by April Scheinoha
Reporter

The Thief River Falls City Council has set the sale date for $3,350,000 in bonds to cover the cost of its upcoming projects. At its meeting Tuesday, June 20, the council scheduled the sale for July 18.

The city plans to sell the bonds to cover the cost of the 2023 Street Improvements Project and to purchase water meters. Of that amount, it plans to sell $1,805,000 in bonds for the Street Improvements Project and $1,545,000 in bonds to purchase water meters. The Street Improvement bonds will have a 12-year term while the water meter bonds will have a 10-year term.

The street improvements include:

• Reconstructing the base and pavement on portions of Arnold, Duluth and Knight avenues between Ninth and 13th streets (not including 13th Street). That improvement would also include resurfacing pavement on 10th, 11th and 12th streets between Arnold Avenue and Highway 32 (excluding avenue intersections)

• Completing the cul de sac at the Robson Court development

All city and residential water meters are being replaced to be compatible with the Advanced Metering Infrastructure system. When the city converted to AMI in 2014, city leaders were under the impression that the new system would be able to read the city’s water meters. The city retrofitted many water meters with new heads to accommodate the new AMI system. However, quite a few water meter bodies were left in place, and the city has been waiting years for nodes. As a result, someone has to manually read the water meters without nodes, defeating the purpose of the AMI.

The new meters will be able to report water usage to a fraction of a gallon. Now, the water meters provide residential water readings to every 100 gallons. Commercial water readings are provided to every 1,000 gallons. The new meters will also enable homeowners to more easily recognize a water leak at their homes.

City Council approved purchasing a standby generator for Lift Station 9. The city is purchasing the generator from Ziegler Power Systems for $124,410.

Currently, one standby generator is shared between Lifts 7 and 9 in the event of power outages. Water Systems Superintendent Wayne Johnson noted that the generator “is inadequate to handle the loads of both lift stations at peak operating during high flow conditions.”

The city has 15 sanitary sewer lift stations. Besides the above lift stations, Lift Station 15 also has a standby generator.

In separate motions, the council approved hiring Sean O’Connor and Wayde Jensen as police officers. Both men start their positions Wednesday, June 28. O’Connor succeeds Brady Meunier, who was recently promoted to investigator. Jensen’s position was newly created, bringing the total number of officers to 17 and allowing the department to reduce overtime costs.

City Council approved filling the systems manager position. The position will be open to Teamster 320 employees for 10 days. If a Teamsters employee weren’t hired, the position would then be opened to the public. Brian Jacobson previously served in the position and has since been named electric superintendent.

The council met in closed session for about 20 minutes to conduct a performance evaluation of City Administrator Angie Philipp. This was the first of three performance evaluations scheduled for Philipp after she was suspended for a week without pay in May. The other two performance evaluations are scheduled for Aug. 15 and Oct. 17. Philipp was suspended for her performance pertaining to back pay erroneously provided to employees as part of a wage study.

The council determined Philipp was aware of the erroneously-issued back pay issued to employees in the Teamsters, Fire and Law Enforcement Labor Services unions around Dec. 16, 2022. A subsequent, similar error was allowed to occur the following pay period for employees in the Management, Administrative, Professional and Supervisory union. This further exacerbated the error. The error wasn’t brought to anyone’s attention until the first committee meeting in March. The full council became aware of the issue at the March 21 council meeting.

So far, no other city employees have been subject to performance evaluations related to this issue.

The exact amount of the error hasn’t been publicly announced. Brady Martz & Associates recently completed a forensic audit to determine the full amount. However, in March, Philipp said the erroneous amount may have been about $12,500, which didn’t include back pay paid to the Law Enforcement Labor Services union or overtime during three weeks in September.

The council approved a 35-foot variance for Northern Pride to install a CO2 tank on the west side of its west plant. The building is located close to the property line, making it difficult for the turkey processing facility to install the tank without the variance.

City Council approved a conditional use permit for F4 LLC Car and Truck Wash, which is located south of the Cenex Travel Plaza. The permit means that the business doesn’t need to construct buffers since the street serves as a buffer. The city is planting trees in the nearby boulevard behind the business.

Gordon and Mary Jo Myklebust appeared before the council, raising concerns about a ditch behind their property on Hanson Drive. Mary Jo Myklebust said the ditch has been an ongoing issue for years. She indicated it is overgrown and has been rarely mowed over the years. Myklebust further indicated the ditch floods.

Mayor Brian Holmer told the Myklebusts that the city would look into the matter, including who has the authority to mow the ditch.

The next council meeting is scheduled Wednesday, July 5 at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall. Note the date change due to Independence Day.