{"id":16899,"date":"2013-04-15T18:56:50","date_gmt":"2013-04-15T23:56:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/?p=16899"},"modified":"2013-04-16T09:31:41","modified_gmt":"2013-04-16T14:31:41","slug":"automated-meters-topic-at-city-comm-mtg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/?p=16899","title":{"rendered":"Automated Meters Topic At City Commission Mtg."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Valley City, ND (KCSi-T.V. News) — The Valley City Commission met in Regular Session Monday (Apr 15, 2013) at City Hall.\u00a0 All members were present.<\/p>\n

VCSU President, Dr. Steven Shirley read an Earth Day Proclamation, with Earth Day April 22, 2013.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Approval of Consent Agenda items included:<\/p>\n

A Game of Chance Raffle Permit for Barnes County Wildlife Federation.<\/p>\n

An Electric License Renewal for Maple River Electric.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Public Forum\u00a0 No one spoke<\/p>\n

\u00a0Ordinances<\/p>\n

The City Commission approved the Second and Final Reading of an Ordinance creating a Perpetual Restrictive Covenant where structures were removed in accordance with the State Water Commission.\u00a0<\/p>\n

City Attorney Russell Myhre said the Ordinance concerns flood buyout structures.<\/p>\n

Also approved was the Second and Final reading of an Ordinance rezoning property A-Agriculture to R-2 Single and Two Family Dwellings located at Auditor\u2019s Lot 5 of the NE \u00bc of the SW \u00bc of Section 27, Township 140, Range 58 of the Fifth Principal Meridian in Barnes County, North Dakota.<\/p>\n

The Eberle property, recommended for approval by the Planning Commission.<\/p>\n

\u00a0New Business<\/p>\n

City Commissioners approved blocking off the Street for the Bridge City Cruisers during the Rally in the Valley on June 15, 6 am to 4 pm.<\/p>\n

\u00a0A discussion was held concerning the hanging signage on the Elks Footbridge.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Commissioner Nielson said the signage is for an annual CROP Walk, adding that the frozen ground prohibits installing the signs in the ground.<\/p>\n

Mayor Werkhoven said there is a specific city Ordinance prohibiting such signage, that are a distraction. Sharon Buhr the Chairperson of the Local CROP Walk said a few years ago there was a change in policy on hanging signs from the bridge, and made suggestions to exceptions to the policy. She said there are other signs in Valley City that offer distractions.<\/p>\n

City Attorney Myhre read from the agreement between Valley City and the NDDOT concerning signage, which Commission Nielson says the city signs off on and allows signage.<\/p>\n

Commissioner Pedersen said he would make an exception due to weather.<\/p>\n

Commissioner Nielson will contact NDDOT Valley City District supervisor John Thompson for an exception.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Discussion then concerned approving $1.2 million to purchase the Automated Meter Infrastructure System.<\/p>\n

The discussion comes after a recent public hearing on the topic.<\/p>\n

City Administrator David Schelkoph said line items have been outlined in the draft agreement.<\/p>\n

He pointed out the annual cost to the city with the city is $21,400, with MRES, which supplies I.T. support of software. He said new meters on hand can be used, lower the overall costs.<\/p>\n

He added the city could save $116,000 is labor and other costs, plus saving regarding load control, using the AMI system. He said the system will eliminate estimated meter readings.<\/p>\n

He pointed out that through employee attrition, the city will see savings.<\/p>\n

An audience member\u00a0Keith Koble\u00a0suggested use of the automated meters should be a free choice of the consumer.<\/p>\n

Also from the audience, Bob Drake said some individuals are sensitive to the RF radiation from the meters, pointing out liability issues, adding that some states the automated meters are not mandatory. He agreed that the consumer should be able to opt-out of the plan.<\/p>\n

Mayor Werkhoven said there are some issues that need to be “ironed out,” before making a decision, and the city needs an operational plan.<\/p>\n

The motion to approve was passed on a 4-1 vote with Mayor Werkhoven voting against.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"\"<\/a>The City Commission approved sale of house in the flood buyout area at 542 5t<\/span><\/span><\/strong>h Avenue SW (aka The Pink Flamingo) to Earnest Bailey in the amount of $10.00. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Commissioners discussed \u00a0entering into a contract with URS in the amount of $60,000 for a Comprehensive Erosion Study of the Sheyenne River in Valley City.<\/p>\n

Commissioner Luke told the commission why she favors the contract with URS.<\/p>\n

Commissioner Nielson said an erosion study should be part of the permanent flood control.<\/p>\n

Commissioners voted to approve a phased erosion study, between URS and KLJ.<\/p>\n

The vote was 4-1 with Commissioner Nielson voting against.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Discussion was held on water and sewer hook-up fees:<\/p>\n

$2,000 per hookup if done in conjunction with total reconstruction of street.<\/p>\n

$3,000 per hook-up if done within 10 years after water or sewer replacement.<\/p>\n

$1,000 per hook-up if done after ten years of sewer or water main replacement.<\/p>\n

No action was taken by the Commission.<\/p>\n

City Administrator Report<\/p>\n

Dave Schelkoph, said City Fire Chief Retterath will be attending a convention.<\/p>\n

Also, the Barnes Rural Water Committee will meet with the City Commision, on present issues on water usage.<\/p>\n

He brought up a topic at the recent public input meeting concerning AMI about meter fires, which he said was not an issue.<\/p>\n

He said load control boxes are UL listed.<\/p>\n

House Bill 1440 is in a joint conference committee\u2026which addresses city and rural water districts working together.<\/p>\n

City Updates & Commission Comments<\/p>\n

City Building and Fire Inspector Dave Andersen said City Clean Up Week will be the first week in May.<\/p>\n

Police Chief Thompson said the Department is at full staff, adding that the lead mitigation at the fire range is continuing.<\/p>\n

City Fire Chief Gary Retterath said the outdoor sirens are repaired and in working order.<\/p>\n

Commissioner Magnuson brought up a plan to bring to the Barnes County Commission regarding the move of 9-1-1 dispatch center.<\/p>\n

The meeting was shown live on CSi 68, followed by replays.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Valley City, ND (KCSi-T.V. News) — The Valley City Commission met in Regular Session Monday (Apr 15, 2013) at City Hall.\u00a0 All members were present. VCSU President, Dr. Steven Shirley read an Earth Day Proclamation, with Earth Day April 22, 2013.\u00a0 Approval of Consent Agenda items included: A Game of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":16934,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-valley-city"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16899"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16938,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16899\/revisions\/16938"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}