Spruce Street Assessments Adopted in Houston

Following a public hearing, the Houston City Council adopted the Spruce Street assessments to pave the way for the planned improvements at their regular meeting May 11. The project will be completed in partnership with Houston County with a portion of the project to be fully reconstructed with utility work and resurfacing of streets with no utility work on either end.

Total city costs for the construction will be $1,660,929. The city will fund the project with PFA (Public Facilities Authority) revolving fund loans and possibly some grants; the remainder of the funding will be through bond sales. The availability of the PFA grants had motivated the city to proceed with the project. Individual property owners adjacent to the route will be assessed additional tax.

Assessments vary based on the frontage (width) of the property. A standard lot with a frontage of 100 feet and sewer and water will see an assessment of $12,099. The assessments can be paid either in full or partially by November 15, 2026; after that the remaining payments will be added to property tax for 2027. Interest will be for 20 years at 6%. If completely paying off in full at a later date, residents are encouraged to pay before November 15 to avoid interest for the following year.

Some easements were requested for lots needing lead service before their water can be hooked up again and for minor grading of front yards for sidewalk installation.

Any objections had to be made in writing and submitted by the close of the public hearing.

Dawson Dahl was the only citizen with a question. He asked how long utilities would be interrupted. Derek Olinger of Bolton & Menk replied that there would be a loss of water service a couple times for a couple hours. Homes will have temporary water service during construction. Notices will be sent out ahead of time, and, in order to connect to temporary service, workers will need to access the homes.

Waste Management

Currently, Houston has a contract with Waste Management until August 2028 for garbage services. There have been quite a number of issues with the service. Service is out of La Crosse where staffing has been an issue.

Waste Management has proposed serving Houston out of Rochester which has stable service. With this plan, Houston would have a dedicated route driver. The equipment would use compressed natural gas rather than diesel; this would be quieter and cleaner.

In order to make this change, pickup day would need to switch from Tuesday to Friday. The council had some concerns; a call was made to the Waste Management representative to clarify that the recycling still needed to be hauled to La Crosse. The council also asked if the fuel surcharge would be affected by the energy change.

Emily Krage was concerned that garbage cans might be left on the streets if people were gone for the weekend. This also would be a sign that people were not at home. Zeb Baumann was concerned that if it didn’t work, they might need to make yet another change and change pickup days again. Mayor Scott Wallace pointed out that employees are more likely to call out on Fridays than other days.

The council decided to table the item and ask Waste Management to attend their next meeting to discuss the proposal further.

Personnel

PWD Josh Hongerholt requested that the council change Brody Thesing’s status from probational to regular on his sixth month employment anniversary. The council approved this.

Administrator Michelle Quinn asked  the council for permission to bring back Randy Thesing in a casual on-call basis to supervise Brody Thesing when Hongerholt was absent for several days at trainings. Permission was granted.

Quinn also asked for permission to advertise for a full-time public laborer for the PWD. According to Quinn, more help was needed to keep up with city needs. Danny Todd asked, “Can the city absorb that with no impact?” After Quinn responded in the affirmative, the council approved posting the position.

The council authorized the hiring of youth applicants for positions at Summer Rec and VCC after interviews are completed by the directors. The new hires will be able to begin at once.

Other Business

In other business, the council:

•Issued a temporary liquor license to the HoeDown Days committee;

•Granted an excluded bingo license to the Chamber of Commerce for HoeDown;

•Approved a memorandum of agreement between Houston Ambulance and Winona Area Ambulance to allow students to ride along to get required experience;

•Approved the annual LMCIT waiver of monetary limits on tort liability; this increases insurance coverage from $500,000 to $2,000,000;

•Approved submitting a $2,500 grant application  to AcenTek for the MN Design Team expenses in September.