City will hire nuisance abatement officer

Talk about it

The city will look to hire a full-time nuisance abatement officer, the Mitchell City Council decided Thursday night.

The council, acting during its second and final budget hearing of the year, allocated $40,000 to hire someone for the position next year. Council members said public outcry over nuisance properties across the city led to the decision.

“It’s what the citizens of Mitchell want,” said Councilman Travis Carpenter.

The decision came after more than an hour of discussion Thursday, which followed another discussion on the issue Tuesday. The council asked several city staffers if they would assume the job and asked department heads if they had employees who could carve out the time to look into nuisance properties.

But in every case, the city staffers said there wasn’t enough time in their schedule to enforce the city’s codes.

Police Det. Toby Russell and Building Inspector John Hegg try to deal with nuisance complaints now, but both said their time would be better spent focusing on their primary duties. Meanwhile, the number of complaints pile up, they told the council.

Deputy City Attorney Doug Papendick said the problem is a small percentage of homeowners and residents who will not keep their homes in proper condition and “play games” with the city when efforts are made to enforce codes.

Councilman Scott Houwman said such people are “flipping your finger at society.”

Still, the council seemed unconvinced it needed to hire a full-time person for the job until a citizen stood up and made a passionate case for it.

Dan Beukelman said his neighborhood is rife with homes, lawns and sidewalks that don’t meet city codes.

Beukelman said last year, he called city offices about a large tree that didn’t meet city codes and was a hazard in the area. He said he was sent from department to department, with no one wanting to take charge of the problem.

“The tree’s still there,” Beukelman said.

He said a neighboring house at 205 N. Duff is in poor condition and was damaged in a fire several years ago. The house continues to crumble, he said.

Last year, the city acted on his complaints and took the owners of the house to court to try to force them to clean up the property. The case was tossed out on a technicality, Beukelman said, but the judge invited the city to submit the case again.

That hasn’t happened, he said.

Beukelman said he walked through his neighborhood and spotted numerous code violations. He took photos of them and brought copies of the pictures to the meeting.

“I think it’s time to have a full-time, proactive approach to code enforcement,” Beukelman said.

Council President Jeff Smith said he was convinced it was time to take action.

“We need one, we want one,” Smith said. “How do we figure it out?”

After discussing contracting with a private firm to perform the service, the council put the money for a new full-time position in the 2011 budget. It has not been determined what department the person would work in or who he or she would report to.

In other news from the hearing:

• The council decided to make the Corn Palace a department rather than a division under the supervision of Human Resources.

Mark Schilling, who is the Corn Palace’s director, will be promoted to a department head. That may mean a pay hike, although his salary range is already close to what some department heads make.

Council members said they felt the Corn Palace just didn’t fit in the current organizational chart. Schilling will now report to the mayor.

“I just think the Corn Palace is a different breed of cat,” Councilman Mel Olson said.

The council also discussed shifting the library, which is also under the supervision of Human Resources, to another area of supervision, but took no action.

• The council approved a $20.055 million general fund. After examining all department budgets as well as special requests from community entities and organizations, the city has a budgeted cash balance of $1.5 million, up from the $1.2 million it set aside for 2010, according to Smith.

“Good budget, folks,” he said after discussions ended.

Another $9 million is held in enterprise funds, bringing the city’s 2011 budget to about $29 million.

• The council went into executive session to discuss negotiations with the three unions that represent about 149 city employees.

During the open session, the council voted to offer employees a 1.5 percent cost of living adjustment pay increase, subject to negotiations.

Some members of the council wanted to start with an offer of no raise and negotiate from there, but Smith said he wasn’t in the mood to “play any games here” with the negotiations.

“We have to start somewhere,” he said. “We’re trying to put together a budget we can live with.”

Employees didn’t receive a COLA increase in 2010. In previous years, they had usually received a 3 percent hike.

• The council voted to give itself and Sebert no COLA increase. A motion to offer the elected officials a 1.5 percent increase was defeated 5-3.

• The council eyed the city’s insurance fund, which has $950,000 in it.

Normally, the city keeps about $642,000 in the fund, enough to cover up to six months of claims. Smith said the city tapped into the fund for $200,000 in 2010 and $100,000 in 2009; both times the money was placed into the general fund.

If any money is removed this time, he said, it will be used to pay down debt or to fix Ohlman Street.

• The council listened to a proposal from Tech Solutions of Mitchell to provide the city with information technology services.

Tech Solutions offered to perform a wide range of services for $38,700. Ramon Shultz, Tech Solutions division manager, and Greg McCurry, marketing manager for Santel, Tech Solutions’ parent company, made a presentation to the council.

Shultz said his firm had worked for the city in the past before the city hired its own IT specialist.

“We’re here to hopefully bring some of that business back,” he said. “We believe as private enterprise, we can do a better job at a reduced cost.”

The council took no action. More than two hours after that presentation, Mayor Lou Sebert and Smith had praise for Kris Zomer, the city’s IT specialist.

Smith said he’s glad the city hired her and said she has done excellent work.

“I still feel that was a good call,” he said, “because she’s done a very good job of pulling everything together.”

• Palace Transit will reduce its hours in two weeks, according to Senior Services Executive Director Brenda Paradis, who oversees the service.

It will shut down at 10 p.m. unless there is a special reason for later service. Currently, it operates “24/7,” she said.

Paradis said Palace Transit is designed to offer rides to the poor, disadvantaged and handicapped and few of those people need rides at night. In addition, it’s difficult to find people to work at night and supervising them is a challenge.

The transit service will work with private providers to ensure no one is left hanging, she said. “We definitely will not let those people be stranded,” Paradis said.

The change will save $13,000 in salaries, she said, and will also save money in fuel and wear and tear on the vehicles. Most of the service’s funds come from grants, she said, but there will be some savings for the city.

• The council voted to spend $25,000 to replace aging playground equipment in Hitchcock Park and $15,000 to complete a Hitchcock Park irrigation project.

It also approved $13,500 for a new sidewalk by the ice arena and $6,000 for a snow blower attachment. That will prevent other equipment used to remove snow from damaging the city’s bike path, the council was told.

• The council formally rejected four budget requests that were made to it during Tuesday’s meeting.

It declined to provide $3,000 to Cornerstones Career Learning Center Inc., $30,000 for a lawn bowling storage shed, and a pair of $10,000 requests from local attractions, one from the Dakota Discovery Museum and the other from the Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village.

Sebert advised the council to work with Dakota Discovery and the Indian Village to seek assistance from the Mitchell Area Chamber of Commerce.

Bryan Hisel and other chamber staffers are eager to offer help and advice, the council said. If the attractions meet with them and come up with a marketing plan, the city may provide them some funding next year, the council said.

Tags: city council, news, local, nuisance