At the February 9 meeting of the Chatfield City Council, a public hearing was held on the 2025 updates to the city’s comprehensive plan. Councilor Josh Broadwater was absent.
The 2015 Comprehensive Plan has been updated. The plan is designed to shape land use development over the next two decades through 2045.
Alison Bentley, community development director, listed some minor additions or corrections to be made to the final draft. Terry Bradt (planning and zoning board member) asked if these changes will be made before adoption of the plan. It was explained that at this time it is just a public hearing. There were no other public comments on the plan. The Comprehensive Plan will be brought back with corrections at a future meeting for approval.
Chief of Police
Chief Shane Fox’s retirement is less than two months from today. City Administrator Michelle Peterson reported that three candidates were first interviewed by a panel of their peers and a second time by city staff. The hire of Scott Keigley to fill the position of chief of police was recommended and approved.
Other Business in Brief
- A Memorandum of Understanding with LELS (law enforcement labor services) was approved to clean up language in the current contract.
- Ambulance Director Rocky Burnett reviewed 2025. Two new EMTs were welcomed and three EMTs resigned. A driver position held by Melissa Burnett was added. There currently are 21 EMTs; overall 18,200 hours of coverage was provided. There were 456 calls and of those 356 were transported. Burnett said we have a pretty experienced crew. In 2025 there were no major expenses on equipment.
Approval was granted for an application to the state of Minnesota, Office of Emergency Medical Services, for a grant of up to $65,000. This grant funding is to be spent on personnel or equipment. Director Burnett explained the need to hire a full-time or part-time EMT. Approval was granted to advertise for a full or part-time EMT position. Councilor Paul Novotny said this will have to be reassessed in the future when grant dollars run out to pay for this position. Grant funding should cover the cost of the position this year.
- Fire Chief Peter Erickson reviewed 2025 for the fire department. There were 52 calls, 15 of those cancelled enroute. Thirteen calls involved fires, 12 were accidents, and nine involved smoke detector or carbon monoxide detector activation or malfunction. In 2025 the department didn’t gain or lose any personnel.
- Chief Fox reported the police department had a total of 1713 calls in 2025. No personnel left during the year.
Approval was given for the purchase of a squad replacement, a 2026 Ford Police Interceptor Utility AWD vehicle costing a total of $46,273.
- Three organizations including the Lions Club, the American Legion, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars have joined together to donate flag poles and the United States flag and Minnesota state flag to the city for installation in Groen Park. The poles will be equipped with solar lights on top. It is the 25th anniversary of the establishment of Groen Park and the 250th anniversary of the country. The installation of the flag poles and flags was approved as recommended by the Park & Recreation Committee.
- Approval was granted for the city of Chatfield to enter into an agreement with Southeast Service Cooperative to provide the services needed to complete the pre-launch activities needed to advance the formation of a Transit Management Organization (TMO) to serve 11 southeast Minnesota counties. Joel Young, SE Minnesota TMO Project Manager, highly recommended approval of the contract agreement with Southeast Service Cooperative.
- The purchase of a 2015 Snowblast snowblower from MnDOT for $20,000 was approved.
- An annual Chatfield Fire Department Fund Drive donation in the amount of $500 was accepted.
- Donations to the Chatfield Public Library totaling $10,316 were accepted.
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