By Zech Sindt
The Wykoff City Council convened for their monthly meeting on December 9th at 7 p.m., with a full attendance of council members and city officials, including Mayor Ryan Breckenridge, City Administrator Becky Schmidt, Administrative Assistant Luann Hare, and council members Kaleb Himli, Lyle Morey, Barbara Fate and Jeffrey Hare. The meeting commenced with reports from various departments. Rick Whitney, representing wastewater treatment, said there were no major issues to report.
Following Whitney’s report, the council addressed the fire department. In the absence of Fire Chief Mike Lund, the council approved the new officer appointments: Chris Nagel as first assistant chief, Brennan O’Connor as second assistant chief, Patrick Mulhern as safety officer, Julie Hanson as secretary, and Nathan Schmidt as training officer.
The personnel and community education committees had no new business or updates to present. However, the street committee had convened earlier in the month, on December 5, to discuss a proposal to install a new surface on Line Street South. At this meeting, however, after reviewing the projected costs, the council decided to reject the proposal. Multiple council members commented about the need to remain fiscally conservative, and the costs being too high.
Moving on to planning and zoning matters, the council reviewed a rezoning application for 236 Gold Street South. The owners of the property, a .37 acre parcel currently zoned commercial, intend to split the 90-foot-wide lot into two 45-foot-wide lots to build a twin-home for two separate owners. The council determined that a public hearing would be necessary to gather input from residents and allow for proper consideration of the rezoning request. The hearing was scheduled for December 23 at 6:30 p.m.
Mayor Breckenridge then took a moment to announce the return of the annual St. John’s student essay contest. Students at St. John’s school will be finishing their essays, which will then be forwarded to the mayor and city council for judging. The council will then select and award prizes for first, second, and third place. In addition to the essay contest, Breckenridge announced a Christmas lighting contest to add to the festive spirit in town. Council members Fate and Hare volunteered to judge the contest, driving around Wykoff on December 20 to select the winners. The winning houses will receive Wykoff Bucks as prizes: 25 for first place and 10 for second.
City Administrator Becky Schmidt then provided an update on the grant application for the Finseth property. “It’s a slow process with multiple agencies involved,” she explained, “but we’re getting good feedback and are hopeful that the grant will come through.” The grant aims to fund necessary work on the property, which has been a topic of discussion in previous meetings. Schmidt also revealed that she is exploring another grant opportunity, this one focused on education and libraries. She is researching creative ways to utilize these grants to benefit the community, including the possibility of acquiring the old bank building. “I’m envisioning purchasing the building with grant funds and turning it into a library with office space,” Schmidt explained. The building, which currently requires a new roof and ADA compliance upgrades, could potentially be renovated without significant cost to the city. “Libraries are the one thing there’s always grant money for,” Schmidt remarked optimistically.
The conversation then shifted to a topic that has dominated recent council meetings: establishing a formal policy for vacating unused streets and alleys. This discussion stemmed from a resident’s request to build a carport over a portion of an alley adjacent to their property. While the initial request was denied, the council expressed interest in exploring the possibility of selling the alley, given its limited use by the city and the fact that it was primarily maintained by local homeowners. However, this raised several complex issues.
Last month, Councilmember Hare voiced his concern about the lack of clear records regarding alleyways in Wykoff. “How many more alleys in this town are just lost?” he asked, emphasizing the need for a comprehensive inventory of the city’s alleyways before any decisions about vacating them could be made.
City Administrator Schmidt expressed her concerns about the potential financial burden associated with vacating alleys. “In order to vacate, we have to have them surveyed, and that’s a cost to the city,” she explained. “Then we have to have a title search, and that’s a cost to the city. And then we have to have public hearings to vacate all of them in town, and that means contacting everyone that’s around them to vacate those alleys, and that’s a cost to the city. There’s a cost involved in all of this, and speaking as treasurer, money’s tight, we shouldn’t have to pay for someone to benefit by getting a piece of property. The only people benefitting are two people off of that alley. So why should the city pay tax dollars to vacate this?”
Schmidt argued that the process for vacating an alley should be similar to rezoning a property. “They need to pay for the public hearing,” she stated, “and that cost will be about $300.” Hare pointed out that the current owners near the alley in question had already had the property surveyed, potentially mitigating some of the cost. Mayor Breckenridge emphasized the need for a clear policy to guide future decisions, stating, “We need a consistent process for handling these requests.” After considerable debate, the council finally adopted a policy for vacating unused streets and alleys, with the understanding that the associated costs would generally be borne by those benefiting from the vacation.
The council then revisited a cannabis ordinance that had been passed at last month’s cannabis meeting. It was discovered that the ordinance contained several inconsistencies and did not adequately address the city’s specific needs. As a result, the council voted to rescind the previous ordinance and adopt a new, more comprehensive policy. This new policy covers a wide range of issues related to cannabis, including consent to registering a cannabis business, compliance checks, fees, application procedures, annual compliance checks, location changes, renewal of registration, suspension of registration, civil penalties, limitations and civil buffers, cultivation rules, and retail and delivery rules. The ordinance also specifically addresses the use of cannabis in public places, prohibiting smoking or consuming cannabis products in public areas unless the premises is licensed for on-site consumption. The new cannabis ordinance will be the subject of another public hearing sometime in January to allow for public input.
In other business, the council passed a resolution re-establishing the polling precinct and precinct location for the city of Wykoff at the Wykoff Community Center. They also passed a resolution to recommit $234,075 to the Fire Equipment Fund 406.
The assessment of costs for sewer line repairs on Line Street and Gold Street was also discussed. Administrator Schmidt expressed her opinion that the homeowners should not be assessed for these repairs. “It’s the city’s responsibility to maintain the infrastructure,” she argued. The council ultimately decided to table the discussion until all of the paperwork is finalized, but they expressed a general consensus against assessing the costs to property owners.
A proposal from Revata, a grant writing company, was also reviewed. Schmidt expressed disappointment in the proposal, noting that she was already working on the grants that Revata proposed to pursue. “I can keep doing them myself and save us the $5,000,” she stated. Adding to her skepticism, Schmidt pointed out that Revata’s proposal incorrectly listed Wykoff as being located in Iowa.
The council then briefly discussed a request from Arvig for a right-of-way permit to run fiber optic cable in town. This discussion was tabled for now, with council members raising concerns about Arvig’s insurance coverage in case they damage any city infrastructure, particularly the sewer lines. “Arvig has hit the sewer line before,” Councilmember Fate recalled.
A $100 donation from L&L Grain to the fire department was gratefully accepted by the council. This is a yearly donation from L&L Grain, demonstrating their ongoing support for the fire department. The council passed a resolution officially accepting the donation.
In the final items of business, the council decided not to waive the monetary limits of the city’s liability coverage insurance. They also discussed the acquisition of a 2016 Ford F550 4WD dump truck, which the city is currently bidding on. Their original budget for the truck was $30,000, but they adopted a motion to bid up to $20,000, allowing $10,000 to be used for the purchase and installation of a snowplow.
Leave a Reply