City sets special meeting on topics

Talk about it

The City Council will consider a request for city water and sewer services for a business and possible repairs at Frontier Village during a special meeting at 4 p.m. Thursday at City Hall.

The council decided to hold a special meeting during the council’s regular meeting Monday.

“We’ve been working with city staff for nine months and you would think there would be some communications,” said Robert Thompson, president of C.I. Construction, project manager for a planned new building for Titan Machinery west of Jamestown Regional Medical Center. “I am asking for a resolution saying in principle the city has intentions of extending services out there.”

Thompson said his company needed to know if city water and sewer lines could be extended to the proposed area and what costs the project would incur. City officials said they were uncomfortable making that type of pledge.

Members of the City Council also maintained the topic had not reached them before last week.

“We don’t have an intention of extending services until we know the costs,” said Ramone Gumke, city councilman.

Thompson said his company had explored alternatives.

“We’ve been working with city staff since August 2011,” he said. “We need a concrete resolution now. We have alternatives and we need to start construction.”

Reed Schwartzkopf, city engineer, said the engineer estimates for extending the water lines were preliminary and could be off by a factor of two or three.

The council directed City Attorney Ken Dalsted to review a proposed developers agreement and Schwartzkopf to continue to research costs before the special meeting.

The council also placed any possible repairs to the holes in the road at Frontier Village on the agenda of the special meeting.

“Some action needs to be taken by someone on this,” said Ken Schulz, city councilman.

The holes occurred shortly after a retaining wall was constructed on the road above the amphitheater at Frontier Village in 2007. Schwartzkopf has raised concerns the retaining wall may fail. Any repairs would have to address the retaining wall problems and could cost more than $100,000.

In other business, the council also took public comment on two possible policy changes. The issues are both proposals which will be considered for final action at later meetings.

A list of suggested changes to city ordinances on the handling of dead animals included a requirement that live traps not be used between 1 p.m. Friday and 6 p.m. Sunday. The move would eliminate dealing with trapped animals during the weekend when the animal control officer is not on duty.

The suggested policy requires any small dead animals under 5 pounds be triple bagged in standard trash bags and be placed in a trash receptacle with normal garbage.

Bigger animal carcasses, up to 50 pounds, would also be triple bagged and special pickup could be arranged. The proposed ordinance would continue to prohibit burying animals in Jamestown.

Joseph Schmitt, a resident along the road leading to the landfill, questioned if the change in ordinance could be leading to a possible slaughterhouse near the Cavendish Farms facility.

“Any talk of a slaughterhouse at this point is conceptual,” Schwartzkopf said. “And this ordinance is meant to deal with squirrel road kill and residential pets.”

The City Council also took input on a proposal to change the way the city handles foreign materials at the solid waste landfill.

Mayor Katie Andersen said the issue arose because of her dry cleaning business. She recused herself as mayor and addressed the City Council as a member of the community.

“I want to provide information on the dry cleaning operation and the items that the business could place in the landfill,” she said. “It is upping the costs of a small business that produces small amounts that would have to be tested.”

Andersen said her business produces small quantities of a dust used to clean filters in the dry cleaning process. The dust is not categorized as a hazardous waste, however, the city is refusing to accept the material at the landfill.

“There is no chain of custody,” Schwartzkopf said. “There is no way to verify everyone is being honest.”

He also said testing all the materials to make sure it was appropriate for the landfill would be cost prohibitive.

Schwartzkopf said the city landfill had also had problems with businesses trying to place asbestos and other unidentified materials in the landfill.

The council agreed to work out a plan where small scale producers of foreign materials would be allowed to place it in a separate city facility to be held until a hazardous waste disposal company could pick up the materials.

Sun reporter Keith Norman can be reached at 701-952-8452 or by email at knorman@jamestownsun.com

Tags: local news, news, meeting