Loading...
City Council Minutes 08-09-1983MINUTES REGULAR MEETING - MONTICELLO CITY COUNCIL August 9, 1983 - 7:30 P.M. Members Present: Arve Grimsmo, Fran Fair, Dan Blonigen, Ken Maus and Jack Maxwell. Members Absent: None. 1. Call to Order. 2. Approval of the Minutes. A motion was made by Fair, seconded by Blonigen and unani- mously carried to approve the minutes of the July 25th, 1983 meeting as presented. 3. Consideration of an Ordinance Amendment Which Would Require the City to Assume Certain Responsibility With. Respect to Maintenance of Sewer and Water Service Lines. Currently, after the initial connection has been made to the curb stop or the sewer lead, the individual property owners assume responsibility or liability for all repairs required to any water line or sewer service line from the premises to the street main, including any necessary street repairs. The Council discussed whether or not this liability to the property owner should be changed and require the City to assume all responsibility for the service lines from the street mains to the property line. Usually, if a problem exists in blockage or stoppage, the sewer line is the problem. Although the property owner. --did not have any control over the initial installation of the sewer line, the major problem with plugged sewers are usually roots or other blockage from foreign objects being lodged in the pipes. In addition, sewer problems can result from the service lines sagging or collapsing or the actual failure of the pipe itself. It was noted by the City Staff that in the past, if a sewer line collapse or break- age is the obvious fault of a recent construction project or improper installation, the City has normally assumed some of the cost of repairs for the property owner. If the ordinance would be amended to have all sewer line problems the responsibility of the City, it was felt that the City would incur a substantial liability in repair costs and manpower to locate the problems. - 1 - Council Minutes - 8/9/83 Some concerns were expressed by Council members over the varying lengths of service lines resulting from the sewer mains being located on the opposite side of the street from the home, but it was noted by the Public Works Director that in most cases, the sewer main is in the middle of the street and the distances to the homes should be about equal in most cases. After further discussing the pros and cons of the City assuming all liability for repairs, the Mayor asked for a motion by the Council as to whether the ordinance should be changed from its present status. Hearing no motion to change the ordinance, the ordinance stands as it presently is, with the homeowner being responsible from the property line to the street main. 4. Consideration of Installing Sewer and Water Service Lines to the City Owned House at the Wastewater Treatment Plant. Public Works Director, John Simola, noted that the private well at the residence owned by the City next to the Waste- water Treatment Plant currently has extremely hard water and contains much iron. In addition, sewer and water ser- vices were made available to this house in 1976 with the Mississippi Drive project and Mr. Simola obtained two quotes from local contractors for the installation of both sewer and water services to the house. The quotes that were received are as follows: Brenteson Construction Company $2,460 Fyles Backhoe Service $1,950 A motion was made by Blonigen, seconded by Fair, and unani- mously carried to authorize the hook up of city sewer and water to the property owned by the City and to accept the low bid of $1,950 from Fyles Backhoe Service. 5. Discussion of County Ditch #33 Public Hearing Notice. It was the concensus of the Council to authorize the City Engineer, John Badalich, to attend the County Board Public Hearing regarding the City's petition to allow storm water run off into County Ditch #33 from the Meadow Oak subdivision project. The public hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, August 23, 1983. - 2 - Council Minutes - 8/9/83 6. Meadow Oak Subdivision - Railroad Crossing. City Engineer, John Badalich, presented the proposed con- struction and maintenance agreement Burlington Northern Railroad has prepared for the two road crossings that are necessary to serve the Meadow Oak Subdivision. The agreement presented by Burlington Northern Railroad in- dicates the easement cost would be $3,000 with an additional cost to the City of $13,900 for the railroads, materials and labor for the two crossings. It was noted that all cost associated with the two crossings would be assessable to the Meadow Oak Subdivision as part of the improvement project. A motion was made by Maus, seconded by Fair and unanimously carried to approve the construction and maintenance agree- ment as presented by the Burlington Northern Railroad in regard to the two railroad crossings. L. Rick Wolf stell Assistant Administrator - 3 -