HomeMy WebLinkAboutLicense Committee Minutes 05.23.1996MINUTES
LICENSE COMMITTEE
MAY 23, 1996 4:00 P.M.
COUNCIL CHAMBERS
MEMBERS PRESENT: Norman Orr, Chairman
Gay Easton Dirk Kroll
Larry McCann
OTHERS PRESENT: Jim Flisrand Cathy Gabrian
Jeanette Koch Cheryll Lund
Discussion regarding Lucky Lil's Casino in the Town Pump building
and also the new one opening in the old A & W Drive-in building.
It was stated that the casino in Town Pump has never been licensed
separately and they plan to continue the smaller one when the new
one opens.
Larry questioned whether the city is receiving the correct gambling
revenue and he will check on this.
Regarding fire inspections, Larry stated that he does them on all
new business licenses. He is working toward being able to do an
inspection of every business, once a year.
COMPUTER PROGRAM
Discussion regarding the computer program for city licensing. It
was stated that our program is very basic and does not give much
information. Larry would like to see a program that would allow us
to enter more information on each business and be able to extract
a variety of different information when needed. He said there are
inexpensive programs available but they run on personal computers,
not the main frame that is in the clerk's office.
SURETY BOND FOR CONTRACTORS
Discussion followed regarding whether the city wants to continue to
require a surety bond for contractors who have not been licensed in
the past three years.
It was stated the bond is good for one year and should be renewed
for two more years but the treasurer has put no system in place to
follow up on the renewals.
Jim questioned whether the city should be in the bonding business.
He said this came about several years ago when we had a bad hail
storm and a lot of "fly by nights" came through town doing
business. Jim explained that the bond makes it easier for the home
owner to recover any losses but it puts the city right in the
middle.
State law already requires the contractor to be liable for their
work for a period of one year. Even without the bond, the
homeowner can still recover losses but it would require them to go
through the legal process.
It was stated that the homeowner has a responsibility when hiring
a contractor. They need to ask or check around and make sure the
person they are hiring is a reputable contractor. That is not the
city's responsibility.
Motion b Larry McCann to have Joe Leckie review the
compliance bond requirement, seconded by Dirk Kroll. Motion
carried.
More discussion and the motion was amended with the following being
added.
The License Committee recommends the bonding ordinance be removed
provided the city attorney agrees, upon his review.
DELIVERY PERMITS
Discussion regarding delivery permits. The city started the
delivery permit system in 1992-93. A sizable amount of revenue was
generated the first two years but for the past three years we have
only collected a total of $ 500.
Since the treasurer has not been to work for months and has not
kept up with the delivery permits for the past several years, the
current office staff asked for direction regarding how to handle
this for the upcoming year. Delivery permits are not a part of the
city license program and it needs to be kept track of manually. It
would require a lot of time to get it back on track and to maintain
it and the office staff does not have the time to do this.
The committee felt that if we eventually get a new computer program
for licensing, we may revive the delivery permit but for the time
being, we will give out permits to only those requesting them.
PUBLIC RIGHT-OF-WAY BONDING
Jim commented on the ordinance requiring a $ 2,000 bond of anyone
who works in the public right-of-way, regardless of whether they
are a contractor or a home owner.
He would like the committee and the council to discuss and think
about it and eventually give him some direction regarding the
enforcement of this ordinance.
1997-98 CITY BUSINESS LICENSES
A list of the current city business licenses was presented for the
committee to review.
Motion b Gay Easton to approve sending out renewal notices
for the current city business licenses, seconded by Dirk Kroll.
Motion carried.
The meeting adjourned at 5:35 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
0
Cathy Gabrian
Deputy City Clerk