April 13, 2021
Proposed- Not Adopted
Minutes of Wolverton City Council Meeting

Pursuant to due call and proper notice, a meeting of the City of Wolverton Council was held on April 13, 2021. The meeting was called to order by Nancy Olthoff at 6:15 P.M. Council members present: Geoff Zibell(remote), Luke Kratzer and Lisa Pool.

Absent: Jessi
Also Present: John Kappes and Wilkin County Sheriff Rick Fielder

Presentation:
a. Rick with Wilkin County Sheriff – 51 calls down to 39 – went up $240.81 due to raise in deputy pay
i. Got list of calls
ii. Update to contract – exclude ordinance issues
iii. Paid annual contract
Minutes:
a. Nancy was absent-update the last minutes as such
b. Zoom meetings must be posted ahead of time for public to attend, if zoom it should be recorded
c. Lisa Pool moved to accept the March 2021 minutes. It was seconded by Luke and carried, all in favor.
Bills & Claims:
a. Make sure the minutes are updated monthly on the website if they are not being updated, Geoff will check on this.
b. Check on why report says Undeposited funds
c. Geoff Zibell moved to accept the bills & claims. It was seconded by Lisa and carried, all in favor.
Utilities:
Shutoff letters were sent on 04/06/2021.

Correspondence:
a. Turner Sand and Gravel contract – for the gravel price
iv. We have them blade in summer if needed – $92.50 an hour
v. Did not sign the permission of overweight as we have not in last years
b. Franchise for Polar vs. old Ordinance that is 25-year-old – First reading this month and second will take place next month and then be published in newspaper. New is 25 year as well.
c. If we need to add a repeal to the listed ordinances for phone add to reading for next month.
Engineer/Water/Sewer:
a. Working with MN rural water – will take apart hydrants, clean and put on new gaskets. Will help locate all curb stops
vi. The ~$300 yearly fee- we get fee consulting with this, as well as supplies and labor to fix hydrants, but we just pay for the parts
vii. Hammond – put in the hydrant last time and again this time and knew what was wrong with it right away this time
b. MN Dept of Health will be testing water every so often over next months
c. Thien well called last week to figure out status with well bill
d. Cleaning up garbage around town
e. Box blade is on
f. Would like to start cleaning up campground – where can we take the cement? Not to landfill, or river. Luke will talk to Turners if they want it, not with rebar usually but will check on it.
g. Well- Nancy did some checking and we need two quotes for $25,000 – $175,000. We can decide on an Engineer (as the Project Manager). But we already made a decision in the emergency so will not need quotes now.
i. Need to do a loan for the well? Use Houston or Moore?
1. Nancy to call Moore again to get more info, and Thein also
2. Don’t want to be into fall/cold again if there is a 90+ day lead time
ii. Grant money available? Filling of the old well – MN rural water was supposed to set us up on that and sent in the info for the Grant. Jessi filed that Grant application. We will follow up on the Grant application.
h. Sewer all fixed and reimbursed for this with insurance
i. Research when we did the sewer line under the river -When and how was the project done? Moore managed that and got the Bond for the full amount.
j. Picnic tables – John – Varnish these (all, the ones under shelter are bad also)
k. Someone smashed the wood from basketball hoop, hoop wrong shape now and just tips when touched
i. John will throw the hoop out
ii. Lisa will Investigate hoop cost/options, any grant options for it (non 501c3)
iii. John look if we have posts for tennis court
l. May 11 – clean-up day
Parks:
a. Town & Country softball – starting to meet again (others not us)
Streets:
a. Turners have not officially started yet. We will wait as it is early yet and don’t want to mess up the roads worse
b. Find out about the snow guys plans for next year. Three phone calls was not a good experience for him. Ended up getting the contract and John is the one to do the calling if it was more than John can do.
c. Keep eyes and ears open for other options of contracts for next year
d. We need to be more pro-active about the south end of town as we know that’s a worse area even when there is not a snow storm. Possibly consider snow fence for next year.
Mayor/City Clerk: No Report.

Planning Commission: No Report.

Office of Tourism: No Report.

Municipal Business Development: from the Wilkin Housing meeting
a. Lisa sent out the link to the article about it that holds much of the info
b. At that time, he said 15-20 days before Wilkin gets the $14M
c. All Wilkin Commissioners except John Green and no Tim Fox
d. SVEDA – Southern Valley Economic Development Authority
e. Similar to what he (Nate Berseth) explained before
f. Bring taxes in, even at a loss the taxes will help
g. Need housing, jobs, school – we’ve been dropping in pop and school enrollment while other communities outside of FM are growing
h. Asking for more or even the same amount of taxes from less population in town
i. Perhaps add to the city website that there is high-speed internet option in town as more are remote working and school
j. SVEDA buys
i. Land and general contractor for homes
ii. Needs Pre-construction appraisal
iii. Remodel/rehab
iv. Seniors staying example for 1st time home buyer
k. We need to Identify:
i. Available lots
ii. New area to grow
iii. Homes to rehab
iv. City to come up with a plan
l. Then talk to SVEDA and/or approval from Wilkin
i. Application, JPA approves, to Lawyers, to FM to confirm consistent with settlement
m. Speak up if we see things before coming on the market
n. Don’t want to flood market either so will not to a bunch at once
o. Economic Development is highest priority
p. Discussion-
q. Apartment rehab?
i. Can we put rules in place to help? No smoking
ii. Empty lots – need list
iii. Can Houston help with Grants?

New Business: None

Old Business:
a. Invite Houston and the three families affected by the levee.
b. Reviews still need to get done, review job descriptions and expectations for review. Nancy will get to this.

Motion to Adjourn: on April 13, 2021 by Geoff Zibell. It was seconded by Luke and carried, all in favor. Nancy Olthoff declared the meeting adjourned. The next Wolverton City Council Meeting will be Tuesday, May 11, 2021 at 6:15 pm.

Signed:
Nancy Olthoff, Mayor
Attest: Jessi Kappes, Clerk