Lanesboro’s contract with Harter’s Quick Clean Up will be ending soon, and so the city recently advertised for bids. Three bids were received from Harter’s, Waste Management, and Advanced Disposal. The council reviewed the bids at their regular April 3 meeting and approved a motion to switch to Advanced Disposal once the contract with Harter’s is finished.
With Advanced Disposal, Lanesboro residents will be able to choose between three sizes of landfill totes with different pricing for each and two sizes of recycling totes with the same cost for each one. Service for the city dumpsters will be free under the new contract. The council asked the Advanced Disposal representative what would happen with the trash service of those who leave for the winter and were informed that customers who are going to be gone for extended periods of at least a month can shut off their service at no charge and resume it when they return.
Mayor Johnson declared 5th grader Isaac Snyder as Mayor for the Day. Isaac was one of three winning entries in the Mayor for the Day essay contest held by the League of Minnesota Cities.
The Lanesboro Fire Department recommended Blaine Harmon to fill their vacancy. The council approved the request to add Harmon to the crew.
Council member Jason Resseman gave the Heritage Preservation Commission’s report to the council. The HPC would like to offer placards for sale to owners of historical buildings, either commercial or residential, in Lanesboro. The placards would be similar to the national registry ones.
The HPC is currently hammering out details with the Lanesboro Historical Museum to possibly come up with a deal such as a free year-long membership to the museum with the purchase of a placard. “Our goal is to start documenting some of these properties to have a better database,” Resseman said.
Mayor Johnson read a proclamation declaring April 23-29 to be National Volunteer Week.
A street closure request for Coffee Street East from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on May 13 and September 23 for Girls’ Day Out was approved.
Council member Tom Smith mentioned that he’s received comments asking the council to include a public forum in the regular city council meetings. “I’ve been approached about that too,” added council member Marge Drake. Mayor Autumn Johnson pointed out that a public forum is already available at the monthly community meetings which are held on the first Thursday of each month at 9 a.m. The council is also thinking of adding some evening meetings to allow those who work during the day to attend.
The council revisited the topic of raising the utility rates as recommended by the Public Utilities Commission. A motion to leave the rates the way they are currently was made by Smith, but failed. The 7% increase was approved with a 3 to 2 vote to the chagrin of some of the
Lanesboro residents attending the meeting.
The next Lanesboro City Council meeting will be held on May 1 at 5:30 p.m.