March 3 Beach Bash liquor license granted

January 26, 2012

By Violet Nelson

vanelson@yahoo.com

The Hendricks City Council met in regular session Tuesday, Jan. 17 with Mayor Rick Hamer presiding.

County Commissioner Adam Gillund reviewed the final 2012 county budget with the council. “The county ended the year on a positive note,” he said. “We are running a very tight ship and we have to make sure we have the staff and programs to meet the peoples’ needs.” In other county issues: the payable taxes increased due to change in the in homestead taxes. The county rat­ing agents gave Lincoln County a thumbs up. “For a county this size, it is a solid rating, one to be proud of,” Gillund said. A seven percent overall reduction cut was made on our debt service fund, which is a reserve fund used to account for the accumulation of resources. Gillund has appreciat­ed working with David Blees on county law enforcement. “I am hopeful over the next five years we will have a positive agree­ment within the county on law enforcement,” Gillund said. MPR coverage is actually downsizing their police department. Lincoln County now has five deputies who will provide service to the county, new officers, additional training and police cars. The county has put a cap on health insurance for a money savings. The environmental office has had a reduction in staff. The county will still be able to work on GIS (geographic information systems) projects. The highway department will be working on county roads 1 and 19 this year. Robin Sterzinger has been re­posted as office manager so she is now accountant/office manager. The assessor’s office is expanding.

Tom Reeves addressed Gillund about driving golf carts on the county road. “It is an issue,” he said. Gillund said it is illegal to drive a golf cart or ATV outside the city limits. County Road 17, out to the golf club, is owned by the county. Tom Reeves in­quired about the annexa­tion process. Gillund said he is not sure what the mechanics would be. “As far as on the county level, I haven’t heard of any is­sues”, Gillund said. “The first step in annexation would be to contact Robert Olson about a zoning ordi­nance.” He added that he does not see the sense of just annexing the cart path. “It would still be a county road, but it would be a city jurisdiction owned by the county,” Reeves said. “It comes down to a local is­sue,” Gillund said. He sug­gested engaging the right people and getting their opinion on how the pro­cess would work. Reeves said the city would have to go through the annexation process without a peti­tion. “It is informal but ex­pensive,” he said. “We can look into it,” Gillund said, “if this is something you would like to see done.” Gillund said Robert Olson should be asked. Reeves told Gillund that he should ask the county attorney. “I can do that,” Gillund said. “If it is just to change the ordinance, it would be Robert Olson’s issue,” Gil­lund said.

Fire Department Chief Dustin Hauschild request­ed a liquor license for the upcoming Beach Bash on March 3. He said it will be more of a banquet style this year. It was so moved by Scott Pearson, seconded by Julie Hogie, to grant the fire department a liquor li­cense for this event.

Hamer said the city re­ceived information this morning from the engineer regarding relining sewer lines. “I would like to move forward with the project so we can start putting it out for bids,” Hamer said. It was so moved by Scott Pearson, seconded by Kar­ol Nelson, to move forward with this.

It was so moved by Ju­lie Hogie, seconded by Judy Pearson, to accept the AWAIR safety manual as it is written. A workplace accident and injury re­duction (AWAIR) requires many employers to devel­op and use a formal work­place accident and injury reduction program as they are responsible for safety and health at all levels.

Financials were ap­proved followed by a closed session on union negotiations.