Rockford Town Council Minutes November 7, 2012

Town Council

November 7, 2012

7:00 p.m.

Mayor Micki Harnois brought the meeting to order.  Council members present:  Steve Meyer, Clint Stevenson, Thomas Smith and Dave Thompson.  Council member Jim Oshanick was absent.  Clerk Treasurer Darlene LaShaw and Public Works Operator John Goyke were also present.

Public Hearing

A Public Hearing was held to discuss the 2013 preliminary budget.  Darlene spoke briefly of the draft proposed budget.  With updated format there is a new format to the document.

 

Steve Meyer asked about funds for equipment.  Darlene explained the equipment/property reserve fund and how it had received its funds.

 

Alene Willmschen asked over all is the budget more or less than the year before.  Darlene noted that some funds are about the same others are less.

Ivan Willmschen asked about the Sheriff’s contract. Darlene explained the CJ (Criminal Justice) fund pays for $5,000.00 of the contract; the remaining is paid out of the CE (Current Expense)fund.

 

Thomas Smith asked if there were funds set for construction in the water funds.  Darlene explained she had set an amount of $30,000.00 for construction/maintenance.

 

With no more comments the Public Hearing was closed.

 

The council meeting resumed with all council members present at the public hearing being present at the council meeting.

 

Committee Reports

Thomas Smith reported he had reviewed the health insurance.  In his opinion he feels there should be no change in plans but he feels the employees should at least pay for the $57.00 plus increase to the rate for 2013.

 

Street Committee

Steve Meyer reported there was a lot of work done by the guys with the chipped asphalt.  Two streets did not receive asphalt - North and W. Lake.  There is only enough material left for patching.  This project opened up possible TIB (Transportation Improvement Board) funding on some streets.

 

Steve Meyer also spoke that the Town needs to think about looking into another grader.

 

Public Comment

Art Grewe asked if two loads of grindings could be placed in front of the Methodist Church.  Steve Meyer will talk to Shamrock to see if they could do something.  John mentioned the Town can’t get into that small of an area with the equipment it has.

 

Minutes

Thomas Smith made a motion to approve the minutes of the October 17, 2012 meeting.  Clint Stevenson seconded the motion, motion carried.

 

Steve Meyer made a motion to approve the minutes of the special meeting on October 19, 2012.  Dave Thompson seconded the motion, motion carried.

 

Checks

Clint Stevenson made a motion to approve checks 11703 – 11751 in the amount of $43,004.27.  Thomas Smith seconded the motion, motion carried.

Payroll  11707 – 11710, 11713 – 1722                                                  $  9,454.10

Claims              11703 – 11706, 11723 – 11751                                                  $33,550.17

Old Business

Steve Meyer and John Goyke still plan on going to look at a dump box for the plow truck.

 

New Business

Thomas Smith made a motion to approve Resolution 12-8R – 1% increase request on property tax.  Dave Thompson seconded the motion, motion carried.

 

Steve Meyer made a motion to approve Resolution 12-9R – 1% increase request on EMS levy.  Thomas Smith seconded the motion, motion carried.

 

A budget workshop will be held on November 28^th at 6:00 p.m. at Town Hall.

 

The second council meeting in November will be held on Tuesday November 20th at 6:30 p.m., due to Wednesday being the evening before Thanksgiving.

 

Micki Harnois announced Sunday at noon there will be a potluck at the Grange for Veteran’s Day.

 

On November 29th from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. a mobile food bank will be in Town parked in the park area.

 

Public Works

John Goyke spoke of his appreciation of all the volunteers who helped with the asphalt project.  He mentioned that more work was needed to be done.  The bigger pieces along the sides need to be picked up.

 

John thanked Ivan for selling his truck to him.  The truck has helped haul a lot of asphalt.

 

John reported that with the project the Town will not have to oil the streets.  The Town will have to drain areas that hold water.

 

Steve Meyer reported he had a 500 gallon fuel tank that the Town can have.  It could save on fuel.

 

John reported the back hoe needs maintenance. The Town will ask Randy Gambrel if he is interested in working on it and get an approximate cost.

 

Art Grewe asked about Jim Oshanick or his employees.  The Council decided at this time it is not an option.

 

Layne of JUB (J-U-B Engineers Inc. ) was present to update the council on the lagoon improvement project.  The contractor at the lagoon has the sludge and liner out and ready to regrade.

 

John reported that there are several holes in the liner.  The contractor said he would guarantee his welds but wouldn’t guarantee that there would be no leaks.  An electrostatic test would need to be done.

 

John also reported that prior to the start of this project he had clean tests from the underground water samples. Since then the tests with the holes in the liner have not come back clean.  Layne reported that he would be working with the contractors with these issues.

 

Layne further spoke of the CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) applications. One application for pond #2 and the one application for screening.  There will be language the Town will try to make some improvements on if some funding is offered, if not all that was requested can be given back.

 

Executive Session

Council was excused to executive session to discuss potential litigation.

 

After the executive session the council reconvened back into regular session.  No decisions were made.

 

Meeting adjourned.

___________________________         _________________ 

Darlene LaShaw Clerk/Treasurer          Micki Harnois Mayor