A public hearing was held at the September 3 Lanesboro City Council meeting to discuss the proposed amendments to ordinance chapter 151 regarding land use, ordinance 30.111 regarding the city’s fee schedule, and ordinance chapter 120 regarding lodging businesses. Lanesboro resident Jon Pieper addressed the council with his concerns about the proposed zoning changes from RA to R1 for a section of the south side of Lanesboro. “It could potentially change the look of Zenith Street and beyond,” he said. Steven Rogers commented that it would affect his property as well as it is not set up to be zoned R1.
Multiple Lanesboro and rural residents spoke during the public comments section of the meeting in support of the Lanesboro library. Co-president of the Friends of the Lanesboro Library Anna Loney thanked the council for revising the language in the resolution to accept the donation of the Friends’ donation to the library for programs and materials rather than operations. She noted that a petition to keep the library board as a governing board rather than advisory has 130 signatures so far. Former library board member Cindy Webb expressed her support of the library remaining independent so it can continue to provide a wide range of ideas for thinkers. “The library board is made up of people who have the best interest of the library,” she said. Linda Hennessey, who spent three terms representing the Lanesboro library at SELCO, noted her concerns over the proposed ordinance, stating that the library board is governing, not advisory. She said that changing it to advisory would mean that the city would hire the library director, direct the library’s funds, appoint board members, and overrule the library board. She noted that the city does not support the entire library budget. Bonita Underbakke said that she didn’t see why there was a big effort to fight to take control of the library. “If the goal is to take control to shift funds to other departments, that move would not only hurt the library, it would hurt the community,” she said. Dr. Stephanie Jakim asked the council to review and question the proposed ordinance before adopting it to ensure that it is in compliance with state statutes. Library board and personnel committee member Sarah Pieper asked why the council felt the need to make this change, adding that the city administrator has no role in the library board at this library or any other. She said that the personnel committee would have followed up with the employee complaint and followed their action plan, but were discouraged from doing so by the city which submitted its own action plan instead. She also stated that the employee’s grievance letter was not shared with the library board when it was received by the city until the board members requested it. She asked the council to look at the purpose of the ordinance and determine if it would benefit or harm the library.
The consent agenda was approved and included the accounts payable, a contract renewal for the brush dump lease, Resolution 2024-27 regarding the authorization to terminate local sales and use tax, Resolution 2024-28 and 2024-29 accepting donations to the Lanesboro Fire Department and the Lanesboro Public Library, a liability coverage waiver for the League of Minnesota Cities insurance trust, and Resolution 2024-31 authorizing a joint powers agreement with the state of Minnesota.
Chase Bakke gave the fire department report. Around 600 people attended the street dance. The two new members of the department are working on completing their training. The warning light system on Highway 16 coming into town has been installed and is operational. Over the last three months, the department has responded to 17 calls, making a total of 30 for the year so far.
City Administrator Mitchell Walbridge read an update from Police Chief Blaise Sass as he was unable to attend the meeting. The 2024 equipment purchases have all arrived and been paid for with the exception of the portable radios which should be delivered after they have been programmed. Staffing is an ongoing issue as part-time officers are seldom available, but the department has been able to maintain its contractual obligations with Lanesboro.
Joe Goetzke reported that the EDA and city were awarded a USDA grant to revitalize the capital loan fund. There are currently 11 revolving loans with several more people interested in obtaining one. EDA Director Cathy Enerson recently met with the Workforce Development director to learn more about what the office does and how it can benefit business owners in Lanesboro.
The adoption of the amendments to ordinance chapter 151 regarding land use was tabled. Ordinance chapter 120 regarding lodging businesses was approved. A summary of the ordinance was also approved for publication in the newspaper. Ordinance 30.111 regarding the city fee schedule was approved.
On the recommendation of City Engineer Brian Malm from Bolton & Menk, the council approved the partnership agreement with MnDOT for the Highway 250 project as well as a work order with Bolton & Menk for the project.
The council reviewed the first reading of the proposed ordinances 31.39-31.83 regarding the library board. The next step in the process would be to schedule a public hearing. Administrator Walbridge commented that he didn’t believe any member of the council or city staff wanted to discount the value of the Lanesboro library. He said that historically, the library board has played an advisory role and that recent actions led to it acting as a governing role instead. He felt that that revealed some inconsistencies with policies for library employees being different from those for other city employees. “This change would be to maintain the library’s role in the community,” he said. He noted that there is no attempt being made to close the library, minimize its services, control access to materials, or have the council take control of it, and that he would like to see a collaborative effort between the city and the library board. He noted that the city’s legal counsel had reviewed the state statutes and did not believe that the ordinance would violate them. Goetzke asked Walbridge to clarify what the difference was between an advisory and governing board. Walbridge said that the council already appoints the board members and hires the library director just as it appoints all board and commission members for city departments. He also stated that changing to an advisory board would not mean that the board would lose its autonomy regarding programming, materials, donations, funds, etc. The city currently takes care of payroll, insurance and benefits, and pay equity for the library staff as the library board does not have the capacity to do that itself. “I think we follow the precedent that if they want to be treated as a separate entity, they would need to take all the responsibilities that go along with it,” he said. Mayor Resseman stated that there was no documentation found determining whether the library board is advisory or governing and that the ordinance would clarify that. Goetzke asked what would happen if an employee with a grievance sued the library. Walbridge responded that if the city would be liable unless the library had been removed from the city’s insurance policy. A motion was approved to move forward with the public hearing.
The council reviewed the city’s preliminary budget for administration, the fire department, library, and debt funds. Resolution 2024-30 setting the 2025 preliminary tax levy at $974,161.56 for a 9.9% increase was approved. Mayor Jason Resseman noted that that amount can still go down before the final budget is due in December.
The annual Truth in Taxation meeting will take place at the beginning of the regular December council meeting.
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