The Slayton City Council approved seven items of new business at its Tuesday, June 20 meeting but also spent a great deal of time discussing next steps regarding the unfinished business relating to a nuisance ordinance violation imposed on the owner of the Slayton Auto building.
Travis Smith, prosecuting attorney for the City of Slayton, was in attendance to answer questions and provide insight regarding the case. Smith noted that, under the city’s nuisance ordinance, there were two or three different options the council could consider in an attempt to force compliance. “One option is to pursue criminal prosecution, which is a misdemeanor prosecution, for violation of the nuisance ordinance and not abating the nuisance after the notice was given,” he said. “Another option is to file a civil motion for summary enforcement of the order to abate in the district court. The third option under the ordinance is if the board determines that the building poses an immediate risk to public health or safety, it can order the nuisance abated without court involvement and then assess cost as a special assessment following the process for special assessment.”
Council member Kate Harmsen shared her thoughts on the complexity of the situation due to a number of factors. “This is not a stand-alone building that’s sitting there being a nuisance,” she said. “It is impeding and damaging the Goedtke building next door. We want to abate the problem. But here’s my hesitation. As soon as the city decides to step in with red capes and save the day — to fix it — are we going to be liable for any damage to the other buildings?”
Frustration was expressed over the lack of access to an independent engineer’s report, which the council could lean on to make informed decisions moving forward. In response to a question of whether or not the city could potentially recover costs if it were to hire its own engineer to assess the damage, Smith said he believes it would qualify as a cost of abating.
Council members respectfully debated whether or not the council should step in yet, especially when it appears that the insurance company has yet to finalize things on its end regarding the two different property damage claims. “That’s what I struggle with,” Harmsen said. “I want to fix the problem because it’s impacting people, but I still feel like the fight is between the owners that are there right now. It’s like we’re caught between a rock and a hard place.”
The council was in agreement that the criminal prosecution process should move forward. Smith said he would get the complaint drafted and filed in short order. Council members hesitated to pursue civil action at this point in time, though they acknowledged they could do so in the future. The main objective, they agreed, was to get the Slayton Auto building owner to do the right thing and fix the problem.
In new business, the council approved a motion to authorize Scott Lavoy of DGR Engineering to submit an application for lead service line inventories to the state on behalf of the city. “The EPA, through the Department of Health, has issued a mandate that all cities and public water supply systems throughout the state perform a lead service line inventory,” Lavoy said. “Every line within a system will have to be inventoried to determine what kind of material, what kind of pipe, the service lines are made of.”
Lavoy said he anticipates finding lead in less than 10% of the lines. Regardless, those would be focused on and eventually repaired. Fortunately, the Department of Health is providing some funding for performing the inventories. Cities can apply for grant dollars up to $75,000. Completed inventories must be submitted by Oct. 16, 2024.
The council also approved a motion to update the SCADA in the water treatment plant. City Works Director Weston Mahon said the project was budgeted for 2022 but didn’t get done, adding that those funds are still available and that as a result of a miscommunication, the new system had already been built by Quality Flow’s Cory Malay. “We worked on it for a couple of years and he thought we approved it,” Mahon said. “Anyhow, it’s more automated. You turn it on and don’t have to babysit it. It can run on its own.”
After looking over two proposals for the crack filling of streets, the council approved a motion to go with C & L Sealcoating, at the cost of $2 a linear foot. “It’s a local business,” City Administrator Josh Malchow said. “They’re doing pretty darn good work. I’d like to give them a shot.”
C & L Sealcoating was also given the green light to proceed with the sealing process of Rupp/Gullord basketball courts. The proposal revealed a cost of $5,311 at Gullord Park and $1,600 at Rupp Park. “This is over our budgeted amount of $6,000, but in talking with Weston, we thought we should bite the bullet and get them both done,” Malchow said. “We did the tennis courts last year, so we need to get on some sort of rotation.”
The council then authorized a payment of $2,250 to Trinity Lutheran Church for a past overlay project that included a city-owned area estimated to be 30 feet wide by 150 feet long, along with a plan to vacate the property.
Council members also approved the submission of amended paperwork and an additional $20,000 to cover more expenses regarding the Bolton & Menk Broadband Environmental Assessment. Malchow said the cost is 100% covered by money in the city’s grant admin fund.
The purchase of a new sound system at the pool was also approved by the council, for a total cost of $2,950.77. “Our old sound system is 23 years old,” Malchow said. Technically, it is not budgeted anywhere this year, but we’d like to take it out of the capital improvement fund. We just transferred $286,000 into there. I think this is well worth it.”
At the beginning of the meeting, council members approved the agenda, minutes and claims. Mayor Miron Carney and councilman Chris Jacobson were absent. The next meeting is slated for 7 p.m. on Thursday, July 6.
