The Wykoff City Council met in regular session on August 9. All council members were in attendance (Lyle Morey, Richard Gleason, Mayor Al Williams, Ryan Breckenridge, and Barbara Fate). City Clerk Becky Schmidt also attended.
Citizen Lynn Kidd addressed the council, stating, “Well, you know I was here before, complained about the sign downtown, talked about the two-hour parking in the business district. And of course, I wanted to bring it to your attention again, the business district includes all of the businesses, and the parking lot, and the street out here, it’s not just main street.” Kidd presented a petition which he said has roughly 110 signatures from people opposed to the two-hour parking limit. He summarized, “So anyway, I’d still like you to take those signs down.”
When asked about the reason for Wykoff to initially put up the two-hour parking signs, Becky Schmidt replied, “Because a lot of the renters were parking for longer than two hours.” Rich Gleason added, “It was basically to give business owners, such as Mr. Kidd, his clients places to park during business hours.” Gleason said the complaints seem to be coming from the business owners, which is the group the rule was put in place to benefit. Kidd said, “But you didn’t ask us.”
Ryan Breckenridge asked if the parking limit is being enforced, and asked, “If it isn’t, what is it there for?” The council and citizens had lively discussion on the topic, and Lyle Morey brought up a suggestion of changing the rule so that it would only apply between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on weekdays.
Gleason said he really has a hard time understanding the debate against the rule, by the business owners. He said the two-hour limit allows enough time for dining out. He summarized, “And the whole thing was to make the business up there more desirable for people… To me, if they don’t feel it’s a benefit, vote to change it, but to me it’s a no-brainer.”
Mary Sackett spoke on the issue, saying that if there’s not a two-hour limit, several storefront parking spots will likely be occupied regularly for long stretches of time by “overnighters.” She summarized her feeling about the current limit, saying, “I just see it as not a detriment… If you want businesses in town, we have to have parking.” No formal action was taken by the council at this time.
The council discussed recent citations from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) related to the amount of INI (“runoff water”) that gets into the city’s sewer system due to a variety of reasons. It was pointed out that recent fixes to manholes in Wykoff is helping to decrease the inflow. There was also discussion that sump pumps are not to empty into the sewer, but should drain onto the ground.
It was pointed out that the city’s most recent “smoke test” (to find leaks in the sewer system) was done around 10 years ago. The council’s consensus was to check into pricing to have another smoke test done. The council also discussed whether or not to build a new lift station (at a cost of around $100,000) or to install a retention tank. The cost of a retention tank wasn’t known, so the council consensus was to find out costs, so the two options can be fairly compared.
A price quote from O’Connell Excavating & Snow Removal. The quote stated a price of $3,500 to “Shape waterway on north of CHS scale. Grade out, seed, and straw mat.” Council members voiced questions about the scope of work to be done, and if the price is reasonable. The council voted to table the issue for now. The council’s next regular meeting will be Monday, September 13, at 7 p.m.
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