Mac Council will discontinue bids for snow plowing, hauling, equipment and gravel

The McIntosh City Council met in regular session on Thursday, February 11, 2016 at 5:30 pm at the Community Center. All members of the Council were present.

Minutes from the January meeting were approved and there were no additions to the agenda.

The Council briefly discussed other options that could be taken if Poplar Meadows Senior Living is not sold while listed with Marcus & Millichap. The City Clerk will research other options.

The annual Township/Fire Department meeting was scheduled for March 2, 2016 at 5:30 pm at the Fire Hall in McIntosh.

There was a resolution passed to appoint the City Maintenance personnel as designated Animal Control Officers in the City.

The City of McIntosh published bid requests for the following: gravel bids, equipment bids, plowing/grading bids and snow hauling bids. 

There were no bids submitted for gravel, and the other catagories only received two separate companies bidding, collectively. 

The Council unanamously agreed that the City did not need to put bids out for these services.

The mimimum requirement for bids is $25,000 annually, which is no where near what the City pays for any of the listed services. With the expense of printing and posting the bids, it is not worthwhile, and there are not very many local contractors that do this type of work anyhow. The City agreed to use local contractors first, in any case.

Steve Urness informed the Council that the planned date for Tractor Day is August 27, 2016. It will include a tractor parade in the morning and tractor pull in the afternoon. Other activities are being planned as well by other organizations in the community.

Ideas were discussed on setting up a Clean-Up Day. The most probable of them is to get volunteers to gather and haul away items not regularly picked up by the garbage contractors. Tentativly, it will be scheduled for two weeks in April. Calls will be made to Polk County again for recycling bins. Volunteers and equipment will be needed as well, anyone interested should contact the City Clerk.

A proposal was submitted by Clearwater Nursery to replace and add shrubs along the public buildings in the City for a total of $1,992. The cost includes labor, supplies and plants. The proposal was accepted by the Council, though the Clerk will inquire further about outside funding for the project.

The Clerk also inquired with the Council about the storage of Minutes. They are not to be destroyed and asked about scanning them and saving them to disks in a universal format, instead of binders in the office. The Council passed this motion unopposed.

Councilmember Melissa Finseth thanked the Council members and volunteers that set up the ice skating rink behind the Bjella Building. It is already being enjoyed.

There was a complaint to Wanda Stordahl, Councilmember, about the sidewalks not being clear of snow and ice. Being there is ice everywhere, the Clerk asked the Council if they would allow the City Maintenance workers to put sand and salt on all business sidewalks on Broadway and Clevelend Avenues. The Council agreed to a one time process and the Clerk will inform businesses to maintain sidewalks in the future. 

Mayor Toby Strom informed the Council that the Polar Beach Snowmobile Club trails were rated as one of the top groups of trails in the state of Minnesota. Congratulations to the Club! 

The next meeting of the McIntosh City Council will be March 10, 2016 at 5:30 pm at the Community Center.