expenses from US West because that’s the cost of the additional storage and fertilizing and maintaining the trees until they could be planted as called for by the contract. Moved by Klave and Hoff to approve the change order in the amount of $3,500.00. Motion carried.

d) Proj. 4862, Storm Sewer Restoration Area 1, C.O. No. 4
Mr. Hanson stated this is spot on Belmont Road where there was a lead out of a manhole directly into the side of the storm sewer pipe which wasn’t going to work properly so put a saddle on top of it and built a manhole on top so could get pipe in at appropriate angle so better maintained and fits in more typical situation; $1700 addition. Moved by Klave and Hoff to approve the change order. Motion carried.

e) Proj. 4864, Storm Sewer Restoration Area 3, C.O. No. 3
Mr. Hanson stated these are series of small items, couple deducts, abandon piece of line; add more pipe because of condition of what was there, add more pipe in spot repairs, and 2 catch basins - total change order in the amount of $16,313.07; Molstad Excavating, Inc., contractor. Moved by Hoff and Klave to approve change order in the amount of $16,313.07. Motion carried.

Hoff excused.

f) Proj. 4973, Watermain Replacement, C.O. #1
Mr. Grasser reported this is a zero cost change order - ended up doing some re-routing of the original concept of the watermain, bored under RR property, running through committee because CDBG monies allocated to this project.; Wagner Construction, Inc., contractor. Moved by Klave and Kreun to approve the zero cost change order. Motion carried.

Hoff reported back.

13. Matter of Tapping Fees for various projects:
a) Proj. 4461, Sanitary Sewer along S. 42nd St. from 8th to 14th Ave.
Mr. Grasser stated this is a clean-up - that the project is created with a tapping fee and sometimes an assessment district in conjunction with it; the prices are presented before the project
is bid similar to what is done with a special assessment project, engineer’s report, estimate, etc. and once the project is bid they will put together an interim tapping fee in which they use estimated costs in case somebody wants to tie into it before the project is completely finaled out. That once the project is actually completed and all costs are known and tabulated, certify the final tapping fees, and that’s what is before you now; based on the sanitary sewer project on 42nd Street and in conjunction with all of the special arrangements that were done with the adjacent property owners in bringing the whole Alerus project together, and have the lots which are left to have tapping fees; they are calculated on a front foot basis with the exception of Lot 12 because of small frontages, and actually there isn’t any part of Lot 12 that fronts on 42nd Street so did some adjustments to that. He stated they are asking that those be certified, and noted that they do show depreciation as all of their underground utilities are depreciated over a 50-year life with no depreciation during the first 5 years, that’s to extend out the period of time in which they can recoup some of our capital investments, and think that’s appropriate given the typical life of most of the underground facilities. He stated that we would collect these tapping fees when someone takes a building permit
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for a specific lot. It was noted that the City owns Lot 12 and several others but majority of the lots are owned by Danks and McEnroe. He also noted that the City has been carrying tapping fees on so many projects that we have about $18 million in outstanding tapping fees. Moved by Klave and Hoff to approve the tapping fees on Project No. 4461. Motion carried.

b) Proj. 4626, Watermain along 32nd Ave. S. from 48th to 55th St.
c) Proj. 4625, Sanitary Sewer along 32nd Ave. S. from 48th to 55th St.
Mr. Grasser stated both of these are very similar to previous project - for sanitary and water and goes back to the Longview Fiber site for economic development reasons they needed a lot next to the RR track and city utilities, City ran utilities out to them in order to make provisions that if somebody else built and attached to those utilities, would have a recovery mechanism; that the City did pay for the Longview Fiber lot, they are figured on a front footage basis; and there is a provision that the City will waive tapping fees if it’s a primary sector business; and that was one of the negotiating items with the property owner that gave us the easement. Owners of the land are Bateman Farms, although the proposed Amazon site on the westerly edge on south side of the road is owned by the City, that there not been any building permits taken out on that site yet, and remain uncollected. Moved by Klave and Hoff to certify the tapping fees for Projects 4626 and 4615. Motion carried.

14. Proposed revised city council meeting procedures and approval process - review of proposed delegations to staff.____________ __________________________________
Mr. Grasser stated they need to be aware that during the working session they may need to anticipate taking some action, ie., special assessment districts, projects where have to advertise and doing bid awards. Chairman Kreun stated that it was left that if need to take action during working session can do that. There was some discussion relating to the holding of meetings on the first and third Mondays of each month, whether that was to be changed to Monday and Thursday with a week without a meeting and would allow more time to review information, etc. in order to make informed decision on that following Monday. There was discussion re. televising of meetings - that Monday is City business night. Committee stated that they are not here to entertain but to get business done, and that leave in this form and could be changed - this will be an evolving system. Several members of the committee stated they didn’t see what the push was on council to see that this be in place by December.

There was some discussion re. item at bottom of page 3 - utility line relocation agreements with no council action or appeal.

After further discussion it was moved by Klave and Hoff to adopt documents as dated October 23, 2000 and that the item re. utility line relocation include language to include appeal to city council as well as to administrative coordinator or mayor. Motion carried.

15. Matter of landfill update.
Mr. Feland stated they were asked to put some recycling information together, look at transportation costs to other landfills, cost to go to Turtle River site near Manvel, looking at other disposal methods which included composting related to wastewater treatment, and looking at the EIS at the Turtle River Township site, letters from the FAA and ND State Health Department and bring that information back to committee to help them make a decision. He stated they have not
received a letter from the Health Department related to our landfill extension but in verbal conversations they say it is in mail. He stated their initial goal was to come back to public service

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on November 13 with the EIS, study related to alternatives, etc, but Jay Fiedler cannot make that date and he would like to be here re. EIS discussion. Hoff stated he would like Don Ebertowski, Manvel, to be notified of this meeting; Mr. Feland stated they would do that. Klave suggested they have regular meeting on November 27 with special meeting on Tuesday, November 28 in the evening, with meeting open to all council members as well. Chairman Kreun stated this is to be informational meeting, with public hearing at following meeting. Hoff disagreed and that should have public hearing at the informational meeting; and moved that the meeting shall be completely open to public comment; motion died for lack of a second. Mr. Feland stated they would call a special public service committee meeting for Tuesday, November 28 at 7:00 p.m. in the council chambers; and that he will notify everyone tomorrow. Information.

16. Snow removal policy review.
Todd Feland and Mark Aubol reviewed snow removal policy/map; start with major streets and then work way into residential areas. Mr. Aubol stated there was a change they would like made - to eliminate starting of plowing with a snowfall of two (2) inches or more, and with department making decision when necessary. It was noted that driveways in residential areas cleaned on regular maintenance days, not during storm days.

Mr. Aubol stated they have problem with mail boxes, that they repair on average 30 to 40/year, and would like policy adopted by council stating that the City wouldn’t be liable for damage to mailboxes during snow event, that when pushing snow, the snow pushes up and damages the mailbox, Street Department puts up temporary mailboxes and in spring of year go back and repair. He stated there is some confusion as to requirements of the Post Office - that there is not limitation on any type of mailbox, seemed to say that comes down to the building codes and can dictate location of mailbox or whether community box; however, Klave stated that they’ve been informed curbside delivery only with mailbox to be so many inches off top of curb and so many inches back. It was also stated that if a mailbox is hit and knocked down (with mail in the box) what is the employee’s responsibility, liability (out in the County drivers are told not to touch the mailboxes). It was suggested that they get information from the Postmaster.

Mr. Aubol stated that they can’t plow to the curb because of the mailboxes (would like mailboxes on the right hand side of the driveway (when facing house) for plowing so don’t leave large amounts of snow in driveways); and noted that community mailboxes would be ideal situation. It was also noted that problems with lights, sprinkler systems, flower beds, etc. It was stated that the berm is public property and perhaps should be hold harmless agreements attached to permits when they build a house for the mailboxes. It was suggested that they discuss with the city attorney. Information.

Moved by Hoff and Klave to adjourn; meeting adjourned at 10:00 p.m.

Alice Fontaine, City Clerk
Dated: 10/31/00