During the December 3 Lanesboro City Council meeting, the council paused the meeting at 6 p.m. to hold a Truth in Taxation Hearing. After the property tax levy and budget were discussed, the public was invited to speak and to ask questions of the council. There were no questions asked by any residents in attendance.
What this means for residents is a property tax increase of just over $100 per $100,000 value of the home and for commercial properties it is an increase of $661.31 per $350,000.
Present at the meeting were Mayor Autumn Johnson, council member and mayor-elect Jason Resseman, council members Bridget Harvey, Tom Smith, and Marge Drake, City Administrator Michele Peterson and City Attorney Tom Manion.
Items were added to the agenda including, under miscellaneous, a discussion of the city employees phone service and also a discussion about property (after closing the meeting pursuant to statute 13D.05). The ammended agenda was approved.
The minutes of the November 5 council meeting were approved, as were the minutes of the November 15 Canvassing Board Meeting. Also approved was the consent agenda items including accounts payable, sign replacement Policy and Ayers Associates – Contract Modification #5.
Committee reports
Sandy Webb, with the Lanesboro History Museum, reported to the council. The inventory of all archives and artifacts has been completed, which was a very large project with over 7,000 pieces inventoried. This huge task was accomplished with the help of many people and with the aid of four grants that were received.
Webb explained to the council that the museum uses a data base with PastPerfect Museum Software, which enables museum staff and volunteers to pinpoint the exact location of any piece in the museum very quickly.
Lanesboro Dam Project update
Chris Goodwin with Ayers Associates, Inc. presented an update on the Lanesboro Dam Project.
A cellular dam will be built upstream from the existing dam, as discussed in negotiations that occurred in 2010. “We were basically told you can’t touch the arch dam — you could take it apart and rebuild it with the same blocks but that’s not really possible,” stated Goodwin.
“The cellular dam is about two feet below the water surface on the upstream side of the dam,” said Goodwin. “What is really does is it replaces the structural integrity of the existing arch dam and it reduces the load on the arch dam because we have taken away the silt and stuff in front of it, we have intercepted it basically with the cellular dam,” he added.
“Our biggest concern is if the arch dam were to fail during a flood, you have about a 10- or 12-foot tall dam, well if that fails you get a big wave of water coming down. Now with the new cellular dam which is designed to be stable in a 100 year flood then it would only drop two feet, so instead of having a 12 foot tall wave of water going downstream you would have a two-foot additional tall wave of water in addition to the existing hundred year flood waters that you have,” stated Goodwin.
“And so it protects public safety because it reduces the flood risk if the arch dam were to fail,” Goodman said. As Goodwin continued his presentation, Resseman interjected apologetically and asked “does it protect the arch dam?” “It does to some degree — it doesn’t completely protect it,” replied Goodwin.
“Since we can’t touch it there is really nothing we can do to protect it,” said Goodwin.
“So it could still fail?” asked Resseman. “It could still fail, yes, all dams could still fail, sorry, but we have made it a lot better than it was before,” stated Goodwin.
The Opinion of Probable Cost is approximately 3.8 million dollars based on the current design, in addition to engineering fees, bringing the project cost close to four million dollars. There is a contingency included due to the current volatility of steel prices.
Regular business
Board appointments were conducted as follows: Don Bell for the LPU board and Jason Resseman to the Heritage Preservation Commission (the council is looking for additional board members for the HPC), Richard Wolfgramm and Jason Harvey to the Planning and Zoning board, and Heidi Dybing to the EDA board.
Approved was Resolution 2018-44, Certifying Final 2019 Tax Levy to County Auditor, and the 2019 LPU budget. Motion was made and approved to Repeal Ordinance 52.531.
The start time of 6 p.m. for the January council meeting to accommodate council members schedules was approved. The start time of future meetings will be discussed at the January meeting.
During budget meetings, the council has discussed the cost of cell phone service for city employees and how to cut down on the cost. The council will research possible solutions.
Peterson presented Drake with a Certificate of Recognition for her service on the council the last two years and for all she has done and continues to do for the City of Lanesboro.
The next regularly scheduled Lanesboro City Council monthly meeting will be held on Monday, January 7, 2019, at 6 p.m.
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