by Dave DeMars
news@thenewsleaders.com
At the May 1 St. Joseph City Council meeting, council members heard from a disgruntled resident upset with how the city – in particular the city administrator – handled a shut-off and reconnection of his water service.
At the meeting, the council also voted to approve construction of a park shelter and heard good news from the auditor.
Mayor Rick Schultz had barely gaveled the meeting to order before St. Joseph resident Jeffrey Williams began to read a letter to the council in which he lodged a variety of accusations against St. Joseph City Administrator Judy Weyrens.
“I am writing this letter to not only re-establish my family’s good name, but also to point out the misconduct by city administrator Weyrens with how she handled the matter of our water disconnection,” said Williams in beginning his five pages of accusations.
In his public address to the council, Williams alleged Weyrens had violated the city’s code of conduct 209.02(b) and 209.02(e), and asked for a hearing by the city council under the provisions of ordinance 209.03. Williams claimed the city had violated amendments 5 and 14 of the U.S. Constitution, as well as Minnesota statute 325.021 and city ordinance 401.12.
Williams’ address to the council was in addition to a series of letters exchanged with city staff in reference to the disconnection of his water, which focused on how the matter of disconnection was handled and the dates of notification. Williams stated he has contacted the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office about the matter.
According to Williams, he has had a meeting with Mayor Schultz and council member Bob Loso on the matter. Williams is requesting a refund of the $100 reconnection fee charged for reconnection of his water.
Throughout the address, the council and administrator Weyrens listened politely, with Schultz interrupting only once to remind Williams of the five-minute time limit for addressing the council. Once Williams finished, the council took up other business.
In comments following the meeting, Weyrens said she felt the allegations were defamatory but she did not want to say more or to perpetuate the matter.
“I have never had such a personal attack taken at me for just doing my job,” Weyrens said. “We followed our policy and we try to be fair to everybody across the board.”
Millstream shelter
Replacing the Millstream Park shelter proved to be a contentious issue for the council. Paul Heinen, construction manager for R.A. Morton, appeared before the council and after a confusing discussion detailing whether to include a fireplace, HVAC system and some ceiling fans, the council settled on excluding the fireplace, but including the HVAC and the ceiling fans.
After that vote, the council considered whether to accept the bid to build the new Millstream Park shelter. But before the vote could be taken, council member Loso questioned whether the present building might not be repaired and whether the council had responsibly done its job.
“We’ve never looked at repairing the other building,” Loso said.
He suggested the council should consider whether spending $531,551 was necessary, or would it be wiser, he asked, to repair the current shelter-building for $50,000 or whatever the cost might be?
“Take a look at your own personal property,” Loso said. “If you have a small repair on the front of your house, would you tear down that house and build a brand new house?”
Loso wondered whether the council was being fiscally responsible.
“I know it’s half-cent sales-tax (money), and I know it’s burning a hole in some peoples’ pockets because it’s not directly out of the taxation process,” Loso said, “but I think we as a council have not done our duty to do our due diligence on serving the city and the constituents of this city.”
“I understand that,” said council member Dale Wick, “but we’ve got a recommendation from the Park Board and this has been two years since we started this process on this particular building . . . and now you’re bringing it up that we should be doing this?”
Wick went on to list some of the work that had been done by Park Board members that helped them reach the conclusion the best course of action was to build a new building.
“I don’t think it’s that we haven’t done our due diligence,” Wick said. “You may not agree with it, but we’ve done it.”
Loso remained steadfast in his conviction. Public Works Director Terry Thene weighed in on the condition of the building, saying currently the fireplace is falling apart, and it has never worked properly. He added there is some rotting in the building, the roll-up doors have reached their life expectancy, there are drainage issues that have been ongoing, and there is mold in the ceiling and cupboards that has to be scrubbed off in the spring.
Mayor Schultz seemed to waver. He acknowledged he had been in the building and had seen the rotted rafters. He wondered whether it was worth fixing and trying to make it better.
“I’m sure every building we have is repairable,” Schultz said, “but what I’m saying is that it’s a pole building that would require another – really, I think the best thing is to knock it down and start again.”
Schultz agreed $500,000 was a lot of money, and Loso said that cost was his major concern, and whether it was responsible to spend that kind of money for a building that is used very little in the winter. When the motion was called, the council split 3-2 in favor of proceeding with the building.
Council member Wick, Matt Killam and Troy Goracke for – Loso and Schultz against.
Audit
The council heard an audit presentation by Janel Bitzan of BerganKDV. Council members learned that aside from two areas dealing with segregation of duties and the police department’s ticket billing, the city functions in an exemplary manner. The two areas of concern are areas all small municipalities deal with primarily because of shortage of staff.
The council also learned actual revenues ($3.2 million) exceeded expected revenues ($2.9 million), that they had an increase in fund balance of $361,000 and that they ended the year with a positive fund balance of $2.4 million.
The council held two public hearings on approval of outdoor special events, one for the American Burger Bar scheduled to take place June 3 and another for Sal’s Bar to take place June 24. The council approved both events.
The council also heard from St. Joseph City Engineer Randy Sabart on the cost of alley improvements to Block 9 and Block 12. Sabart informed the council there would be some substantial cost savings over the initial preliminary cost estimates. Savings would equal nearly $63,000 for block 9 and $58,500 for block 12. The council accepted costs presented at the April 17 meeting as costs for alley improvements and set May 15 as the date for the special-hearing assessment.
The council heard reports from the Park Board and EDA before adjourning the meeting.
Paul Heinen, construction manager for R. A. Morton, presented information on bids for construction of a new park shelter in Millstream Park. The $500,000 price tag on the building led to some disagreement among council members.
The city council received some good news when auditor Janel Bitzan of BerganKDV surprised the council informing them they had a small increase in the fund balance for the year and ended the year in the black with a balance of $2.4 million.
Jeff Williams appeared before the St. Joseph City Council alleging he had been treated unfairly, and that his rights were violated. Williams’ complaint stemmed from a dispute over the charges for reconnection of his water and when he received the bills for those services. Williams has threatened legal action.
