A decision Monday night by the Brainerd City Council allows the Brainerd Fire Department to purchase a new piece of equipment for water and ice rescues.
The council unanimously approved a motion to authorize the department to purchase an inflatable-style rescue boat, motor and trailer at a cost not to exceed $13,000.
In November 2016, the department sold its 1989 hovercraft, which Fire Chief Tim Holmes said had reached the end of its useful life. A retired fire engine was also sold, and both sales resulted in proceeds of $12,981, which will be used to purchase the new equipment.
The inflatable rescue boat can be used to move from open water to ice when performing ice rescues, council member Gabe Johnson said. It does the same things the hovercraft did, he said, but is more useful.
In a personnel and finance committee meeting prior to the council meeting, Holmes said the boat is 13.5 feet long with a 25 horsepower motor. The boat is light enough to be dragged from open water to the ice for ice rescues, he said. It can also be used for open water rescues or to deploy booms to contain spills on the water.
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In other business, the council:
Ratified a job offer to James Fladung for the position of assistant city engineer. Fladung will start June 26 at step A of the city's salary administration plan, which is $64,844 annually. This is 85 percent of the base wage for the position. Nine people applied for the position and four were interviewed May 22.
Ratified a job offer to Shawn Middagh for a street maintenance I position. Middagh will start June 19 at $22.11 per hour for the first six months, which is 20 cents less than the base wage for the position. This rate is outlined in the street department union contract. There were 35 applicants for the position, four of which were interviewed May 25.
Authorized the city administrator or designee to conduct the hiring process for city employees. This includes providing verbal and written conditional job offers to top candidates. The council will ultimately provide final approval for all city hires, as outlined in state law. Future final approval of hires will be done through approval of the consent calendar at council meetings.
The action codifies the process used to hire Fladung and Middagh, Johnson said, and it speeds up the hiring process by a couple weeks.
In a personnel and finance committee meeting prior to the council meeting, Kris Schubert, human resources coordinator, said the new hiring process works well. Pre-employment testing and background checks for Middagh and Fladung are already complete, she said.
"I think that'll help alleviate some of the issues that we had sometimes where we had to withdraw conditional job offers," Schubert said.
Adopted a resolution ordering improvements to the South Sixth Street east frontage road and various streets in northwest Brainerd.
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The South Sixth Street east frontage road project involves reconstructing the street from Industrial Park Road to Wright Street. The estimated cost of this project is $380,000, with estimated assessments totaling $87,675. The estimated assessment rate is $50 per front foot.
The northwest Brainerd project includes resurfacing numerous streets including Williams Street, Northwest Eighth Street, Northwest Seventh Street, James Street, Northwest Third Street and Northwest Fifth Street. The estimated cost of this project is $562,000, with estimated assessments totaling $141,230. The estimated assessment rate is $29 per front foot.
Prior to adopting the resolution, the council held a public hearing on the projects, at which no one spoke.
Decided not to waive statutory tort limits on municipal tort liability established by state statute Section 466.04. Enforcing these tort limits limits the amount of money the city is liable for in certain types of lawsuits.
The city decides annually whether to waive the tort limits, Johnson said, and traditionally, the city has decided not to waive the limits. By enforcing the tort limits, the city's insurance premiums are a bit higher, he said, but an expensive lawsuit could cost more in the long run.
"We're not going to get hit with a $30 billion lawsuit," Johnson said.
Authorized staff to seek appraisals and send an offer letter for a small sliver of property at the southwest corner of the intersection of Wright and Southeast 13th streets. Once the appraisal is made, the offer will come back to the council for final approval, council member Kelly Bevans said.
Wright Street will possibly be resurfaced in the next few years and acquiring the property will allow the street to be aligned. Currently, the east portion of Wright Street does not line up with the portion on the west side of Southeast 13 Street.
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Adopted a resolution entering into a master partnership agreement with the Minnesota Department of Transportation. The city exchanges some routine services with MnDOT, Bevans said, and the agreement means the city doesn't have to enter into a formal agreement each time this happens. Common services include bridge inspections, testing services, traffic counting, brush and tree removal and patching.
