Fountain Authorizes Contract for Interim Clerk

There will be change of some faces around the council table in the city of Fountain throughout the coming months, both in terms of city hall and the council. This was evident at the November 4 meeting, with Canton City Clerk Anne Koliha in attendance.

With the retirement of former City Clerk Mary Tjepkes, the city council formally approved a contract for professional services with the city of Canton. Clerk Koliha will provide administrative clerical services for all duties associated with the clerk/treasurer position. The contract is retroactive to November 1 and extends until the services are no longer needed. Fountain will pay $38 per hour, plus travel expenses, providing itemized invoices to Canton monthly. With the contract, the council also authorized Koliha as a designated signer. Koliha was at the November 4 meeting and hit the ground running with a well-run, organized meeting.

At the meeting, the council also unanimously approved an official offer letter for the clerk/treasurer position to Stacy Wilhelm, Lanesboro, Minnesota. The full-time position will provide compensation of $40 per hour for the 40-hour work week. Wilhelm’s start date will be determined later if she accepts the offer.

While the city has not officially canvassed the 2026 election results, the city will have a new mayor. Current Mayor Ron Reisner was defeated by challenger, Councilor Jordan Kerns by a vote of 106 to 89. Three candidates sought election to two seats on the council – current councilor Cory Spratte, Ted Reinhardt and Wayne Thomas. Reinhardt garnered the highest number of votes with 130, Thomas second with 98, Spratte received 76, and there were seven write-in votes.

Following the clerking discussions, contracted wastewater consultant Rick Whitney spoke to the council with monthly updates and a request for a closed meeting.

He attended a Disaster Relief meeting regarding the September 17-18 flooding. The city had extra cleanup in the wastewater plant, and did lose one sampler, which the city received funding for. Funds were also granted for repairs in the community center.

“We did pull off the wainscoting in there and looked at the black mold. I submitted pictures of everything to Homeland Security and Emergency Management,” said Whitney. “We need to take some pictures in the basement area under that structure, but we’re waiting for the weddings to pass so that we don’t disrupt our rental on that.”

“There was some information that was presented to me, and I consulted legal representation. What I’m gonna request from the council is a closed meeting for personal … personnel matter,” said Whitney. “If you don’t want to schedule that for me, or you don’t want to go through with that for me, you don’t have to. I’m just requesting it, but I’d really appreciate it if we could have that meeting.”

The council scheduled a closed meeting for Thursday, November 12 at 7 p.m. The council will also use the meeting to canvass the election results.

“It’s also brought to my attention that communication is not always getting out before things are getting done. I was told I can just send out an informational [email], that you guys can’t respond to it or violate open meeting laws,” said Whitney. “In the future, if something comes up, at least I can let you guys know and keep you in the loop.”

Councilor Tammy Danielson clarified they will utilize a one-way push notification for Whitney to contact members of the council in the instance they need to be made aware of items related to his work.

Whitney also noted he’d brought in a copy of his insurance coverage to have on record since he hadn’t since being contracted. He added he can provide a certificate of insurance for the city if needed.

The council also approved the official 2025 audit. Former auditing firm Smith Schafer has merged with CohnReznick, and Riley Knutson was on hand to discuss the audit findings.

Fountain revenues $249,363 came through tax collections last year. The approved property tax levy was $257,000. This represents 43% of the city’s governmental revenues, excluding the sewer tax levy. It received $92,139 in Local Government Aid (LGA) in 2025, representing 21% of the city’s revenues. The amount is set to increase by $214 in 2026.

“The property taxes … you can kinda see how that chart grows, those property taxes separate farther and farther from the LGA amounts. The city has to continuously levy additional property taxes to fund the operation of the city,” said Knutson.

For the sake of perspective, he further noted an approximate 3.5% increase per year, for the last eight years. Taxes, on the other hand, increased $40,000, or 7% per year over the same eight years.

In looking at the breakdown of city expenditures, Knutson noted the upward trend of costs over the last four to five years.

“Nothing’s getting cheaper. Everything is going up with inflation, and so you can kinda see the costs just rising. We’re seeing that pretty much across the board in all our cities, school districts, everything that we do. Things are costing more,” noted Knutson.

In budget to actual expenditures, General Fund expenditures were over budget by $65,075, with the largest overages in Public Works, Culture and Recreation, and allocated expenditures.

The General Fund balance represents 28% of General Fund Expenditures. According to Knutson, the state recommends this amount be at 35-50%, and closer to 50% if possible. The city receives property tax and LGA disbursement just twice a year and funds must cover the city’s financial needs during that time. General Fund reserves decreased by $95,795 in 2025.

As for indebtedness, the city has one ongoing debt, a Minnesota Public Facilities Authority Clean Water Revolving Loan, issued in 2009 for sewer improvements. The remaining balance is $197,000 and the loan matures in 2029. Both the sewer and the water utility are generating sufficient cash flows for operations.

Other council-approved actions included a rodent control contract with Plunkett’s at the sewer plant, the 2025 payroll payout for the fire department, and the purchase of small equipment/tools for public works.