The Ostrander City Council met on June 2, with all members present (Stephanie Start, Dan Hellerud, DJ Start, Vernon Thompson, Mayor Pam Kunert, and City Clerk Wendy Brincks). Brian Malm, of the engineering firm Bolton & Menk, spoke to the council about the ongoing infrastructure project.
Malm stated that the sewer and water portion of the project is being divided into two phases. He explained that, if the council concurs, “We would open bids on July 1. We would bring that to you at your July 7 meeting.” At that time, the council would be able to award the project to one of the bidders. Malm added that following that, “Probably the earliest they would start construction would be in August.” The council approved advertising for bids. Malm pointed out that the “Phase 2” portion of the project (including the water tower) would have an expected completion date of no later than August 2021.
Mayor Kunert asked Malm, “With Phase 1 and some of the things that are left, will they be coming up soon?” Malm replied, “That’s the other battle that I’m having with A-1 (A-1 Excavating).” He said that A-1 has a punch list of items to complete, but because they’ve had to bring in specialty contractors, the scheduling has been delayed.
Mayor Kunert asked, “When they put the lines in, in the first place, why did that have a problem?” Malm answered, “I’ll be very honest with you. I haven’t seen this much problem on a project in my entire career.” He added, “I’m not surprised at any of the individual problems… but I am surprised at the number of them.” Malm said the contract allows for some costs to be recouped if the project does not meet the expected completion date, and he said that is already the case.
The council discussed a building permit request from Verland Lange. At the council’s May meeting, the council had denied Lange’s request to bring in a 20’ x 8’ “shipping container” onto his property. Wendy Brinks said, “Verland is requesting that we look at his permit again. The reason being, he pointed out that there are already storage containers in Ostrander.” Lange gave a photo of the proposed storage container, so the council could see exactly what he was requesting.
Brincks went on, “The suggestion that I received from the city attorney would be to grant the permit, if you would like, for this one, and place a moratorium on storage units at this time, and not allow anyone else to place one.” She said this plan would “grandfather-in” Lange and the other two storage units that are already in the city. The council voted to approve this plan as suggested by the attorney.
The council discussed whether to allow outdoor seating at Susie’s Roadhouse and the Wolf’s Den, to help allow social distancing. The council voted to allow this. The council also approved a gambling license for the Lion’s Club, so they can continue to sell pull-tabs. The council also gave approval for the pull tabs to be sold outside during the current statewide restrictions.
Ann Keim addressed the city about annual decisions needed regarding the city’s insurance coverage. She included a mention, as in every year, the city could choose to waive the torte limit. But she explained, “Based on your risk and your city, I wouldn’t recommend it at this point.” After brief discussion, the council voted to take her suggestion, and left everything “as is” for 2021 regarding the city’s insurance.
Brincks brought up a concern from a homeowner on Minnesota Street, who complained about the house at 421 Minnesota Street. Brincks stated, “The house, as we all know, has a tree growning out of the roof.” She explained that the complainant said shingles and other debris have blown onto her property. Brincks shared that, “It will be county-foreclosed and sold September 2021. Prior to that, there is nothing the city can do. We cannot touch the property, we can only mow it.” She said the only other option is if the city attorney would petition a judge for an order of condemnation, and Brincks noted that is “a very long process.” No action was taken at this time. It was mentioned that any liability at this time would be on the property owner.
The meeting agenda noted that citywide cleanup is set for June 20. Because of a severe storm approaching, the meeting was abruptly adjourned at 7:20 p.m. The next regular meeting of the city council will be Tuesday, July 7, at 6:30 p.m, in the community center. The public is welcome at all meetings, other than special closed meetings.
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