The Nevis City Council on Tuesday, Nov. 12 debated whether it was appropriate for council member Blair Reuther, as an individual, to ask municipal liquor store manager Kay Moen for financial records not requested by the full council.
Moen said inventory reports will be provided quarterly and profit and loss statements can be provided going forward, but due to a change in the Muni’s point-of-sale (POS) system, past financial reports are not available.
Moen and City Administrator Dawn Veit explained the city still has the hardware from the previous POS, but they no longer have a network key for it.
Council member Sue Gray recalled that in February, the council voted to request to see only the Muni’s monthly receipts and disbursements. “If you’re asking our staff to do more than their normal job, that needs to have full council approval,” she said, adding that she could see Reuther making an individual request only if he was the liquor commissioner – council member Teresa Leshovsky’s assignment.
Reuther argued that the council should see more than a monthly check register. “This isn’t showing what we did this year,” he said. “It doesn’t show me what we did the last year. It doesn’t show experiences of inventory, expenditure, payroll. There is no business reporting at all … except for what we spent and what we took in.”
Reuther said the Muni is the city’s business, and its revenue brings down the city’s tax levy, so residents have a right to know how the business is functioning.
Gray advised Reuther to speak with Leshovsky as the liquor commissioner.
Reuther said as a council member, he should have a right to see the books without asking Leshovsky. “I was elected to oversee this,” he said.
“She was elected by the people, too, and she is the liquor commissioner,” said Gray.
Reuther asked why anyone on the council shouldn’t see the books unless there is a problem. Gray said there is no problem with the books.
Asked how much extra work it would be to give Reuther the desired information, Veit said it would only take a click to convert it into a file he can use. However, she asked the council to decide on one report rather than requesting a different report for each member.
Council member John Carrier sympathized with Reuther’s position and suggested “drawing a line in the sand” and building a business history going forward.
Moen said the Muni’s next inventory report will be presented in January.
In other business, the council:
- Canvassed the results of the Nov. 5 election in which Gray was elected to a two-year term as mayor and Mark Koebnick and Leshovsky were elected to a four-year term as council members.
- Opened a sealed bid for the surplus sale of the maintenance department’s 2018 Chevy Silverado regular-cab pickup and straight-blade plow, with a minimum bid of $26,000. The sale was awarded to the sole bidder, Robert Lindow, for $26,255.
- Approved a $1,320 quote from Levi Durgin Electric, LLC to replace a rusty electrical panel in the city’s water tower. Maintenance supervisor Don Umthun asked whether he should get competitive quotes, but council members agreed to move ahead based on Durgin’s previous work on the water tower and his responsiveness to service requests.
- Amended the municipal liquor store’s lease for lawful gambling activity to include tipboards, a form of sports betting similar to pull tabs.
- Heard Butch De La Hunt request the city’s support for the Heartland 200 snowmobile race, scheduled for Jan. 25-26, 2025 with the support of local snowmobile clubs. Leshovsky made a motion to provide a letter of support, which Gray said she would write, and the motion passed 4-0.
- Heard a presentation by Jed Nordin and Kyle Meyer with Moore Engineering, offering their civil engineering services.
- Heard Deputy Joshua Oswald report a “full house” for the Halloween trunk-or-treat with no law enforcement issues. He reported an investigation led to a warrant arrest involving the Hubbard County SWAT team, and a similar incident recently happened on the south side of town.
- Received Oswald’s written report of October police activity, featuring one accident, two arrests, 13 attempts to locate, three citations, three disturbance/disorderly calls, one domestic issue, three medical calls, one “other,” one property damage call, two public assists, four traffic stops and 20 business/facility checks.
- Approved Katherine Edwards as a new firefighter, and approved using a donation from the fire relief association’s gaming funds to buy two thermal cameras. At the council’s October meeting, Nicklason had presented a $7,765 quote for the cameras from Grand Forks Fire Equipment.
- Heard Veit report that, as of Nov. 1, six uncashed payroll checks to three people, totaling $1,310, were voided and the funds were paid to the Minnesota Department of Commerce, to be held as unclaimed property until claimed by those people.
- Heard Moen report the Muni was switching credit card processing equipment this week, and she continues to seek quotes on a solution for the store’s stockroom lift, which remains out of order. She also discussed the success of this year’s Halloween pub crawl and such upcoming events as a Thanksgiving potluck, a customer appreciation event and a comedy show on Jan. 18.
- Approved a motion by Reuther to request a presentation by MC Consultancy about a possible review of the city’s internal controls policy.
- Approved financial reports for October, showing general fund receipts totaling about $178,053 and expenditures totaling $214,063, and municipal liquor store receipts totaling $171,621 and disbursements totaling $176,689.
The city council’s next meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, Dec. 9 at city hall.
Robin Fish is a staff reporter at the Park Rapids Enterprise. Contact him at rfish@parkrapidsenterprise.com or 218-252-3053.
