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Minutes of Grand Forks City Council/Committee of the
Whole -Monday, August 13, 2007 - 5:30 p.m.___________

The city council of the city of Grand Forks sitting as the Committee of the Whole met in the council chambers in City Hall on Monday, August 13, 2007 at 5:30 p.m. with Mayor Brown presiding. Present at roll call were Council Members Brooks, Glassheim, Gershman, Christensen, Kreun - 5; absent: Council Member Bakken - 1.

Mayor Brown announced that anyone wishing to speak to any item may do so by being recognized, and that the meeting is being televised.

Mayor Brown commented on various items during the past week and upcoming events:
He reminded everyone in the Near Northside Neighborhood that there is a neighborhood meeting tomorrow at the Wilder School Gym at 7:00 p.m., that this meeting is part of the Mayor's Urban Neighbor Initiative of the MUNI Program and would encourage everyone to attend
This is the last week to get your pictures in for the 2008 city calendar photo contest, this year's theme is Our City Works, entries can be about anything that shows people working together in any activity that makes Grand Forks a better place to live, all entries must be received by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, and for more information, please call Public Information Center.
He thanked everyone who took part in the National Night Out last Tuesday, great event that brings awareness to crime prevention to our community.
This past weekend had the 20th Annual Cats Incredible Catfish Tournament and winning team caught nearly 70 lbs. of catfish, and also had a Half Marathon and a 5-K Run Walk. There were over 130 participants running and walking on the greenway in both Grand Forks and East Grand Forks. This weekend had the Chili Cook-off and that his team were the Bikers and is the second or third year they have won the showmanship award.

AMEND AGENDA

Mayor Brown stated there is an item that needs to be placed on the agenda and need to change the agenda to allow that, the additional item is re. lease of property at 6802 Gateway Drive to Wag N Train. It was moved by Council Member Brooks to amend the agenda and to include this item on the agenda, seconded by Council Member Kreun. Carried 5 votes affirmative. Mayor Brown stated this item is included as item 2.21 on the agenda.

DISCUSSION ITEMS

2.1 Ordinance amending Section 24-0104 of the Grand Forks City Code relating to powers of the Grand Forks Growth Fund, a Jobs Development Authority_____
There were no comments.

2.2 Skate Park relocation - land lease to Park District.
Council Member Gershman stated that he hoped that the Park District would consider
putting in concrete type of skate board park, which is built into the ground and is permanent and lot more attractive for the young kids, and suggested asking them to look at that.

2.3 Create special assessment district for Project No. 6180, Dist. 297, Watermain on1500 block of 16th Ave.N. Circle.___________________________________
There were no comments.

COUNCIL MEMBER McNAMARA REPORTED PRESENT

2.4 Create special assessment district for Project No. 5150.2, Dist. 409.2
Storm sewer on S. 38th St. (36th Ave.S. to Southend Drainway).______
There were no comments.

2.5 Create special assessment district for Project No. 6151, Dist. 457, Sanitary
Sewer on 1400 and 1500 blocks of N. 42nd St., on 4200-4400 blocks of 16th
Ave.N. and 1500 block of 16th Ave.N. Circle.__________________________
There were no comments.

2.6 Create special assessment district for Project No. 5488.2, Dist. 418.2, Sanitary Sewer 1100 and 1200 blocks of 47th Ave.S._________________________________________
There were no comments.

2.7 Create special assessment district for Project No. 5702.1, Dist. 607.1, paving 40th Ave.S. (S. 20th St. to Ruemmele Road).____________________________________
There were no comments.

2.8 Change Order #2 for Project No. 5727, Columbia Road Overpass Repairs.
There were no comments.

2.9 Bids for construction of Project No. 6171, Landscape Enhancements on Highway 2 east of N. 55th Street. ____________________________________________________
There were no comments.

2.10 Change Order #1 for Project No. 6072, Concrete Street Repair, Construct a Yard Waste Collection Site at 608 47th Ave.S.___________________________________
There were no comments.

2.11 Agreement with Grand Forks Park District to operate and maintain Riverside Park and Kannowski Park._____________________________________________________
There were no comments.

2.12 Budget amendment for Mosquito Fund, move 2007 budget from Special Revenue Fund 2160 to Enterprise Fund 5800. ______________________________________
There were no comments.

2.13 Substandard dwelling at 1109 1st Ave.N.
There were no comments.

2.14 Review of sanitary and abandoned property ordinance (Council Member
Gershman).____________________________________________________
Council Member Gershman stated in our community a lot of people have had .
complaints re. abandoned property, cars, etc. in neighbor's yards and that council members have
received numerous calls and would request that Mr. Duquette lead an administrative review of our procedures and ordinances to see if we need more teeth in them, and if procedures are correct so that we are communicating with the property owners who are in violation in writing rather than in phone calls so have paper trails, are we following up as quickly as can and doing everything we can to take care of these problems. He asked the Mayor if he would authorize Mr. Duquette to review that at either the Service/Safety Committee or the Committee of the Whole.

2.15 Tractor backhoe bids.
There were no comments.

2.16 Water Utility Drought Management and Demand Reduction Plan and draft ordinance._______________________________________________________
There were no comments.

2.17 Central Parking Ramp painting.
Council Member Gershman requested when doing the painting that they clean the bulbs
and the lenses on the lights, and when removing signs and to either replace with new signs or to clean signs. He asked if they are doing anything to clean up, paint and renovate the entryway, the staircase and elevator. Mayor Brown noted that they could look at energy efficient lighting sources as well as cleaning.

2.18 Request on behalf of City of Grand Forks for final approval of Replat of Lots 2 through 8 and the north 10 ft. of Lot 9, Blk. 1, Walchester Place Addn. (loc. in 1500 blk. of Walnut Street.)____________________________________________________
The city auditor noted that the recommendation is to table this matter for a month.

2.19 Request from Planning Dept. for preliminary approval of ordinance amending Section 18-0206 A-1 (Agricultural Preservation) and A-2 (Agricultural Urban Reserve) Dists. relating to creation of conditional use permits for regulation of application of agricultural waste/by-product and establishment of test sites.____
Council Member Gershman asked council members serving on the Planning & Zoning
Commission to explain why would we allow, after complaints by people in the community about the odor, sugar beet pulp and tails to be placed on land within our 4-mile jurisdiction that could possibly make the smell worse or add another smell.

Council Member Christensen explained that this is an experiment for one year, that there were people in the 4-mile jurisdiction that asked that we look at this, wouldn't be doing this but because of the 4-mile jurisdiction, and because there has been some conversation re. increasing utilization of our wastewater treatment facility because it was built for the second Simplot and is underused. He stated will be doing a quarter of land, and that went through Planning and Zoning Commission; that being user friendly to big employer on the East Side - that this community is much bigger than just the city of Grand Forks, that we have some capacity that East Grand Forks could use, and have to begin to work together to try to share to grow this area.

Council Member Kreun stated that years back did have a strong odor because of the way it was applied and over the years with Crystal Sugar and with the company that now has the application bid have developed more stringent and restrictive process. He stated that they looked at process that MN EPA's recommendation is and found out that it can be a soil amenity, that there is some land in this area that is enriched by this product and the way they cover it should reduce the smell to minimal and not going to be the way it was in the past, and shouldn't be any different than a farmer that has load of rotten potatoes and spreads them on his field. He stated that you can only grow certain crops on this land after it is applied and in term of crop rotation you have to space it and that is why going with the one year experiment to see if it works, can expand and would be amenity to the farmer and to the community.

Council Member Brooks stated this is an agricultural region, have fertilizer, sugar beets, potatoes and not only about the sugar beet fields, and we will work with them, that we worked with RDO, south end had some odor problems coming from American Crystal Sugar and on the north end we had some problems with potatoes, and thinks it is good plan and have good timeframe on it, but remember that it is not just one agricultural product, that we have several.

Council Member Gershman asked where the location is of this quarter section.

Vicky Johnson, R.J. Zavoral & Sons, contractor for American Crystal at land applications, and Steve Clausen, wastewater supervisor for American Crystal, were present. Mr. Clausen stated they were approached by Beau Bateman and Chris Greenberg, that they have some land within the 4-mile jurisdiction and requested that American Crystal apply pulp or tailings, that with the current regulations in Grand Forks were not allowed to do that and they asked if American Crystal could approach the City as their contractor pays the land owner for the right to apply pulp and tailings. He noted that he is also working with the Grand Forks City in getting some of their wastewater over to treatment in Grand Forks. It was noted location would be in area of 32nd Avenue South - west of Amtrak - regulations give number of feet where closest residents would be - 1,000 ft. if sits over the winter and hundred plus if covering it up right away.

Council Member Gershman stated his concern is that so much of what happens with the tails and the pulp is dependent upon the weather, and if it is weather related and give conditional use permit and luck of the draw for our city.

Council Member Kreun reported this has been done for x number of years with this technology, and if apply it in the wintertime a 1,000 ft. setback is there and doesn't smell in the wintertime and have ability to cover it in that timeframe, and if doing during summer or warmer period of time it is covered immediately, and from the experience in the past has worked quite well, not experimenting on process but only with the location and soil type, MN's Pollution Control Agency has long document and Mr. Gengler went through and rewrote the ordinance with Mr. Swanson and more stringent than what MN's is; that through process and education and type of application, feel confident it will work.

Council Member's Glassheim asked if Guideline 30 governs application and use. Brad Gengler, city planner, reported that Guideline 30 is taken from the ND State Law, state policies through the Health Department, that there are several things that will need to occur prior to the actual application of the materials, Crystal Sugar needs to have an approved nutrient management plan which is a part of the overall application process, and the intent of the ordinance is to allow by conditional use permit to apply this by-product on a one-time basis. Mr. Glassheim asked if this has been tried elsewhere, get information to council. Mr. Gengler stated they would get information for council.

It was noted that there were questions but no opposition by Planning & Zoning Commission, and no protests by property owners. Mr. Gengler stated that they are only dealing with the ordinance and not site specific and when the applicant applies for it, notification would go out to adjacent properties.

Council Member Christensen asked how many acres on the MN side are applied; Ms. Johnson stated they apply about 2200 acres within 15 to 20 miles of beet plant, don't always apply to the same property. Mr. Clausen stated that it isn't that they can't find enough land in MN, they can, didn't need to come to Grand Forks but the reason they are here is because some of the shareholders of American Crystal who have land within the 4-mile jurisdiction of Grand Forks asked them to do this. The conditional use permit is for one year and has to be renewed every year and could be stopped at any time or not allow to begin with; American Crystal has no desire ever to upset people with odor and have no intentions of having any odor coming off the land that they apply these tailings, have a video he could have brought, and will take a video if they are granted this one time conditional use permit for the council's viewing, don't want any issues - not odor issues or any issues.

Council Member Gershman stated he thought that they didn't have enough land and there was an issue over there, but the case is to allow farmers on this side of the river to make a profit on the tails and pulp; that this is about profit, nothing wrong with it, but what is the trade-off for the profit for our city when it is not necessary to accommodate business to be the good neighbor that was spoken to, that is our issue.

Council Member Glassheim stated that this has been applied to 2200 acres for some time and if we can get where it has been applied and have the Planning Department call random people who live near there and ask them some questions and what experience has been. Mr. Gengler will make note of that and get back to council.

2.20 Request from Tim Brown on behalf of Ag Park, LLC, for preliminary approval of Plat of Brown Corporation Second Addn. (loc. on Merrifield Road and S. 42nd St.)
There were no comments.

2.21 Grand Forks Flood Protection Project - Lease of property at 6802 Gateway Drive to
Wag N Train.____________________________________________________________
There were no comments.

3. INFORMATION ITEMS

3.1 Portfolio Management/Summary as of July 31, 2007.
Information only.

3.2 Statement of Changes in Cash Balances as of July 31, 2007.
Information only.

5. CITY ADMINISTRATOR COMMENTS
Rick Duquette, city administrator, reported that today he and Todd Feland were in conference with the Fargo city administrator and public works director re. their discussion at the Fargo commission tonight on a three-year option to take our garbage, had discussion at technical level today and that would be their discussion this evening and our recommendation back to council is to bring that item plus couple others to the service/safety committee for the committee to consider and then bring back to the council for their decision.

Council Member Christensen stated that it is a three-year contract, that there is some activity in Strabane Twp. and perhaps something is going to be approved at GF County, that in Minot took 15 months to approve their landfill, and need to start talking about decision making and process; that we know all the issues and will be hauling garbage to Fargo or Gwinner, that he has seen the reports and committee has picked 3 or 5 locations in the 4-mile jurisdiction - don't know cost or what the soil is like but do we have to put together a task force to get moving on this because if we decide to go in the 4-mile jurisdiction it is 18 or 24 months, and can't be spending another 6 to 12 months deciding if you are going to do that, and would like to get it done in 6 months and asked what can we do to get it done and make a decision to site the landfill or just haul for years.

Mr. Duquette stated they are going to continue to bring both an interim plan and a long term plan to the city council for decision and the process that they have been using is the service/safety committee, if the council feels that a task force is the way to go, that is fine but will continue to bring recommendations and ideas to the service/safety committee. Mr. Christensen asked when are they going to get the other options, and a complete briefing, publicly, so get options and make decisions. Mr. Duquette stated to find out the details in this option and then collate that and bring it forward. Mayor Brown stated we are in the information gathering process.

MAYOR AND COUNCIL MEMBER COMMENTS

1) Council Member Brooks stated he had an opportunity to speak to the Score Group, Service Core of Retired Executives, this past week, they do a tremendous amount of work for small businesses, business plans and young entrepreneurs and enjoyable hour hearing what they are doing.

He also noted that the Cats Incredible Tournament and a huge applause needs to go to Chamber of Commerce for the work they did, to the young professionals group that took over the Chili Cook-Off, and congratulations to the Mayor and his team for their win.

2) Council Member McNamara thanked Jim Schothorst from Public Health Dept. who took him around parts of the town, that citizens get frustrated with their neighbors collections, didn't know there were that many junkyards in town; that Public Health Dept. is more than willing to get out there to show them. Thanks to Jim and Todd for running him around.

3) Council Member Glassheim stated that there are approx. 8,000 to 10,000 dogs in town, and have sold 445 dog licenses; not a good record, that sale of dog licenses will be available at the Farmers Market from 9:00 a.m. to noon this coming Saturday, need a rabies vaccination certificate and a neutered or spayed certificate to get a license.

4) Council Member Christensen that would be a revenue source and that if license available at veterinarians with condition they make sure that they have licensed animals in their premises, try that, and refer that to their committee and perhaps garner some revenue for the dog park. He stated that he was coming on rather strong on the landfill but is expressing frustration of the community, that this is continuing and would like to bring it to a conclusion; that this has been going on too long and asked what is there left to study except what is cost per mile to ship it to Gwinner vs. Fargo vs. Strabane's and what is the tipping fee.

5) Council Member Kreun stated he agrees, that their committee is very close, and will keep at it.

ADJOURNMENT

It was moved by Council Member Gershman and seconded by Council Member Kreun that we adjourn. Carried 6 votes affirmative.

Respectfully submitted,


John M. Schmisek, City Auditor