City of Effie March 12th, 2007 Minutes

In attendance: Matt David, Liza Erickson, Bill Hastings, and Lil Black

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm. Motion by Bill to approve the minutes of the last meeting, with two exceptions, that the statement “over 10% of the population” be added next to the statement “6 households”, and that coffin boxes take up the same amount of space as the existing system, not a mound system, seconded by Liza, MCU.

Sewer Project: Liza stated that she has a contact name to obtain information about the coffin boxes and will have information for the next meeting. Matt talked about the City of Bigfork maybe being interested in switching Bergquist from their system to Effie’s. Matt asked if the council would allow them to do a feasibility study for this idea. Motion made by Matt to allow Bigfork to do a feasibility study, seconded by Liza, MCU. Bill brought up a correction from the last meeting that he wanted stated. Gino Anselmo’s brother-in-law is not selling his property in Orr because of the raise in monthly sewer rates but is selling because he purchased lakeshore property.

Horse Camp: Liza talked to someone from Big Falls about its city owned horse camp. She said that if the camp has more than four camp sites, that it would have to be licensed through the Department of Health. If it is privately owned, it would have to have water hook-ups, but didn’t need sewer hook-ups and could use satellites instead. She will have more information for the next council meeting.

Streetscape: Tim Johnson is working on grants for the project. Matt stated that he would like to put suggestion boxes around town for ideas from citizens about what they’d like to see done for the streetscape. Tom Boland said that the widening of the shoulders between Bigfork and Effie is pretty much a dead issue unless Congressman Oberstar gives out funds for it.

Ordinances: The ordinance committee has met twice. The council will review Todd Township’s nuisance ordinance. Bill stated that only one of Effie’s ordinances has a penalty. When ordinances are ready, the council may have a public hearing immediately preceding a council meeting.

Hospital Special Assessment: Dale Quandt, who’s wife is a member of the board at the hospital, wrote a letter saying that he was concerned about a Geo Bond that the hospital has. Residents of the area have been assessed taxes for several years to pay for the bond. He wrote that the hospital has enough money in savings to pay off the remainder of the bond. He went on to write that the hospital is planning on putting in a pool. He said it is not worth the risk and insurance would be too expensive. Lisa said that her yearly tax is about $16 per year and that Mr. Quandt’s is twice that. Mike Marthaler, the city’s board representative, said that the pool is just talk. He said that the special assessment for the bond had been very much needed in previous years to keep the hospital afloat because it had been operating in the red. He went on to say that their finances are stable but it has quite an investment right now because of the new addition and didn’t think that $16 per year is a bad price. Bill said that the hospital does have to eat some costs because they are unable to turn anyone away. He said that the area is fortunate to have the hospital and its quality of care.

Operation Round-Up: The deadline for applications for Operation Round-Up is April 6th. The Recreation Youth with Pam Porter are applying. Matt and Bill will see if the Rodeo Committee would like to apply as well.

Miss Effie: Julie Aakhus and Brittany David would like to apply for grants under the city. Motion by Liza to allow the Miss Effie committee to apply for grants using the city’s name and allowing the city to be their fiscal agent, seconded by Lil, MCU. They are applying for grants with Operation Round-Up and People in Business Care. They asked for a donation from the city and Bill suggested waiting until the committee knows how much they will need after the grants come in.

Community Center Bathroom: Matt said that the toilet ran and filled up the tank which froze. It cost $125 to fix it. Two kits have already been purchased to try to fix the toilet. He suggested buying another toilet that would be handicap accessible. The council discussed getting a commercial toilet and not going with the cheapest one. Motion by Bill to purchase a new toilet without power flush that meets the handicap accessibility requirements for $250 or under.

New Business:

City Flag: T & T will send a quote to Bill on how much the flags will cost.

Community Center Floor: Bill said that the floor tile needs to be fixed or the city needs to be compensated the $3000 for it. He said that no one would allow this in their own homes and the city should not allow it either. Grady was going to call Tom Magni but as he was not present, there was no update.

Bills: Motion by Matt to pay the bills minus the payment to Liesch Assoc., seconded by Bill, MCU.

Snowplow Contract: Motion by Bill to pay the snowplow contract at $600 per mile at 1 ½ miles per year, with the community center being free, for a total of $900 per year, seconded by Matt, MCU.

The meeting was adjourned.