At the March 27 Chatfield City Council meeting, City Clerk Joel Young discussed a proposal to update the city’s website to make it more appealing and user friendly. Councilor Paul Novotny was absent.
Vendor GovOffice Content Management System grew out of an initiative of the League of Minnesota Cities. The proposal to construct, maintain, and manage the city’s website will have first year fees of $3,095 and equal payments in year two and three. The total over three years will be $9,285. Young said the payment spread over three years helps to level the budget.
There was some discussion of other possible vendors. Young said he was open to looking more at others, but appreciated that GovOffice makes it simple on the entry level. A motion to upgrade using GovOffice was approved.
Utility billing after
unusual leak
Young described situations where a customer has a water leak at no fault of his/her own. For example, a seldom used toilet is left running for a few days after there was a house guest. In the case of this kind of unusual event, the newly adopted billing policy would allow the customer to be charged half of the excess plus his/her average usage. This relief would not apply to leaks where the customer makes no effort to avoid or solve the issue.
Other business in brief
• Robert Vogel, Preservation Planner, recommended and received approval to accept a proposal from Visual Communications, St. Paul, for design services for outdoor sign panels. In 2016 the city applied for and has now received a local government federal grant in the amount of $4,000 from the Department of the Interior for the downtown area for interpretive signs to explain historic properties to the public. There will be no cost to the city.
An application will be made for separate funding for fabrication and installation of a group of eight of these signs.
• Brian Burkholder, Public Works, was authorized to purchase a subscription with KorTerra to manage utility locates. He believes this will improve efficiency. The annual cost is a minimum of $1,200 or 7 cents per ticket, whichever is more. The annual cost will be shared equally between the Water and Wastewater Departments. The company will store the locate information for six years.
• The lowest of two quotes submitted was approved from Goetzinger Plumbing and Heating in the amount of $19,643.10 to replace heating units for both the swimming pool and the wading pool. The heater can be carried over and used in a future pool.
• A proposal from Paape Energy Systems to make repairs and improvements to the Thurber Building HVAC system was approved. In 2016 Dunham Associates did a study of the building’s systems. Young said the building has inconsistent temperature and climate control. The cost of the proposal from Paape is consistent with what has been budgeted. A total of $15,000 is budgeted annually for capital improvements for the Thurber Building.
• A rate increase to Ability Building Center (ABC) to $500 per week was approved for cleaning services in the Thurber Building. This is the first increase in five years.