Counsel updates council on legal matters

By Barbie Porter

Editor 

The Frazee City Council received quotes for replacing the heating, ventilation and air conditioning units in the city hall. 

During the monthly meeting on Monday, Nov. 15, Frazee City Administrator Jordin Roberts said three quotes were reviewed and the top two bids for a furnace replacement came from local businesses. Roberts said the lower bid of $11,890 offered a smaller furnace. She noted the company did not have a larger furnace.

Hanson’s Heating and Plumbing provided a bid with a furnace that had an adequate BTU for the building and was comparable to the current one, for the price of $12,730.

Roberts said the Hanson’s bid was accepted and the heating unit will be installed when it arrives.

The city attorney updated the council on legal matters. It was noted attempts to contact Michael Mercil, who received a loan from the EDA that has not been paid, have went unanswered. The attorney suggested moving forward and ending the response grace period.

Regarding the inadequate fill at the site where the EDA is building a new commercial building, the attorney said the county did not appear excited to join litigation against Boit Excavating. The company was hired to demolish the furniture store building  and place fill, according to bid specs. Allegedly, the work was not done to specifications of the bid document. The attorney suggested sending Boit Excavating a letter. 

The council was also recommended moving forward requiring a property owned by the county to be demolished. The county recently acquired the residential property through a foreclosure. Prior to the foreclosure the council had taken steps to require the structure be torn down, as it had suffered substantial damage during a fire.

The Frazee City Council heard the police department give a report about the month of October. Police Chief Tyler Trieglaff stated the precinct fielded 111 calls in October. Of those, 36 were traffic related.

It was noted the department would also be discussing appropriate social media behavior with students in grades 7-9.

The Frazee Rescue responded to 24 calls in October with nine of those being in Frazee.

Nathan Matejka attended the meeting on behalf of the Frazee Fire Department. He stated a garage door is being fixed and tanker number nine had a leak in the tank, which was in the process of being fixed.

He noted that the current fire chief, Joe Nelson, would not be running for another term. Matejka said the new officers and chief would be elected at next month’s meeting.

The council learned two unused (and one being inoperable) fire trucks received two offers for purchase. The council directed the department to sell them and make sure the buyer knows it is their responsibility to haul them away.

Utilities Superintendent Larry Stephenson reported the water plant pumped 4.66 million gallons of water in October and 91 pounds of fluoride were added to the water supply.

At the treatment plant, Stephenson reported 2.52 million gallons were treated in October.

He also said  33/4 inches of precipitation was recorded in October.

In other news

• The council approved a resolution with  Minnesota Department of Transportation to pay for the city’s share of costs with utilities, lighting, ornamental fence, vehicular gate, ADA improvements, trail and pedestrian crosswalk flasher systems, as well as other associated construction with the State Highway 87 project.

• Approved paying Rice Lake Construction Group of Deerwood, Minn. the remaining funds for the water plant work.

• Approved a credit card policy requiring those who use a card to sign and acknowledge the rules of having a city credit card be signed and in place by Jan. 1. The council noted they would prefer each approved individual to have their own card, and no sharing of cards occurs. To allow that the current policy needed to be updated as it only affords department heads to possess a card.