SHERBURN — The Sherburn City Council met on Monday evening. The clerk, Andrea Ballard, reported that the dump site has monitoring and listed the uses for the Sherburn residents only. Trees, brush and grass may be brought to the dump. No bags should be left there, no furniture, appliances, garbage, oil, etc. If there is continued illegal dumping the dump may be closed. The dump is for city residents only. Finding a building official is in the works. The tree at the Centennial Park has been removed; it was a maple tree. A City Administrator’s email should be available. A letter to owners of condemned property will be sent out, and work must be started and completed within two weeks or 30 days. The city will demolish, and the cost will be added to the taxes if the owner does not comply.

The deputy clerk, Sean Devenn, and the clerk explained a system they would like to add that would give the residents more communications and available interaction with the city hall.

The system would give residents access to paying bills, auditing their payments, having alerts and a phone number to ask questions so the residents would not have to come to the City Hall to find the answers they are seeking. This would give more hours to the city hall staff and be more accurate for the residents. Each account has a bar code already, and the system would cost the city $10 a month. It would shorten hours for staff, such as folding and stamping letters to residents, and residents would not have to come down to the city hall, but get the information they need. Some computers may need to be replaced, such as public works, Police, and Fire Dept. This matter will be looked into.

The council asked for an inventory of the Liquor Store and a more detailed report to help analyze the city’s business. The audit report will be available soon.

In other business, a representative from Talisen and Burrow explained the law about the conflict of interest that may occur with the council’s business and gave examples. Any time in any way there is a person deciding what should be bought or contracted for the city, that is a person with a vested interest; it may be a conflict of interest. Samples would be someone who owns a company that the city uses for a service or provides a product bought by the city. If competitive bidding is not required, the council may waive the conflict of interest. Anything over $100,000 that needs competitive bidding is required to have a conflict of interest affidavit, and the council must go through the steps he explained. Anyone who has a conflict of interest may sign an affidavit and abstain when the voting is taken. There must be a unanimous consent by the other council members to permit the contract with the affidavit signed. He urged erring on the side of caution and to follow all the steps needed. Some examples were discussed and recommendations were made by him. The council thanked him for his advice.

The city clerk and deputy clerk Sean Devenn advised two fee schedule changes. One was to double the permit fee if work was started on a building project without a permit. Most permits are under $100. The second was to assess a 15 percent interest on unpaid assessments.

In other news:

— The council accepted two donations with thanks, $50 to the Fire Department and $25 to the Parks Department.

— The council discussed the next meeting being scheduled on a holiday and approved changing the date to Sept. 2 instead of Sept. 1, and a work session following the Sept. 2 meeting.

— Police Chief, Trevor Yochim, reported a lower amount of incidents and that there are some tags ready to issue for vehicles that are not running or licensed. The council gave the department praise for its work.

The council went into closed session. The next meeting of the Sherburn city council will be at 5 p.m. on Sept. 2 at the City Hall.