The new Lanesboro City Council consisting of Mayor Autumn Johnson and council members Jason Resseman, Tom Smith, and Bridget Harvey discussed the vacant council seat left by Johnson’s election to Mayor at their January 3 meeting.
“We could advertise for interested people from the community,” suggested Smith. He made a motion to do so, which failed for lack of second. Mayor Johnson then made a motion to appoint Marge Drake for the spot which was seconded and approved. Drake, who was in attendance at the meeting, was sworn in and took her seat at the table with the rest of the council for the remainder of the meeting.
Resseman was appointed as Mayor Pro Tempore.
Don Bell was nominated for the Lanesboro Public Library Board, Tom Dybing for Lanesboro Public Utilities, and John Dahle and Jason Resseman for the Heritage Preservation Commission. Only one application was received for the two open seats on the Park Board, which was expanded to three seats with Marge Drake’s appointment to the city council. The council decided to ask the Park Board to review their openings before a decision was made.
The EDA board, which was recently restructured to consist of two city council members and five regular board members, also has two open seats available. One of the seats was vacated by Elaine Edwards as her term was up, but she asked to continue serving, bringing the open seats down to one. The council tabled their discussion until after the EDA meets again in February.
City Administrator Michele Peterson informed the council that an idea was presented to the city recently concerning an informal monthly community meeting/round table discussion. The council approved the meetings and set them for the first Thursday of each month at 9 a.m. in the dining room of the community center. A request was made by an audience member to alternate the meetings between morning and evening to allow for different schedules, a suggestion which was met with agreement. Only one or two of the council members will attend each meeting to avoid meeting a quorum. The meetings will not cost the city anything other than the use of the facility. Flyers will be sent out with utility bills to inform residents of the meetings as well as being posted on the city bulletin board.
Typically, the City of Lanesboro donates $200 to the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation or SMIF and has seen returns in the thousands of dollars. Councilmember Smith suggested increasing the donation to $250. The rest of the council agreed, and the motion was passed.
The council discussed Ordinance 54.06 regarding the utility fee increases for 2017. They were divided on the issue with Mayor Johnson and Smith opposed to raising the rates and Drake in favor of the increases.
“I guess I’m a planner,” Drake said.
The motion was tabled until the February meeting to allow time for the new council members to research the matter further.
At the December city council meeting, the council discussed the possibility of terminating the city’s contract with Davy Engineering. Peterson was able to verify that the city would not be assessed any extra expenses by Davy Engineering for leaving the contract early. The motion was approved.
Peterson asked if the council wanted to look at instituting a policy which would allow city employees to cash-out their PTO once a year. Smith felt that doing so would encourage employees to accumulate PTO in order to take the money instead, adding that he felt that was not the point of having PTO. After some discussion, it was decided to table the matter until next month’s meeting to allow Mayor Johnson to research such a policy further.
The council continued their discussion on the proposed taxi cab ordinance.
“I just don’t see the need to get involved with this at all,” Resseman stated. “As soon as there are 15 taxis lined up in front of Mrs. B’s, sure, but not now.” He moved to table the ordinance indefinitely which was approved by the rest of the council.
City Works Director Andy Drake recently went through the public works shop and found some items that the city no longer uses and asked that the council allow him to sell it. The council requested a list of the inventory he plans to sell before moving forward.
Resseman asked if it would be possible to combine the Heritage Preservation Commission and Planning and Zoning.
“There’s so much redundancy between the two commissions. Can we combine them to streamline government a little bit?” he asked. As an alternative, he suggested having the same members on both boards and holding one meeting at which time would be devoted to each committee. “For the most part, we talk about the same topics,” Resseman said, pointing out that he serves on both boards.
City Attorney Thomas Manion offered to review state statutes and the possibility of incompatibility of offices and get back to Resseman with more information.
Mayor Johnson pointed out that, while the council had approved the EDA budget of $9,500, no explanation was given for how it will be used. Smith informed her that the $7,500 given by the city is used for revolving loans, and the remaining $2,500 from the Public Works Department is used for advertising. Mayor Johnson thanked him for the information.
The next Lanesboro City Council meeting will be held on February 6 at 5:30 p.m.
Fillmore County Journal says
Correction
In the January 9, 2017 Fillmore County Journal, it was stated that during the January 3 Lanesboro City Council meeting, Don Bell was appointed to the Library Board. Don Bell was actually an applicant for the Public Utilities Board, and Tom Dybing was appointed to that position. Stacey Schultz was appointed to the Library Board.
We apologize for the error.
Fillmore County Journal