By Clark Natalie

The first order of business at the Jan. 8 Harris City Council was to swear in newly elected officials. Returning as mayor is Rick Smisson, and Kathy Olson resumes her place at the council table, having been re-elected last fall. The only change in the council is the addition of Councilor John Pelant. Then it was down to business beginning with the public comment period.

Concerned citizens voiced their opinion on a number of issues. When done, Mayor Rick Smisson addressed a list of 10 questions submitted by Larry Nelson from the prior meeting, as is the city's process.

The mayor went through each question and then pointed out why the city has spent so much on legal and consulting fees.

One question that has been asked of the council many times is, what is the actual cost of hiring the new clerk, including the cost of the city attorney to handle a lot of the process, including preparing the job description and doing the preliminary screening of the candidates. Smisson said the cost was $6,751.09, and that it was necessary to include the attorney in all phases of the process because of the threat of litigation. Every decision that the council makes has to be reviewed by legal council for the same reason, he said.

Smisson said that statements had been made that the job description had been written to hire a specific person. The city attorney had to be involved to make sure the process was fair, and the public had confidence in the process. But everything has a cost, he noted. The attorney is contracted at $110 per hour. The time spent to respond to the 10 questions that had been submitted was approximately 10 hours of time. This time was allocated to the mayor, the attorney, the city planner, the city engineer and other city employees.

Smisson was adamant about the public's right to question the council and request information. But those requests require large amounts of time by staff and consultants and that comes at a cost to all of the taxpayers, he said.

Other public comment

One of the last actions taken by the council in 2006 was to pass on the delinquent water bills to the county to be included on the tax rolls. Amanda Kociemba came before the council to question this action, as she had received three delinquent water bills dating back to July of 2005. She said she had paid those bills, but was having a difficult time finding the canceled checks. One was paid in cash and she was able to produce the receipt. Smisson said treasurer Richard Hill would work with her to make sure that she did not have to pay the bills twice. When the receipts are found, the bills can be removed from the county tax rolls. Smisson did say that part of the problem was the old method of billing, where the balance was not carried forward. With the new billing system in place, that will not happen.

Bev Weston was on hand to find out who was suppose to be plowing the snow on 480th street, the road in front of her home. Weston had split off 10 acres and sold it and a house had been built. Her neighbor was concerned about plowing. Weston had never had a problem because she was a school bus driver and Chisago County had always plowed the 400 feet to her driveway. Now that has ended and Weston said she has never seen a Harris snow plow on the road.

The road in question is on the border road between Harris and Rushseba Township. It is a stub that runs to the interstate. The question of who is to plow and maintain the road depends on what the county did when the interstate went through.

City Attorney Pete Grundhoefer said the responsibility for maintenance of the road depends on if the county vacated the road in 1968 when I-35 went through, or turned the road over to the city or township, or did nothing and still owns the road. Before the city can commit to maintaining the road, the legal responsibility needs to be found. Councilman Doug Chaffee pointed out that Weston is a Harris resident, pays taxes and the fire department would have to have access in case of emergency. Grundhoefer noted the necessity of following proper procedure. The cost could be split with the township or county. Also, the area in question has to be designated a road before it can be maintained.

In other business:

• Annual designations were approved. Dates and times for the council meetings and planning commissions were set. Appointments were made for city attorney, engineer, planner and other staff. The official newspaper will be the Cambridge Star. Maintenance supervisor Mike Kriz's salary was increased. The time of 40 hours per week was also addressed. Kriz has accrued a substantial amount of comp time. Kriz will come in to work on Saturdays and Sundays when needed, he has not been clocking in, but taking comp time to be used later. With the demands of his job, their are few opportunities to use his comp time. Treasurer Hill said that he will prepare an analysis of what is owed Kriz and what the options are for the council to rectify the situation. Kriz may be paid for it, or have to use it up. Kriz keeps a personal log of everything he does for the city; Hill will use that to prepare the analysis. The council told Kriz that from now on, all time spent for the city has to be on the clock. This could mean paying Kriz overtime. The council will look at hiring help for Kriz that will be permanent and capable to take over for him.

• During Fire Chief Will Lacina's report, Lacina requested a closed session with some of the officers of the fire department. Before the council could set this up, Grundhoefer explained that there are only certain issues that allow for closed sessions. He would review with Lacina the purpose of the closed session, and if it qualified would contact the council to set up the needed session.

• Tim Cropper, fire department treasurer, presented a report on the department's pension. The pension form SE06, which sets the amount required in the pension fund, showed that there is sufficient funds on hand in both the Certificate of Deposit and on deposit with Wells Fargo to increase the annual benefit from $650 per year to $750. Cropper also gave notice that he was resigning his position on the department.

• The council approved payment of bills for both the water treatment plant and the wastewater treatment facility.