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Brainerd City Council approves personnel, service and project items; holds stormwater award for more review
Summary
At its Jan. 5 meeting, the Brainerd City Council approved multiple committee-recommended items — including a joint misdemeanor prosecution agreement, a combined water/wastewater operator position and memoranda implementing Minnesota PFML for IBEW units — approved several project pay requests and planning items, and voted to delay a $33,510 stormwater engineering award for additional staff review.
The Brainerd City Council on Jan. 5 approved a slate of committee-recommended actions and asked staff for more information on a proposed stormwater engineering award.
Council members voted to approve a three-city misdemeanor prosecution joint services agreement and to adopt a combined water and wastewater operator job description, authorizing staff to negotiate wages with the IBEW bargaining unit. Personnel and finance committee chair Gabe Johnson said the prosecutor-hours allocation used a three‑year rolling average and noted the city’s court-fine revenue offsets the city’s share of the contract.
The council also approved memoranda of agreement to implement Minnesota’s Paid Family and Medical Leave for city IBEW public utility and administrative-service employees; the agreements confirm the employer and employee each pay half of the contribution rate, consistent with existing city practice.
In public-works business, the council approved change order No. 4 for the Trunk Highway 371B and Willow Street roundabout to cover tree removal that is state-aid eligible. The council also approved final pay request No. 2 for improvement 2316 in the amount of $42,541.50 after staff confirmed that a roughly $900 patch related to a driveway apron repair is included in the total amount. A council member objected to paying for what he described as contractor workmanship issues, but the motion to pay carried.
A requested award for a $33,510 stormwater engineering proposal for southwest Brainerd led to extended debate. Councilmembers expressed concern that the proposed study might duplicate inspections or that a simpler diversion or grading adjustment could solve the problem without outside consultants. Tad Ericson, chair of the safety and public works committee, said the committee recommended awarding the work to HR Green, while other members asked staff to first pursue lower-cost checks with local engineers and county partners. The council voted to hold the award and directed staff to return with additional information and coordination with Crowing County and the City of Baxter in early February.
Separately, the council approved a second-phase sanitary sewer modeling study for South Brainerd ($20,171) to cover a broader area including the industrial park, and adopted a resolution requesting advanced municipal state-aid construction funds (the city typically receives roughly $1.1 million annually, with 25% reserved for maintenance).
On planning matters, the council approved a preliminary plat and PUD amendment for Voyager Heights (a revised plan for a 176‑unit apartment complex) and authorized an RFP for a targeted comprehensive-plan review (budgeted at $28,000) to update the city’s implementation and environmental-review threshold. The council also approved a conditional-use permit amendment for St. Francis Rectory on the condition that the developer add a second‑story window on the northeast side to maintain street character.
The council directed staff to seek a search warrant to tow a trailer and vehicle from a property at 624th Avenue NE after staff confirmed the property had received required notices. It also voted to request Crowing County provide January 2025 point‑in‑time homelessness data and records of related state grant dispersments for local review.
The meeting closed with staff updates — including an upcoming formal snow‑season report on downtown snow removal, cable rebroadcasting of county and school boards’ meetings at near-zero cost to the city, and planned code codification work — and brief council reports. Park-board consideration and a council follow-up on Gustoson Park are expected in late January and early February.
What’s next: staff will return with additional information on the stormwater proposal and the Gustoson Park matter when the park board issues its recommendation; the council directed staff to pursue county coordination on drainage and to provide the requested homelessness data from the county.
