The September 10, 2018 meeting of the Garretson City Council met at the Henry G Fix #23 Legion Hall to accommodate a larger-than-usual audience, as the agenda for the meeting covered camper ordinances, straightening of an alleyway, sidewalks, road construction, and the 2019 budget.
The meeting started with the Pledge of Allegiance and the approval of the Consent Agenda, then Mayor Greg Beaner moved on to Committee Reports.
Leah Konechne of the Garretson Pool presented on the 2018 summer, beginning with a thank you to Anna Uhl, Craig Nussbaum, and Randy Megard for all their help this past summer. She reported that they had nine lifeguards, four that are now certified to give swimming lessons, were open 65 days over the course of the summer, and sold a total of 136 season passes (family and single passes were not separated). She stated that this was a good year with good turnout. Most days required four lifeguards to be on duty. Konechne also reported on the annual Pool Auction, which was held of August 1. She said sales were good, and the "rummage style" went over well, but due to the lack of an auction, people did not stay around as long as prior years, so food sales were down. The Pool Foundation is planning to bring back the auction for at least the pies for next year. The Back to School Swim night was successful. They also currently have put out the request for bids for a new metal roof for the pool shelter.
Next, the council moved on to a vote on the Comprehensive Plan that was laid out in the August 2018 meeting, which passed unanimously. Then Patrick Andrews of SECoG discussed the process of Zoning, which takes approximately 5-6 months, and is laid out in a style similar to how the Comprehensive Plan was developed. Andrews explained that moving forward with the Zoning portion is how the Comprehensive Plan is enacted. The council agreed to continue to meet once per month as the Planning and Zoning Committee prior to the regular council meeting, and invite Andrews to lead those meetings.
The council then addressed Resolution 2018-19, a request by the Residential Development Group to annex the land east of Sarah C Street. The approximately 10 acres were voted in unanimously.
Next on the agenda, Ordinance 640 had its first reading. The ordinance deals with camper and trailer parking around town. At August's meeting, the council had requested that City Finance Officer Anna Uhl look into other towns' ordinances. An ordinance had been brought up in 2016, but had been tabled. She discussed what the ordinance for Baltic and Brandon contained. The council agreed that the ordinance for Baltic would likely be best for Garretson. This one did not allow for front yard RV parking unless it was on a hard surface driveway. Back and side parking are allowed. A discussion ensued about what constituted a side yard and hard surface, as the council did not want to make the ordinance too burdensome. A suggestion was made (and quickly dismissed due to liability issues) about the City creating one spot for all RV and trailer parking. The council suggested that town members be given the option for giving feedback, and are encouraging interested parties to contact City Hall with ideas. The second reading and vote will occur at the October meeting.
The council then discussed the alleyway off of Canyon Avenue north of 5th Street. The discussion had begun at the July meeting, with a request to look into building on a lot north of the alley. Over time, the alley has moved north, encroaching on the northern lots. Chad Hanisch of Infrastructure Designs presented three options, all of which had pros and cons. Option one was to enforce the true alley, which would eliminate trees and parking, but would straighten the alley to its original land. Option two was to vacate 6th Street (still unconstructed) and establish the alley as mutual access, granting the "lost" land back to the lots on the north with what would have become 6th Street. This would create the alley as a private access drive, and require the lot owners both north and south to maintain it rather than the city. This option also cuts off the potential of future development north of 6th Street. The third option was to continue precendent, and not approve additional development on the northern lots until that street is constructed (the City currently requires the developer to be responsible for installing streets and utilities). A fourth, impromptu suggestion was for the southern lot owners to purchase the extra land from the northern lot owners, not vacate 6th Street, and the alley to stay as it currently is.
Two affected homeowners, Staci Peters and Susan Hoskins, were in attendance at the meeting, and voiced their concerns about each of the options. While they were potentially unwilling to buy the extra land as they had believed it was theirs when they purchased their properties, the fourth option had the least drawbacks and they were open to the possibility. The council opted to check with the City's lawyer and table the motion while all options were explored.
The council then moved on to the Ash Borer estimates. The August meeting had two estimates given to the council, and Tony Carver of Jurassic Arbor Care was following up on having at least the JC Sports Complex completed yet this fall. He estimated there was approximately two weeks left for fall treatment. The estimate for those trees was over $3,000, which the City did not currently have in its budget. Uhl stated that some money (approximately half) had been set aside in the 2019 budget for treatment. Council member Dave Bonte asked if the City should be considering a remove and replace option for most of the ash trees, especially in Splitrock Park, as the long-term costs for treatment are high ($25,000 every two years for ten years, then every five years for the life of the trees). Carver explained that fully-grown trees are more aesthetically pleasing, and a lot of them are currently being used for shade next to camping spots. The council opted to defer to the Parks Board for their recommendations and if treatment is to be pursued, for it to be done in the Spring.
Next on the agenda was an update on the road construction. Main Street was expected to begin by September 14, but the company was only planning on 2nd Street to 3rd Street, and then continuing down 3rd to Depot Ave. The company has a deadline of November 2nd to finish, and if regular snowfall occurs before then, the contract requires a temporary layer of asphalt to be laid for winter.
The council then quickly discussed the progress on the "No Jake break" signs that were ordered last spring, and Uhl explained that the City is still waiting on the South Dakota DOT, as they are the ones required to place them.
Next with regards to Water, Sewer, Streets was a continuing discussion of sidewalks. It is the City's goal to update the sidewalks throughout the entirety of town, and the council is working on creating a fund to finance these updates to help reduce the burden on homeowners. This fund will not only finance installing sidewalks where there currently are none, but will also finance replacement of sidewalks that have fallen into disrepair. This will help create continuity throughout town and ensure all sidewalks are up to national standards such as the Americans with Disabilities Act. At prior council meetings, it was suggested that research be completed on a frontage tax that would be part of the property tax. When asked about the other option, adding the fund to the water and utilities bill, Mayor Greg Beaner said, "[We believe] that frontage is the most fair. And I have a lot of frontage."
Uhl said the research completed found that the average homeowner in town has approximately 70 feet of frontage. Â The cost of a new sidewalk would be approximately $1.00-$1.60 per square foot, and a fund using a frontage tax would net the City $119,000 per year. Creation of the fund would require an ordinance, and the council gave Uhl the go ahead to create one for October's council meeting.
The council then asked Chad Hanisch if he had heard any further about the sidewalk on Dows, and he said he still hadn't heard any specific dates, but that it's still slated for 2018. The council was hopeful that it would be completed prior to November 1st.
In Water, the grant that was applied for this past spring to extend a larger line down 5th Street to the Industrial Park and the west side of Splitrock Creek was recommended for a vote, which was to occur on Thursday, Sept 13. No word as of press time whether that vote had passed.
The Capital Improvement Project (CIP) was next on the agenda, and Hanisch stated that he was developing a list based off the recommendations and ideas he had received from the prior meeting and in the month since, creating estimates for cost. The next step will be to prioritize and itemize the projects and present that to the council. He stated he had received quite a bit of good input from community members.
The council then discussed the business of TIFs versus Rebates. TIFs were explained to the council at the June meeting and ran in the June 20, 2018 issue of the Gazette. TIFs are a tool to help local governments to improve their communities by capturing additional tax revenue, and provides incentives for businesses to enter or expand in the community without tapping into general funds. The council also wanted to explore the idea of Rebates, a project Canton, SD is doing, which offers a full rebate of City property taxes for a certain number of years to encourage development. The homeowner has to apply for the rebate as it is not given automatically. The council noted that a TIF is preferred by developers and disliked by county governments, and rebates are preferred by homeowners. Since Garretson needs to work hard to attract developers to town, the council was leaning toward creating a TIF. However, the council was unable to act at that meeting, as the land that requires the TIF was annexed in that evening, and law requires a minimum of 20 days after publication of the annexation before it is officially within City limits. The council did vote to create a letter of support for a TIF if it is requested officially by the Residential Development Group.
Next was the lease of Splitrock Park. Bruce Rekstad has successfully leased it for the past several years, and had applied for a modified lease for 2019-2021 (3 years) for the Park only, so the City could re-acquire and run a Visitor's Center out of the Bathhouse. The Parks Board put their full support behind the modified lease, and as no other interest had been expressed by other parties to lease the Park, it was granted to Rekstad.
After this, the budget was discussed. Uhl had been able to accommodate all requests for subsidies and budgets, such as the $40,000 requested by the Fire Department and $35,000 by the Ambulance. However, the vote on the budget was not without its hitches. A final roll call vote was 3 for and 3 against (Richelle Hofer, Jody Gloe, and Dave Bonte voted no), with the Mayor casting the final vote for approving the budget as recommended. When asked by Mayor Beaner before his vote as to why they were voting no, Hofer stated she wanted more discussion on it. Bonte and Gloe were not given a chance to reply as council member Bill Hoskins requested the vote continue to go foward. After some quick discussion about having a special meeting, it was decided that the budget could be malleable enough that it was not needed.
The council then voted to go into Executive Session and adjourned. The next meeting will be held at 6:30 pm on Monday, October 1 at City Hall. The Zoning meeting will occur before that at 5:30 pm.
