New Rushford Village Public Works Supervisor Kyle Chiglo isn’t wasting any time digging into the workload. His hire was approved at the last meeting prior to the employment end-date of June 30 for resigning supervisor Travis Scheck. The council approved a water/wastewater retainer and on-call agreement for Scheck, to cover water and wastewater licensing requirements until Chiglo can obtain his own licensing, but the work is left to a one-man department for some time.
Chiglo is in the process of creating a priority list of projects and expects to present it to the council at the July 21 meeting. Knowing the workload, the council unanimously approved the hire of part-time help for the department, at a rate of $15/hour, and has given Chiglo the discretion to hire who he sees fit for the position, mainly for mowing.
“It would be good to get help to get some of these issues addressed,” noted Chiglo. “It’s invaluable having an extra set of hands.”
“I would like to help you with the mowing so you can stay on roads and other things. You’re just on board and you’re running in a bunch of different directions,” added Councilor Mike Ebner.
Focusing on roads is going to be a major task for the city. “With wear and tear, there’s places on a lot of these roads that need some maintenance and ditch work. How are we going to start dealing with it?” asked Councilor Rick Ruberg.
“I drove them quite a bit and had a good heart to heart with Travis about the roads. His final comment to me was, ‘You’re going to have a lot of work to do,’” said Chiglo. Several areas included work not performed following utility locates, culvert failures, cleaning edges of roads and ditches. “There’s some bigger fish to fry on some of the roads.”
“I’ve done a lot of investigating and found the roads are really suffering when it comes to rock. They’re really deficient,” added Chiglo. “I have no doubt they’ll be rehabilitated within the next year.”
Councilor Roger Knutson, himself Public Works Director for the City of Rushford, stressed the need for a priority list. “It’s one thing I’d caution about being reactionary about. That’s where you get deficient.”
Chiglo responded that he intends to tackle issues, including roads, systematically, possibly by area within the Village. “You can’t jump around here and there and can’t stick a pacifier in everybody’s mouth, so to speak. Road rock is one where you can’t wait. You do it when you’ve got it. There’s one company. You have to lay it in when it comes and prepare the road before it comes. It’s unfortunate. It may seem like something isn’t getting addressed, but it’s just down the list. It has to be done systematically or you can lose track of where you are. I’ll save what I can from future problems.”
“I really like interacting with the public. I’ll listen and respect what they have to say and I’ve had my eyes opened up more than once,” he added.
Other issues of discussion for Public Works included results of a comprehensive bridge report from Fillmore County, modifications to the area around the pumps at the lift station, improvements and modifications to how and what equipment is used, and the need for monitoring cycles of the pumps in addition to hours. All items were being handled by Chiglo and are within discretionary spending allowances at this time.
In other news, the council approved an agreement with AcenTek for the placement of fiber optic cable along Ekern Road. The work will bring service to three residences on the road and has been on the company’s radar for some time. Consulting engineering firm CNS has assisted AcenTek with the project.
Chiglo expressed concern with boring and sawing for the underground line bringing sub aggregate to the surface and creating future issues for road and ditch maintenance including inability to get proper depth readings for culvert work. A representative from AcenTek assured the city that location of the cable with digital depth would be no issue. The city will be able to do test runs with the grader and possibly pull road rock from the area prior to work. AcenTek is anticipating having the work completed by Labor Day.
The council was also in agreement over a planning and zoning issue regarding a non-permitted structure at the property of Dave Lind, 29705 State Highway 43 South. Zoning Administrator Jon Pettit recounted the granting of a permit for a concrete slab at the location and subsequent conversations he said he had with the property owner regarding limitations and requirements.
According to Pettit a 20’x25’ slab was approved and that an approximate 10’x22’ aluminum-sided cooling structure now sits on the slab. Due to city ordinances, particularly 30-foot setbacks from the right-of-way, the original building adjacent to the slab was previously branded non-conforming and no other structures are allowed in the area. Pettit further indicated that no permit was approved for the new building, one violation, and that the building itself is another violation, having not met setbacks defined in Ordinance 5.
“He was warned and he took it upon himself to go ahead and do anyway,” noted Pettit. “My recommendation is to have building removed and moved back to 30-feet or whatever he wants to do with it to meet our ordinance.” The city will look into the matter further to determine where the Minnesota Department of Transportation right-of-way is and have City Attorney Joe O’Koren review the ordinances and situation to deem whether or not the new building fits within the ordinance definition of a structure.
Councilor Roger Knutson abstained from any conversation for conflict of interest as he is a neighbor of the property.
The next regularly scheduled meeting is Tuesday, July 21, at 7 p.m., at the Village Hall.
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