The Spring Valley City Council held a regular council meeting on May 10. All members were present (Luan Ruesink, Chris Danielson, Greg Brooks, John Dols and Mayor Tony Archer). Also attending was city clerk/administrator Deb Zimmer. No visitors were on hand to address the council on any topics. The council made quick work of the agenda, as the entire meeting lasted under ten minutes.
Luan Ruesink asked, “Have we looked into or done anything about landscaping up at the new car charging lot?” This lot is located on the site of the previous Tourist Information Center for the city, and it offers two free charging stations for electric cars. Deb Zimmer said that reseeding of the grass will happen soon, and other landscaping enhancements will then follow.
The council considered Resolution 2021-17: Resolution Consenting to the issuance of Revenue Bonds by Duluth EDA. Deb Zimmer explained, “This is for the Madonna Towers. We did a conduit bonding back in 2015. They’re just refinancing so that we’ll be out of it. We have absolutely no liability here.” The council voted to approve the resolution.
Next, the council turned to Resolution 2021-20: Resolution for Gambling Permit for Kingsland Booster Club. Zimmer stated, “They want to offer gambling at Stellar 181 Taphouse, when they get open.” The resolution states that this will include the sale of pull tabs. The resolution was approved by the council.
The council discussed the “Use of Cloud and/or Offsite Backup and Access Policy.” Zimmer stated, “Basically, it’s not to allow remote access or offsite access to the cloud, because of, for example, Payroll, we have Social Security numbers, bank accounts… we just want to make sure we protect ourselves, so we’re not creating liability.” The proposed policy was approved as presented.
Deb Zimmer brought up that the city needed to again consider approving a temporary liquor license in connection with the upcoming Spring Valley 100 bike race. She explained, “That was approved last time for Never Surrender. They, however, have not been a non-profit on record, filing the proper forms for three years. So they cannot; that got denied.” The original plan was that Never Surrender would serve craft beers in the Spring Creek Park during the June 5 event. The council voted to approve the “plan B,” contingent upon VFW approval as well.
Chris Danielson commented about the Ambulance crew’s fundraiser “drive-through” event, set for Saturday May 15. Mike Zimmer explained that inadvertently, a number of the mailers that were sent out to advertise the event incorrectly listed the date of the drive-through as Sunday, May 16. He said efforts are underway to make sure the word gets out about the correct date.
John Dols reported that the Park & Rec department is getting everything ready for the city’s summer recreation programs. The next regular meeting will be Monday, May 24 at 6 p.m. Although the council meetings have been held at the Community Center for many months, to allow for social distancing, the council consensus was that they can return to city hall for all meetings, effective immediately. The public is welcome.
Leave a Reply