COUNCIL DELAYS DECISIONS ON WATERLINE, POLICY CHANGES

ST. JOHNS - The Dec. 9 meeting of the St. Johns city council was long
although the council took little action except for the dismissal of
city manager Greg Martin. The council held two executive sessions on
the matter during the meeting.

The other matters on the agenda included: adjusting contract fees for
engineering services for the new city well and water line project,
consider authorizing Terra Visa Group to move forward with the
construction phase of the above, drafting and implementing a medical
marijuana ordinance, consider awarding a bid for the city hall
renovation project, and proposed revisions to the personnel policies
and procedures manual.

A lengthy discussion was held on the issue of adjusting contract fees
for engineering services for the well and water line transmission
project. Because of reductions in costs and rules by the EPA and Rural
Development grants, the discussion concerned changing to an hourly
rate of pay versus a percentage. The item was tabled and city attorney
Bryce Patterson is going to look further into the matter.

The new water well and water line transmission projects have been in
progress since 1988. The council voted to approve moving forward with
the construction phase of the well and water line.

The new ordinance for amending the city code concerning medical
marijuana was also tabled following discussion of the proposed
ordinance after it was revealed that planning and zoning had found
several flaws in the proposal. It was mentioned that any medical
marijuana dispensary that is built before zoning laws are in place
will have to be grandfathered in to any new law.

The current ordinance had suggestions for zoning areas that would
accommodate the dispensaries and it was found that one of them, C1,
would not be available under the requirement of 1,000 feet of any
residential area. It was suggested that the requirement might have to
be reduced.

Other provisions of the ordinance would require a sales tax license,
proof of an approved registration with the DHS for operation of a
dispensary, a floor plan of the dispensary, operating hours between 9
a.m. and 5 p.m. only, a city inspection prior to a license being
issued, future inspections with 72 hours notice, and display of
required signs. The 16-page ordinance has other requirements that can
be viewed by requesting a copy from city hall.

A decision on the city hall renovation project has been delayed for
several months and was tabled again at this meeting. Last month the
council made a motion to reject all bids as listed and have the
architect go back to all the bidders and have them make their
recommendations to reflect the budget figure.

Only three bids came back this time and the lowest figure came in at
$630,000. The budget for the project is $450,000. The council directed
the city attorney to look into the contract and they will address the
item again next month.

The last item to be tabled concerned the proposed revisions to the
personnel policies and procedures manual. Martin told the council that
a staff committee had reviewed the policy over the previous year and a
draft was sent to all council members for the meeting. Only mayor Fred
Nielsen stated that he had received a copy so the item will be put on
January's agenda.