The last meeting of 2012 for the International Falls City Council brought well wishes for two outgoing members.
Mayor Tim “Chopper” McBride and Councilor Jerry Franzen received accolades and thanks from their colleagues, with each saying it was an opportunity to serve the citizens of the city.
Reading from notes that he said he’ll develop into an offering for the local newspaper, McBride told the council that the many achievements of the council were a team effort. Among a quickly read list of items, he encouraged the council in the new year to continue its work for the betterment of the community and urged members to continue the efforts of the Economic Development Authority, which is an off branch of the council.
Councilors and staff told McBride his sense of humor is unique and often helped to resolve issues and keep projects moving forward.
McBride’s brother, Koochiching County Board Chairman Brian McBride, spoke at the end of the meeting, saying “You love him, like him or hate him, but he has worn this city and its citizens on his sleeve.” Brian continued to say that during his brother’s 22 years of public service as a county commissioner, alderman, councilor, airport commissioner and in other roles, Chopper kept his sense of humor and always put the citizens first. “He served and served and served,” he said.
Franzen, who filled out Chopper McBride’s term as councilor-at large when he was appointed mayor with the resignation earlier this year of Shawn Mason as mayor, encouraged other people to step forward to serve as a councilor. The council’s newly established honorary councilor position, he said, is a good way for people to get a taste of council service.
McBride did not seek reelection to the position. In January, Bob Anderson will be seated as mayor and Pete Kalar as at-large councilor. Both were elected in November.
In other business Monday, the council heard a report about the Community Cafe, an effort by the Backus Community Center and Falls Hunger Coalition, from the center’s Executive Director Ward Merrill. A similar presentation was made Tuesday at the Koochiching County Board.
The cafe, located at Backus, is geared toward eliminating hunger and strengthening the community by offering free, hot and nutritious meals to those in need from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. each Tuesday.
He said the first two offerings, Dec. 4 and 11, provided 116 meals to people ranging in age from 11 months to 75.
And if the trend continues, a second meal a week, on Thursdays, would likely be offered.
The program was developed after the center’s Summer Food Service Program was so well received, Merrill said. “We saw a real need” to feed insecure people, he told the council. Numbers of people fed have more than doubled since the summer program began. The program served 3,000 meals in his first year in 2010 with nearly 7,000 meals served this summer.
The two food programs are intended to assist the Falls Hunger Coalition, which is seeing higher use in recent years, and meet the needs of Borderland residents, said Merrill.
Councilors credited the program for feeding the area’s hungry and recognized Merrill’s leadership, with McBride calling Merrill “AP,” referring to Minnesota Vikings Adrian Peterson. “You are carrying the ball,” said McBride.
Merrill said a number of local service groups, businesses, and churches, as well as regional foundations, have contributed money, food and/or time to the Community Cafe and volunteers, some of whom have been served by the program, are stepping forward to assist in serving the food. The cafe provides take out meals for people unable to get to Backus.
“If you know someone in need, please encourage them to take part,” said Merrill.
The council approved a resolution supporting property tax fairness in airport funding. The resolution supports the establishment of a taxing district or other mechanism to ensure tax fairness in funding the Falls International Airport, which is jointly owned by the city and county.
The resolution calls for the local airport commission, made up of city and county representatives and an at-large member, to investigate funding mechanisms which the council says will remedy what they see as “tax unfairness” in funding by the county’s contribution. The resolution also asks that the findings of the investigation be publicly reported to the city and county no later than March 15.
Councilors had invited Bemidji Councilor Ron Johnson to speak about how the Bemidji airport is funded by a taxing district, but Johnson couldn’t attend and instead urged the council to set up another meeting that would include himself, a Beltrami County commissioner and the operator of the airport, reported Councilor Cynthia Jaksa.
Jaksa said Beltrami County officials were resistant to a tax district, “but now they are all together.”
Jaksa and Councilor Gail Rognerud, a member of the airport commission, contend that International Falls residents are paying a larger share toward funding the airport than county residents.
The resolution says that property taxpayers within the city pay 4.7 times more for support of the airport than other county property taxpayers.
A handout included with the resolution shows that the county and city each will contribute $234,000 toward the airport in 2013. That amount represents 2.36 percent of the county’s $9.9 million tax capacity, while the city’s share represents 8.74 percent of the city’s $2.6 million tax capacity.
Rognerud Monday quoted from a master plan for the airport, which includes information from the 2010 census. She said the census shows the median household income for International Falls at $28,463 while the median household income for the county is at $40,431.
She said when the airport was established in 1962, that disparity in income probably did not exist, or may even have been in revers.
“The county’s tax capacity is four times more than the city,” said Rognerud. “With these new figures (from the census) in the master plan, I hope the airport commission would relook at a tax district as a way to make the citizens who benefit from the airport fund it more equally.”
Jaksa said making the funding more equitable could mean a tax increase for county residents and no tax increase for city residents and would free up about $168,000 for the city to use for infrastructure improvements.
The council heard no comment, except a humorous one by regular meeting attendee Chrystal Clance, during a hearing on the proposed 2013 levy and budget, which was adopted by the council later in the meeting. City property taxpayers will see no increase in taxes collected by the city in 2013 compared to 2012.
The council agreed to increase from $17 per hour to $20.50 per hour the wage of the administrative assistant, a position now held by Don Kosek. City Administrator Rod Otterness told the council that the position was created at a full-time position replacing two employees: the full-time administrative assistant to the police chief, a position left vacant with a resignation, and the office clerk in the city’s administration department, left vacant with retirements.
“The position has evolved to include information technology duties in the areas of network administration and computer hardware and software purchasing,” wrote Otterness in a brief to the council. He listed 10 examples of efficiencies and cost savings realized by the city with the position.
