Alice Pickering
Wyoming Area Reporter

The Wyoming City Council may re-advertise for street patching bids if an agreement with Bluhm Construction is not signed or work begun.

Action was taken Aug. 15 on the advice of Attorney Tom Miller. Polled, all five council members agreed to the action.

City Administrator Craig Mattson also agreed the job must be done right.

A bid to supply asphalt for street patching projects was awarded to Bluhm on June 20, but work has not started.

Mattson said that during the recent spell of hot weather would have been a good time to do the work because the asphalt would have bonded well.

As of Aug. 17, Bill Eisenmenger, public works supervisor, was to contact the contractor to set a start date within 10 days and complete the work within ten days; otherwise the contract is to be awarded to the next lowest bidder.

City crews will not be doing any of the preparation work, according to Mattson. In future, similar contracts will specify work is to begin within 30 days of awarding the bid and completed within 45 days.

The bid was in the amount of $24,743.80. Eisenmenger has targeted 18 different street-sections for the work. The street capital improvement fund has enough to cover these repairs for this year. There was about $6000 difference in the bid accepted and the next higher one.

During the public forum, resident Jean Will asked for clarification about council action taken at earlier meetings. She thought a sign permit for Stars and Strikes had been denied. Mattson told Will that no permit has been denied, because owners have not yet applied for one.

Council member Tom LaBarre commented that the business does want a pylon sign near the old highway.

The city is waiting the outcome of a pay equity study before making adjustments to Sandy Berryís pay in her position as interim city administrator. With the study completed there will be documentation to support any decisions the city makes, Mattson said.

Police topics

Will also had concern about action to advertise a job description for police chief. Referring to Acting Police Chief Scott Dexter, she said many departments, even in large cities, promote from within the department. Council member Blake Tiedeman told Will that the city wants to do a complete search and has an obligation to have a good pool of candidates from which to select a chief.

Dexter helped clarify his position by saying at this time in his career he is not interested in taking on the position (of police chief) permanently. With the changes coming to the city, including growth of the department, the chiefís position is changing more into an administrative one and he prefers to return to his job as Investigative Sergeant. Dexter is a 20-year employee of the department.

A brief history of the issue is that the recommendation to advertise the job description came from the personnel committee whose members are Administrator Mattson, Council member Ted Phillips, and Zerwas.

Mattson and Phillips on separate occasions said the committee recommendation was unanimous. This led to the motion on July 18 to advertise the job description, but which failed by a 2-2 vote. Job conflicts made it impossible for Phillips to attend the meeting. Mayor Sheldon Anderson and Tiedeman supported the motion, but LaBarre and Zerwas voted against it.

Feeling the need to take some action, Phillips and Tiedeman called the special meeting early the week of July 24. The July 31 meeting was early at Andersonís request and LaBarre could not attend. Zerwas missed the notification. The police chief job description and salary range was approved by a 3-0 vote, with Anderson, Phillips and Tiedeman in attendance.

Will thought the way the special meeting was called was inappropriate. Zerwas thinks Dexter was pushed out of consideration for the job. ìI donít want to be connected to the decision,î he said.

PUD OKíd

Council approved the preliminary plat for Gables on the Sunrise River, a planned unit development.

There are some special conditions for the development, including a longer cul-de-sac of 1100 feet, and reduced set-backs for some side yards and some front yards. Miller recommended that the out lots be owned by the homeowners association, rather than partitioned to individual owners. Approval was unanimous.

On the recommendation of the planning commission the council also approved the preliminary plat for Diamond Ridge.

The area is 55 acres at the end of 261st Street on the west side of the city. Only six lots are being developed at this time. Approval was unanimous.

A separate motion related to this development was the approval of reduced front setback requirements on four of the lots, from 40 feet to 30 feet. The reason is wetlands in the back of the lots. The vote was 5-0.

Although absent from the council meeting Aug. 15, Engineer Mark Erichson provided updates of items in his written report. Cleaning the lead from the shooting range and sludge in the sewage treatment ponds is the responsibility of the city. Erichson asked permission to advertise for bids soon to get this work done. The goal is to have this done soon to complete the decommissioning of the treatment ponds, then close on the property sale by the end of 2007.

Erichson is waiting for small final details of the storm-water management plans from Fairview. Skylar Meadows has submitted final construction plans for review. Final review, approval of construction plans, and final development agreement are needed for Katieís Glen contractor to begin construction.

The council passed several other resolutions as consent agenda items among these, appointment of election judges for the Sept. 12 primary and Nov. 7 general elections. These are Sandy Berry, Theresa Brenberg, Marlene English, Linda Josephson, Joni Liledahl, Robb Linwood, Diane Mason, Phil Moser Lille Preston and Maureen Wolhaupter.

Council authorized Mattson to sign the cooperative purchasing agreement with the State of Minnesota, with the option to renew annually for up to five years with the signing.

Payment of annual dues to the Minnesota Association of Small Cities, in the amount of $1513 was also approved. Wyomingís population is 3752 so the base rate is $200 plus 3752 ($.35) or $1313.

Fred Weckís building inspector report included the status of construction at Fairview Lakes Medical Center expansion which completed footing and foundations and nearly completed underground plumbing.

A temporary certificate of occupancy has been issued for Stars and Strikes. Water and sewer connect charges are in an escrow account until a legal decision is made about whether these are appropriate for the business.

According to Millerís report, Wyoming has received $500,000 reimbursements from Polaris as part of the MIF grant and load process and, the $56,000 payment from Chisago City relating to the joint sewer agreement with Chisago City and is likely entitled to some tax abatement amount (which depends on the agreement itself). Miller is working with Mattson and consultants to determine if there will be a funding shortfall and how to address this.

Two city council seats and the office of mayor are up for election Nov. 7. Council members serve four-year terms. The term of mayor is two years. Candidates may file for office beginning August 29 through 4:30 pm, September 12.

Other business

In other business, council:

ïLearned from Erichson that the cost to prepare the pavement management plan is to be given to Mattson soon.

ïLearned the study of the existing sewer system which was recently authorized by the council should be completed by mid- to late September.

ïLearned Erichson will have a recommendation about the Railroad Ave. Lift Station Generator by the Sept. 5 meeting. Once the bids are let, there will be a 10-12 week delivery for the generator. Site work includes concrete pad, gas and electric service which can be completed this fall. The generator is expected to be operational by the end of February 2007.

ïLearned a county permit to work on its property is required. Easement agreements are awaiting signatures being prepared for the work on the downtown drainage project.

ïLearned from Fire Chief Dennis Berry there were 23 emergency responses in July, 16 were medical emergencies, two were accidents, five were for fires.

Top of Page

Forest Lake Times
P.O. Box 218
880 SW 15 St.
Forest Lake, MN 55025
651-464-4601
Fax 651-464-4605