At the August 14 city council meeting, Harmony resident Cindy Berge asked the city to cover her bills that have accumulated due to the sewer backing up into her basement. She said that when the road and utility project was done on her street, the wrong size of pipe was installed to connect her sewer system with the city’s and as a result, it has needed to be augered out frequently and caused water damage in her basement. “This has been a total nightmare for me,” Berge stated.
She showed the council a picture taken during an augering by Drain-Rite from Rochester of the pipe in question showing that it was too small. The pipe was eventually removed by Al Torgerson and given to someone from the city maintenance department, although she wasn’t sure who. While the issue is now fixed, Berge has accumulated over $7,000 in bills and insurance deductibles for repairs to her basement and having her sewer line augered. She also maintained that due to the insurance claim, her home insurance rates would now be going up. “I think the city needs to pay the insurance company back,” she said.
It was pointed out that the contractor who installed the incorrect pipe size, A-1 Excavating, was actually hired by the county, not the city.
“Isn’t it their (A-1) responsibility to make this right?” council member Debbie Swenson asked. City maintenance director Chris Johnson agreed that it should be. Mayor Steve Donney felt that the project engineer was liable as well. “We hire an engineer to do things correctly,” he pointed out.
“No, I don’t think you should bear the cost of this,” Mayor Donney said to Berge. “I think it should go to A-1 and engineer to figure it out.”
City Admininistrator Jerome Illg noted that the city carries insurance for things like this so if the matter is turned over to the insurance company, they should be able to determine the responsible parties and have them pay Berge back for her bills. He asked Berge to make copies of all of her invoices for him to turn over to the city’s insurance company. She agreed to do so.
Another Harmony resident, Bruce Manhart, asked permission from the council to cut down the trees, one of which is dead, from the alleyway behind his house. He’s already asked his neighbors, and they are amenable to the project. The council was supportive of it, but asked him to wait for the decision after a public hearing at next month’s meeting to decide whether or not the city will vacate the alley. If they decide to vacate, Manhart will be responsible for the tree removal, otherwise it’s the city’s responsibility.
The Harmony Fire Department asked for the council’s approval for a fire pension increase from $900 per year of service to $950 per year. It was noted that no city contribution would be needed for the increase. Two of the council members had to abstain from voting because of a conflict of interest and another was absent so the request was tabled due to lack of a quorum.
Fillmore County sheriff candidate John DeGeorge addressed the council.
DeGeorge has spent his whole law enforcement career at the Fillmore County sheriff’s department, starting as a deputy in 1997 and working his way up to captain, which is the position he has held since 2008. “I think that gives me a very unique perspective on when we’ve been really good at things, and when we’ve struggled a little bit,” he said. A lesson that DeGeorge learned early on in his career was to “understand the community you’re supposed to be serving.” Because of that, he wants to make sure that if he is elected sheriff, he keeps the lines of communication open between the department and the cities in Fillmore County it serves. “I think we need leadership that fosters that.” Illg asked if DeGeorge had plans to make any changes in the city’s contract for deputies and was assured that the only changes DeGeorge would like to implement would be a more open conversation between the sheriff’s office and the city. Mayor Donney suggested setting up a committee of two or more council members to meet with the sheriff’s office quarterly or even once a year. Other members of the council were in agreement. “We might hear things around the community that you need to be aware are going on,” Swenson pointed out. DeGeorge felt that would be a good idea as well. “We need to make sure we’re working together.” The council thanked DeGeorge for stopping by the meeting.
A motion to bill the same for fire calls both within and outside of city limits was passed.
The next Harmony city council meeting will be on September 11 at 7 p.m.
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