Helicopter to Arrive at Houston Park

Lyle Ellis from the American Legion visited the regular Houston City Council meeting September 9 to discuss the Legion’s plan to bring a helicopter to display in the city park.  Ellis asked for the blessings of the council in the form of a letter or an official copy of council minutes since the park belongs to the city. In addition to the ok of the council, he needed the address of the park as well as the GPS coordinates of the park.

The VietNam era helicopter will be displayed on a pedestal which will only require four square feet of land. It is currently in Michigan. Ellis shared that transportation of the helicopter has already been donated as well as the pedestal base, the concrete and the necessary welding. The helicopter will be displayed where the horseshoe pitch is currently; the horseshoe pitch will be relocated elsewhere in the park. A placard on the display will share the history of the helicopter.

The Legion felt the park needed the helicopter in addition to the tank to provide a “little more modern” touch to the park.

Personnel

In an effort to ensure hiring of qualified personnel, City Administrator Michelle Quinn asked the council to approve posting of the summer rec position as well as flower care for 2025.

The Youth Conservation Corp for 2025 was discussed as well. The Friends of the Nature Center had taken care of hiring the corp previously, but, in 2024, insurance and liability became an issue since the Friends didn’t have insurance. The city had provided the payroll services as a donation in the past.

If the city was to take over the hiring, they would need to adjust the pay for summer rec employees to match the corp pay rate. This would cost the city about $1,300 a year for wage increases for summer rec employees and $200 for workman’s comp insurance for the conservation corp employees.

Another concern was who would supervise the youths. The matter will be discussed more with the Friends group to see if members of the Friends might still volunteer to supervise the youth and if they might yet contribute to the salary expense. No action was taken at this time on the matter.

Neither the fire chief nor the assistant chief have reapplied for their positions. The council decided to form a hiring committee consisting of personnel committee members Scott Wallace and Cody Mathers, City Administrator Michelle Quinn, current fire chief Steve Skifton and a representative from the rural fire board. This group will interview candidates for fire chief. The same group with the exception of a rural fire board member will interview potential assistant chief applicants.

Tree Removal

Quinn informed the council that the tree board had received a citizen query about removing trees on the south side of the 300 block of Spruce Street; the citizen felt they were planted too close together. The trees are not slated for removal for the street and utility project and are healthy trees. The tree board recommended that the property opener would be 100% responsible for the cost as well as grinding out the stumps. If trees are removed, the city would request a tree be donated for the city park. (Normally, trees removed on the boulevard are to be replaced.) The council affirmed the recommendations of the tree board.

Other Business

In other business the council:

• Approved the $599,750 total levy preliminary budget for 2025, which is a 3% increase;

• Set TNT (Truth in Taxation) meeting for 6:15 p.m., December 9;

• Appointed Margaret Knutson to the Root River Extension Citizen Committee;

• Set the rate for the EV charging station at 20 cents per KWh;

• Approved a gambling permit for the fire department annual gun raffle;

• Increased the fireman’s relief association retirement benefit level to $1,900 per year of service;

• Approved moving probationary firemen Trent Edwards and Anthony Loken to active status;

• Heard that two residents who had received small city development loans in 2019-2020 were selling their homes and repaying the loans; the city now needs to check on the process to reuse this money to aid other residents.