During the Ostrander City Council meeting on March 10, the council heard an annual audit report given by Andrew Forliti, representing Smith Schafer & Associates, Ltd. Council members in attendance included Stephanie Start, DJ Start, Vernon Thompson, Mayor Pam Kunert, and city clerk Wendy Brincks. Dan Hellerud was absent.
Forliti summarized that the audit resulted in an unmodified clean report, with no Minnesota legal compliance issues. Only a single audit is required, since Ostrander did not exceed $750,000 in federal expenditures in 2019.
Forliti pointed out that the city’s General Fund balance grew by roughly $55,000, since receipts totaled around $250,000 and disbursements were just under $200,000. The General Fund cash balance is now at 173% of disbursements.
General property taxes accounted for 67% of total governmental receipts. Forliti reported that debt payments are being made timely, and water and sewer rates are generating sufficient cash flow to cover operations and improve cash reserves.
There was significant discussion regarding the city’s plans to provide water for Croell’s upcoming highway project. It was pointed out that Croell expects to need about 50,000 gallons of water daily, during a 10-day span in early May. Brincks shared information provided by Brian Malm (Chief Engineer at Bolton & Menk), showing his opinion and recommendations, including, “I think it should be fine to allow Croell to use water for their concrete batch plant with some restrictions.” Included in Malm’s suggested restrictions were: maximum usage of 50,000 gallons per day; 20,000 gallons to be used between the hours of 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. to fill Croell storage tanks; at no time should the flow rate exceed 100 gpm (leaving 50 gpm capacity for domestic demand); Croell shall verify with city staff that water tower is full again by 7 a.m. each day.”
Jeremy Runkle said that Croell’s total expected usage during the project of roughly 500,000 gallons is approximately equivalent to a month’s average usage by the city of Ostrander. Council members shared their opinions regarding how best to charge Croell for this, and eventually voted to have the city attorney draft an agreement spelling out a price of $7,500.
Brincks brought up an item for discussion. She explained that some small cities have set up a system wherein citizens can pay municipal and utility bills with debit or credit cards, as well as ACH and e-checks. She summarized that it would only be worthwhile in Ostrander if at least 10% of households signed up for it. The council chose not to pursue setting up this payment option at this time.
The council approved City Wide Clean-Up, set for Saturday, May 2, 9 a.m. to noon. As in previous years, there will be various fees charged for certain items brought in. Questions can be directed to the city office.
Mayor Kunert brought up a concern related to the spread of the novel coronavirus. She stated that if any Ostrander residents are quarantined due to illness, she encouraged them to contact city hall if they need assistance in having essential grocery items or other needed supplies delivered to the home. Council members agreed that if such deliveries happen, the items could be left on the doorstep, so that delivery personnel wouldn’t be at risk.
Jeremy Runkle stated, “The alleys are going to need to be graded, as soon as they can be done. The council voted to approve this being done. He also said this spring’s Tornado Awareness drill is tentatively set for April 16, if weather allows. The next regular meeting of the city council will be Tuesday, April 7 at 6:30 p.m., in the community center. The public is welcome at all meetings, other than occasional special closed meetings.
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