Rushford’s New City Attorney

At their regular August 26 meeting, the Rushford City Council appointed Wieser Law Office, Al Wieser, III (Skip), as the city’s prosecutorial attorney. A new city attorney was needed to replace the former city attorney Dwight Luhmann who is now the Third Judicial District judge for Winona County’s District Court.

The new contract stipulates the general prosecution fee of $195 per hour ($10 more per hour than the previous attorney fee) and legal assistant time of $65 per hour ($30 less per hour). 

Paperwork has already been started to register the change with the state and provide access for Wieser to the e-charging and the Fillmore County Law Enforcement Database. Wieser will be doing as much as possible via Zoom and online. 

Depot

The council unanimously approved a letter of support for the Rushford Area Historical Society’s grant application to fund an upgrade for the society’s storage and preservation system at the Southern Minnesota Depot. With the restoration project at the depot, the society felt the storage and preservation component was integral in sharing the history of the community in the future. 

While the renovation is being done, the city has decided to update the electrical service to have only one service meter rather than the three previously there. The DNR no longer pays for any utilities; the city now pays for all utilities. This will be more efficient for the city. 

Public Comment

Margo (Dahl) Aakre of Briella Drive appeared before the council with her concerns about semis parking for extended periods across the street from her house. While her home is zoned residential, the area nearby is industrial. Calling it “not aesthetically pleasing,” Aakre noted that she had not expected to have semis parked in front of her home when she purchased it. She had checked the city ordinance and talked with Police Chief Adam Eide about the issue. 

The semis are usually parked there from Thursday to Monday which is longer than the 72 hours stated in the city ordinance. Aakre shared that one semi had been parked there for three weeks solid. The city will follow up on the subject and try to come up with a solution to the semi parking situation.

Aakre also brought up the issue of a pile of chip sealing material that has been in the street since mid-July. The pile had been put there to use in chip sealing at Creekside Park; it had been delivered just before Rushford Days. The chip sealing was recently completed. City staff will check with the contractor and move the remainder of the pile to the city compost area if the contractor does not want it.

A final concern from Aakre was a nearby pond. She shared that she cleans up along the pond in the spring when she’s out for a walk, but a large piece of pink styrofoam as large as a twin bed had been floating in the pond for quite some time. Mayor Benson will check to see if the city is responsible for the pond and take care of the styrofoam. 

Reports and Updates

As usual, the council was updated on projects in the city. The following items were reported on:

• Settlement money from opioid manufacturers will be used to provide a drug take back box in the city; it will be located at city hall and accessible during the hours city hall and/or when the library is open;
• At this time a total of 485 surveys (448 online and 37 paper) have been received about future use of the former Farmer’s Win property; once the time period is over for surveys, results will be coded into themes —both a graphic summary and all of the data will be returned to the EDA; 
• The bluff trail stair step repair has been completed by STS (Sentenced to Serve);
• PWD prepared the area at the city garage for new asphalt;
• Asphalt repair was completed on West Winona Street;
• Chip sealing at the parking lot at Creekside was completed and lines will be painted;
• The city will pay to fix the accessibility approach for the Legion as the Legion repairs concrete along its building;
• Grubs will be sprayed for next July at the airport; this year they have caused turkeys to dig up the grass area along the airport runway;

• 

  There will be a ribbon cutting ceremony in late September or early October for the airport hangar; the public will be welcome to attend.