The July 1, 2019 meeting of the Garretson City Council focused mainly on the installation of the new sidewalks on the southeast area of 3rd Street and contentions for the handling of ordinance violations. However, there was also an update on the 5th Street bridge project and water extension project. The meeting was called to order with the Pledge of Allegiance and an update on natural gas prices, which were down to 80.48 cents per gallon. All council members were in attendance.
The council continued with an update from the Garretson Parks Advisory Committee (GPAC, formerly Parks Board), who invited the council to the Bench Dedication Ceremony to be held on July 6 prior to the Legion 100th Anniversary celebration events. None of the benches had been placed yet due to weather and contractor timelines, but GPAC was planning to have all benches showcased by the bathhouse for the ceremony. Council member Jodi Gloe wanted to extend her praises to the council for the work the GPAC does.
“The board has done a great job,” she said. “You don’t even know how much they do, so much extra [work] than other boards.”
Next, the council addressed ordinances and resolutions, beginning with a request from Mike Meinders to operate a locksmith business out of his home at 511 Essex St. The mayor noted that the majority of the business was to be operated out of his trailer, but the home would be used for bookkeeping. The council approved the resolution unanimously.
Then they went over Ordinances 642-645, which was solidifying different building and maintenance codes. This was an extension of the Planning & Zoning Committee, and was solidifying codes that Garretson had been following but hadn’t put in writing as of yet. They were looking to pass the ordinances on the recommendation of the municipal league and the building inspector, but council member Greg Franka questioned the line on limitation of authority and what it meant. No one in the council was able to sufficiently explain the meaning, despite attempts by council members Richelle Hofer and Dave Bonte, and members Franka and Tom Godbey requested that City Finance Officer Anna Uhl clarify it with the city attorney prior to passing the ordinances. A call for a vote caused all four ordinances to fail over the misunderstanding and the unknown meaning behind the legalese contained within.
Code Enforcement Violations Addressed
The council then moved on to new business, beginning with the introduction of the new code enforcement officer, Scott Dubbe, who was taking over from James Wipf, who had been introduced to the council in May.
Mayor Greg Beaner requested that Dubbe begin with an update on the number of properties that had been notified of code violations and properties that had been addressed. While Dubbe did not give a final number, he did note that his current intentions were to follow up on some violations that Wipf had been working with. He said he realized there had been a prior lack of consistency on follow up with violations, and was doing his best to work with property owners prior to enforcing the ordinances.
Dubbe then outlined his process, which begins with spotting a violation. When he does, he documents it with photos and sends a letter.
He does list out the issues and gives a 14-day notice for violations to be addressed. At the end of those 14 days, he re-assesses the issue. If work is being done or if he is contacted, he does factor that in to his follow up. However, if no progress is made or if not enough progress is made within a reasonable time frame, he does reach out to a contractor to have the issue taken care of.
With regards to violations that require removal of items from the property, council member Godbey questioned if the property owner was encouraged to be in attendance when the contractor has to remove “junked” items, and Dubbe responded in the negative. Council member Franka then suggested that perhaps it was in the contractor’s and Dubbe’s best interests to have a full log of items taken from the property upon removal to ensure that non-junked items were not taken.
Later during the public comments, Garretson resident Chris Lynde would bring up this very issue, and stated that certain items of value had been removed from his property during the contractor’s clean up, including kayak paddles and Rainbow Play System pieces, and that wood that wasn’t violating ordinances in his opinion was removed, while a junk tire in his boulevard wasn’t touched. While the Mayor noted that the wood was in violation and that the city was not personally picking on Lynde, and Dubbe said the paddles were not in photographs or in the initial list of items to be taken, the council again encouraged Dubbe and the contractor, All Seasons, to keep a full log of items taken to help protect them from accusations of stealing.
Groceries for Cars
The council’s next item was a suggestion by Dubbe about a new program that was pioneered and successful in Hot Springs, called “Groceries for Cars.” With this incentive program, junked or inoperable vehicles would be signed over to the City by the title owner, and the owner would receive a gift certificate for Garretson bucks that could be used at any participating business in town. This program could reduce the number of sitting vehicles within city limits. The mayor wondered if the council was interested in starting this program if guidelines, such as proof of residency, a 90% complete vehicle requirement, and proof of ownership to the vehicle, were instituted.
The council suggested that they table the matter until Nordstrom’s Automotive had been contacted, as they would likely be the contractor to receive the vehicles and tow them. At the special meeting held on July 8, the council agreed to move ahead with the program as long as Nordstrom’s agreed to participate and once the finer details were worked out.
As a final piece of the code enforcement portion of the council meeting, council member Hofer asked Dubbe whether there were any pieces or ordinances that the city needed to tighten up. She noted that they had just recently tightened up vehicle parking as an example. Dubbe responded that code enforcement was an area that has lots of moving parts, and that he would address them as they came along. Each violation is unique, and requires a slightly different approach each time.
3rd St Rollercoaster
Next for the council, they addressed the sidewalk that had recently been installed on the east end of 3rd Street. The final product on the south side of the street had brought multiple complaints by residents to the city, and the council wanted to address it with the engineer for the project. Cole Gebhart of Sayre Associates, the lead engineer for the streets project, spoke with the council.
“The properties [on that side of the street] stairstep,” Gebhart said. That, combined with the grade of the street, required grades for ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) guidelines, following setback ordinances, and jogging the sidewalk in a few places to keep some old-growth trees, caused the sidewalk to look like, in the most basic terms from the council, “a roller coaster.”
The only way it could have been avoided, per City Maintenance Supervisor Craig Nussbaum, would have been to remove driveways and grade all of the front lawns from the house down to the street all along the block. This could have potentially caused further issues with flooding, erosion, and the cost of replacement of each of those front lawns. Sayre Associates felt this type of sidewalk was the only way to properly address each of these issues.
Third Street resident Denise Schmidt spoke during the public comment time, and was concerned for the safety of those who would now utilize the sidewalk as a glorified obstacle course. “I can see someone heading down it and right into my front yard,” she said. “They should have gone straight instead of around trees. It wouldn’t have made as many people mad. I didn’t realize it was going to jog around trees, there could have been a better way to do it. Right now, it looks like a snake and looks awful.”
Councilmember Hofer noted that it seemed the biggest issue was a lack of communication. “I feel like communication has been terrible,” she said. “[The council] wasn’t given a heads up about these things. We could have had a conversation about it, or communicate how to engineer around that. I see how driveways are in place and we have to take that into account, but talking about this in the planning phase would have helped.”
Councilmember Godbey also wondered why communication was an issue. “Could you have knocked on the door, have conversations with the residents?” he asked.
“I sympathize,” replied Gebhart. “Those properties were bought without a sidewalk.” He had noted earlier that taking driveways out was not an option. Garretson resident Jon Schmidt pointed out that the abstract for his property has a variation for a sidewalk, but that it was not followed when the sidewalk was installed on his property.
The council also asked about the steep grade in front of O So Good. The color of the cement is a visual effect to help those who are visually impaired, and the grade was a compromise at the request of restaurant owner Omar Thornton, to widen the flat area so that the restaurant could still have some limited seating out front. Gebhart admitted that the building owner had not been contacted prior to installation of the sidewalk after questioning by the council. The only other option was to create a step, as the grade would have been too steep to meet ADA guidelines regardless, even if the grade had started at the building.
Councilmember Hoskins then asked about the “unfinished” sidewalk at the east end of 3rd Street. It ends several feet from 486th Avenue, but doesn’t end at the side of driveways on each side of the street, it ends a few feet past. At this point, Doug Hoy, an engineer with Sayre Associates, stepped up to address the council.
“The highway has no crossings,” he said. “People end up directly on the highway if the sidewalk goes to the edge. It’s good to build upon later if the sidewalk continues alongside the road.” He did not address further why the sidewalks didn’t stop at the edge of the drives.
5th Street Bridge Project
At this point, the council moved on to an update by Vanessa Victor of Infrastructure Designs about the 5th Street bridge project. The need for construction on the bridge crossing Split Rock Creek had been brought to the council’s attention in December 2018, at which time Victor noted that the condition of the bridge, which was built in 1966 and had required very little maintenance up to this point, had deteriorated to a sufficiency rating of 51.4. In 2016, it had been rated an 81.9, so it was a very substantial drop in a very short period of time. In that meeting, the surveyors’ noted areas of needed improvements were the deck, finger joints, bearings, girders near the abutment, and erosion.
The city had acted immediately, applying for a SD state grant for rehabilitation of historical bridges. The bridge over 5th Street is one of only two left in the state of South Dakota that were made in this manner (the other bridge is in Redfield, SD), so Infrastructure Designs had thought this bridge was a good candidate. The grant was awarded for $780,000, of which the state will reimburse 80%. The total cost for the rehabilitation of the bridge is estimated to be approximately $807,500. This does mean a fairly hefty cost to the city, but as a full bridge replacement is estimated to be approximately $1.2 million, the City will experience quite a cost savings.
Unfortunately, the entire cost of rehabilitating the bridge will need to be fronted by the City. After all construction is completed, the City will then be able to request reimbursement. Victor assured the council that the turnaround for State grant payments is much, much faster than it is for FEMA (for which the City waited approximately three years to be reimbursed, incurring interest along the way).
The speed at which the application and awarding of the grant were completed “is a testament to the unique nature and the quality of the bridge,” said Victor. It is certainly worth investing in it.
Construction is expected to begin next year, she said. The DOT did flag it for a hydraulic analysis because riprap will be placed next to the water.
During the project, the decking will be grinded down and a new overlay laid over top; the finger joints that currently allow debris and salts to fall through will be replaced and retrofitted. Bearings, which allow the bridge to have some give when traffic drives over it, are currently severely rusted and at a critical stage, causing a weight limit of 16 tons for a single unit and 28 tons for a double unit to be posted. Those will all be replaced. Girders near the abutment will be treated for rust and the entire bridge will be repainted, and erosion near the berms and wingwalls will both be addressed and fixed.
While extensive, the rehabilitation project on the bridge will help it last at least another 50 years with only minimal maintenance.
The last bit of the meeting was for an update on the water lines that are being installed to the industrial park. Councilmember Bonte informed the council that Alliance Communications was interested in using one of the lines, so two pipes will cross Split Rock Creek on Highway 11. Everything else was otherwise going well for that project, despite some hiccups and unforeseen emergencies along the way. The contractor is still aiming for an October completion date.
The council then voted to go into Executive Session and adjourned. The next meeting will be held on Monday, August 5 at 6:30 pm at the Legion.
