M-C Hosts Joint Board Meeting with Mabel and Canton City Councils

Members of the Mabel and Canton city councils attended a joint board meeting hosted by the Mabel-Canton Public School Board on Wednesday, December 4, 2024, at the school in Mabel.

The meeting has been held annually for approximately the last six years. Attendees at this year’s meeting agreed that it is a useful communication tool, is very informative, and should continue.

Representatives from the Canton City Council included council members Kristy Ziegler and Jen Dowling, and City Clerk Anne Koliha. Mabel City Council members present included City Clerk Karen Larson and Councilmember Cory Wilson. Mabel-Canton school board members present included Mark Weidemann, Traci McKenzie-Livingood, Diane Wilder and incoming board member, Amber Tripp. 

The meeting was called to order at 6 p.m., followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

Superintendent Gary Kuphal added the recently approved solar field to the meeting agenda. He noted that, since there was not a quorum, the M-C School Board would not be able to take any action on the solar field, but he explained that he would still like their feedback.

Kuphal opened the floor for discussion, giving both city councils the opportunity to bring up any city updates or topics for discussion before he updated them about school’s bond referendum. 

Both city clerks discussed upcoming street repairs that are currently scheduled to take place in 2026 in Mabel, and in 2026 and 2027 in Canton. Both cities have received grants to assist with the cost of these street repairs. Canton is looking for more grants to pay the remaining balance.

Wilder asked about bus transportation in Canton, which led to an update on the status of the Iowa students. Kuphal explained that they are now considered Minnesota students after a judge signed off on the educational guardianships, which means that the school no longer provides bus service in Iowa. This eliminated the need for one of the school’s bus routes, reducing the number of routes from four to three. Kuphal explained that at the beginning of the 2024-25 school year, they were short one bus driver, so Bernard Bus Service and the school used their vans to pick up students. As of November 1, they had found a third bus driver. Kuphal emphasized the need for more bus drivers and said that if anyone is interested in being a bus driver or knows someone interested to contact Bernard Bus Service. There are no complaints about the bus service in Canton.

The conversation then turned to a discussion about a four-day school week, as more Minnesota schools are considering it to address budget deficits, including nearby Chatfield and St. Charles. Kuphal mentioned he and Principal Michelle Weidemann had informally discussed the idea of a four-day school week and asked the attendees for their opinions. Kuphal mentioned more than once that his conversation with Weidemann was just an informal discussion.

Kuphal then updated the attendees on the bond referendum. Attendees received a spreadsheet outlining the costs of each project. The bond amount is $8.94 million, which includes $440,000 to cover costs associated with issuing the bonds and interest. Construction is scheduled for the summer of 2026 and maybe the summer of 2027. The vote is scheduled for April 8, 2025.

Board member Weidemann shared an idea he had about a Christmas light display like the one in Decorah or La Crosse. The display could be set up in either Mabel or Canton. 

Kuphal explained that there was one addition to the agenda, the solar field. Since the was not a quorum, they could not take any action. Kuphal reminded the board that the solar field project was approved at the November school board meeting, contingent on checking the references and obtaining answers from Solar Connections to a few questions that were not addressed in the proposal. Kuphal confirmed that the references were all positive, and that Solar Connections used some wrong figures in their proposal, thus increasing the project cost to $65,578. However, negotiations have brought it down to $62,000 and Kuphal hopes to get it down to around $60,000. Due to a lack of quorum, the school board will vote on it at its regular December school board meeting since there is an increase in cost.