Roy Henry Council Candidate information

2016
ROY HENRY FOR MONTROSE CITY COUNCIL

I am a life long area resident, and graduate of St. Mary’s High School of Waverly.

Married for 49 years, have 6 children, 18 grandchildren, and 5 great grandchildren, the 6th almost here.

Started the National Night Out Event in Montrose, Volunteered at the Montrose Elementary School and helped with the Montrose Senior Citizens group. I have been a volunteer fireman, a member ofPlanning and Zoning. Watered the city’s flowers in the containers on Highway 12.  Built the bench on the walking path and another one.

In 2011 the prior council and I lowered the mayor and council pay to almost half.  Also, we changed the policy so that if you didn’t attend a meeting you are not paid for it.

In 2008 my wife and I received the Minneapolis Aquatennial Commodore Award for our work with the Senior Citizens Group and the National Night Out Event and for our volunteer service.

I promise to listen and do whatever I can to solve any issues you may have.  If I don’t have the answer right away I promise to find the answers.

Things I would like to accomplish if I am elected to the council: 

I want the council to be transparent and I am willing to listen day or night to concerns from citizens.

Treat people equally and with respect.

Bring new business in to expand our tax base.

Make good choices as to where the taxpayers money is spent.


PLEASE VOTE FOR ME ON NOVEMBER 08, 2016 AT THE
MONTROSE COMMUNITY CENTER.
POLLS OPEN AT 7:00 AM

Was Greg Youmans harassing another council candidate?

Was Greg Youmans harassing another council candidate?

Audio describing part of the incident:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8fvSZIlpd9KSTNoaVBSbVduTFE/view?usp=sharing

Youmans response to the Letter and the Facts

Greg Youmans:
"There was a notice posted 10/29/15 for the November 2, 2015 Park and Rec meeting reflecting a quorum of the council may be present, so regardless of your issue with that meeting, it is mute.
Further, I do not appreciate the lies and false accusations that you have promulgated in the press and in election fliers. Your actions are wrong and despicable. They are also quite likely a violation of MN election law 211B.04 and 211B.06. But violation of the law apparently is not nor has it been a priority in your camp.
I choose not to lower myself to the depth of dirty tricks and disinformation. It is far better to talk about facts and what is best for the future of Montrose, which requires positive and future focused leadership. "


The Facts:
1. One only has to look at Youman's flier to see disinformation. You have to remember when reading his writing he is a salesman to the government and is a very smooth writer. He alleges the writer is likely committing a criminal offense, just unbelievable!

2. Youman's statement regarding the Park and Rec Meeting and the Open Meeting Law saying he left:
October 10th council meeting audio (click here)

Minutes showing Youmans was there:

3. Youman's statement about his Civil Court History saying there is none:
October 12th candidate forum (click here)

Court record showing there is:

Youmans and the Open Meeting Law

10/2016 Partial Letter to the Editor
"At the Oct. 10 City Council Meeting Greg Youmans was asked about the November Park and Rec meeting and Youmans immediately said he left because it was a violation of the open meeting law it had a quorum; the one he recalled he left because there were 3 people there. However, was Greg writing on the white board at that meeting as indicated at the 10/10 City Council Meeting by a resident? The draft minutes of the November meeting says Mayor Youmans was present at this November meeting.

I have brought up other concerns about the open meeting law and Greg once responded presenting another organizations interpretation that something was apparently optional even though the law says it shall be done.

Mayor Candidate Michelle Otto and Council Candidates Lloyd Johnson and Roy Henry were the ones on the 2014 council that worked on the National Guard grading of the Regional park which saved us $400,000, not sure why Mayor Candidate Greg Youmans seems to claim credit to this in his campaign brochure as he wasn't on the council then. He may have worked on it but he wasn't the reason we had this option. Thankfully candidates Michelle Otto, Lloyd Johnson, and Roy Henry have worked to bring positive change."

Youmans lies about civil court history

10/2016
Quoted section is from a Letter to the Editor:
"We had a candidate forum in Montrose on Oct. 12,

Mayor Candidate Greg Youmans referenced his Civil Court records saying "Nope I have none, you can see my record is clean"

but there was a lawsuit against him related to his credit card for about $25,000 in 2008. He claims fiscal responsibility. It was later dismissed without prejudice meaning it CAN be brought back before the court. As Greg writes "character counts!""

Additionally he paid around $75,000 for his house 21 years ago and still owes alot MORE on it than he paid for it in 1995. How is that fiscal responsibility?

City administrator replacement and Volunteer of the Year

10/2016

When the city was looking for a new city administrator Greg Youmans was part of the personnel committee when 3 different reported candidates: a loud person, a possible deadbeat, and someone that didn't even know if the city had a website, were considered to fill the council vacancy.  He then complained about funds spent removing the former administrator.

Greg also made a lot of comments about the Volunteer of the Year process, spending up to 15 minutes on this at a council meeting.  This undermined the committees work, a process in which he wasn't selected for the Volunteer of the Year after HIS WIFE nominated him for the volunteer of the year!  His wife and himself each nominated another council member for this honor!  Why complain about a process where you nominated a couple of people each for, is it because they didn't get selected?

2016 Meet the Candidates and Townhall Video

Information has been posted here, additional information will be posted as available:

http://montrose-mn.blogspot.com/p/2016-city-council-candidates-montrose-mn.html

Council Member Gudvangen rant 10/2016

Should Melissa Gudvangen be a council member if she is going to make these kind of personal attacks against another council member?  She doesn't even seem to really participate at council meetings.  The person she is attacking is doing their job as a council member.


From: Melissa Gudvangen mgudvangen@montrose-mn.com
To: ...

​I think you need to be way more careful about posting on social media or rather not post at all.  It would be nice to be informed of meetings rather than finding out on social media.  Any meeting that involves the council should be confirmed with the council first - not thrown out to residents, regardless of the situation. You are doing nothing more than causing more problems than are being resolved.


Many of your posts come across as nosy and more than a few comments are untrue.  I have been appalled at your behavior before I was elected and how you treat people and conduct yourself in public is horrid.  It certainly has not changed since then and having ... who has no tact, nor education is one of the worst kinds you can find.  You have cost the city an incredible amount of money and continue to do so while trying to show that you are doing the exact opposite, which only wastes more time and money.


We are all upset about the incident that happened this weekend, but there is no way this could have been avoided regardless of police presence or neighborhood watch.  It would be wise to not comment without all of the information and even if it is available,  you can not speak for all of us, because you end up making all of us look just as stupid.  All of your actions are reactions and this is not something that the city can continue to sustain without suffering more serious consequences.  I would have thought you and ... would have learned this lesson 2 years ago but you have proven multiple times that this is not true.  We can not police every single person in town into perfection.  There is no amount of police presence or other programs that can eliminate crime completely.  And because of our location, we have an incredible amount of drugs around.  Yes, we can eliminate some of it, but there is absolutely no way that things like this will not happen again and we can't pretend that they won't.  Stop being ignorant of what is really going on in your community and pandering to the citizens.  Our role should be to educate them, not tell them what they want to hear, because that will only cause more problems in the long run and those will more than likely have to be cleaned up by someone else just like before.  We all know we need to look at all of our options regarding police, which we did not that long ago. Again, you are reacting because nothing was changed when this came up for discussion before.  Instead of having to settle because of poor decisions that were made by the previous council, we could have used that money as funding for our own police force.  Was this something that ever occurred to you when making that decision?   Are you thinking of the taxpayers every time you call/e-mail the lawyer?  Every time you filled out your time sheet before the compensation changes?  Were you thinking about the council when you ditched us in the parade to ... for yourself (while wearing a council shirt, which was also very inappropriate AND being the one to initiate us being in it in the first place!)?  Obviously not. You have a complete lack of consideration for other council members, staff, and your community.  Government should not be involved in everything - that is why people don't like g'ment.  We are there to make our community safe and provide certain necessary services, not worry about if we got invited to the royalty brunch.  If that is something that concerns you, add a large donation to the Royalty from the City since they are out there representing us more than anyone else in our community and all they get is $250, IF they're lucky.  I would rather have a representative like that who is truly volunteering their time to represent us than some of our current election cadidates even if it means a tax increase.


I would appreciate if you would refrain from commenting on social media.  It would also be greatly appreicated if you could treat your fellow councilmembers and staff will respect and courtesy.  And just in case you need a reminder, you are still part of the council which means you need to leave your campaign out of it and worry about what we currently have going on.


Melissa

Buffalo Lake MN Sturges Park Ice Skating 2014-2015

Posted 12/27/2014

Ice Safety: http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/safety/ice/index.html

Pavilion/Warming House Hours:
Saturdays: 10:00 am to 8:00 pm
Sundays: 10:00 am to 6:00 pm
Weekdays: 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm (starting Dec. 8)

Non-School Days: 10:00 am to 8:00 pm

"The warming house will close if temperatures fall to -10 degrees or -20 degrees wind chill."

They have free skate rentals, could be a bit sharper but good for beginners, be sure to bring a chair for the newbies.

More information:
https://www.facebook.com/196255279724/photos/a.218373404724.131735.196255279724/10152897397249725/?type=1&fref=nf

More Winter Activities:
http://www.ci.buffalo.mn.us/parks-recreation/

Response to supposed procedure error

2014 Montrose MN Mayor and City Council Candidates has been posted to the City Council Candidates page.

8/29/13:
Response to supposed procedure error
Regarding the supposed "major" procedure error at the Montrose City Council Meeting that [reporter] Doug Voerding wrote about, prior city councils have taken action in closed meetings for years, sounds like that may need to change.  The council also relies on staff to write the minutes.  Interestingly they put that article on the Front Page which means it would then show up on their website. The article was also a week late, wonder if it had to go through the newspaper lawyer first.

How can Voerding determine they are having whispered discussion if, as he writes, they don't speak load enough to be heard?  From previous experience they aren't having discussion but may be asking a clarifying question such as what page are they on, what example was it, etc.

As for not speaking loud enough that would include anyone speaking at the meeting.  This is a microphone issue.

I also found it interesting that the City Administrator would Not trust a City Council member to deliver a Check, it isn't cash.

Mayor's Resignation
I would like to thank the council for serving as I'm sure this year has been stressful due to the number of meetings they've had to have about employee issues and the mayor resigning. I should note the mayor's resignation letter seemed to point to many other things as issues however his wife put her name in for the vacancy created on the council due to his resignation.

Jacque B's opening July 15, 2013

Jacque B's is opening July 15th, 2013 3:00p in the old Great Northern Restaurant location.

211 Buffalo Ave N Montrose, MN 55363

Phone: (763) 675-3695

(The meeting room is the old Train Depot that was next to the railroad tracks which didn't make it into the city historic walking tour.)

http://jacquebs.com/

https://www.facebook.com/JacqueBsKitchenCocktails

Great Northern Bar & Grill Montrose MN CLOSED?

5/5/2013
A sign on the Great Northern Bar & Grill Montrose MN says CLOSED.  5PM on a Sunday.  The property was purchased in 2/2005 for $325,000.

Another group plans to spend around $1,000,000 to open the old Bayrischer Hof German restaurant that closed around the fall of 2008.

5/16/2013 Update:
Jacque B's Kitchen and Cocktails plans to open in the former Great Northern, opening date unknown.  They also own B's on the River in Watertown.

Be sure to follow this blog by entering your email on the right.

Montrose City Council closes meeting to consider allegations against city administrator

January 2013

Front Page
Montrose City Council closes meeting to consider allegations against city administrator
http://www.thedrummer.com/Archive/FrontPage/January18.htm#Montrose_City_Council_closes_meeting_to_consider_allegations_against_city_administrator
At the end of its first meeting as a new council, the Montrose City Council on Monday moved into closed session to consider allegations of the misuse of time cards by City Administrator Barb Swanson. ...
...six signed affidavits that, “if accurate, raise very serious issues with false time cards amounting to several thousands of dollars.”...


April 15, 2013 closed meeting
Montrose City Council dismisses allegations
The motion also said the council will not proceed with further investigation.
The council had previously met in closed session regarding the issue on Jan. 14, Jan. 21 and Feb. 18.  On March 18, the council reviewed the report of Groftyan Investigations of Osseo, an outside investigator the council had hired.  Article on Groftyan.




Letter to the Editor:
A Meet the Candidates event took place prior to the election and I would like to thank the citizens who set it up and their hard work.  For some reason though they did not have to get permission from the City Council to have a Public event at the Community Center whereas others do according to Community Center Policies.

Health Insurance: According to the City Fall 2012 Newsletter "In an effort to save money for the city, the employees volunteered to switch from a co-pay to a high deductible plan in 2009."  This health plan change did take place [for all employees].  There is no information that the City Council ever approved the Health Plan change.  In another City I was informed the City Council would approve the health plan changes as they do other contracts.

Union: The union contract was approved December 27th.  There was a link on the city website for the Meeting Packet but only had the Agenda so the public did not have the opportunity to review it and discuss any concerns with the council.  They had stopped emailing out the meeting packets around June 2012 as they are supposedly available on the website.

I would also like to Congratulate the candidates that won the election and Thank them for their hard work in running for public office.

2012 Montrose MN Election Results (Unofficial)

Mayor (Montrose)
CHARLIE NELSON     539     35.81%    
SCOTT "SKI" CZANSTKOWSKI     949     63.06%

Council Member (Montrose) (Elect 2)
SHARON KNODEL     451 
LLOYD JOHNSON     731
GARY KRAUSE     441
MICHELLE ANN OTTO     715

Lloyd Johnson for Montrose City Council 2012

Lloyd Johnson's flyer:

CITY COUNCIL
Lloyd Johnson

It takes a person with people skills, patience, understanding, desire, time and willingness to invest their efforts in building an effective team to get the job done for all our citizens.

Now, especially, we need to work together to get the best possible return on our tax dollars, and do everything possible to avoid increased taxes.

We need a totally transparent administration that is sensitive to our needs and open to our desire for a good place to live and raise our kids.

Together we can truly make Montrose a Comfortable and safe place, and we can truly say:
“IT’S GOOD TO BE HOME!!!”

Lloyd Johnson for City Council

Charlie Nelson campaign lit and City Newsletter

The city allowed the Meet the Candidates event without getting City Council approval. Is that provision there to protect the city?
"All public events must have prior City Council approval." Bottom Page 4
http://www.montrose-mn.com/docs/CommunityCenter-Fees-Policies.pdf#page=4


For the Montrose Mayor campaign, candidate Charlie Nelson writes in his campaign literature about the $22k spent on a report.  BUT he doesn't write about the ~$110,000 wasted on a $2.5 million City Hall which he was on the Committee for or the $170,000 eventually spent on a Intersection Study.  He writes that the approximately 11 Square Mile $250,000 "Alternative Urban Areawide Review" saves money but it was approved in 2009 after things had gone south.  Buffalo is about 7 Sq Miles and Montrose is about 3.2.  Most of the deficits from the spending on these is still on the books.

Charlie Nelson also writes that for 3 years running city staff asked for no raise in pay.  2008 average increase was about 8% for the 9 employees when Charlie and Sharon Knodel were still on the Council, none for 2009. All employees got 3% raises in 2010.  Raises were recommended for 2011 but they decided to wait until they got a report from the state which was in 2012, then the city only recommended increases for 3 of the 5, the other 3 employees are in supervisory union negotiations.  There were also Open Meeting Law Violations that the state issued an opinion on when Sharon Knodel was on the Council.

The city newsletter says the employees volunteered to switch from a co-pay to a high deductible plan in 2009 and that there was a reduction from 9 full-time employees.  A request for information for this was submitted on the 10th and hasn't received a completion response as of the 22nd.

Rose Thelen endorsed by a UNION 2012, Sawatke unanimous endorsement by outgoing commissioners

Pat Sawatzke is running for Wright County Commissioner against Rose Thelen

Letter To The Editor: Rose Thelen's Union Endorsement
"District 2 County Commissioner candidate Rose Thelen has been endorsed by the MN Regional Labor Federation which, according Federations’ web-site is “the umbrella organization of Minneapolis area local unions and includes 121 affiliated unions” and is affiliated with the AFL-CIO.  

The District 2 candidate who, year-in and year-out, has been the consistent and reliable friend to Wright County tax payers is Pat Sawatzke."

Letter: Sawatzke is a proven leader
"I read the unanimous letter of support from retiring
Commissioners Russek, Mattson and Eichelberg for Wright County Commissioner candidate Pat Sawatzke.

In addition, I saw the endorsement of Wright County Commissioner Pat Sawatzke from
former County Commissioner Karla Heeter prior to the primary election.

I [Judie Rose] served with Pat Sawatzke on the Wright County Board of Commissioners. I proudly support Pat Sawatzke for re-election to the Wright County Board of Commissioners."


MORE INFORMATION:
Find out your District and Polling place here: http://pollfinder.sos.state.mn.us/
Montrose is County Commissioner District 5, candidates Charlie Borrell and Leonard Wozniak.

Wright County COMMISSIONER DISTRICT MAP:
05-01-2012 Wright County Redistricting Map as Adopted.pdf from here

Council Member Appointment without posting of the vacany

8/2012
At the August 2012 City of Montrose Council Meeting, they accepted the resignation of Ryan Andreae from the City Council and declared that a vacancy exists on the Council effective the date of that meeting, this was on the Agenda.  The only other item on the Agenda about this said "Appointing new council member discussion".

They then proceeded to appoint SHARON KNODEL to the vacancy with Czanstkowski and Henry opposed.  Sharon was at this meeting and I don't believe she's come to a City Council Meeting in some time, seems she might have been notified by someone.  This was done WITHOUT prior notice to citizens which is legal but bad practice as this prevented citizens from expressing interest in the opening.  Thanks to Scott Czanstkowski and Roy Henry for opposing Knodel's appointment.

The last time they had a council vacancy and had an open process, quite a few citizens applied for the opening.

 (Click for larger image):

UNION Endorsement of Wozniak 2010

8/2012
County Commissioner Jack Russek wrote about not letting any party control county government in his letter last week.

I wonder if Russek brought this up 2 years ago when a County Commissioner Candidate [Leonard Wozniak] was endorsed by an UNION (Wright County Deputies Association) and did fairly well??  [Wozniak will again be on the ballot in 2012]

A local party unit endorsing a local candidate is as local as it gets.  People tend to like to know where a candidate stands on local issues and knowing if they are supported by a local group of residents (note union members wouldn't necessarily be residents) can provide some information, as well as getting to know the candidates as they campaign or by calling and speaking with the candidate.

Letter from FDR Regarding Collective Bargaining of Public Unions written August 16, 1937.
All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public personnel management.

The very nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for administrative officials to represent fully or to bind the employer in mutual discussions with Government employee organizations.

Particularly, I want to emphasize my conviction that militant tactics have no place in the functions of any organization of Government employees.

A strike of public employees manifests nothing less than an intent on their part to prevent or obstruct the operations of Government until their demands are satisfied. Such action, looking toward the paralysis of Government by those who have sworn to support it, is unthinkable and intolerable.

Rumor Patrol, Relative Status, Local Results Survey

7/19/12
Local Results Survey
At the June 2011 City of Montrose Council meeting the City Council approved the Council on Local Results and Innovation performance measurement program that the state reports "will aid residents, taxpayers, and state and local elected officials in determining the efficacy of counties and cities in providing services, and measure residents' opinions of those services."  "Cities and counties that choose to participate in the new standards measure program may be eligible for a reimbursement in LGA, and EXEMPTION from levy limits." (Emphasis added)

At the City Council Meeting this month July 9th, 2012 (the filing DEADLINE for this year was July 1st) it was suggested to the city council that the city no longer participate as the reimbursement from the state wouldn't cover the cost, the city would be on the hook for about $100.  The council asked if there was any benefit to the program and they were told there wasn't BUT if you note from the last paragraph there is potential benefit.  When the exemption from Levy Limits was brought up it was noted that the city hasn't raised taxes in a few years so they didn't think that was a concern.  The city still plans to administer the Survey that has the 10 performing measures.

Private Meeting
The Mayor noted they had a PRIVATE meeting with select individuals of the community on June 28th along with the Mayor and City Staff.  The notice of the meeting said there would be a brief presentation on the State of the City followed by a question and answer session and RUMOR PATROL, a chance for the City to respond to what you may be hearing in the community.

Relative Status
I also noted that the new utility billing clerk is the wife of the former utility billing clerk who moved on to a new job.  The new utility billing clerk is contracted through a temp agency, which was done prior to council approval but the council was given an update on it at the June meeting.  Supposedly time was of the essence though the June council meeting was about 1 week after he gave his 2 week notice.


6/14/12
Water Rate Increases
In the City of Montrose Spring newsletter it said they "Balanced rate adjustments to remain in the Wright County average".  I'm not entirely sure what this means as our water/sewer bills increased 13-14% this year.  [The Fall 2012 newsletter October 2012 says Montrose is in the middle of the pack among other Wright County cities.]

Regarding our sewer/water rates, around May 2011 last year they did a Water and Sewer Bill study based on 5000 gallons. It noted then the average was $74.44. The mean on the graph was $66.10 (Buffalo).  Montrose was at $78.20, the 6th most expensive of the 17 that were on the graph.  10 of the 17 were in Wright County.  Monticello was the least expensive at $32.53.  Howard Lake $109.67 and Waverly $136.90 were the most expensive.

City of Montrose Graph with Notes (click for larger image):

Summer help relative status, city administrator purchasing power

11/3/11

I would like to clarify what I brought up at the City of Montrose city council open forum, that it was about the summer help employees, there were 2 of them.  I did say as noted in the paper that they should review the relative status and the date on the application, should be for both of these employees.  The paper also did have that city staff said the summer help often return to work for another summer but the part that was missed that was brought up at open forum is that the city council never approved the hiring of these 2 employees.

Later last year the Council had granted permission to the Public Works director to Interview and Hire for an open position for a full-time utility billing clerk at a city council meeting.  Then at the next council meeting the following month, the council hired the recommended person.  Just a clarification, according to the League of MN Cities, the Council has the sole authority to appoint employees, which someone sent to some of the city council members in between those meetings.  One of these 2 summer help employees was hired after this occurred.

I also found it interesting that Mayor Kauffman recently voted against a council member's wife to be on another city commission.  This person rarely if ever seems to miss meetings and of the 3 applicants was the only one that attended the meeting where the council appointed them.

Recodification and large purchasing power
The city is also working on recodification of the city ordinances which is incorporating changes.

A section is attempting to add purchasing/contracting up to $5000 and purchasing/contracting authority up to $25,000 for previously budgeted items after obtaining 2 or more quotes for the city administrator.  However, in our plan of city, according to the League of MN Cities, "because only the council may approve actual purchases, the purchasing agent should always obtain council approval before taking any final action."  So, I'm not sure if they can have this written into the city ordinance.  The recodification was removed from the last agenda so it can be a workshop item and be reviewed in more detail.

Nelson appointed to P&Z, Mayor Cancelling Mettings

6/23/11

Former Mayor Charlie Nelson was appointed to the Planning and Zoning (P&Z) with the 2 new council members Scott Czanstkowski and Roy Henry opposed.  2 applications were in the council packet with Charlie's name, one filled out by City Clerk Barb Thwing-Swanson.

In 2010 Charlie ran to get back on the council, he had been on until the end of 2008 when he didn't refile. When he was on the council there were some rather large pay increases [1 18.5%, 2 10-11%, and 1 6.5%, Sharon Knodel, Charlie Nelson, others 2008] and the issue of the $2.5 million city hall [for a 18,000 square foot building for 5-6 staff] [see also Charlie Nelson spending issues, Special Meeting Billing].  In this last election he said he was running because he was best qualified.  He campaigned somewhat as he had a flyer in a local paper however he got beat by someone that didn't do that and who only had out a few campaign signs. It seems people may have realized we needed some change in government.

[After the polls closed on election night 2010 Charlie Nelson went into the polling place (the community center) and put a chair on the floor and sat on it.  A citizen inquired about the votes and was told they weren't done counting yet.  Not too long later the City Administrator brought Nelson a business card with the vote counts written on it.  The individual asked if they could look and proceeded to look.  The City Administrator stepped forward saying assertively that's her note to Charlie.]

Scott Czanstkowski asked if this P&Z opening was posted and the response was yes it was posted on the website.  It turns out it was posted as a 2011 opening on an outdated and unfinished website under Government > City Commissions > P&Z, which still shows a FORMER council member as the Council Liaison. The City Calendar also showed the wrong date for the Best of Hwy 12 Wagon Train that came to town and wasn't fixed after some of the council was notified, so the website shouldn't be considered a current resource.

Mayor Cancelling Meetings
Regarding the meeting that was cancelled back in March and then rescheduled which I wrote about before, this meeting was cancelled by Mayor Kauffman.  When the data was requested that documents he was delegated authority to do this, the response was that there was no data.  I would think if something like this is delegated it should be in writing so that there isn't question.

City Audit, Time Clocks

4/28/11

City Audit
At the Montrose City Council Meeting April 11th, the yearly City Audit was accepted.  The audit was a unqualified audit, which means there was nothing to question.  Debt to assets is still high and Debt service coverage is a very low 37%, it should be over 100%.  The Current and Capital expenditures per capita are about half of peer cities; I find this interesting as Taxes per capita are only slightly less than the peer group.  It would be helpful to have more detail on this.  Capital assets left to depreciate percentage is slightly higher than the peers, this would indicate our assets are newer.  The General Fund Balance as a Percent of the Budget jumped from 40 to 60%, the peer group was 50% so this was a good increase.  The peer group I used is from 2009, 2010 wasn't available.  Revenue was above budget and expenses below, thought the actual amounts were almost the same as 2009.

Fire Hydrant Flushing
Tornado awareness week was the same week as the council meeting, with good information included in the City Newsletter that was mailed out.  One thing that did appear missed was the fire hydrant flushing schedule for April 25th, but this was on the city website and in the Buffalo paper [Wright County Journal Press].

Employee performance reviews
Mayor Kauffman requested that the Employee performance reviews be removed from the agenda when it was next to be discussed.  This included a recommendation of 2% pay increases prepared by City Clerk Barb.  They mentioned that they should wait for the comparable worth reports to come back first; but they should have known this as comparable worth was discussed at the previous meeting.  Maybe they thought it wouldn't pass with only 4 council members and it would be better to wait?  Last year and it appears again this year the city is disregarding the established pay increase program of COLA and Longevity increases.  Note that there wouldn't be COLA increases to give for each year from 2009-11.

City Council Members Contacting Consultants
A city policy of council members contacting consultants without permission of the city council was discussed.  Scott Czanstkowski had contacted the City Attorney about Open Meeting Law items on a few occasions and another council member had wanted some research done.  Czanstkowski mentioned that most of the times he brought up the Open Meeting Law, the city changed things.  I had observed several special meetings that were re-posted with the specific purpose, something the State had previously written an opinion on against the city in an Open Meeting Law review.

Time Clocks
Staff Time Clocks was requested to be on the agenda by Czanstkowski but was missing for some reason, and was added at the meeting and passed unanimously. Currently employees are writing their time in.  The Deputy Clerk mentioned that the city was getting free time without the clocks as employees sometimes show up early or end up working late maybe 15 minutes without pay, the council said this isn't good.  Liability was also discussed that if an employee got hurt, if they were really on the clock?

[Another bit of information, back in the Spring of 2008 when mayor Charlie Nelson was signing Barb's time sheets, she was getting overtime (OT) over 8 hours in a day.  Access to the time sheets was first denied and when persisted they were given.  A few months later the OT over 8 stopped. Said she became a full-time employee then, however there was no data on this supposed change!]

Meeting Cancellation w/o Council Approval about Pay Issue, Well Contamination

4/11

I find it interesting that the 3/14 Montrose City Council Meeting was canceled and then rescheduled as a Special Meeting on 3/28.  It might have been that the Mayor and Acting Mayor wouldn't have been there or late but they could have appointed an Acting Mayor for that specific meeting, and there were a few meetings last year where only 3 council members were present.  Maybe it was that City Clerk Barb was on vacation and a $3/$2 past pay increase item about her and the Deputy Clerk was on the agenda?  In the last 2 years, Mayor Andy had missed 0 council meetings with 0 notes that he was late.

Who would've decided to cancel it?  All it takes to schedule a special meeting is 2 council members OR the mayor, so it seems it should be a council decision to remove a regularly scheduled meeting.  And the mayor was quick to call a special meeting about some contamination found in the block by the ECFE a couple of months ago.  In this case, the city had stopped using the well by the Community Center in case the contamination was in the water, however they didn't have the report back yet to tell if it was contaminated (it wasn't) and had to postpone their decision.  The plan to replace the well is in the Comprehensive Plan but the debt load is high and it would've increased city utility bills.


Regarding the $3/$2 increase in 2004, when I had reviewed some pay change data over a year ago for the City Clerk, for the year 2004 the City of Montrose gave me the 11/8/2004 and 11/22/2004 council packets, 11/3/04 canvassing minutes, 11/12/04 joint meeting of Montrose and Woodland Township minutes, and 11/17/04 public hearing minutes.  The only relevant data I could find was in the 11/8/2004 minutes where Clerk Barb Swanson received a $3/hour and Deputy Clerk Wendy Manson received a $2/hour increase to assume the responsibilities of Supervising the Public Works department.  For other years, most of the data was isolated.

Readers may have noted that the reporter reported for the 3/28 meeting that the City Clerk said that the pay increase came up 1 and 3 years ago.  I don't recall this being on an agenda in the last year, so I'm not sure where it would've come up.

There was also open forum at the 3/28 council meeting.  I tried to add that the City's report saying Fox 9 got the wages wrong, was itself wrong, the City was reporting 2010 numbers and Fox had reported on 2009 numbers.

[Well Contamination
Regarding the contamination by the ECFE they discussed a few months ago, the city engineer thought the well by the Community Center was contaminated.  The contamination went down about 20 feet and there weren't any wells reported in the notification area. To build 2 new wells at the north end of town by Rolling Meadows (last subdivision off of Cty Rd 12/Buffalo Ave) would've cost $800,000 of which engineering fees would've been about 15%. This would've increased water rates by a few dollars a month.  Since the well wasn't contaminated, there is enough pumping capacity to meet peak demand so this project was put on hold.

Not sure if having odd/even watering would've helped offset peak demand enough to not need the new wells if the old one couldn't be used.  There is another well by the community center they only use when necessary as it has a crushed casing which I believe causes it to suck up sand when used.]