Wykoff City Council Makes 2024 Committee Appointments

The Tuesday, January 8 Wykoff City Council meeting was host to routine business items such as appointments for 2024 committees and approval of administrative fees, as well as the review of a new zoning request, the approval of a grant, and several other topics of discussion.
In one major item of business for Monday’s meeting, the council appointed members to the various committees for 2024; most of the appointments were unchanged from 2023. The 2024 city of Wykoff committees are composed as follows: Streets/Snow Removal and Sanding is manned by Kaleb Himli, Barb Fate and Ryan Breckenridge, and meetings are held the first Monday of the month at 4 p.m. Sewer and Water is manned by Lyle Morey and Ryan Breckenridge, and meetings are held the second Monday of the month at 4 p.m. at Bend the Trend. Personnel Committee is manned by Barbara Fate and Kaleb Himli, with meetings held the first Monday of the month at 9 a.m. Parks and Recreation, Joint Trails Board Representative is manned by Kaleb Himli and Jeffrey Hare, and meetings are held the first Saturday of the month at 9:30 a.m. Community Education Representative is manned by Barb Fate and Jeffrey Hare, with meetings on the first Saturday of the Month at 10 a.m. Pest Control is handled by John Baker, Incident Command by Tony Rahe, and serving as Deputy for Incident Command is Mayor Breckenridge. Finally, Mayor Breckenridge asked Jeffrey Hare if he was willing to accept the role of mayor pro-tem, which he accepted.
The council also reviewed the list of administrative fees for city of Wykoff. These include liquor license payments, bills for water and sewer, pet licenses, city hall rental, charges for fire calls, and other fees. No changes to the list were made for 2024, although it was noted that no specific dollar amount is listed for miscellaneous ordinance violation fees. Ultimately, no fees were established at Monday’s meeting. Instead, the council discussed consulting old Wykoff ordinances and fee schedules used by other small towns. “Should we check with maybe Preston or Fountain and see what they charge?” asked Becky Schmidt. “…usually it’s like 100 bucks, and then $200 for second offense and $500 for third offense.”
Wykoff Fire Department officers for 2024 are as follows: Chief – Mike Lund, his stipend will be $1,500; First Assistant Chief – Clint Laganiere, his stipend will be $500; Second Assistant Chief – Chris Nagel, Secretary – Julie Hanson, her stipend will be $500; Training Officer – Nate Schmidt, his stipend will be $500; Safety – Brennan O’Connor.
A zoning application was made by Kelly and Tony Rahe of Rahe of Sunshine farms. Kelly and Tony raise hydroponically grown vegetables in a semi-truck trailer and would like to add another trailer to their operation. Two city council members will visit the proposed site in person.
Near the meeting’s close, the council reviewed a grant for $15,000 given to the city of Wykoff by the Webster and Marcella Fischer Family Foundation. According to materials shared at Tuesday’s meeting, the Foundation is “committed to making grants to the city of Lewiston, Wykoff and Spring Valley, Minnesota, and qualified nonprofit organizations within the communities that were served by the former Security State Bank that, prior to its sale in 2018, the Family owned and operated for nearly one hundred years. Since its inception in 2001, the Foundation has provided 105 grants totaling more than $900,000 to local nonprofit organizations located in these communities.” The donation was approved by roll call vote.
The Fischer Family Foundation grant was awarded to city of Wykoff to contribute to the construction of a new city baseball field. Specifically, the $15,000 was intended to help pay for new lighting, dugouts, and the construction of a new concession stand. Progress has already been made on the new field; last year, sand was moved onto the infield, grass seed was planted in the outfield, and enough fencing is in place to cover dugouts. Councilmen and Parks and Recreation Committee members Jeffrey Hare and Kaleb Himli hope the field will be in a playable condition this spring.
Mayor Breckenridge also brought the council’s attention to the Mayor for a Day essay contest in which schoolchildren from Saint Johns Lutheran school wrote essays responding to the prompt, “If you were mayor for a day, what would you do?” Mayor Breckenridge and the council agreed to go through the essays and choose a winner and several runners-up. As a tentative plan, the winner and runners-up will be invited to the next city council meeting and stand in with the mayor and city council members; the contest winner will be “mayor”, the second-place runner-up will be “mayor pro-tem”, and third-place runners-up will be “council members.”
Wykoff City Council meetings are held the second monday of each month at 7 p.m. The next meeting will be held Monday February 12.