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Shafer City Council met October 18 for a regular meeting. Council member Nick Brehm and city treasurer Drew Hill were absent.

The council opened the meeting passing a resolution establishing the polling place at City Hall.

The council them followed up discussion from the last meeting regarding no parking designation on Ridgewood Avenue around Circle Park.  The council voted unanimously to make the section of road a no parking zone.
The council then went over the city’s insurance renewal policy from Stein Insurance.  Owner Jim Stein was unable to make the meeting.  The council moved unanimously to approve the presented policy.

At the last meeting, the council directed city clerk Joan Ciesler to reach out to other municipalities to see what their towns and cities and townships are doing for ordinance enforcement.  Center City sends out a letter to the offenders with a reasonable time frame for the problem to be remedied.

Chisago City is a complaint driven process, where someone in-house verifies the complaint and the city planner and city administrator follow up.  If it gets to a point that is not taken care of, Lakes Area Police is then called.
Lindstrom has in-house employees will do visual inspections about once a month. Correction requests are then sent out. A follow up is two weeks later and if not cleared up after that they have a dedicated police officer that serves as their code enforcer.

Ciesler told the council Shafer is complaint driven, followed by an inspection from the public works department. A letter is then sent out.  The council then agreed to schedule an ordinance committee meeting to discuss further.

Ciesler then told the council there was still one remaining residence that has yet to switch to a new water meter.  Ciesler told the council the homeowner is gone more than home and hasn’t had water since May when the city turned it off for non-payment on water bills.

City engineer Lucas Jones gave an update on the water tower project.  Currently the project is running about 2 1/2 to 3 weeks behind their submitted schedule.  Neither Osseo Construction or KLM who is overseeing the project are worried at this point.  

There was a brief discussion about any additional costs to the city because the project is taking longer than expected.  Jones told the council there is a clause in the contract that calls for Osseo to cover additional costs.

City clerk Joan Ciesler noted City Hall will be used for the election and the parking lot will be needed that day.  Jones said he will speak to Osseo and make sure equipment is moved out of the parking lot.

Jones then asked for a partial payment to Osseo for $52,221.50 which was approved by the council.
In the public works report, maintenance supervisor Dan Cooper told the council the city received a warning letter from the MPCA.  Cooper said it was for high PH levels in the wastewater.  Cooper told the council it wasn’t a big deal and he was working to rectify the issue with MPCA.


The MPCA sent an email to Cooper about the upcoming renewal of the MNG585 permit, which is for the stabilization (sewer) pond system. There is an option to go with the General Permit for $345 annually, which would allow about $1100 in savings to the city, rather than the more expensive individual permit which has an annual cost of $1450. There are also more relaxed limits, and would make Shafer’s limits easier to meet.
The council voted unanimously to approve the General Permit for $345 annually.

Cooper then told the council lift station #1 is in need of repair.  It is currently running on the backup system and needs a new computer, new modules, a ladder control program and other modifications.  Total costs of repairs would be $7,489.  The council approved the cost with the condition that it is in the budget.

The council adjourned at 7:24 p.m.

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