The Spring Valley city council held a regular council meeting on August 23 at city hall, with all members present (Luan Ruesink, Chris Danielson, Greg Brooks, John Dols and Mayor Tony Archer). Also attending was City Clerk/Administrator Deb Zimmer.
With a light agenda, the meeting ended in under 15 minutes. One topic that saw comments from the entire council was the success of Spring Valley’s recent Ag Days celebration.
“I just want to comment on what a great job by the Ag Days committee, the Chamber, everyone involved in the planning, and all the work that was put into Ag Days, to make it such a great success. Especially the events that they had up at South Park for the little kids,” stated Luan Ruesink.
Chris Danielson shared that she was “very pleased” with how Ag Days went, especially in light of the pandemic beginning to ramp back up in southeastern Minnesota. John Dols voiced appreciation for all of the businesses and food vendors that played a part in Ag Days. Greg Brooks added, “A lot of those behind the scenes are always forgotten, but they really did well and put forth a lot of effort to make a success of Ag Days this year, and we really had a good turnout.” Mayor Archer said he participated in several Ag Days events, and was happy to see the large participation in the parade. He suggested that in future years, perhaps Ag Days could have a teen dance or other events aimed at attracted that age group.
The council discussed what to do with the city’s retired Chevrolet Impala squad car. John Dols made a motioned to send the Impala and the Tahoe to auction. The council unanimously voted to do so.
Chad Hindt (Streets Department) reported, “We’ve been working on starting to rock alleys, until the truck broke down. We’ll get that fixed…then we can go back to finishing them.” Aaron Hamersma said things are running smoothly at the city’s wastewater treatment plant.
John Dols gave an update on Park & Rec happenings, saying, “The pools closed for the summer. Draining and winterizing to be done soon.” He added that youth football saw a large number of participant signups.
Sue Puffer gave an update on the ambulance service, saying, “We’ve had 37 calls so far this month. Five of those calls involved a second truck out… So we’re getting them covered, thanks to first responders.”
Troy Lange reported that the Fire Department’s chicken barbecue went well, with outdoor seating due to pandemic concerns. He said the turnout was strong. He also reported on some equipment that will need to be replaced, and Zimmer said those items have already been factored into the budget numbers.
Deb Zimmer explained Resolution 2021-25, which she said is to clear up a mistake made recent when TIF 1-16 (Tax Increment Financing) platting was done. She said one parcel of land, that should have been included as a separate parcel, had been overlooked. She explained it as, “Kind of a complicated mess for just a simple transaction.” The council approved the resolution as proposed.
In discussing the preliminary budget for 2022, Deb Zimmer stated, “This is very preliminary. The Department Heads are still reviewing some of it, but I thought I’d give you guys a snapshot of what we’re looking at. It looks like the levy overall will be just about a $40,000 increase… but it does look like we’ll stay probably 3 to 3 1/2% increase in the levy… Again, preliminary, so don’t take that to the bank.” She said she expects to have the budget further clarified next month.
The council’s next regular meeting will be Monday, September 13 at 6 p.m., at city hall. The public is welcome.
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