Photo by Wanda Hanson
At their regular meeting July 27, 2021, the Caledonia City council heard from Finance Officer Stephanie Mann that the city was doing “well for midway of the year.” She commented that “nothing jumps out,” several times as she presented the second quarter report. With the first half of property taxes and the first half of LGA totaling $528,000 coming in, the monthly balances showed much less red ink. The June total cash and investments were $4,927,937. Mann noted that currently the city was not investing at all since the interest is so low at this time. A PFA payment will be made in July, and the sewer fund will take a drop in cash with the upcoming project. The Durango ($36,000) has arrived and is being fitted for use; in regular maintenance, sweeper #2 has been refurbished at a cost of $18,000.
A budget letter with second quarter data has gone out to all departments asking them to plan for the 2022 budget. The proposed budget will be brought to the council in August, and the budget will likely be set at the September 27 meeting.
City Clerk/Administrator Adam Swann shared more good financial news as he reported that LGA will increase by $12,410 for 2022 with Caledonia receiving a total of $1,068,413. Swann reported to the council that applications for the assistant clerk position were due August 9; he said that they already had several good applicants.
Public Works Director Casey Klug informed the council that they were finishing up some sewer site details. He noted that in his opinion the electrical specs were “over-engineered”; an addenda is being worked on to cut back the specs. This could reduce the expense by “a couple $100,000.” Bid opening for the sewer will take place August 3.
Casey Klug reported that curb repairs of several hundred feet will be made, and street patches will be completed when Dunn Blacktop is in the area. Klug asked the council if they wanted to purchase more pedestrian signs like the one near city hall, a free-standing sign with springs to return the sign to the proper position. Consensus of the council was that two more would be helpful in the area of Marshall Crossing and Deborah Street. The city will be responsible for removing the signs for street plowing in the winter.
New Business
In New Business, the council reviewed and approved a land use permit from John and Mary Hauser to convert a grain bin to a gazebo to be used for picnic tables on the northwest portion of their property at 219 North Kingston Street (The Farmhouse Eatery and Gifts). PWD Klug had no qualms about it and shared that it was good on all setbacks. He called it “a good repurpose of these little bins” and added that it fit into the farmhouse theme.
The council reviewed an invoice from Griffin Construction for repairs to Green Acres Drive. The invoice listed some additional costs since the length of the road repair was greater than figured. Some of the class 5 was replaced with crushed blacktop; this makes the road more durable than the class 5 would have. According to Casey Klug, “We’ve basically got a blacktopped road now.” The new total expense was $19,257.94, an increase over the original quote of $16,127.30. Caledonia Township had agreed to share the cost of the original quote; Councilman Bob Klug will discuss the increase with the township.
Clerk Adam Swann will move forward with a code change for city ordinance so office use will be allowed in a B-2 highway business district. At this time, businesses need a one-time conditional use permit to use their property for offices. Bob Klug opined that it seemed to be outdated and a lot of paper would be saved if the code was changed.
The pool’s late opening on July 9 has caused some issues with lifeguard scheduling. Some guards are also working elsewhere; as a result, some lifeguards have put in overtime, something that the council had not wanted to happen.
Since the pool was supposed to be completed by May 17 per the contract, the city will be sending a letter to the contractor for full damages for the 50 days it was late. They will be asking for the reasons for the delay. The contract had been signed and returned to the contractor before the 45-day period was over for the proposal.
The next Caledonia City Council meeting will be held August 9, 2021, at 6 p.m. in the council chambers at city hall.
Leave a Reply