Continued from Part 1
The city then talked ordinances and resolutions. They had two first readings, a supplemental budget ordinance to tidy up end of year business, and a rezoning of some of the Paterson lots to commercial property. The city spoke with Steve Kirton about Ordinance 651. This was a first reading with no action taken, but they wanted to ask Kirton if he was okay with the rezoning of the property. He was fine with it. City maintenance officer Craig Nussbaum asked Kirton about maintenance of the driveway in question, as Kirton has plowed it in the past, and if he would continue to do so. Kirton said that this drive was actually a city street, but that he can work something out with the city about it.
The city then read and passed two resolutions on wastewater and drinking water. These are resolutions to apply for grant and state loans to support the water/sewer project from the state DNR, since the project has gone on longer than anticipated, and that work connected with it has gone into legal action. These resolutions were unanimously approved.
Next the city held forth discussion on a nuisance violation from Dan Bly. Bly had recently received a letter from the code enforcement officer Scott Dubbe about a violation of the nuisance ordinance because he had parked vehicles in his yard. Bly buys, repairs and sells cars as a hobby, not an official business. Bly said that all offending vehicles are registered properly. Bly parked them in his yard to make way for when city maintenance officer Craig Nussbaum plows the city streets after snowfall. Bly was upset, and felt he was not being treated fairly, and stated that if this was going to be enforced this way, he would discontinue this hobby of repairing and selling vehicles as a small side venture. Mayor Greg Beaner and the council were unsympathetic and quoted the ordinance, saying that vehicles must be parked on concrete or gravel and must be moved off city streets if they are on snow routes. When Bly objected that gravel would ruin his grass, Beaner responded that parking on grass would also do the same. Bly disagreed but said he would put the vehicles back on the street. Mayor Beaner said that the city hired a code enforcement officer to enforce the laws on the books with the goal of the general beatification and functionality of the community to improve. Councilman Bonte encouraged Bly to contact the code enforcer directly, as Dubbe leaves all the necessary contact information on each letter. The council made it clear that citizens who have received a nuisance violation letter should contact Dubbe first.
Next the city discussed tree trimming. City maintenance officer Craig Nussbaum requested adding a charge city-wide to offset the cost of tree trimming services. This provoked a lot of discussion, including audience participation. Everyone agreed that the current system, the city charging the homeowner in question for the service (and if that owner refused to pay, having it assessed on that person’s taxes), was not an ideal solution. Bruce Brown said that he felt it would be unfair for people who don’t have trees in their yard to pay for tree service for those who do. Mayor Beaner said that he understood that, but he also didn’t wish to burden older residents with the cost and physically dangerous work of tree trimming. Garrick Moritz said that he’s happily trimmed his own trees in the past, but that sometimes a tree (like one he has in his own front yard) is so large and tall that it’s impossible to trim without specialized equipment. Rather than the cost of hiring a tree trimmer, he said he would happily pay the city to get the job done to the specifications of their ordinance. More discussion ensued and a compromise was reached. Nussbaum would generate a list of properties needing the service and the City would present homeowners the option of trimming themselves by a certain date, or by action or inaction, opt in to the city’s contracted tree service for a flat fee.
The next item up for discussion was whether or not to camera all of the sewer lines in the city of Garretson. Because of all the problems that have been found as water/sewer repairs and improvements have been made, Nussbaum and Mayor Beaner felt that all pipes should be photographed by camera, establishing precedent that everything be mapped out with supporting video feed going forward. They discussed this with engineer Chad Hanisch, and the consensus around the table was that for all future projects, there will be a camera in play to map out sewer lines.
The next item Nussbaum brought up to the council was load limits for city streets. He said that the SD DoT would be coming through Garretson frequently during this next summer as they are building up and resurfacing a large project on highway 11. They had called him to ask what the city load limits were. Garretson has no load limits in place, and Nussbaum suggested that perhaps this should be changed, and very soon.
It’s well known that commercial trucking also frequently uses Garretson and the state and county roads surrounding it as a backdoor corridor to avoid the SD/MN border crossing on I-90. Also, several trash services licensed to haul garbage out of Garretson have never had to contend with load limits either. The council discussed this at some length and agreed that it’s probably past time that the city enacted some common-sense load limit restrictions. They asked Nussbaum to make them a realistic appraisal of the roads and city streets in question and get back to them by the next meeting so they could put it through the approval process.
The council then set a special meeting for Dec. 16 to take on end of the year business, then approved several annual contract renewals; the Helpline contract, the contract with the Sioux Falls Humane Society, and the Minnehaha County Sheriff.
The council then had an executive session. After the executive session the council voted to amend the contract with the Rekstad’s to require online camping registration beginning for the 2020 season and to set up a dual control system allowing the city to verify information as needed. The parks board says that reliable tracking of visitors into the park is required if the city or the parks board wishes to apply for grants. This motion passed unanimously. A video security system will also be installed this summer to help keep track of numbers and to reduce vandalism and thefts in the park.
After this vote, councilman Hoskins made a motion to adjourn. Godbey seconded the motion, and this vote was passed 4 to 2, with Councilwomen Hofer and Gloe voting nay. Though it was not explicitly said why they wished the meeting to continue, we can make an educated inference. Likely, Hofer and Gloe wanted to vote on approving Christmas bonuses to city personnel. This has been a divisive issue at the city council annually for several years, even though the city’s policy handbook requires that these bonuses be paid to city employees as part of their annual employment benefit. This has the potential for the city to violate its own rules of operation if not approved. This will likely come up again at their special meeting, which will take place on Monday, Dec. 16 at 6:30 p.m. at city hall.
The next monthly meeting of the City Council will be held on Monday, January 14 at 6:30 p.m. at the Legion, a week later than usual due to vacations.
