Newly elected member of Harmony City Council sworn in

Newly elected Harmony City Council member Tony Webber was sworn in at the council’s January 8 meeting, along with returning council member Steve Sagen and Mayor Steve Donney.
The easement agreement for the land swap between the City of Harmony and Fillmore Central for the football field has been completed and was sent to the school district for approval. They sent it back to the Harmony council with questions about the maintenance costs. The agreement states that the driveway to the field will be maintained by the school, but Fillmore Central feels that it would make more sense for the city to maintain it instead as they are already doing so for the adjacent parking lot. “More than likely, any maintenance that gets done with that (the driveway) will be done at the same time as the parking lot,” city attorney Greg Schieber pointed out. The council agreed, and a motion was made and approved for the easement with the noted corrections.
City maintenance director Chris Johnson informed the council that S&M Controls looked at the dialer at the lift station to determine why it’s receiving nuisance calls and why the wastewater plant is having so many issues. It’s been determined that everything is tracing back to issues with the controls. “Hopefully they’ll be able to come up with something to alleviate the problem,” Johnson said.
The project to replace the sewer main on Niagara Court near Wheelers did not go as planned. When the contractor began digging, it was discovered
that the soil conditions in that area are unstable. To continue would have been unsafe and would have cost much more than the original project estimate. As replacing the sewer main is no longer an option, it will be lined instead.
The annual joint meeting between the Harmony City Council, Harmony EDA, and Fillmore Central School Board was set for March 12 at 5:30 p.m. The regular city council meeting will begin when the joint meeting adjourns.
The council approved a 2.5% raise for the 2019 COLA amount for city employees.
Councilmember Lynn Mensink gave the library board report. On February 6, the musical group Acoustic Eidolon will be playing at the JEM Theatre. Author Nicole Helget will be at the library on March 7 at 6:30 p.m. for the Minnesota Author Tour. Mensink reported that dvd usage is up at the library now that there is no other place in Harmony to rent dvds.
Decoding the Driftless was shown at the JEM Theatre on January 5, 6, and 7 and was well received, with 465 viewers total for the weekend. Due to its popularity, two more showings were added for the following weekend.
The next Harmony City Council meeting will be held on February 12 at 7 p.m.