All right, I'd like to call the regular city council meeting for May 27th, 2025 to order. We'll start with the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under
God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Start with the council protocol. The city council members are here to serve the city of peers. We expect respectful conduct at all times. Slander or inappropriate language will not be
tolerated. Please speak only when addressed, one person at a time. Each speaker has a five minute time limit. We thank you for your cooperation. We'll start with approval of minutes. Um, city c regular city
council meeting for May 12th, 2025. I'll make the motion. I'll second it. Motion made by Donnie, seconded by Gary. All those in favor? I I passed unanimously. Special city council
meeting May 19th, 2025. Make that motion. I'll second. Motion made by Gary, seconded by Sarah. All those in favor signify by standing I. I. I carried unanimously uh additions um or removals
of the agenda for tonight. I have three um adding chief of police for their update, parks department for their update, and then I do have a request in my update for the handrail. Okay.
Um we'll just start with um uh chief of police and parks right away. We'll get them on their way tonight and then we can follow up with Jared after that. So I'd need a approval of the agenda for this evening. I'll make the motion.
Second it. Motion made by Don, seconded by Gary. All those in favor? I I. Motion passed unanimously. We'll start with Chief Henkin. Good evening everybody. Good evening. It's been a while. Glad to be back.
Maybe All right, start out with just a little recap of calls of service to date. 394 to date that Piers has investigated or done some research on last year was 402. So again, it seems like we're always close to the ballpark we're every year.
So it's nothing grave either way. Healthy and living choices I did last my last class last week with Pioneer Elementary for all fifth graders. So that went well. was a great conversation reference to vapes, um, alcohol, making poor decisions. And then I've got the permit here that I can give to Laura for
walking wings. Walking wings is the Saturday before October Fest. LA last couple years it went over very well. Lots of people. Great event. So, I'm looking for a motion from the council to approve walking wings for 2025, August 23rd from 3 to 9. And it's unique this
year that Barb Treader, owner of Hillbilly or excuse me, of bootleggers, is the one that's sort of taking us over through her bar and the donations are all going back to the first responders. I'm not sure if it's fire first responders, but it's going back to the members of our local community, which I
think is absolutely great. So, I'd look for a motion reference to the walking wings permit, please. I'll make a motion to approve that permit. I'll second it. Motion. um made by Sarah to approve the walking wings permit for
August 23rd, seconded by Don. All those in favor? I I I. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. And then the other thing that I have for you is I received a phone call from assistant chief um John Ruby with Little Falls Police Department. We all know that Piers Freedom Fest is over at the
campground over at the fairgrounds this year and they're looking for resources to assist and it's Preston's weekend to work and I thought between the two of us we could split the 4-hour shift to assist with manpower at the fairgrounds and so we we won't leave peers vacant.
one of us will be here while the other one's there. But it's I know several that Morrison County is also helping them somehow on the backside to give them the extra support so it's safe. So I just look to see it get your support that we could send one of us there for
two or four hours just to help the venue over there. Any questions reference to that at all for me? No. No. I think as long as you guys can cover that. Yep. And the city the city won't be left behind either. I'll make sure that there's coverage here for sure. So, I'll just look for a motion on record that we
are approved to go that way per their request. I'll make that motion. I'll second. So, motion was made by Gary, seconded by Sarah um for the police department to assist with Freedom Fest this year. All those in favor? I I I don't have
anything else on my notes here. Is there any questions for me or the police department? Awesome. Thank you. Have a great evening. Thanks for everything you do. Brad Parks update. Good evening everybody. Um we'll start uh just give you a brief
update the old nine and the new nine. Um on the old nine we're keeping up best we can despite our recent changes. Uh but currently by my estimate we're about 90 man hours a week short comparatively to last year. Um we did have a very successful holiday. Uh lots of positive
feedback from the campers and the golfers. Um I'd like to thank all of the staff now to the golf course for their hard work, especially Jim Gross. Um his work in the campground, ensured that we had no hiccups for this big holiday weekend. Um moving to the new nine late last week, we were able to uh shape out
and cut 17 and 18 fairway. Brought that down to trim height. That uh leaves two stages for it to be regular fairway height. Um, thanks Gary Berg, uh, Parker Clar, Joel Polland. They all gave me some input on shaping that and good
feedback. Um, uh, the speed that we can continue to drop them is obviously weather dependent. When it gets too hot, um, not a good idea. We don't want to burn anything up. Um, and tomorrow I'm hoping to drop 14 and part of 13. That'll bring
them down to a final fairway height. Um, a concern was brought to my attention about glass uh, grass clippings piling up in the rough areas of the new nine. Um, with the wet weather, um, we only have one rough mower. Had a couple breakdowns. Wasn't able to mow in the rain. Gets long and
it piles up. Um, I'm not seeing any major damage out there to the rough turf. Um, and hopefully tomorrow is going to be dry enough that we can blow it off, clear it off, whatever we got to do to get rid of it. Um, is there any questions for me on the park end?
No. Good job. Thank you. Thanks for the update, Brad. Uh, moving on then to the 2024 street project, Jared. [Music] Good evening, uh, acting mayor and, uh, council. Um, thanks for having me on
tonight. Uh, as you mentioned, the first thing uh, I want to talk about tonight is is just the payment in front of you. Um, believe all you received it. Uh, came in a little late this last week, but I think you all have it. Uh, essentially, so this is a pay request
number eight. Uh total work certified to date is $1,993 $993,000 and $649.386. Um that's roughly 94.9% of the project. Um this pay
request is quite small. Um essentially it just covers the work that was done the week of May 8th when they came in here and did some concrete work. Um, so it's this pay request is for $2,000 and $2,645. Um, and so tonight we're asking
for your consideration to to approve this payout. So I'd be looking for a motion then to approve pay request number eight at $2,645. Make that motion. I'll second it. Motion was made
by Gary, seconded by Don. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed. Carried unanimously. Perfect. Thank you. Um and then a quick update on the project itself. Um last week the prime contractor was on site doing some
green space kind of a adjustments. So on like hydrant valves, uh curb stop cleanouts, stuff like that. Um and then end of this week, Thursday, Knife River will be on site to do their batuminous removals. So that there's a there's a
probably a two- foot wedge next to the curb. They'll be milling that off. And then they'll also be milling off the end of Peter and First North where we kind of paved through the intersection just per to help snow pong essentially through the through the winter. Um so
milling those intersections out and then paving a full final lift, you know, later next week. Um then also tomorrow or sorry Thursday's removals and then Friday we'll be repaving the driveways on Peter. Peter I think there's one on the alley that we have to do too as
well. Um then next week Wednesday no next week Monday will be back on site. They'll be raising the iron in the street. Um they'll be doing some top soil and seating touchup areas. Uh and then
removing the light pole bases over on on um first first on our alternate portion and then followed that by final lift paving Wednesday Thursday is the game plan. So that should pretty much wrap up the
project except for um there'll be some strip crosswalk striping either the following week or the following week after that. Um our final our final completion date is the 21st of June. I don't see any issues with that schedule of meeting that completion date. So, we should have a final probably pay up
coming to you guys to that depending on when they get everything wrapped up if it's if it's sooner than the 21st or not. Um, I can see us bringing the final pay up either to the last meeting in June or that first meeting in July. So, good. That's all I got. Unless any questions for me.
Anybody? No. Thanks, Jared. All right. Thank you. Thanks, Jared. Next on the agenda is the restructure of positions for the park complex. Laura, do you want to take that? I certainly can.
Um Parker actually came up with an idea of combining the superintendent and clubhouse director position. Um, after talking at our special meeting about it, we came up with a park complex operations director who would oversee
the clubhouse and the grounds crew. pretty much with that. It would mean changing um the current positions, the assistant and the maintenance technician out there
to a park complex lead maintenance technician, which would be for Jim Gross and then our park complex lead grounds technician, which would be for Brad Daylor. Um, with that there was conversation of
pay increases to where Parker would move to $32 an hour. Jim and Brad would both even out at $30 an hour. I think that's where our discussions at then. Well, I thought at our workshop that was set at 29.
It was discussed at 29. Yes. So, I guess we're bringing back to the table. Nobody's got anything else on that. Um because it did come back as they'd like to see 30. So, it it's
this is where it's getting discussed and talked about. So, does that mean then for the raises for 2026, they're getting them now and there will be no raise at 2026? That would be how I looked at it with and that's how they've been explained to me with Jim and Brad
because at that point I think we've got to be able to give our other employees, our other full-timers that are doing just as much work are going to get more than when it comes around for their raise more or they will get their raises. Well, they'll get the raise, but they should get a bigger raise than what
normally would be. These guys have already gotten a raise for 2025. Now, we're going to up them another couple of three dollars each and we're gonna let the rest of our full-time staff, which does just as much work, just as much hard work, and we're
not going to give them anything. I don't think we're arguing, Don, you know, the the work that our staff is doing. I do think that these guys are taking on more work. They've had to divide up what Zach was doing, which is in addition to what they were already doing. Well, but we
will be adding staff on that's going to take some of that ground crew staff potentially, but not the overseeing piece of it, you know, cuz in and when I when I view Parker, he's got a lot more
responsibility than $2 an hour more than the rest of those other two guys. So, when we had talked about 29, that gave it a $3 buffer. And we said, let's try that and let's go for a year and see what happens. Now all of a sudden it's almost like we're being held hostage saying, "Well, if we don't get
30, you know, we're not going to be happy." What happens to our full-timers that we have here when they say, "Boy, they just got $2.5 an hour. We didn't get nothing." But again, these other departments were not restructuring. This is a different situation in my opinion.
I know what you're saying. I do and I'm just I'm just voicing my my opinion on on the situation. So, yep. I I'll stop I'll drop it at that and let you guys decide where you want. I guess I'd like to, you know, have everybody else's
input. I do also want to add in there and Don, I actually I do appreciate everything you're saying. It does stay within the budget. That isn't something I stated right at the beginning, which I know is not what you're getting at, but I do want to state that is it. It's it's
tough to say we stay within a budget when we have somebody quit because we're just using his money to switch to move somewhere else. So that means when we hire somebody that goes out of his budget. So all of a sudden we use that whole thing up. So I don't want to say, "Oh, we're staying in budget because we
shouldn't be counting that that wage." Because if we hire, then every time we hire, we're going to say that has to come out of that wage and that wage will be used up and now we're out of budget. So it doesn't it isn't fair to say that. We're fine. Um, let the rest I' I've spoken. I
spoke my piece. Let the rest of the council speak their piece. Okay. What's your thought? What do you have? Go ahead. No, you go. You have It's It's a valid concern, you know, to that Donnie brought up. I I'm kind of
on board with Donnie. I But it is a restructure. I do agree with that. Um, it is a big boost. I'm conflicted with it as well. I don't have a good answer right now, but go ahead.
Okay. I'm curious to know how many more employees that might, you know, project that we might need to be able to run smoothly down there almost, if that makes sense. because I get where Donniey's coming
from having that big the salary or whatever number, but how many more employees, new employees, you know, the ratio of that to deplete that to do you know what I'm saying? To balance it. Mhm.
We're looking for one, I think, right now. Correct. currently looking for one. And I think the long-term plan, at least I would like to see, is instead of having so many part- timerrs that work 10 hours, 12 hours a week, that we've
got people down that are working 30 to 40 hours a week. So, you know, we're getting that would be nice. you know, instead of having 15 part- timerrs who only work 10 hours a week each, we want like two to three who would be willing to work 30 at least, you know, 20 to 30.
Well, then it's it's people that are, you know, they're scheduled to work, correct? You know, it's a it's a full-time job and they can do the whole realm of the duties, not just pieces out pieces of duties. Right. you know, will that happen this year to try year? Um, but I guess that's where
I'd like to see things head. I'd also like to mention that was it last year or the year before we did give Eric Gaffy a raise in the middle of the year because we considered he had gotten more
responsibilities. We didn't restructure or anything but we had decided that he had was getting more responsibility so he deserved a raise. I don't see there's why there's a big difference with this. They are getting more responsibilities. He's essentially doing the job of one
and a half people at this point. If you split Zach's job up into two. Well, we're splitting it to three because Parker's taking a lot of that responsibility on. He's not doing physical labor. He's doing the admin. that Zach was doing a lot of.
Correct. So, he wasn't spending all of his time on the course either. It's going it's going to be a big job for Parker and Bradley. You know, they're all taking up all the slack. And as far as I know, this is uh are we doing this on an interim basis? If it
doesn't work out this fall, we're going to go back to square one next. I think it's something that it's it's no different than anything we do. I think it's something at the end of the season, anytime you change something that's this big, right, we should be looking at it.
Did this work? Look at it and reassess it if needed. Yep. I think this just gives us the opportunity to grow in the directions we want to, right? you know, to really focus on in the marketing, um, not just, you know, the clubhouse things, the golf course things, the camping, having someone that's
overseeing all of that, um, but yet has his, you know, thumb on everything else that's going on out there, too, in terms of staff. Right. And the little bit of research I've done in the course I grew up on, this is how most of them operated was a the clubhouse manager was the the
big supervisor and they they oversaw pretty much everything. So less moving parts equals more consistency in my opinion. I I agree with all of that. I don't agree with we set the price at 29 and now we're going to be held hostage for
30. But that's fine. You want to vote on it? What do we have to do? Yeah. We need to approve the first of all, we need to approve the job descriptions um as laid out for the three different um
positions. So, I'd be looking for a motion for those. I'll make a motion to approve the job descriptions as laid out. Motion made by Sarah. Can I get a second? Make a second. Gary second in the motion. All those in
favor signify by stating I. I. I. I. Opposed. carried unanimously. Um, Laura, do you want us to do these separately or do you want them all in one? I think it's probably a good idea to do them separately. Okay. So, we'll start
with the parks complex operations director. I'd be looking for a motion um at to raise that to $32 an hour. I'll make that motion. I'll second that.
Motion made by Sarah, seconded by Don. All those in favor signify by stating I. I. I. I. Opposed. Care unanimously. Second one would be a motion for the park complex lead grounds
technician. And I'd be looking for a motion at $30 an hour. I'll make that motion. I'll second. Motion made by Gary, seconded by Sarah. All those in favor signify by stating I. I. I.
Opposed. Me. Done. Passed on a 321 vote. And then the last one would be the park complex lead grounds technician. I'd be looking for a motion u for that position at $30 an hour. Make that motion. I'll second. Motion made by
Gary, seconded by Sarah. All those in favor signify by stating I I I opposed. I passed on a 321 vote. Thanks everybody for the hard work on that. I know this hasn't been easy,
but I'm hoping we're headed in the right direction. Uh moving on to city administrator update. I do not actually have any updates. I do want to remind everyone that we do have a public hearing to
review our chicken ordinance on June 9th during our regular council meeting. Um, and then I have one motion for public works went to find us a handrail replacement proposal which I
had put in front of you. Um, we did receive a bid that he had discussed, I think we had emailed for fusion welding. They would do it for $4,950. This would replace the existing
handrail and step railing in front of the city hall. Um, that includes materials, fabrication, the welding, powder coating, transporting it here, and installing it. Um, we would be responsible though for removing the old
rails and um, repairing the concrete. And then just kind of a heads up, we've got spots in that rail where it's literally rusted across and it's it's a problem. So, I'll make the motion to accept the bid.
I'll second. Motion made by Don, seconded by Sarah. All those in favor signify by stating I. I. I. opposed. Carried unanimously. I'd like to add with that I did talk to um Eric Gaffki about possibly re-urposing the good
sections of that rail because it's not all bad. Um we've got some spots down I think at the park where we can replace some of the old wooden railing. Mhm. And um put it put metal in which is going to make it sturdier and better. So they'll
be looking at trying to do that also. Anything else, Laura? Nope. That was all I had. Council updates. None from me. I have anything? Nope. I don't either. I'll make a motion to adjurnn at 7:24.
Second that. Motion made by Don to adjurnn. Seconded by Gary. All those in favor signify by stating I. I. I. Opposed. Carry unanimously. Thanks everybody.