Fillmore Central Public School Superintendent Richard Keith and Craig Britton attended the April 11 Harmony City Council meeting to discuss the school’s plans for a new garage to store the football equipment and park some of the district’s vehicles. The project has been in the works for several months now as details were hammered out between the school district and the City of Harmony. A blueprint for the proposed garage was distributed to the council. The garage will measure 88 feet by 32 feet and, if plans move forward, will be built at the end of the Harmony Community Center parking lot, on property that is currently owned by the City of Harmony.
“It looks like a good plan,” Mayor Steve Donney said. However, he was concerned about the loss of the occasional use of the proposed building area for overflow parking at the community center.
Councilmember Debbie Swenson pointed out that the garage would block the view for the homeowners just across the road from the proposed site.
After some discussion, a motion was made to sell the property as a commercial lot for $22,862.00. Britton asked that it not be approved that evening as his and Superintendent Keith’s intent was only to discuss the blueprint plans with the council before finalizing them and then deciding on a price at a later date. The council agreed and the motion was not approved.
“Thanks for your consideration tonight,” Britton expressed.
County Assessor Brian Hoff presented the 2017 Assessment for the local board of appeals and equalization to the council. Also present was Assessor Troy Case, who will be taking over for Hoff.
“Any decisions made tonight are your decisions,” Hoff reminded the council. “We’re just here to inform and advise.” Hoff reviewed the assessment with the council, and it was approved after the public hearing was kept open for 30 minutes to allow for any comments
or questions.
Tom Olinger from Abdo, Eick & Meyers reviewed the 2016 audit report with a slideshow presentation. Findings from the report included a lack of segregation of duties due to the small number of city staff. There were no Minnesota legal compliance findings and no disagreements or difficulties. Recommendations included adopting an investment policy and a uniform guidance procurement policy.
“The staff does a great job getting us the information in a timely manner,” Olinger noted. “They’re certainly doing a good job to keep the audit fairly clean.”
The audit report was approved.
A zoning variance for the Monster Bash property was approved on the recommendation of the Harmony Planning and Zoning Commission.
A motion was approved to accept the proposal for the Garden Road water main looping improvements from Stantec Consulting for the proposed housing project that is in the works from Hammel House & Co. Any design costs from the city engineer for the project will be reimbursed by Hammel House & Co.
A high bid of $3,251 for the Building and Maintenance truck that the city is selling was accepted.
The council discussed the doors at the Harmony Visitors’ Center. Three of the doors will be replaced and two others will be eliminated completely and replaced with windows.
The council approved the hiring of an additional maintenance staff member.
The full-time new hire would cross-train into different positions and then move into one of them when a retirement opens it up.
The next Harmony City Council meeting will be May 9 at 7 p.m.