August 5, 2024 Meeting Minutes

Posted: August 5, 2024

City of LeRoy MN – Council Meeting Minutes, August 5, 2024

 

A regular meeting of the LeRoy City Council was called to order by Mayor Ed Koppen on Monday, August 5, 2024, at 6:30 PM at the LeRoy Community Center with the following members present:  Mayor Ed Koppen, Council Members Brian Thiel, Gerald Payne, Harold Shipman, Ashley Huntley, Maintenance Employee Nick Sweeney, and City Clerk Patty White.
Also attending: Axel Gumbel, Jennifer Gumbel, Terry Free, Dick Soltau, Russ Rudlong, Barry Reburn, and Deputy Katlynne Fisher.  All stood and recited the Pledge of Allegiance.

Consent Agenda:

  • Thiel posed some questions pertaining to some of the items included in the consent agenda. He also commented on the KPI worksheet.
  • Motion by Huntley, second by Thiel to approve the consent agenda. Motion carried 5-0.

Police Report:

  • Deputy Katlynne Fisher reported deputies spent an average of 5.63 hours per day on patrol in LeRoy over the past month. Of the 71 calls for service over the past month, traffic stops accounted for the majority of the calls.  Council thanked Deputy Fisher for her report.

Public Input Time:

  • Jennifer Gumbel brought to the council’s attention the poor condition of the basketball hoops at North Park. She noted the condition was quite notable during the 3×3 basketball tournament held on the court during Summer Fest.  Payne reported there is an open grant opportunity for the CEDA communities.  It is planned to address park improvements in this grant proposal.  Motion by Huntley to see if the CEDA representative can write a grant for this plus other park improvements.  Second by Thiel.  Motion carried 5-0.  Gumbel was thanked for her time.
  • Russ Rudlong questioned about dust control for the gravel city streets. It was noted this is an agenda item and will be addressed later in the meeting.
  • Barry Reburn reported the city has an opportunity to put a time capsule under the new Main Street. He suggested including a current newspaper, membership lists from the local churches, rosters from the fire department and ambulance service among other items of interest.  Council thought this was a good idea and authorized Mr. Reburn to complete this project.  Koppen also suggested another time capsule that can be buried somewhere in 2026 when the city will be celebrating their 150th anniversary of incorporation.

Standing Committee Reports:

  • Huntley reported all seven new EMTs have passed their national registry test. The ambulance service has been busy; things are going well, and the service is making all the calls they are dispatched to.
  • Koppen reported on a very good Prairie Visions meeting. It is being considered to propose a bike trail from the Shooting Star Trail to the Chert Quarry near Grand Meadow.  Koppen noted this is in the very early stages of discussion.  It was also noted that it was found that there was a Native American trail around Lake Louise.  It was also reported that Gerald Meier had passed away; Gerald was very involved in getting the Shooting Star Trail started.

State Highway 56 Project:

  • Sweeney reported on a conversation he had with the city engineer pertaining to the old curb stops and the new curb stops that are being installed. He noted it is not possible in all cases to be able to make a safe excavation to remove the old curb stops.  The new curb stops will be installed closer to the street than the old stops.  The city will use the new curb stops; the old stops will have the access tube lowered.  Koppen reminded council current ordinance has the city owning the curb stop plus one foot beyond the curb stop; he suggested including both the new and old curb stops in city ownership plus the one foot beyond the curb stop.  Motion by Shipman to honor the city commitment that the city will continue to own the curb stops and one foot beyond the curb stop.  Second by Payne.  Motion carried 5-0.

Lake Louise State Park-Shooting Star Trail-Tourism:

  • Koppen noted a letter was to have been sent in March, 2024, to the elected officials pertaining to the importance of the connection of the Shooting Star Trail to the Wapsi Trail. This letter has not been sent.  Koppen suggested sending a letter to the regional office in New Ulm and copied to the main office of the DNR to pose specific questions about Lake Louise State Park.  He also suggested inviting representatives to an in-person meeting to address these concerns.  Payne noted our area representatives should be copied with this letter.

Appointments for Administrative Ordinance Board (3 people):

  • White reported three people and one alternate should be appointed to the Administrative Ordinance Board. This board is in place for someone who has received a demand for corrective action for LeRoy ordinance violation letter for them to dispute this demand for corrective action.  Payne questioned if these appointments could be made at the September meeting.  This would give additional time to find people willing to serve on this board.

Citizen Notifications & Alerts Presentation-Axel Gumbel:

  • Gumbel reported White had been contacted by a company that offers citizen notifications by digital means. White forwarded this information to Gumbel.  Gumbel noted the new website has the capability of sending out email alerts to those people that have signed up for them.  Gumbel attended a Zoom call from TextMyGov.  This platform can send out alerts via text message to those that are subscribed to this service.  This company also allows two-way text services.  Gumbel explained how that part would work.  This service would integrate with the current website.  The cost for this would be an initial setup cost of $2,000; the cost would then be $1,500 annually thereafter with up to 10,000 messages allowed.  Marketing materials promoting this would also be included in the initial cost.  Gumbel reported Mitchell County uses this platform; they are quite pleased with this.  Council discussed this and felt that if this were approved to allow the one-way texting.  Koppen would like to see people sign up for the alerts through the webpage.
  • Gumbel had also participated in a Zoom call with GoGov. This service would be an extension of the website with an app being built for people to download on their smart phones.  This program would be citizen based notifications through the app.  Council was not interested in this proposal.
  • Payne suggested having Gumbel put this possibility out on the city website to see what interest would be from the citizens and review this at the September council meeting. Gumbel was thanked for his time on this.

Land Use Permits:

  • Council reviewed one land use permit:
  1. Lot 17, Block 1, River’s Edge Addition, 148 Miller Court, Tim Meyeraan-Build garage
  • Council noted there are protective covenants on these parcels. Motion by Huntley, second by Shipman to approve this permit.  Motion carried 5-0.

Communications File:

  • There was nothing to review in the communications file.

Dust Control:

  • Sweeney reported Freeborn County Coop Oil Company will apply dust control to the gravel city streets and to the gravel area on East County Road. This should be completed within the next week and will cost approximately $1,600 to do this.  Motion by Thiel, second by Huntley to proceed with getting dust control applied to these areas.  Motion carried 5-0.

South Park Bathrooms:

  • Sweeney reported the South Park bathrooms have been painted. There has been a water puddle on the floor following the painting.  Sweeney has not figured out where the water is coming from.  The painting will be touched up.

Service Award Recognition:

  • Council recognized Kyle Stern for getting the trees taken down in North Park and getting other trees trimmed in the park prior to Summer Fest.
  • Council recognized all the volunteers, especially Brent Dohlman, for everything that was done to make Summer Fest the huge success it was. Many good comments were heard about the new parade route and the use of North Park for the many events and activities.
  • Axel Gumbel recognized Abe Algadi from Bear’s Smoke Shop. Gumbel noted how Mr. Algadi has immersed himself into the community to build his business.

Vacant & Nuisance Properties:

  • Council reviewed one letter that was received from the family of someone that had received a violation letter. Council would like to see anyone else with questions about the letter they received to put their comments in letter form.  Council will continue to monitor the cleanup of these properties.

Housing Incentives Discussion:

  • There was nothing new to bring to this discussion.

Strong & John Street-Right of Way Infringement:

  • Dick Soltau noted the condition of John Street where it joins East County Road caused by dump trucks making turns there. The maintenance department will review this.

ARPA Funds:

  • Sweeney reported a cement pad needs to be poured by the east lift station for the generator. It was also noted Prairie Visions would like a cement pad poured for the big chair that has been installed by the trailhead.  Sweeney noted these two pads could be incorporated in the same pour.  Council consensus to proceed with getting these two pads poured by BTR Construction.

EDA & WWG Report:

  • Payne reported the EDA is working with Allison Whalen, the CEDA rep, on grant applications.
  • Payne reported occupancy at WWG is down to 16 residents. He reported all the memory care residents have been moved to the same area, so the one memory care area can be closed until occupancy improves.  He noted some layoffs have occurred.  A bus has been purchased.  Payne requested to be able to park the bus in the city shop during the poor weather months.

Due to the first Monday in September being Labor Day, the next meeting of the council will be held on Monday, September 9, 2024.  Being no further business to come before the council, the meeting was adjourned on a motion by Payne, second by Shipman at 7: 47 PM.

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