The Rushford Council tackled several agenda items at the December 23 meeting, including one added item relating to City Administrator Tony Chladek. Mayor Terri Benson provided the council with a recap of the recently conducted annual performance evaluation for the administrator. The Personnel Committee of Benson and Councilor Jim O’Donnell evaluated Chladek. There are areas they want Chladek to work on and Benson indicated he knows them and is willing to take them on. The committee will follow up with Chladek regularly to ensure work is on target. O’Donnell acknowledged the review was difficult.
“We’re going to take this as our opportunity to support him,” said Benson.
“Some of these questions seem to go on every time we have a review. My question is: What is his job here? What does he do? How are we enforcing to make sure that’s being done?” asked Councilor Leigh Volkman.
Benson noted one area of evaluation discussion included communicating with city staff and the community as the biggest opportunity. Benson enclosed two pages of the administrator job description in the council packet.
“I’m not against his job, but at points I wonder. These are the same things we discussed last year at this time,” added Volkman. “It’s the kinds of questions we look at year after year. What are we measuring? Do you do the absolute minimum to maintain your employment here? Or do you excel at what you do? What service is he providing to the city?”
“I’m just getting at the patience level of performance. At some point, you either have to say, ‘You do this job or…,” trailed of Volkman, to audible agreement from councilors O’Donnell, Sally Ryman, and Andrew Linder. “What are we setting as the barrier to what we expect?”
“I’ll be interested to see if there is actual progress throughout the year because I think what we’ve seen in the past in doing these reviews is progress for a couple of months, then things get dropped and we go back to old habits,” added Councilor Ryman. “If there isn’t improvement quarterly, then I think we need another discussion.”
“There isn’t improvement yearly,” countered Volkman. “At some point, the public sees how many years you are going to waste your time not having any answers to these questions, and then we’re going to talk about this next year, that we had a meeting once a month and did the bare minimum to make it to the next level.”
“He should be here to defend himself,” he continued. “I would assume if you hired me to run the city, I wouldn’t be sitting here having to try to justify how to keep my job. I’d be running the city.”
“There are definite challenges. I want to make sure I did everything I could, and no, I’m not going to wait another year to have this conversation,” stressed Benson. “We want to at least address it this way. I don’t like to give up on people.”
The council also discussed an Economic Development Authority recommendation to contract with Community Economic Development Associates (CEDA) for professional services. The Business Growth Support Program contract intends to assist current or new business owners with business plan creation/review, financing planning, market research and business model planning, and grant work. Billed hours are capped for approved businesses based upon the business’s growth stage, but no more than 120 hours.
Different from previous CEDA contracts, the program doesn’t require the city to provide projects. This program is a specific opportunity, beyond startup development, for entrepreneurs. The EDA will be hands-on to ensure both CEDA and the business involved fulfill their portion of the required work.
“If the goal of this is to help businesses stay in business and succeed, that’s a great thing,” enthused Benson.
In other news, the council unanimously approved modifying the Rushford Ambulance Service policies. A proposal from Ambulance Director Joey Busse, but would/will see the city offer $5 per hour for on-call coverage during a 12-hour time frame of daytime, weekday needs. Earlier this year, the city approved a $1.50 per hour on-call payout for nights and weekends, but there was little response for the needed daytime shifts, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The new offering allows service members to sign up for a four-hour shift rather than needing to commit to a full 12-hour on-call shift through a shared app. The payout will be made quarterly and the city expects it to cost approximately $15,600 annually. The payout for night/weekend on-call work through December 20 was $30,376.
At this point, it’s unknown whether the added benefit will entice service members. The city is getting emergency aid from the state. City Clerk Kathy Zacher indicated the city needs to show the funds are being used for training, equipment, retention, on-call, and more to show the legislature there’s a need for all of those areas. The service raised rates previously but may need to further address the added costs of operation with those who receive coverage.
“The needs are totally different,” said Zacher. “We don’t levy anything for the ambulance yet. It’s self-sufficient at this point.”
“Other towns and townships are aware of the shortage issue. If they want coverage, they should maybe pay more for it,” added O’Donnell.
Other agenda items receiving unanimous council approval included the sale of the last lot in the Himlie Business Park and a Labor/Management Committee recommendation to amend the city’s pay steps for municipal employees. The council also received a recap of 2024 projects from Public Works Director Roger Knutson. He will present the goals for 2025 at the January meeting.
During reports, the council learned the study of the former Farmers Win Cooperative site showed the buildings were clean of environmental concerns. The ground was mostly clean, with one underground spot of concern only if disturbed. The study found no asbestos.
Linder also asked staff about the possibility of putting the former Rushford-Peterson Schools site back on the tax rolls. It was sold again earlier this year. The council was unsure about the owner of the LLC, which filed with the state on July 25, 2024, as a non-profit corporation. An online search with the Minnesota Secretary of State shows the property sold to Bluff Country Christian Community Center. The business is registered to a PO Box in Houston, Minn., and utilizes a registered agent service in Owatonna, Minn.
Leave a Reply