Rushford Village Employee Resigns

At the May 21 meeting, the Rushford Village Council was led by Councilor and Mayor Pro Tem Mike Ebner in the absence of Mayor Dennis Overland. Also attending were James Woxland, John Linder and Andrew Linder.

According to Ebner, part-time Public Works employee Jeff Michel submitted his resignation to City Clerk Mary Miner, effective May 23. The council accepted the resignation unanimously. Michel had worked for the village since the fall of 2022.

Ebner suggested that Public Works Supervisor Trenten Chiglo sit down and visit with the Personnel Committee about village needs. After doing so, the committee can bring a suggestion back to the council for review. For now, Chiglo will cover all public works’ needs. The committee will need to discuss seeking another part-time maintenance worker or perhaps just a seasonal employee.

“There’s a lot of options out there we can look at,” added Ebner.

“Now’s a good time to be able to sit and look at it all and judge where we think we need everything. The opportunity presents itself to see if we change anything or not and take a good look at it,” stated Councilor Travis Link.

Ebner also suggested the Equipment Committee needs to discuss and bring a recommendation to the council on how to move the maintenance shed remodeling project forward with just one person in the department.

“It’s all just food for thought right now,” added Ebner. “There’s no need to make quick decisions.”

During public comment, Woxland addressed the council regarding his property at 31975 Airport Road and his neighbor Michael Zirbes’ property at 31785 Airport Road. According to Woxland, a look through old minutes to January 1976 shows the council approved closing a road on the east side of Airport Road. According to City Treasurer Judy Graham, the minutes showed that a public hearing was held at that time and the issue received no public comment. The city attorney, Shultz, was to file the paperwork with the county, but it was never done.

Woxland stated he’d discussed the matter with Zirbes and the state and both he and the neighbor want the road closed to the public. A section of land was recently purchased by a conservancy and given over to the State of Minnesota to be managed by the Department of Natural Resouces.

“We’re trying to get it all straightened out so we know who has what,” said Woxland. “We’re all in agreement, myself, the state, and Zirbes that we don’t want the public using that road. It was in the record book and done at the local level, but the paperwork was never submitted to the county.”

The council questioned where things fall with right-of-way and why a warranty deed was provided. Woxland noted when it was vacated the property would have reverted to the property owner, now him, but there was concern that it’s not what was shown. Furthermore, the council questioned why an easement for access was granted if the roadway was vacated. City Attorney Joe O’Koren was cautious in taking any action.

“It looks like the intent of the council was to close the road back in the 70s. Now, closing and vacating are two different words. We want to make sure the intent was to vacate the road and relinquish the maintenance, but not make it a minimum maintenance road. I think the minutes reflect that was the intent,” said O’Koren. “I would like the opportunity to check with the county and make sure there’s nothing there. As far as a concern for the village, I think it would be a matter of making sure to be sure, whether vacated or closed, that it’s properly recorded.”

O’Koren also noted no legal description is recorded for the road currently, which is also partially an issue. The city auditor will also need to take the concerns under advisement due to the paperwork required for vacating a roadway.

“It may not be as simple as ‘Here’s a recorded document,’” added O’Koren. “Before anything gets really into the weeds here, there’ll be a decision that has to be made on how much the village wants to get involved. If there’s a simple way to do it that would obviously be preferable, but sometimes it’s best to just step back. But, we won’t know that until I dig into that a little further.”