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St. James council unanimously approves joint-powers agreement, union contract, CVB budget and consent assessments
Summary
At its Dec. 3 meeting the St. James City Council unanimously approved a joint-powers agreement with the Minnesota BCA, ratified an AFSCME union contract with modest pay and benefit changes, adopted the CVB 2025 budget and finalized a set of consent assessments (including specific repayment terms for two property examples).
St. James — The St. James City Council on Dec. 3 unanimously approved a package of routine but substantive items, including a state joint-powers agreement for criminal justice data access, a municipal union contract, the Convention & Visitors Bureau budget and multiple consent assessments.
The council adopted Resolution 12242 to enter a joint-powers agreement with the Minnesota Department of Public Safety/Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, allowing city attorneys and police staff to access criminal-justice data communications systems. The presenter said the agreement is a five-year form that the state revises periodically and that the city brings it forward annually for council action.
The council also ratified Resolution 1222403, approving a new contract with American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 65 Local 124. The contract changes highlighted in the presentation include increasing compensatory-time accrual from 120 hours to 160 hours, raising the city’s contribution toward employee health insurance from 70% to 75%, and a reclassification of positions that expands pay spans (noted as roughly levels 5–11) with negotiated reclassification increases that were described as averaging roughly 2.5% and producing about a 5% overall effect.
Council adopted Resolution 12244 to approve the CVB’s 2025 budget, funded by the city lodging tax and intended primarily for marketing St. James. Council discussed short-term rentals and said there is one short-term rental listing in town; the city is researching whether and how short-term rentals should be taxed under local ordinance.
The council also approved Resolution 122405 to finalize several consent assessments. Staff provided two examples: a high-utility-bill assistance assessment of $2,471 repayable over five years at 2% interest, and two Mayberry Hills lots with an $8,000 remaining balance (original lot price $10,000) to be placed on taxes over four years at 0% interest. Staff told council the applicants were in good standing and that the council’s action completed the consent-assessment approvals.
All motions were approved by unanimous voice votes; specific individual vote counts were not recorded in the transcript.
