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Olson upset storm sewer fees not collected from large users BRAINERD CITY COUNCIL Staff Writer Brainerd City Council member Bob Olson is upset that storm sewer fees have not been collected from large commercial users in the city.
Olson asked the item be placed on Monday's Brainerd City Council agenda. He said it wasn't fair that the fees have been collected on residential and small commercial properties but not on more than 200 large commercial properties in the city. He said the fees that could have been collected amounted to more than $100,000.
Olson said that after the council approved collecting the storm sewer fees in September of 2002 there was also a 15-month delay in collecting fees from residential and small commercial businesses, which amounted to a loss of more than $150,000 in fees.
"I don't think it's acceptable," Olson said. He also noted he was never in favor of the fees.
At the Personnel and Finance Committee meeting earlier Monday, Don Klein, assistant city engineer, went through an exhaustive list of procedures that needed to be done to collect the fees, including creating a database in conjunction with information from Brainerd Public Utilities and Crow Wing County for billing customers.
"So the reason is you had a ton of work to do before you collected the fees," said council member and Personnel and Finance Chairman Mark O'Day, who had a heated exchange with Olson after Olson cut off O'Day while O'Day was explaining his stance.
"We wanted to do it right, not fast," said City Administrator Dan Vogt.
City Engineer Jeff Hulsether said notification that fees will be collected have been sent out to the large commercial properties.
The council took no action on the issue.
In other business, the council:
Was informed that the next regular council meeting would be held on Tuesday, Feb. 21, because of the Presidents' Day holiday. The council also adjourned Monday's meeting to a closed session at 7 p.m. on Feb. 21 with an attorney appointed by the League of Minnesota Cities to discuss allegations of data practices violations.
Defeated, by a 5-2 vote, a motion by Olson to have Planning Commission items be considered by the full city council instead of first being reviewed by the Safety and Public Works Committee and then being discussed by the council. Voting against the motion were council members O'Day, Kevin Goedker, Lucy Nesheim, Mary Koep and Council President Kelly Bevans. Council member Anne Nelson Fisher voted with Olson.
Approved, by a 6-1 vote, a boxing application from Brock Larson for an extreme fighting event to be held April 22 at the Brainerd Civic Center. Nelson Fisher had earlier made a motion to deny the license but the motion died for lack of a second. In voting against approval, Nelson Fisher said she was "somewhat offended" by the event after seeing advertising for a similar event in 2005.
Set a public hearing at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 21 for the Beaver Dam Road utilities improvement project.
Accepted a trail concept plan for the city of Brainerd.
MATT ERICKSON can be reached at matt.erickson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5857.
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