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The City Council met as the Committee of the Whole on Monday, July 27, 2009 at 5:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers in City Hall with Vice President Glassheim presiding. Present: Council Members Bjerke, McNamara, Glassheim, Christensen, Bakken, Kreun - 6; Absent: Gerhsman - 1.

Vice President Glassheim made the following announcements:

1) The second Blues on the Red event was held this past Saturday and many people came out and enjoyed an evening of free music in Town Square. The last Blues on the Red concert is scheduled for August 22 and encouraged people to make plans to attend.

2) The Chamber of Commerce’s annual Cats Incredible Tournament will take place this weekend on the Red River. He noted that this year the Mayors of Grand Forks and East Grand Forks have declared a truce in their annual battle as part of the Beans on the Banks chilli cookoff and have decided to compete with the other fishermen to see who can snag the biggest catfish.

3) Welcome to the members of the FEMA National Council, of which Mayor Brown is a member, that will be meeting here this week at the Alerus Center. This will be an opportunity for us to share our experience and the mitigation efforts that were put in place in our community.


2.1 Application for abatement of 2008 taxes for Terrace Point, LLC, Grand Forks INREIT, LLC on Gordman’s property 3501 32nd Ave S.

John Herz, Deputy City Assessor, stated that information related to this appeal was included in the packet and that the recommendation is to deny the appeal. Kevin Ritterman, Dakota Commercial, was present on behalf of INREIT, LLC, the landlord, and stated that they had an independent study completed and contest the value established by the assessor’s office. He continued that the tenant of this property has full burden for meeting the tax levy and has expressed budgetary concern and we are starting to see a downturn in the retail sector, probably related to the economic struggles that have been occurring nationwide and do request that Council consider granting the appeal.

2.2 Appeal of denial of renewal of taxi driver’s license by Joanna Cunningham.

Kreun stated that this item was discussed at the Service Safety Committee meeting and individual was there and consensus of the committee was to uphold the suspension due to the considerably high volume of citations.

2.3 Resolution relating to financing of certain proposed Sanitation and Wastewater projects to be undertaken by the City, establishing compliance with reimbursement bond regulations under the internal revenue code.

Jerath stated that this is related to the upcoming utility bond sale and is a legal requirement and administrative matter per IRS regulation that the City make a declaration of its official intent to reimburse itself for such prior expenditures out of the proceeds of subsequently issued bonds within 60 days after payment of the expenditures.

2.4 Lease with Greater Grand Forks Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Christensen requested that this item be referred to the Finance Committee for discussion and that discussion will also include resolution of the use of remaining funds in the debt service account now that the bond is paid off as well as future use of the tax proceeds designated for the building. Jerath responded that the CVB will be making a presentation at the Work Session on August 5. Christensen suggested that perhaps at the Finance Committee could discuss questions and concerns that would be addressed at the work session and would be moving on Monday to have this item referred to the Finance Committee for discussion.

Bakken stated that he would also like to see discussed that the motor vehicle rental tax collected at the Airport goes to the CVB for their use, but not much support and marketing for the Airport from CVB.

Bjerke stated that he agrees with modifying section 5 regarding repairs and maintenance and if there are things that we see that should be done that it gets taken care of from the funds available for that purpose so that our asset is taken care of. Christensen stated that are some good suggestions and there are funds available and like to see discussion and decision on use. Kreun noted for the record that the CVB has been a good steward with maintenance and repairs of the building thus far and don’t have any reason to believe that they would not take care of it in the future.

2.5 Ordinance amending Section 3-0108 of the Grand Forks City Code relating to continuing education of municipal judge.

Christensen commented that this means that we will be paying for required continuing education not only for our full-time judge, but also for a part-time hourly paid alternate judge and means that while they could fulfill those education requirements in state, could also choose to go anywhere to fulfill the requirements and that wants everyone to be aware. Swanson responded that this ordinance will make the City Code consistent with State Code and not liable for the cost of the training, just any travel and subsistence.

2.6 Ordinance amending Section 9-0105 relating to interference with or obstructing public officers or employees.

There were no comments.

2.7 Ordinance relating to the technical code corrections amending Sections 2-1102(3), Section 8-0801, Section 10-0411, Section 13-1103, Section 13-1103.1 and Section 21-0106(20).

There were no comments.

2.8 Ordinance amending Section 6-0602 and 6-0603 of the Grand Forks City Code relating to civil service disciplinary actions.

There were no comments.


2.9 Ordinance prohibiting landing or takeoff of aircraft within city limits.

Swanson stated that discussion for this proposed ordinance generated from a promotion done by a car dealer along South Washington Street that was offering helicopter rides from his lot earlier this spring and safety concerns from residents, Council Persons, the State and other agencies related to the take off and landing of a helicopter in a densely populated area with high traffic area. He continued that historically Council has received and reviewed requests for similar events and granted permission when deemed safe. This ordinance would codify the past practice and put in place a penalty for violators.

Prof. Benjamin Trapnell and Prof. Joseph Vasek, who is also an aviation attorney, addressed the Council with some concerns that the proposed ordinance may affect the ability of UND Aerospace in their flight training program, in particular the UAV training major that is slated to begin this fall. Vasek distributed a handout detailing their legal concerns and stated that his legal opinion is that the City does not have jurisdiction to control the airspace and therefore, the proposed ordinance would violate law and only the FAA controls the airspace. Swanson responded that he had been advised by the General Counsel’s office of the FAA that the City should put in place an ordinance as drafted and intent is not to affect UND’s operations, but to put in place a process that others could use to hold events in the future.

Christensen agreed that the Council does not have an interest in adversely affecting UND’s operations and can include them specifically in the exemptions, but do want to put in place something that will keep events from happening at locations that are not safe and should an unpermitted event occur will have the basis to stop it. In regard to jurisdiction, Christensen stated that he feels Council should proceed with ordinance as advised by the FAA and if someone later is found in violation and wishes to challenge the ordinance have that ability, but not sure that they would be successful and in best interest of the citizens to proceed, but make sure that get exemptions in as appropriate to accommodate operations of UND.

Swanson expressed that any terminology that Trapnell or Vasek could provide to assist him in drafting the exclusion for UND would be appreciated and will work with them on further refining the definitions included in the ordinance.

Bakken commented that he agrees don’t want to hinder UND at all, but do get complaints from time to time about aircraft flying over the City and need to think of the citizens and work to address the complaints that they hear. Vasek responded that if any complaints related to any UND aircraft come in that Council should contact UND Aerospace and they will work to remedy the issues.

2.10 Ordinance relating to violation of local disaster or emergency orders.

There were no comments.

2.11 Change Order No. 1 for Project No. 6190, Red Lake Water Intake Demolition.

There were no comments.




2.12 Firm selection for energy audit.

Kreun stated that the firm recommended by Engineering for award of this project has worked with his employer in the past and potential may be there that they would do work as part of this project, and as such has sought clarification from Warcup on conflict of interest and since there is no pecuniary interest, there is no conflict, but want Council to be aware of the potential relationship.

Bjerke commented that wanted all to be aware that way the draft agreement is written, if the consultant comes back with a plan and Council decides not to proceed with the project there is a payment that will be due to the consultant for their work and want all to be aware that there is potential that there is a cost to this project and would also like information on what that potential cost could be. Rau responded that right now estimate doing 6-8 buildings and rate would be ten cents per square foot, so if 1 million square foot in buildings evaluated would be $100,000 cost to the City if we did not proceed with the plan. Kreun added that in this case will be obtaining information that we could use later even if don’t proceed at that time so we are getting something for our money.

Christensen stated that maybe his thought would be to select one or two buildings instead of six to eight and see how the process goes and if get useable information that we can act on and if do then expand and look at additional buildings and would like to see the agreement come with all the blanks completed so know exactly what we are agreeing to. He continued that at present we are working on 2010 budget and so question on how much would be able to proceed with if not included and perhaps look at the buildings where could benefit most. Rau responded that Mark Bucholz of ESG is present tonight to address any questions and main focus for this evening is to inform Council of the firm recommended for award of the contract and then once get concurrence will work on the details to bring back to Council.

Bucholz stated that his firm has been working with the City on preparing for this project for about 2 years and gave brief history of other projects undertaken including over 40 similar to what City is looking at for State Capitol Building, 9 buildings at UND, City of Dickinson and others. He stated that the preliminary agreement draft that was included tonight is just a snapshot and actual agreement that Council signs will be more detailed. He continued that the ten cents per square foot should be viewed as a buyout if the Council decides they do not want to be involved in a contract but thus far has not had a municipality or public type project not proceed as only get to this point if they find believe there would be significant savings and in this case anticipate $200,000 – 300,000 savings for the City per year. He continued that the funding for the implementation of this type of project was laid out by the legislators and cost gets rolled into the project and use the energy savings received to make the payments on the financing that funds the project. He added that their firm serves as a manager for the project and do stay vendor neutral and plan to deliver a final report in about 6 months. Glassheim asked whether if there were no energy saving to be found, would the City still be bound to the buy out if they did not proceed. Bucholz responded that the project is based on energy savings and relies on that to pay for any work recommended as part of the project.

Christensen asked whether the company was privately owned. Bucholz stated that they began as privately owned, but were now acquired by Honeywell and operate as an independent division of Honeywell, but in final documents will see that the guarantee of work will come from Honeywell. Christensen stated that he is interested to see the more detailed proposal and the buildings identified. Bucholz stated that initially they were looking heaviest at City Hall, Police, Central Fire and add some additional buildings. Christensen stated that he is curious about this study, and whether the changes will be valid for the 15 year proposed term of the payback given the rapid change in technology and would think a shorter term, perhaps 5 years would be more appropriate. Bucholz stated that could use other terms and there are some that have prepaid some of their improvements, just depends on decision made by governing body and funds available. Bakken commented that perhaps in determining the term, need to look at the building and proposed improvements and might be different depending on which you’re discussing.

2.13 Resolution regarding management of the Grand Forks Municipal Solid Waste Landfill, Permit No. 0347

There were no comments.

2.14 Affordable Infill Housing Program.

Christensen asked why if this did not sell we would not try to resell instead of giving the land away. Hoover stated that Habitat for Humanity is willing to pay the minimum $2,000 bid that was requested for the lot and there were no bids when this lot had been offered for private sale previously, that this is small lot and not attractive to some buyers, but would meet the needs of the upcoming Habitat project. He continued that Habitat for Humanity had previously submitted a proposal for development on this lot, but it was rejected as evaluation committee felt the proposal was incomplete, however when evaluation committee evaluated the project with the more complete information feel that it is appropriate and meets the standards for the Infill Program.

Dorette Kerian, 3319 Primrose Court, addressed the Council on behalf of Habitat for Humanity and provided drawings of the proposal to Council. She continued that this will be a women build project and invited Council to drive by 901 N 3rd which was the build project from last fall and see how great it looks. Glassheim commented that Habitat has done good work in community and completed about 20+ projects in the community and provide homes to needy families.

2.15 Renaissance Zone.

There were no comments.


7. Adjournment.

Motion by Council Member Bjerke, Second by Council Member McNamara to adjourn meeting at 6:45 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,


Saroj Jerath, CPA
Director of Finance and Administrative Services

SLL