A regular meeting of the Wykoff City Council was held on August 14. Members in attendance were: Mary Tjepkes, Rocky Vreeman, Mayor Al Williams, Clerk Becky Schmidt, Mary Sackett, and Richard Gleason. A large crowd of citizens was also in attendance.
Vreeman asked about the council meeting minutes, and why they are a synopsis rather than a full transcript. He said the council has not voted on making any permanent change to how the council minutes will be formatted. He also pointed out that although at a previous meeting the city attorney said he knows of no other cities using transcript minutes, it appears there are two such cities which are current clients of the attorney. Gleason suggested another option could be to continue using synopsis minutes, and posting the full audio recording of the meetings onto the city’s webspace. He said there is sufficient space to allow audio of the three most recent meetings to be on the webspace. The July 12 meeting audio recording is already posted there. Mayor Williams said this issue can be added to the agenda of the upcoming meeting so that a formal decision can be reached. The council approved the prior meeting minutes, with Vreeman voting no.
In reviewing the city’s bills, Vreeman asked why the city now has Caller ID. Schmidt answered, “So I can call people back who don’t leave a message.” Vreeman said he has seen a pattern of his calls not being answered unless he calls from a different phone. Mary Sackett asked, “Are you accusing her of not answering your phone calls?” Vreeman replied, “Yes.” Sackett asked, “Do you think it’s possible she could have been in the bathroom?” Schmidt rebutted, “I have never not answered the phone.” When asked who decided to add Caller ID, she replied, “I did, I guess. It’s a dollar a month.”
Citizen Jeremy Comstock addressed the council to ask about his previous concerns about how Schmidt’s position and wage were set. He asked that the council take action, and said that the way her wage was determined was a violation of open meeting law, and that, “Therefore, she’s been robbing from the city.” Schmidt shared copies of emails and letters, and read aloud from them to illustrate her point that her wage needed to be determined, and it was one day before payroll was due, so she emailed the council members, with three responding that they felt $18/hour was an appropriate wage, so that’s what has been implemented. She said if the open meeting law was violated, it was not intentional. She also read aloud portions of the law regarding alleged violations of the open meeting law, including the process for filing such a complaint if any citizen wishes to do so.
The council discussed the city’s upcoming “clean-up day,” and how best to coordinate that. Schmidt will check pricing of dumpsters as compared to garbage trucks, and the city selected September 9 as the date. The council and citizens discussed ongoing violations of the city’s “junk ordinance,” with citizens encouraging the council to enforce the ordinance, especially for longtime violations. The council will check with the city attorney to determine appropriate next steps.
The council opted to purchase a copy of the Minnesota Code Book (hard copy and CD) for a total cost of $955. It was pointed out that this will allow the city to update all of the city’s ordinances to assure they are “legally tested.” The city will be able to amend ordinances to “personalize” them to the city’s unique needs.
The council OK’d spending $3,000 for new boots for the fire department, as this will allow the city to apply for a grant from the DNR to pay for half of the expected $6,000 total cost. The council prepared to vote on filling a vacancy on the zoning board, with two candidates, but as the vote was about to occur, Shari Gartner spoke up to withdraw her name as a candidate. The council thus selected Shyanne Baker for the zoning board.
Next, the council discussed the current contract with Peopleservices to manage the city’s water plant. Rick Whitney explained it’s a five-year contract, but that he had granted the city a 90-day window in which to opt out, if the city wished to. With that deadline looming the council voted to continue with the contract (Vreeman voted no).
Schmidt brought up an option for the city to implement a “mobile text” system whereby citizens could be promptly notified of urgent situations such as power outages, water shut-offs, etc. She said recently, about 85% of citizens responded with their text or email details, indicating they would like to be added to such a system. The council voted to approve this.
Luann Hare was voted in as the new part-time office assistant, from among those who had applied. The council approved a Fall Fest liquor license for the Lions Club. The meeting adjourned about 9:45 p.m. The council’s next regular meeting will be Monday, September 11 at 7 p.m. The public is welcome.
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