The Caledonia City Council met in regular session Monday, April 25, from 6-7:36 p.m. at city hall. Mayor DeWayne “Tank” Schroeder led the council and audience in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Council members in attendance included Robert “Bob” Klug, Amanda Ninneman, Mayor Schroeder, David Fitzpatrick, and Brad Rykhus. Others in attendance included Houston County Commissioner Robert (Bob) Burns, Interim Clerk/Administrator Stephanie Mann, Public Works/Zoning Director Casey Klug, Houston County Appraiser Joe Olson, and Houston County Technical Clerk Lee Langager.
Members approved the minutes from the April 11 regular city council meeting and the April 18 special city council meeting.
The Local Board of Appeal & Equalization meeting began promptly at 6 p.m. Olson provided a lengthy handout with pages of numbers, one page listing the board’s rules and duties, and a list of the Minnesota Department of Revenue rules on equalization. His presentation was thorough and described in detail the process for assessing the value of a property; Olson emphasized that the assessor’s office sets the valuation on the property in the county but does not set the tax levy. Therefore, property owners should think about the value of their property in terms of what they can sell their property for today. In addition, tonight’s meeting aims to give property owners a fair and objective forum to appeal their valuation or classification. The council heard three appeals and approved changing the value of two properties and approved forwarding one of the appeals to the county for evaluation.
Reports
Director Klug reported that the street department got a good start putting up the Highway 44 business route signs. Spring cleanup in Caledonia started today, April 25, and will end on Monday, May 2. “There was quite a lot of stuff put out.” He also reminded the board that Saturday, April 30, is the bike race in town, and there will be street closures – North Marshall, North Pine, Hackney, and Grant St. “The electric department has been trimming trees and grinding some stumps and working on the warming house building repairs between times.” Delays affected the delivery of the shade trees, and Klug is hoping they arrive by the end of the week. Klug mentioned that he has talked with GForce, and the park signs should be wrapped up within the next seven to 10 days, and then the signs will need to be installed.
Mann reported that she and Director Klug went through the contract with Richard’s Sanitation. The agreement will be updated with the changes, and have Richard’s Sanitation review it one last time to make sure they are happy. After that, the plan is to bring it to the next council meeting for approval. Mann also mentioned, “We had a coaches meeting with Dan Tweeten and the coaches, and the meeting went well. The rosters were due today and will have about 11teams for the summer.” Andrew Forliti of Smith Schafer & Associates will present the city’s 2021 audit at the May 9 city council meeting.
New business
The council approved the change to the compensation offer for the city clerk/administrator applicant. Based on experience, the offer will go from step 1 to step 2 of pay grade 12, increasing $1,600.
The council approved the employment contract for the new city clerk/administrator, Jake Dickson. Dickson’s start date is June 6, 2022.
The next regularly scheduled Caledonia City Council meeting is on Monday, May 9, at 6 p.m., at Caledonia City Hall, 231 E. Main Street, Caledonia. The meeting is open to the public.
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