City of Oklee Coat of Arms approved & sewers being cleaned

The City of Oklee held their June 13th meeting at the Oklee Café with all council members present. Also in attendance was JoAnn Hamm, Gin Berns, Sandra Tougas, Gloria Anderson, Gail Flateland, Robert Torkelson, Deputy Lovely, Sheriff Bernstein, Accountant Gale Schmitz and Darrell Tougas.

The meeting was opened at 6:05 p.m. by Mayor George Burthwick. The minutes from May 9, 2016 meeting was approved with a motion from Council member Kaye Munt and seconded by Council member Kent Bergerson. Motion carried.

Gale Schmitz from Thief River Falls presented the financial report highlighting a number of items.

The financial report was approved with a motion from Bergerson and Council member Lori Melby. The bills were looked over and approved with a motion from Melby and seconded by Munt.

Sheriff Mitch Bernstein gave his report next. Derek Cross, City Clerk has sent out a couple of letters to the owners of a couple of properties and if they don’t respond, the Sheriff will cite them for public nuisance. If they still don’t respond, they will have to appear in court. The question of who will be responsible for the costs? It should be the home homeowners. If the City condemns a house, the City attorney will have to be contacted for the proper steps. Comment that the last house the City removed cost the City $8,000.

Bernstein also reported that the Hazard Mitigation report is completed and is waiting for approval.

There has been a few 3 and 4 wheelers that have been causing some problems and he has talked to them and they have been quieter. Matthew Genova asked about the old Hruby house and if they had been talked to about their behavior on small 3 wheelers and the answer was yes.

Council member Alan Jensen asked the Mayor to read a statement about how the council expects to be treated and that the council will not allow anyone to mistreat any employee or council member, in order to maintain civility.

Next item discussed was brought up by JoAnn Hamm. Her neighbors to the west have a leak in their water system. The City has dug up the portion they are responsible for, but found no leaks. The ground is saturated and it is affecting other people in the neighborhood. Hamm’s electric bill has been high due to her sump pump running constantly. The City of Oklee will contact the owner and inform them more needs to be done and checked out, to fix the problem.

Old Business: 

D & R Grocery’s request for road repair was discussed next. The estimated cost of the tar expense will be approximately $1700. 

Mowers: Only one bid has been received at this time and more should be gotten.

Maintenance Report was given by Darrell Tougas. Tougas has lowered the ponds and the testing results have been below the standards for the water. Sewer cleaning is finishing up, but have the west side of town left and has been too wet. They will come back later. They have only been cleaning and will run the camera through later. The circulating pump that adds chlorine quit and a replacement is on the way. Mosquito sprayer has been done once and is also checking on another type of chemical to combat gnats and mosquitoes.

Other items discussed by Tougas and the council was the trade-in for the mower – would Tougas consider a used mower, fixing hydrant by Kinsley’s Kloset (old Cyr Hardware building), the cost of the camera and cleaning of sewer system and the need to get an article in the paper about how unflushable, flushable cloths are.

Next up was Matthew Genova with an update about the City of Oklee Coat of Arms flag. Since the students at RLCC were not interested, the school turned the project back to Genova, who hired a gal to create a number of flags. One has been approved by Genova and he has gone to a last RLCC School board meeting and it has been approved to still have the flag pole on school property along the highway. Genova wanted the City of Oklee’s ok, to continue the project and there would be no cost the City. He thanked the City of Oklee for supporting this project and when the time comes, would like the city officials participate in the raising of the flag.

Question was brought up by the Oklee Herald editor, Bonny Cote, about questions received concerning the mail ballots and registration.  Cote and Cross will work on an article to put in the paper clarifying the Mail Ballots. Voter registrations are available from the City Clerk’s office or the Post Office.

Before the open council meeting, the City of Oklee held a closed meeting to discuss an employee issue. The Council reported on the results of this meeting. Leo Olson will continue to be an employee of the City of Oklee, but will only be working when called by either Darrell Tougas or Derek Cross. He is not allowed to come to work unless called. There is no limit on hours or guaranteed hours. Tougas & Cross will try to call him the day before he is needed.

The meeting was adjourned with a motion by Melby and seconded by Jensen.

The next meeting will be held on July 11th at 6:00 p.m. at the Oklee Café.

See chart on front page of the Oklee Herald.