Lanesboro City Council
Monday, March 17th, 2008
Council Chambers at 5:30 p.m.

Present: Steve Rahn, Joe O’Connor, Kevin Drake, Tom Dybing and Vince Jeannette
Absent:
Visitors: Jade Wangen, Jan Meyer, Mike Bubany, Dillon Dombroski and Don Miller, both of Yaggy Colby

REGULAR MEETING:
The regular meeting was called to order by Mayor Steve Rahn.
The agenda was approved, with the change of adding Vince Jeanette as persons with business before the council with a motion by Dybing, second by O’Connor, motion carried.
The minutes from the regular council meeting on March 3rd, 2008, were approved with a motion by Jeanette, second Dybing, motion carried.

PERSONS WITH BUSINESS BEFORE THE COUNCIL:
Vince Jeannette: Council member
Jeanette gave Vickerman a gift as an sarcastic apology for appointing her to the Hazard Mitigation Team for the County. He gave her a hard hat that says “Emergency Director” and a safety vest that says her name and the phrase “I love to help”.
Mike Bubany of David Drown & Associates and Dillon Dombrovski from Yaggy Colby for the Capital Improvement Plan:
Bubany did an overview of where the capital improvement plan stands as is. Dombrovski along with Bubany discussed the necessary pieces of the capital improvement plan. For the bonding the Council is seeking at least 20% of the project must be assessable to property owners, according to state law. As the Council looked over the estimates from Yaggy Colby, they noticed that the Whittier assessments were significantly high at the set assessment percentage of 35%. The Council had Bubany make changes in the program as far as changing the assessable amount to 20% and 25%. The Council also looked at fees for the water line. The Lamon and Schrupp properties were also discussed as to whether they should be included in the project. Bubany stated that those properties could be included in the footage, and then have the assessment deferred until the time for which those properties would be improved. The Council after review asked Vickerman, Dombrovski and Bubany to meet to offer options to help decrease the assessments for Whittier and to bring it back to the next meeting, because they were not comfortable calling for a public hearing with the numbers presented. O’Connor made a motion to table this item until the next meeting, second Dybing, motion carried. Drake then excused himself from the meeting due to another meeting.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:
EDA: Joe O’Connor – March 10th, 2008
O’Connor noted that the EDA welcomed Fred Kiel and Hal Cropp officially to the EDA. Fred Kiel had prepared a grant application for SMIF for $15,000 for an entrepreneurship and the EDA is asking the City to be the Fiscal Agent.
Library: Vince Jeanette – March 10th, 2008
Jeanette reported that the Library would be officially receiving the State flag on April 8th, in honor of the Minnesota Sesquicentennial. Each Library has it for one day, and there will be a program the entire day from 10am to 8pm for the event. Jeanette also noted that Veerkamp had finished her year end report.
Park: Steve Rahn – March 17th, 2008
Rahn reported that the Park Board discussed replacing tile in the kitchenette and getting bids from contractors for that project. He also noted that the Park Board is looking to replace the stage curtains and put in new coin machines for the showers. The Park Board is asking the Council in assisting in funding the 8 coin machines at $200.00/machine approximately. O’Connor allocated up to $2,000 to the Park for purchase of coin machines, second Dybing, motion carried. The Park Board will review the Tree Ordinance at the next meeting.

HOUSEKEEPING:
Paying of the Bills: Jeanette made motion to pay bills as presented, second Dybing, motion carried.
Administrator Report: Vickerman noted that she invested $125,000 of the City Checking into a money market account that carries a 2.9% interest. It will gain more interest than where it is currently invested and will be available if needed. Vickerman also noted that the Utilities also invested $100,000 into the same type of money market account.
Audit Review: Vickerman stated that the audit was complete and it went very well. She noted that the auditors would be presenting the audit in late April or early May.
TMI Grant: O’Connor explained that Fred Kiel had written a TMI grant for entrepreneurship on behalf of the EDA. O’Connor made a motion to approve the grant application and for the City to act as the fiscal agent for the grant, second Jeanette, motion carried.
Tree Ordinance/Earth Day Events: Vickerman noted that she would be working with the school to have the kids K–6 to plant trees and that the Utilities would be purchasing booklets, bookmarks and stickers for the event. Vickerman asked the Council what time on April 26th (Earth Day), that they would like to plant a tree. The mayor noted that 9am would work well. Vickerman also noted that she would be talking to Susie Norby to see if she would like to do a memorial of Bob Norby as a part of the ceremony. Vickerman will update the Council at the next meeting and will set the ceremony for 9am on the 26th of April.
Sweet Soft/Ortivus Ambulance Billing Contract:
Vickerman stated that she received a cancellation notice from Ortivus stating that as of June 30th, 2008, they will no longer be doing the ambulance billing. Vickerman has sent out a list serve question to find out what other cities are doing for their ambulance services.
Tschumper Meeting Review – Local Sales Tax Update: Dybing reviewed the meeting and noted that the Local Sales Tax Bill has been presented.
Citizens Comments: There were no citizen’s comments.

ADJOURN:
At 7:24pm, Dybing made a motion to adjourn, second Jeannette, motion carried.

 

Respectfully Submitted By:

 

Bobbie Vickerman – 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