Fillmore County Sheriff candidate John DeGeorge addressed the Lanesboro City Council at their August 6 meeting. DeGeorge has been serving as the captain at the sheriff’s office for almost 10 years now. He spoke about his plans as sheriff if he is elected and what his priorities will be. If he is elected as sheriff, he plans to introduce a program to the public that increases safety awareness on a variety of subjects such as drug abuse, identity theft, cyber safety, etc. DeGeorge also answered several questions from the members of the council at the meeting.
Alissa Oeltjenbruns, a representative from the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation or SMIF, updated the council on the work that SMIF is doing in the Lanesboro area. The two main areas of focus for the foundation is economic development and early childhood development. SMIF is able to provide one-on-one technical assistance to businesses that take advantage of the small business loans SMIF offers. “That is a great asset considering how difficult it is to start a business these days,” Oeltjenbruns noted. “We’re also highly invested in the quality childcare shortage.” SMIF’s goal is to ensure that every parent has access to high quality childcare so they’re able to work. Mayor Autumn Johnson made a motion that the city donate $250 to SMIF with the caveat that the money stays in the community of Lanesboro, which is what has been done in past years as well. The council approved the donation.
Gideon Purdell has been hired as the newest officer of the Lanesboro Police Department. It was reported that the department has responded to 100-110 calls this summer in Lanesboro alone, which is higher than average. They were also able to issue some search warrants that culminated in the removal of some meth off the streets.
An enclosed trailer was recently purchased for the fire department’s UTV. The department has made some changes to the drills that they run, increasing them from one hour to two hours. Chief Jerod Wagner noted that training dollars in the budget are already running short. “We’ll have to take a look at that when it comes to the 2019 budget,” he said. The council will review the training budget for 2018 thus far.
The Lanesboro ambulance service thanked local employers for allowing their employees who are also EMTs to leave during their shift if called out on an ambulance run. “We probably wouldn’t have an ambulance service if it weren’t for that,” Director Deane Benson said.
While the Lanesboro EDA is supposed to have a seven member board, it is currently running with five instead. Despite advertising for help to fill the open seats, which have been empty for some time now, no one has volunteered. City Administrator Michele Peterson suggested changing changing the EDA to have a three-member board instead. Unfortunately, that would mean less people doing the same amount of work, but as Peterson pointed out, leaving it as a seven member board with empty seats means that it is not compliant with state statute. The matter was tabled for the time being.
After over 30 years of working for the Lanesboro Public Utilities Department, Jim Peterson has put in his resignation. The council thanked him for his years of dedication.
A diesel engine at the utility plant is not operable and has not been for some time. The LPU would like to remove it, but it will be costly to do so. “It does need to be done as we’re never going to be able to use that again,” Peterson commented, pointing out that it takes up a lot of space, and the funds needed for removal are available in the budget. Council member Tom Smith felt that that money could be spent elsewhere for repairs and updates. The council decided to table it until more research could be done on the actual cost of removal.
The sealed bids for the pick-up truck that the Park Department is selling were opened and the high bid of $1,852.00 was approved.
Keith Ekstrom resigned from his position on the Lanesboro Public Library board, and Kathy Rogers was appointed to fill his seat.
There were 18 total applicants for the public works maintenance job. David Haugan was hired to fill the position.
Perviously, several businesses had asked the council to allow them to set up racks and other displays on the sidewalks outside of their shops during the summer months. It was decided to allow them to do so on a trial basis last summer. Feedback was received from businesses and community members with the overwhelming opinion being positive. Many felt that allowing businesses to use the sidewalks added to the aesthetics of the town. Council member Jason Resseman recommended continuing to allow the practice with the proper permits and to roll the various permits needed for the trial year into one umbrella permit which would simplify things for the business owners and the city. The rest of the council agreed, and the motion was approved.
The council reviewed the beginnings of the budget for 2019. Each council member will meet with different organizations such as the park board, LPU, library, etc. to go over their budget for the coming year.
The next Lanesboro City Council meeting will be held on September 4 at 5:30 p.m.
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