News

Council holds August meeting

Scott Wagar

08/13/2013

The Bottineau City Council held its August meeting on the fifth of this month and discussed a number of issues focusing on law enforcement, development, funds and the consideration of building a new pool in the community.

LAW ENFORCEMENT

Deputy Cole Watson presented the county sheriff’s office activity in the month of July and stated that law enforcement had a busy month with shoplifting cases, minor break-ins in the town and speeding on Sinclair Street. Due to the speeding on Sinclair, the sheriff’s department is now monitoring the speed on the south end of that street.

The police committee made the recommendation that the city allow the county to hire another deputy for the city of Bottineau, which the council agreed to and approved. With the approval of a new deputy, the 2014 budget will increase around $55,000.

Amy Artz and Colleen Holen came before the alderman and requested a special permit for Dakota College at Bottineau to have a beer tasting event on Oct. 12, which was approved by the council members.

DEVELOPMENT
 
When it came to development, Mayor Ben Aufforth stated the sewer expansion project will begin in two weeks; bids for upgrade to the west lift station in town were delayed for the moment, but will be opened on Aug. 19; and the city request for Highway 5 to be overlaid is being considered; however, the city would have to be responsible for some of the project’s cost, which the finance committee is taking into consideration.

In other development news, the city property committee met on July 31 to discuss water drainage in the area of Ketterling’s Junk Yard with those individuals who have businesses in that area.

A provisional plan was studied and a meeting was set-up between the city, Wold Engineering and a county representative to discuss the project and cost sharing of the project.

Roger Riley, owner of the Preserve Development on the west end of town, met with the planning commission on July 11 and granted a tour of the development to the committee where the following four items were discussed.

  •  Awareness to the drainage ditch in the Preserves area and the amount of water running through the area
  •  Street width has to be a minimum of 40-feet
  •  Curb and gutter will be needed for drainage and prevention in undermining the asphalt in the Preserve
  •  Water lines need to be separate for each of the dwellings


Gene Kersten has made the city aware that he is not ready to finalize the last plat request he made to the city. He stated that he wants to start over and develop that area at a slower pace in a smaller area of property. The planning commission recommended de-annexing the area they recently took possession of to grant Kersten his wish.

Alderman Harley Getzlaff moved to table the planning commission’s request, which was seconded by councilman Greg Bernstein and approved by the council.

FUNDS

During the meeting, Bernstein questioned whether the Sidewalk, Curb and Gutter Fund (Fund 5090) needed to have a balance considering there is plan for replacing these items. He was told that the aldermen are still working on the sidewalk ordinance. However, Bernstein made the request to split the excess money from Fund 5590 into the New Pool Fund, New Arena Fund and New Fire Hall Fund, which would equal $50,000 for each fund.

The objection was that if a plan for these funds were started, then the city could finance it at that time. On a roll call, every council member voted in favor of Bernstein’s request but alderman Fred Kainz. The motion carried six to one.

POOL
 
Bernstein stated that the city pool will be over its budget for the summer due to the pool being closed for the majority of the summer because of poor water quality. He went forward and asked the remainder of the council if they felt it was wise to continue with the present pool, or consider constructing a new pool in Bottineau. It was decided that research would start in considering cost and location of a new pool, and Aufforth requested from the council that they submit names for a New Pool Committee.