News

City Council holds March meeting

By Scott Wagar

03/10/2015

Bottineau’s city council held its March meeting on the third of this month and discussed a variety of topics in preparation for spring and summer projects.

Matt Johnson of Wold Engineering discussed the following projects that will be taking place this summer.

● Lagoon Expansion Project: The deed for the additional property for the lagoon project is ready and the city will be paying that bill so they can move forward with the project.
● Water Line Loop Phase III: Wold’s employees are working on the plans and specs for the project and will have them for the council in April.
● Chip Seal Project: The bid for the project will be open on March 17.
● Paving Project: Johnson is presently working on getting  a petition signed from the land owners for the approval of the paving and special assessments.
● Feasibility study: Wold Engineering would like to have a special meeting to discuss the plan in more detail. 
● Future Projects: Councilman Greg Bernstein has requested that each alderman complete a future project list of items they would like to see conducted in the city. He has asked that they rank their projects in order of importance.

Two bids were approved to be advertised in the Bottineau Courant, which included the city’s cement bid and the Highway 5 entrance sign in the city. 

From these agenda items, the council went into committee reports, which included:

●City Property: Fremstad Law has requested to either rent or purchase space from the State Bank of Bottineau (SBB) building when the city takes ownership of the building and when the SBB moves to its new location on Highway 5. The council made the decision to table the item and discuss it at a future date. 
● Planning Commission: The Planning Commission met with members of Paterson Grain LLC (PGL) who had requested on Feb. 29 to have land south of Johnson Sport Center be rezoned from “Ag” to “Manufacturing” for a grain handling facility the company wants to construct on the property.

However, just prior to the council recommendation to vote on the rezoning, PGL requested through Brad Robertson of Wold Engineering through an ordinance that already stands in Bottineau’s books that the land be left as “Ag” with a “conditional use permit” instead. 

The request was made because 90 percent of the land would remain farmable, while only 10 percent would house PGL’s facility. Considering PGL is an agricultural base company, and not manufacturing, the grain company felt it was better to keep the land as “Ag.” The group added that the “Manufacturing” zone ordinances didn’t explain a company likes Paterson in  good detail and PGL wanted to make sure they were in the proper zoning ordinance.

It was decided that instead of voting on the rezoning, that it would be turned over the city’s attorney to study. It was decided, too, that the two entities would meet again on Tuesday, March 10, to discuss Benson’s findings and then vote on the issue.

● Utility: Alderman Tim Sanderson made the motion to purchase back city garbage cans from residents who purchase extra cans in order to keep track of the serial numbers that are placed on the can for the city’s billing function. Sanderson’s proposal was to grant $50 credit on resident’s utility bill when they turn a can back in. The council voted in favor of the motion. 
● Beautification: Councilwoman Cathy Claeys stated the beautification committee is working with the shade trade committee and have a plan to beautify the city in three phases, which includes:

Phase I: More flower pots in city’s downtown district. 
Phase II: A plan to enhance Highway 5 in 2016. 
Phase III: Curb appeal in certain areas. 

The committee will continue with its plans in March before the April city council meeting.

● Trails: Brian Knudson, director of Parks and Recreation for the city of Bottineau, stated that the trail is being observed for seal coating and routine maintenance. He added that in the near future Onarhiem Construction would complete the Elm Street’s sidewalk project and ended his conversation with the council that Phase I of the Forestry Park Trail System would be open for bids in mid-April and that phase of the project would begin to be planned, worked on, and grants researched for the project. 
● Finance: The finance committee stated that Bottineau will be receiving $3.35 million from the surge bill in the near future. Penny Nostdahl, city auditor of Bottineau, will check on the stipulation in how the money can be utilized.
Mayor Ben Aufforth spoke with the council and stated that he had spoken with Tom Kessler, owner of the Tommy Turtle Lanes’ building on Highway 5, about Kessler’s future with the structure, which was burned by arson. 

Kessler told Aufforth that he was working on emptying the building out by July. Aufforth added that Clayton Parrill,

Bottineau’s building inspector, had researched the ordinances about having the structured razed, but there are no ordinances that will allow this action because the building is structurally sound.

The final order of business is that Bottineau’s National Guard will remain in Bottineau for another two year, which the council gives credit to community support.