Ostrander Council Adopts New Law Enforcement Contract

The Ostrander City Council held a brief January 2 meeting, covering topics including its law enforcement service contract, city attorney services, and investment of city funds.
The council made its final approval of the 2024 Law Enforcement Services Agreement with Fillmore County Sheriff’s Office. The contract, which has been a major topic of discussion for the council over the past few months, pays for one hour per day of deputy time, down from the two hours the city previously paid for. The price of the sheriff’s office’s services increased steeply for the 2024 fiscal year, prompting small towns, including Ostrander, to reconsider their law enforcement service contracts. The new contract will cost city of Ostrander a total of $22,265 for the year 2024. Approval of the contract was motioned by councilman DJ Start and seconded by Vernon Thompson.
At Tuesday night’s meeting, the council voted to continue employing the services of two attorneys, Craig Byram as city attorney and Lee Novotny as prosecution attorney. Mr. Byram’s role as city attorney will include writing resolutions, looking at laws and orders within the city, and representing the city in a defensive capacity in the event such representation became necessary. Mr. Novotny, on the other hand, would act as prosecutor in the event of a crime injurious to city property, say, if someone damaged a city park. Fortunately, Mr. Novotny’s services were not required last year.
In the final item of business on Tuesday night’s agenda, the council approved the placement of city funds into the 4M Plus fund and 4M LTD fund. The 4M fund, or Minnesota Municipal Money Market fund, is a money management program which allows municipal entities like city governments to invest public funds for a return. The city of Ostrander will be investing revenue derived from water and sewer billing into these funds. The city, which is only allowed to spend sewer and water revenue on sewer- and water-related projects, can use interest earned from 4M investment to fund future expenditures such as the new sewer plant due to be built in 2042. As of January 2, 2024, the 4M Plus fund generated a return of 5.349%, while the 4M LTD (Limited Term Duration) fund generated a return of 3.73%.
Ostrander City Council meetings are held the first Tuesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. in the Ostrander Community Center, 410 N Main St, Ostrander, Minn. The next meeting will be held Tuesday, February 6.