At the November 1 Lanesboro City Council meeting, Phil Dybing gave an update on the Lanesboro Housing Solution Group which recently held a virtual summit to conclude its 18 month long program. The program addressed housing shortages in Lanesboro. In 2019, the Lanesboro EDA applied for and was accepted to participate in the Minnesota Housing Institute program to help identify housing gaps and make plans for future development in Lanesboro. A team was put together called the Burro Borough to create an organized approach to the housing issues. Dybing noted that it’s hard to market Lanesboro without new housing available. As a result of the program, several new developments are in the beginning stages and the Methodist church building will be converted to apartments. “That’s a great use of the building. The intent is to have affordable housing there,” Dybing said, adding that the location will be beneficial. The EDA is applying for a Workforce Housing Grant to help with the renovation and expects that the grant will be awarded as Lanesboro scores very high on the requirements. Small communities can apply for grant funds if a workforce within 20 miles is expanding. With the veteran’s home being built in Preston, Lanesboro meets the qualifications. The grant application is due by January 11 and projects will be selected in April.
The CEDA contract for 2022 was approved.
City Engineer Brian Malm gave an update on the wastewater treatment plant project. There is about $2 million worth of work left to do on the project. The project is still behind schedule, but the contractor is making up ground on that. The plant should be ready to operate by the end of June 2022. The council approved pay request #11 for the project.
The emergency services building project is underway. There are several recommendations for changes to the project. Although the changes are in the budget, City Administrator Michele Peterson asked the council to approve them. The first recommendation was to add concrete aprons to the edges of the blacktop as that would help to hold the weight of the fire trucks better. The second was to run the electrical services underground and the third recommendation was to connect the sewer to a closer line than the one it is currently connected to. All three changes were approved.
Peterson recommended changing the city’s health insurance carrier to provide better options and pricing. Currently, the city offers 100% coverage for individuals, approximately 60% coverage for family, and a stipend for employees who opt out of health coverage. The stipend is in the process of being slowly phased out. A motion was approved to continue to decrease it each year as well as a motion to change the carrier. The board discussed the coverage amounts and approved a motion to keep the individual coverage at 100% and change the family coverage to 82%.
The council approved a wage study for the City of Lanesboro at a cost of $4,500 to ensure that the pay scale is appropriate.
The board reviewed the city’s policy on the amount of PTO hours employees are allowed to carry over. The number currently is set at 800 hours, but Peterson said that ideally it should be brought down to around 200-300 hours. She recommended lowering it to 700 hours in 2022 and then continuing to decrease it each year. The issue was tabled for further discussion.
The city’s street closure policy was reviewed as recently there have been a number of closure requests that the council felt could be seen as excessive. Mayor Jason Resseman noted that the policy should have definitive language and asked if the council would like to limit the number of street closures each month or if a criteria would be set in place for approvals and rejections. “This can get extremely complicated quickly,” he said. He cautioned against restricting events in Lanesboro as they bring vibrancy to the downtown area and suggested that more of them be moved to the park as it is a big open space and should be utilized. It was recommended that interested parties fill out an application when asking for a street closure for their event. City office staff could then vet the applications to see if the park would be a better location before making a recommendation to the council. “I guess I would take them case by case,” council member Chase Bakke said when asked what the criteria for that would be. It was decided to table the matter until a matrix could be developed to help the city staff make recommendations.
Peterson updated the council on the city’s cyber security measures. The city office has a firewall and utilizes Google Suites which has safety components built in. A firewall has also been installed to allow staff the capacity to work from home and the guest account has been removed.
Several years ago, the city looked into the possibility of replacing the downtown trash receptacles with trash compactors from Harmony Enterprises. The cost for seven or nine compactors was very high and so the council at the time voted it down. Mayor Resseman noted that the city continues to receive complaints about overflowing trash bins and bees. “This is not a knock on the city staff, they do a really good job,” he noted, adding that most of the complaints are from the weekends when city staff is not available to empty bins. He approached Harmony Enterprises who agreed to lease two compactors to the City of Lanesboro on a trial basis starting next April as the units cannot sit outside in the winter months. Planning and Zoning recommended the council approve the trial. “I think it’s innovative,” Mayor Resseman said. The total cost will be around $2,000 with the money coming from the park budget. The units should be able to get through a weekend without being emptied and will send a notification to city staff when they are full. The trial period for the trash compactors was approved.
As the Lanesboro Ambulance Service recently transferred its license to the City of Preston, the Lanesboro Ambulance Association intends to dissolve by the end of 2021. The council approved a motion to suspend funds that are paid to the association.
Council member Mitchell Walbridge asked Brian Malm to clarify why certain streets were chosen for the 2022 street project. Malm noted that there are a lot of areas around town that need attention, but a study was conducted to determine what should be included in the project. The areas that were chosen were targeted because they met criteria for water and sewer funding and the Minnesota Local Roads Improvement Program. The current sewer system is not watertight and leaks clean water to the treatment plant, increasing the load at the plant unnecessarily. The four inch clay pipes also do not meet fire protection standards. “It’s basically original infrastructure that has outlived its life and is due for replacement,” Malm explained. More information on the project is available at www.clients.bolton-menk.com/lanesboro2022/.
The council had previously decided to put angled rather than parallel parking on Kirkwood Street by the school, but Walbridge had spoken with Superintendent Matt Schultz and received feedback from the school that the angled parking wasn’t necessary. Given that information, he felt that it would be appropriate to address the parking again. Mayor Resseman noted that a representative from the school was not present at any of the public hearings or open houses about the project, and the council thought that additional parking spaces would be a benefit to the school. Schultz joined the meeting via Zoom to discuss the matter further and stated that he does not have an official stance on the matter. Currently the buses park in the center of the road for loading and unloading, blocking traffic, which is safer for the students. Angled parking would mean parking the buses along the sidewalk instead ,which would eliminate parking spots. “For right now, it seems that parking is pretty okay during the day,” he said. He was in favor of adding more parking if possible and if angled parking would do so, he would make it work. Mayor Resseman thanked him for his input. The council decided to move forward with angled parking on the north side of Kirkwood and parallel parking on the south side, which will allow the buses to continue loading and unloading like they always have.
Council member Mindy Albrecht-Benson said that she has been made aware that some homeowners did not know about the street project and assessments on their property and asked that they be notified with phone calls to each one. Mayor Resseman said that letters are sent out to every homeowner and a posting is placed in the paper informing them of assessments and public hearings that they can attend.
The next Lanesboro City Council meeting will be held at 5 p.m. on December 6 with the Truth in Taxation meeting beginning at 6 p.m.
Leave a Reply