1988-12-06 Special Snow Plow Tampering & Dept Relationship
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SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING
MINUTES
DECEMBER 6, 1988
A 5pecial meet~ng of the C~ty Counc~l was called to order by Mayor
Loretta Roden Members present included Gary Schwenzfe~er, Donatus Vetsch~
and Bob Braun Others present included Maureen Andrews, Ken L~ndsay ana
David Vetsch.
The purpose of the meeting was to d~scuss the problem of someone
tampering with the snow plow and the basic relationsh~p between the
Ma~ntenance and F~re Departments
The Counc~l was informed that it had come to Ken L~ndsay s attention
that someone had been tampering with the snow plow lately, the first
~nstance was that the chains on the sand~n, equipment had been readjusted
which could have resulted in the misappl~cat~on of salt on the streets The
second lnstance occurred when someone pulled the coil wire off the truck
~ch resulted ~n the battery being worn down when Ken and Mike tr~ed to
~rt the veh1cle on Tuesday morning
There ~s no ~ndication who might have been ~nvolved w~th e~ther of
these events, but lt is the Council's op~nions that 1n any case these
actlv1ties are not appropriate behavior for adults, and 9annot be v~ewed as
belng funny. There was some discussion regarding whether or not the City
should offer an award to see if anyone would come forward regarding the
tampering of vehicles.
The Councll stated that if someone 1S found to be tamper~ng w~th
vehlcles or vandaliz~ng an~ other equipment that lt would call for
lmmediate dism~ssal from the Fire Department.
There wa5 a150 some discussion regarding the lack of space ~n the
bUllding and what could be done to elevate some of the problem The ~ssue
of the in5tallat~on of the new wall was brought up It was po~nted out that
lt was lnstalled 3 feet bigger than originally agreed upon by Dav~d Vetsch
and Ken L~ndsay
Davld po~nted out that ~t was h~s understanding that Ken had approved
the change ln size, but ppinted out th~t he was not here when the three
f~remen (Kevin L~dberg\ Bob Wacker and Paul Heinen) ~nstalled the wall
Ken 5tated that he haa been out snowplowing and had stopped ln while the
group was working on the wall but that he had not agreed to installat~on of
the blgger area He stated that it had been agreed that he would be back
to help and that by the time he got back the work was completed and the
wall was lnstalled
Donatus suggested that maybe the Council should call 1n the three
flremen to get their side of the story so that the problem can be resolved
once and for all After some addit~onal discussion, Dav1d said that the
de~artment would come back in and move the wall back to where it was
orlglnally agreed upon
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~6~6~88 MINUTES
There was also some discussion about the fact that what ever 1S done
to resolve the storage problem now that it w11l only be a temporary
solution because the City is quickly grow1ng out of it space and that
someth1ng will have to be done to resolve the problem once and for all It
wac suggested that instead of moving the wall back the three feet that the
snow plow be moved out to the Wastewater Treatment Facility for the winter
and that the pontoon be moved 1nto storage for the w1nter months
There was some diecussion about whether o~ not 1t wQuld even be
feac1ble to move the eqUipment around. Ken was asked if the bU11ding fiad a
floor drain 1nstalled so that the snow melt would not S1t on the floor Ken
ca1d that there was a drain floor but that it drained directly into the
ponds and that the salt run off would not have time to d1ssolve before
going 1nto the system
Ken stated that he did not think it was fair that h1s department was
be1ng inconven1enced because of something that the f1re department did
Donatus stated that he felt that the Council should be deciding how this
problem should be resolved and if that meant expanding the park shelter
storage that Ken would have to work along with the Council because at this
t1me the C1ty does not have the money available to undertake major build1ng
proJects
Getting back to the tampering of vehicles there was some add1t1onal
d1scuss1on regarding whether or not a letter should be sent to each of the
firemen regard1ng the incident, but in the end it was agreed that it would
be better 1f Dav1d mentioned the matter at the next meeting and stress to
each of the members that this type of activity would not be tolerated by
. C1ty
Dav1d acked the Council what could be done about members that are not
w11ling to pull the1r weight in the department It was pointed out that the
F1remen's By-laws layout disciplinary action regarding f1remen performance
and attendance It was suggested that it might be advantages to set up a
committee made up of representat1ves of the department and the Counc11 to
review the matter and take the necessary act10n so that the burden 1S not
solely the fire ch1ef's responsibility.
There was no other discussion, so it was agreed that the fire
department would move the wall and that David would talk to the department
regarding the matter. This issue will be brought up again at a regular
meeting of the Council for further discuss10n
S1nce there wac no other business a motion was made to adJourn the
meet1ng The motion was made by Bob Braun and seconded by Gary
Schwenzfe1er. All were 1n favor and the motion carried
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