Meeting Watch

Includes: Eagle Bend City Council, Clarissa City Council and Bertha-Hewitt School Board

Eagle Bend City Council
by Carolynne Bisel
All members of the council were present for the regular meeting held on December 21. Guest and staff present were: David Dehn, Bobby Berndt, Sam Cossentine, Kevin Hess, Steve Maland, Cory Soule and Twila Pierce. The meeting lasted approximately one hour.
Actions
�Ģ Held the Truth in Taxation hearing and approved the 2010 budget and levy for the amount of $144,783.
�Ģ Approved the renewal license for 3.2 beer for Eagle Lanes bowling alley.
�Ģ Approved to pay Kathryn Sletto Consulting the amount of $2000 for services.
�Ģ Approved the building permit for Dave Dehn to construct a new garage and remove the existing old garage at 309 Main Street West.
�Ģ Approved to pay Mark II of Fosston, Inc. for Water Treatment Plant renovations done in October in the amount of $23,809.85 and for November, $23,105.90.
�Ģ Granted Ulteig Engineers request for payment in the amount of $2754 for October and November��s payment in the amount of $2895 for work completed on the water treatment plant rehabilitation project.
�Ģ Accepted a donation of $12,000 from the Eagle Bend Fire Department Relief Association.
�Ģ Approved the operations and maintenance agreement renewal with Northwest Gas.
�Ģ Approved the city administrator��s request to create two new funds��water rehabilitation and sewer rehabilitation.
�Ģ Approved a temporary on-sale liquor license for the Eagle Bend Vets Club for the date of February 7, 2010.
Discussion Without Action
�Ģ Maintenance Assistant, Cory Soule, introduced himself to the council and gave an update on his current licenses and maintenance training.
�Ģ Officer Berndt presented the police monthly report and noted that the past month had an increase of incidents.
�Ģ The liquor store report was presented by Manager Steve Maland. He noted that November was a good month and showed a profit. Also he explained that the next two weeks generally see an increase of sales and that darts will start up again the second week of January.
�Ģ Mayor Tim Notch explained that all wages for 2010 were frozen for city employees because of the poor economy.

Clarissa City Council
by Marlo Benning
INH Staff Writer
The second regular meeting of the month was finished up within a half an hour on December 21. Council Members Mike Rolfes and Brent Line were absent.

Actions
�Ģ Approved Mayor Nathan McLaughlin to sign the final specification sheet from M.J. Dalsin Co. of ND, Inc. to replace the roof on the old A. A. Johnson Tool building. Their bid was chosen last month in the amount of $63,287.
�Ģ Approved the 2010 legal services contract from Brown & Krueger. Their hourly rate is $115.
�Ģ Approved annual agreement with Northwest Gas. The monthly cost, which is split with Eagle Bend, is $1530. They perform services and audit the entire gas system using equipment which the city doesn��t have the funds to purchase.
�Ģ Approved to pay for hotel room for Mayor McLaughlin to attend a crisis leadership conference in May. He will take care of mileage/gas expense.
Discussion Without Action
�Ģ A dividend check from the League of Minnesota Cities was acknowledged by the council in the amount of $4239. The council felt fortunate as it is never a guarantee to receive it.
�Ģ Committee lists and fee schedules were reviewed. At the next meeting, they will be set for the new year.
�Ģ County Deputy Laven, who provides some of the city��s police coverage, asked the council to consider adopting an ordinance to require residents to have their house numbers on the front of their homes.
Laven would like to see all towns do this, as it is not expensive and would help the deputies locate homes more easily.
�Ģ Briefly discussed the down pressure on the wing of the snowplow that may be causing some damage to streets and/or private driveways. The maintenance department is working on ways to minimize the problem.
marlo@inhnews.com

Bertha-Hewitt School Board
by Karin L. Nauber
INH Staff Writer
The regular meeting of the board was held on December 21. All board members were present. Superintendent Bob Sieling attended the meeting via a computer connection due to a recent surgery. The meeting was one hour long.
Actions
�Ģ Approved the levy at $684,501.15. This amount is $14,254.31 less than the amount approved in the preliminary levy in September due to the Minnesota Department of Education operating levy adjustment for inflation.
�Ģ Set the school board retreat date for January 7 at 9:30 a.m. in the school Hangout room.
�Ģ Approved the 2009-2011 master agreement with the Bertha-Hewitt Education. The agreement was accepted by the teacher��s union, as well.
Board Member Darrell Hoemberg expressed his concerns over the possible public concern about a 3.9% increase.
Sieling said that some districts implemented a hard salary freeze. He said that a 4.18% increase was the average settlement amount of the 26 districts that the Freshwater Education District had looked at.
It was also pointed out that because Bertha-Hewitt does not offer health insurance to teachers, this settlement would look different than other districts.
Board Member Mick Stokes who was part of the negotiations committee said that he thought the 3.9% would be in the ball park and that they felt comfortable with this amount because the district does have a good fund balance.
The increase takes effect the second year of the contract.
�Ģ Approved employing Mick Stokes as the 9th grade girls basketball coach.
�Ģ Approved employing Melissa Current as the wrestling cheerleader advisor.
�Ģ Employed Karla Weishalla as the prom advisor.
�Ģ Accepted the resignation/retirement of Linda Van Batavia effective January 29. She has worked at the school 21 years as an elementary instructional aide.
�Ģ Approved increasing the hours of Carolyn Venis as a management aide.
�Ģ Accepted the technology grant in the amount of $199,776 with the Eagle Valley School District. The district will invest in a more powerful server along with additional interactive whiteboards. A staff person to be shared with Eagle Valley will also be hired to educate the teachers on how to use the new technology. (Learn more about this next week in a separate story.)
�Ģ More lunch options will soon be available. Complaints by the students prompted a survey through the student council about changes to the lunch menus.