MINUTES
REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING
CITY OF REDWOOD FALLS, MINNESOTA
TUESDAY, JANUARY 19, 2021
Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, a regular meeting of the Redwood Falls City Council was called to order in the Municipal Chambers on Tuesday, January 19, 2021, at 5:00 p.m.
Roll call indicated Mayor Tom Quackenbush and Council Members Jim Sandgren, John T. Buckley, Larry Arentson, and Denise Kerkhoff were present constituting a quorum. Council Member Matt Smith was absent.
Also present were City Attorney Trenton Dammann, Public Works Project Coordinator Jim Doering, and Council Secretary Caitlin Kodet. Director of Finance & Administrative Services Melissa Meyer was present via electronic means. City Administrator Keith Muetzel was absent.
A motion was made by Council Member Kerkhoff and seconded by Council Member Buckley to approve the agenda. Motion passed by unanimous vote.
A motion was made by Council Member Arentson and seconded by Council Member Sandgren to approve the January 4, 2021, minutes as presented. Motion passed by unanimous vote.
A motion was made by Council Member Sandgren and seconded by Council Member Buckley to approve the following items on the Consent Agenda.
1. Approve Police Commission Appointment
Motion passed by unanimous vote.
Mayor Quackenbush administered the Oath of Office to Officer Nicholas Esping.
Public Works Project Coordinator Doering introduced City Assistance for Celebrate Redwood Falls – Fire & Ice Festival.
Mr. Doering stated the Celebrate Redwood Falls Committee will be hosting the annual Fire & Ice Fireworks Show on Saturday, February 6th, 2021 at Memorial Park. Due to crowd limitations and social distancing guidelines the committee would like to move the event to Memorial Park instead of the event’s usual location on Lake Redwood and would only host the fireworks show. All other activities have been canceled for 2021.
Mr. Doering stated City staff met with and will continue to meet with the Celebrate Redwood Falls board as they plan for these community events. Staff is recommending to Council to waive the rental fees for the use of Memorial Park and City-owned cones and barricades. City staff will remove snow from the parking lots as well as a path and area to shoot the fireworks. Celebrate Redwood Falls is also requesting the presence of the Police and Fire Departments in case of emergency.
A motion was made by Council Member Buckley and seconded by Council Member Kerkhoff to Approve City Assistance for Celebrate Redwood Falls – Fire & Ice Festival. Motion passed by unanimous vote.
Public Utilities Superintendent Chuck Heins was present to introduce the Advertisement for Bids – Electric Distribution Equipment.
Mr. Heins stated City staff is requesting to advertise for bids to purchase switchgear and power cable for the relocation of the overhead circuits from the west substation to the main power plant. As well as additional cable and switchgear to be installed at the new housing addition on the southeast corner of the City. Bids will be opened on February 18, 2021 at 1:15 PM and awarded at the following council meeting on March 2, 2021.
A motion was made by Council Member Arentson and seconded by Council Member Buckley to approve the Advertisement for Bids – Electric Distribution Equipment. Motion passed by unanimous vote.
Deer Hunt Coordinator Paul Parsons was present to discuss the 2020 Archery Deer Hunt Report. Mr. Parson summarized the 2020 deer hunt as follows: the season coincided with the full Minnesota DNR archery season from September 19, 2020, to December 31, 2020, the hunt was limited to 20 participants, 19 qualified this year, and 26 applications were submitted, a total of 22 deer were harvested with 366 deer being spotted, and hunters spent a total of 802 hours in the stand.
Public Works Project Coordinator Doering stated staff is recommending the deer hunt committee reconvene to further review the results of the hunt, what was learned, and what to change in order to determine if future hunts are warranted. Results of the committee meeting along with a 2021 recommendation will be presented to Council prior to submission to the MN DNR to conduct a 2021 Archery Deer Hunt.
A motion was made by Council Member Sandgren and seconded by Council Member Kerkhoff to approve the 2020 Archery Deer Hunt Report as presented and allow the deer hunt committee to reconvene to discuss a 2021 Archery Deer Hunt. Motion passed by unanimous vote.
Public Works Project Coordinator Doering introduced Resolution No. 4 of 2021 – Authorization to Execute Award of Contract for the 2021 Northwood Drive Sanitary Sewer Lining.
Mr. Doering stated bids were submitted and received electronically through Quest CDN on Tuesday, January 12, 2021, at 12:00 p.m. for the 2021 Northwood Drive Sanitary Sewer Lining Project. Seven (7) bids were received and a Summary of Bids was provided for Council consideration. It is unlikely that re-bidding the project would result in more bids or more competitive bids. If deemed financially feasible, staff recommends awarding the full contract to Insituform Technologies, in the amount of $380,516.00.
Mr. Doering stated in accordance with Minnesota Statute §16C.285, Insituform has furnished the executed Responsible Contractor Verification and Certification of Compliance form. Insituform plans to utilize Pipe Detectives, Inc., for the pre-cleaning portion of the project and R & H Painting to complete the Spectrashield manhole rehabilitation work.
A motion was made by Council Member Kerkhoff and seconded by Council Member Buckley to waive the reading of Resolution No. 4 of 2021 – Authorization to Execute Award of Contract for the 2021 Northwood Drive Sanitary Sewer Lining. Motion passed by unanimous vote.
A motion was made by Council Member Arentson and seconded by Council Member Sandgren to approve Resolution No. 4 of 2021 – Authorization to Execute Award of Contract for the 2021 Northwood Drive Sanitary Sewer Lining. Motion passed by unanimous vote.
Director of Finance & Administrative Services Meyer introduced Resolution No. 5 of 2021 – Authorization to Execute Purchase of Software and Service from Tyler Technologies.
Ms. Meyer stated staff requests approval to enter into a contract with Tyler Technologies for SaaS (cloud) hosting of software and to purchase the Customer Relationship Management Suite. Currently, the Incode software is housed locally. This software is used for all financial transactions including utility billing, permitting, licensing, and document management. In order to reduce costly hardware replacements, eliminate data disaster concerns, and obtain greater efficiency for staff in the field and customers, staff is recommending moving the software into the cloud-hosting model. Staff also requests approval to dispose of the retired network equipment.
Ms. Meyer stated the City’s current annual cost for software maintenance with Tyler Technologies is $37,630. This cost escalates by 5% each year. The cost to move to the cloud hosting model is $55,482, which is frozen for 3 years as part of the contract. This is an annual cost increase of $15,000 over the current software maintenance, but results in a $50,000 decrease in costs over a 5-year period. A portion of the $50,000 savings will be used to move the rest of the network to the cloud and will be presented at a future Council meeting.
Ms. Meyer further stated switching to a cloud hosting model alleviates the need to replace $130,000 of servers and storage devices that are end-of-life. The network equipment has a 5-year life and requires us to have in-house redundancy. The Customer Relationship Management Suite, at a cost of $12,480, will take the Licensing and Permitting functions to a new platform and includes Code Enforcement, which is currently not integrated with Incode. This will allow our customers to pay for permits, licenses, code enforcement tickets, and airport hangar rentals online, which is currently not available. This upgrade is budgeted in the Capital Project Fund. The $4,590 annual cost of the online components was budgeted as part of the IT Maintenance Support budget.
A motion was made by Council Member Arentson and seconded by Council Member Buckley to waive the reading of Resolution No. 5 of 2021 – Authorization to Execute Purchase of Software and Service from Tyler Technologies. Motion passed by unanimous vote.
A motion was made by Council Member Kerkhoff and seconded by Council Member Arentson to approve Resolution No. 5 of 2021 – Authorization to Execute Purchase of Software and Service from Tyler Technologies. Motion passed by unanimous vote.
A motion was made by Council Member Sandgren and seconded by Council Member Buckley to dispose of the retired network equipment. Motion passed by unanimous vote.
Bills and Claims were presented to Council for informational purposes. No questions, comments, or concerns were raised.
There being no further business, a motion was made by Council Member Sandgren and seconded by Council Member Arentson to adjourn the meeting at 5:35 p.m. Motion passed by unanimous vote.