Dec 13 council meeting

Only one council meeting in December. We had a couple issues of note that we talked about.

1st was the new streets of Bryan and Arthur. They are not going to open this winter. It appears there were a couple of problems with the construction. None horrible, but they are worthy of correction.

A couple of the storm water intakes have issues. I think 2 are built too high, leaving a rather large opening. One is severely tilted as well. Another issue is that a manhole cutout did not get the concrete poured around it correctly, leaving a gap. Another section of the street has a bit of a dip in it, which could lead to standing water. These are not going to get corrected this winter, so the street opening will have to wait. We still owe $50,000 on the project, and our engineer reports that the corrections will not cost that much, so we hope the contractor will be motivated to come repair the issues.

The next issue revolves around our water and wastewater treatment. Since our previous w/ww superintendent retired, we have contracted with a licensed operator to sign off on our water and wastewater reports with the DNR. While the person we hired, Nathan Hovick, is tending to all the day to day things in the city, he did not have his license for signing off on those yet (and neither did any of the applications we got for the position).

Nathan just got his wastewater certification, so we were able to cut $600 a month off our contracted rate. So that is good.

That leaves the water, and we had one or two different routes before us, that could save the city some money. Our Streets Dept head, Harold Hovick, has just received his water certification. That is good for the city in the long term, as we will have two people available to sign reports. We also can stop paying the contractor for signing off on the reports, so that will save us some money. However, in the interim, until Nathan gets his license, if we use Harold, I think it is the opinion of the majority of the council, that Harold is worthy of some extra compensation to serve as water superintendent. That has not yet been decided, but I'm guessing that may happen.

We also have the opportunity to get Nathan up to get his license more quickly, saving us contracted fees. Before Nathan can apply for his license, he needs to have 3 years on the job. However, if he has his associates degree, he can apply in 18 months. Nathan needs 23 or so more credit hours to finish his degree at DMACC. So the city council has agreed to do a tuition reimbursement for Nathan to finish his degree. This will allow Nathan to get his license about 18 months sooner, saving around $18000 in contracted fees, in exchange for about $4000 in costs.

The downside could be something similar to when Roland had its own police department, and we sent officers to the academy, and then they bolted for higher paying jobs as soon as they had their degree. I hope that is not the case here, and even if it is, as long as Nathan hangs around 5 months after getting his license, we will still be money ahead.

It is nice to see our city employees furthering their education, and gaining certifications. Both Harold and Nathan are doing it in the water/wastewater area, and Deneen has done so in the clerk area.

There really wasn't much more on the docket. We had a potluck Christmas party with the city employees, and members of RADC, and a bit of a going away party for former council member Erin Varley. Next council meeting is Jan 10.