After the voting Mayor Larson stated his reasons for asking the decision he made were the potential savings, recommendations from their current waste water treatment operator, and that Jeremy (Anderson) had been working the project from it’s conception.

In response, Ferber stated, “If you think they are going to stay at the $290,000, you’re dreaming.” He also felt they would be dealing with individuals who have more accumulative time working on similar projects. Ferber was not convinced the decision made would be the right one in the long run.

Also in the same vane Clerk Olson presented figures on water usage in the city, verses income from the water. Most cities use the base fee to pay future operating costs. The fee per gallon is used for the current operation of the facility.

Out of 160 accounts in the city only 28 of these accounts are paying $35 a month or more for water. Most are using within the base amount of $5 a month. According to Clerk Olson they need to bring in about $35 a month on the water end in order to pay costs.

It is also recommended that the city should raise water rates an average of 3-4 percent a year in order to keep in pace with the ongoing upkeep of the water system as well as to cover increasing costs.

The recommendations coming from Clerk Olson is that the city take action to increase the water rates to $10 a month, and six months later increase it to $15 a month, with the possibility of increasing that to $20 a month by one year. In order for the city to make this change they need to make an amendment to the current water ordinance dealing with these issues. “Maybe at that point,” she said, “is that we can decrease the amount we charge per gallon of water.”

She also believes that if the water rates are low enough, people will not be afraid to use the water, and if they use the water, the income will increase by the volume in water sales.

However, there is still a lot of pumped water going somewhere that isn’t being billed. The city does need to find out where that water is going. Since the installation of water meters several locations have been found where hydrants are not metered mainly because of how the situation has been metered. In some instances meters were only metering water to an outside faucet. Some of these situations may still be out there and must be found.

After some discussion council members made a motion to increase the base rate to $10 a month beginning February 2, 2009 and increasing the base rate again on September 1, 2009 to $15 a month. It was felt that at the end of January 2010, they would need to review the income and expenses, hoping the last increase would not have to be made.

A suggestion to install gutters on the north side of the fire hall did not receive much support. The main reason being the gutters could not handle the ice coming off the roof when melting. The gutters would soon be ice logged, and likely would make an ever bigger mess. Blocking off the street did not seem to be the answer either since the fire hall currently has two accesses from the building to the street and need to use these.

Clerk Olson said she wondered how many people actually ventured to the community bulletin board when the side walk was bad. The easiest solution seemed to be moving the bulletin board. Question is - where? She felt the bulletin board could be located on the Community Center and in a more protected area.

It also seemed to be the cheapest solution to the problem. They felt if the community bulletin board could be moved for $200 to $300, it was well worth it.

In other business

• Learned the storm sewer on private property had been fixed.
• Authorized liquor licenses to the Hatchery Bar and Grill and the American Legion. The renewals are for on sale, off sale and Sunday liquor and are for $1,500 for each.
•Authorized the flooding of the ice rink, providing someone will take the responsibility to do it.
• Authorized Clerk Olson to contact MNDot in regard to moving the 30 mph sign further west on Highway 55 coming into the town from that direction. A resident had already requested MNDot to make the move and had been told city support would be needed in order for MNDot to move the sign. This change will increase the distance in the 30 mph zone.