Lanesboro City Council
January 16, 2007

MEMBER(S) PRESENT: Rahn, Jeanette, Dybing & Drake
MEMBER(S) ABSENT: O’Connor
OTHER(S) PRESENT: Carla Noack, Julie Kiehne, Dan Anderson, Maureen Anderson, Roy “Bucky” Rogers, Jan Meyer, Wanda Hanson, Chad Ascheman, Mark Welch, Everett Johnson, Betty Johnson, Darin Johnson & Tom Manion

COUNCIL MEETING CALLED TO ORDER:
Rahn called regular meeting to order.

AGENDA:
Motion made by Drake to approve agenda with an addition of ambulance members approval for training, old Christmas lights & TNT training, second Dybing, motion carried.

MINUTES:
Dybing made motion to approve the minutes as read, second Jeanette, motion carried.

OATH OF OFFICE:
Mayor Rahn took the Oath of Office.

PERSON’S WITH BUSINESS BEFORE THE COMMISSION:
Julie Kiehne: Annual Report for the chamber. Annual Report and new guide were passed out. The new directory is a 52 page directory, for which they added farmer’s market section. Kiehne stated that they now have 135 chamber members and 46 of the members advertised in the directory. Kiehne thanked the Utilities and City for their donations to help the Chamber once again receive the $1200 Dairyland Power matching grant. The Annual report will be reviewed with the public on the 29th of January at 7pm at the Community Center Dining Room at the Chamber’s annual meeting. Kiehne also discussed the website and activities of the Chamber. The Chamber has been tracking the number of hits on the website. From its origination up to this year the website has been hit (visited) 6.7 million times. The Visitor Center has been staffing on Sundays, May-October, with volunteers. The Chamber also completed an application which allowed them to be state affiliated, which means more access and the ability to get Lanesboro’s name out at more places. The Chamber now has year round staffing for the Visitor Center. Winona State University has completed their survey of Lanesboro for Tourism. The kickoff of 2007 will be at the annual meeting. During Ibsen Festival Weekend the Chamber is requesting to be able to put the candles on the sidewalk with candles lit at dusk, some of the business owners would also like to put the candles out throughout the winter for weekends. A motion was made by Dybing to allow the candles on the sidewalks for Ibsen Festival and at other times during the winter with the discression of property owners knowing that they are responsible for the candles, but only until the end of March and not during snow removal, second Jeanette, motion carried.

Dan Anderson: ChurchHill Properties – Anderson talked about the history of the building and developing it. He and some other local participants want to create cooperative housing with 15 units. They have developed a two-phase plan, which 10 units will be completed for phase one and 5 units will be completed for phase two. Anderson asked if the TIF financing is still available to them. Torgerson noted that the TIF District is still active and that a new development agreement was needed. Anderson is working on finalizing the bidding documents and design and then the construction process will be complete. Council asked Torgerson to verify that the TIF district is available and for Manion and Torgerson work on what is needed to work on a new development agreement. Council will find answers to the questions that have been asked and will the ChurchHill Properties on the next agenda.

Mark Welch: GGG – Lot Split: Welch apologized for not being here last meeting. Welch had talked with the Johnsons and Roy Rogers prior to meeting to try to work out the concerns, however he felt that unless the property owners listened to what he had to say there would be no way to accomplish what they needed to. Welch talked about survey and explained how they determined the property lines. He explained that there is an overlap of properties, but he feels that GGG’s survey is still correct. He stated that GGG received copies of all surrounding properties’ legals. Welch asked if the Council had any questions on the survey. The technique was discussed for what was used for the survey. Property owners had concerns for what was whose land. The question was asked if the legal descriptions are what they are supposed to be then can the lot split occur. Welch recommended to have Knutson, the County surveyor, take a look at the property. Dybing questioned as to why they didn’t have a copy of Randy Reynolds’ legal description in the paperwork provided. Mark explained that Randy’s is with the exceptions of Pieper, Rogers and Johnson. Rahn asked Manion how far the City should be involved, and questioned if this was more of a private matter. Manion said that the Council has latitude in the Zoning; however, the Council must be careful as to how far they get involved. The City may want to get involved though to handle the situation now rather than deal with it later. Darin Johnson stated that the survey is 15 feet closer to his parents’ property than it was the last time a survey was done. Bucky and Mark discussed Bucky’s survey from the past. Manion stated that our ordinance states that lots can be split. Rahn asked the property owners to discuss in another room and try to work together to figure out the discrepancies and then to come back to the Council. The Johnsons, Roy Rogers, Mark Welch & Chad Ascheman all reconvened in the Dining Room for discussion.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:
EDA – O’Connor: Torgerson mentioned that O’Connor had e-mailed a recommendation on behalf of the EDA to renew Carla Noack’s contract, with the condition that a written Comprehensive Draft be provided by the end of the contract, Dybing moved to approve the EDA recommendation, second Jeanette, motion carried.
Library – Jeanette: Jeannette stated that it was a very educational meeting. He noted that the Library will be requesting $1600 from the City for a book drop. The Library will also be asking a Council member or the City Administrator to join the group with negotiations for money from the County.

HOUSEKEEPING:
A. Paying of the Bills: Rahn made motion to pay the bills as presented, second Drake, motion carried.

B. Treasurer’s Report: Torgerson mentioned the pre-audit being complete and the final audit would be taking place the first full week in March.

C. Comprehensive Plan and Intern Update: Noack spoke about where the comprehensive plan and where it will be headed with the approval of her new contract. She plans to focus on the three major sections separately as follows: 1) Housing 2) EDA & 3) Land Use. The survey turn out was great. Carla complemented the new intern on his insight and work to date on the comprehensive plan.

D. Employee Insurance: Torgerson, on behalf of the employees, asked the Council to release their current agent so that they could work with Linda Horihan Agency on a HSA plan. Torgerson mentioned that they were happy with their current agent; however they wanted to look into this type of plan and felt comfortable with Creighton Horihan’s presentation and knowledge. Rahn made motion to release the existing insurance agent to work with Creighton Horihan of Linda Horihan Agency, second Jeanette, motion carried. Torgerson, on behalf of the employees, asked the Council to consider raising the amount that the City provides employees for insurance benefits. Torgerson stated that since 2002 the employees have received $450.00 that applied to insurance. The employees did not want to request a specific amount; rather they would like the Council to make suggestions. Mayor Rahn stated that he would like to see what Utilities Commission thinks on the increase for monthly insurance, and to put it on the agenda for the joint meeting in February.

E. PTO Time: Torgerson, on behalf of the employees, asked the Council to consider a change to the PTO policy. The employees would like to be able to contribute PTO time to a fellow employee for difficult times. The employees did not want a cap as to how much they could donate and wanted it to just be based on the dollar amount the employee would normally be paid. Mayor Rahn asked to bring up the matter at the joint meeting.

F. Fire Department Appointment: The Fire Department is requesting the Council to approve a new firefighter, Steve Berg, motion by Jeanette to approve, second Dybing, motion carried.

G. Ambulance Training: Steve Klotz made a recommendation to approve the following individuals for Ambulance training: Robbie Wagner, Jason Harvey, Vince Jeannette, Mara Duering and Ellen Wagner. There was also a possibility of Sandy Kiel also participating in the training.
Drake made motion to approve those individuals to attend the training, second Rahn, motion carried.

H. Old Xmas Lights: A citizen has asked if the City would be willing to sell the old Christmas lights and what exactly the City intends to do with the old lights. Dybing mentioned that if the City did sell them that it should be with written bids, so anyone had a chance that would want them. It was suggested that the City should go through the lights and see what is there. Mayor Rahn asked to have the item brought up at the joint meeting since the Utilities Commission and the City both have invested time and money in the old Christmas decorations.

I. Assessor Training: Torgerson received a notice that there will be Local Board of Appeal and Equalization training coming up – Rahn made motion to approve one member from Council to go with mileage paid for if a member is able, otherwise Dybing qualifies under the current requirements, second Jeanette, motion carried.

ADJOURN:
At 6:46pm, Dybing made motion to adjourn, second Drake, motion carried.

Submitted Respectfully,

Bobbie Torgerson, City Administrator/Clerk

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City of Lanesboro Steven L. Rahn, Mayor | Bobbie Vickerman, City Administrator 202 Parkway Avenue South - - Lanesboro, MN 55949 507-467-3722 | lanesboro@acegroup.cc