Council Minutes, August 1, 2022

Posted: August 1, 2022

City of LeRoy MN – Council Meeting Minutes, August 1, 2022

A regular meeting of the LeRoy City Council was called to order by Mayor Ed Koppen on Monday, August 1, 2022, at 6:30 PM at the LeRoy Community Center with the following members present:  Mayor Ed Koppen, Council Members Ashley Huntley, Harold Shipman, Brian Thiel (arrived at 6:31 PM), Maintenance Employee Nick Sweeney, and City Clerk Patty White.  Council member Gerald Payne was absent.
Also attending: Daisie Fox, Chloe Collier, Axel Gumbel, and Deputy Tim Donovan.  All stood and recited the Pledge of Allegiance.

Consent Agenda:

  • Council reviewed the items included in the consent agenda. Motion by Huntley, second by Shipman to approve the consent agenda.  Motion carried 3-0.

Police Report:

  • Deputy Tim Donovan was present. Koppen reported he has had citizens comment about the law enforcement presence here at different times of each day.  Koppen noted he has been stressing to citizens to make a call to LEC when they see things happening.  Koppen made Deputy Donovan aware of people hanging out at the trailhead parking lot during late night/early morning hours.
  • Deputy Donovan reported it has been relatively quiet. He will provide a written report to council showing the range of calls and times of service.  He reported he is also monitoring golf cart operations.  Council thanked Deputy Donovan for his time.

Public Input Time:

  • Chloe Collier read a letter of apology concerning the vandalism she participated in at North Baumbach Park. Council accepted this apology.  Koppen noted it takes a lot of courage to come to the council and acknowledge this act.  He also noted it takes courage for her mother, too, for having her daughter do some cleaning of the paint and debris and to have her daughter issue this verbal apology.

Standing Committee Reports:

  • No council member had anything to report for standing committee reports.

State Highway 56 Project:

  • Koppen reported the city engineer’s office had to send out updated temporary easement letters with updated dates on them due to the project being moved to the 2024 construction season.
  • White reported MnDOT is planning a fall open house to further discuss the project.

Fall City-Wide Cleanup:

  • Huntley suggested offering one city-wide cleanup per year in the spring. She noted the cleanup takes a lot of manpower to unload or help unload the items being brought in.  She noted four dumpsters and many appliances were gathered this spring.  Council consensus to offer the city-wide cleanup once per year.  Huntley also reported the Austin Transfer Station is easy to use and inexpensive to get rid of unwanted items.

Land Use Permits:

  • There were no land use permits for council review.

Communications File:

  • Council reviewed a letter from Mediacom pertaining to rate increases.
  • Koppen questioned about the speed signs at the east, west, and north entrances to the city. He noted the signs either seem to work part of the time or don’t work at all.  He noted the signs he has seen in different cities that have messages on them.  He suggested getting all new signs with the message feature.  Huntley questioned if any grant funds would be available for these.  Motion by Shipman to approve getting price estimates on new signs and research grant funding through the EDA coordinator, through the Community Foundation, and through Mower County for the one sign on Mower County 14.  Second by Huntley.  Motion carried 4-0.  Thiel wants to continue working on the existing signs to see if he and Sweeney can get them operational again.

Street Project for 2022:

  • Sweeney reported he received a phone call from Heartland Asphalt; they wanted to start the project on South Mather and East Read Street. Sweeney noted he has not received a report from Empire Pipe Services addressing the condition of the sanitary sewer mains where the streets are to be repaired.  Heartland may begin the project with the streets north of Main Street and will do the streets south of Main Street after the report from Empire is received and reviewed.

Warning Sirens:

  • The new siren has been installed near the water tower. Sweeney noted this siren has a different sound compared to the old siren.  The new siren can be started with a switch at the Fire Hall.  Sweeney reported both sirens (the new one plus the one by the maintenance shed) have battery backup and are both operated with a switch at the Fire Hall.

Strong & John Street-Right of Way Infringement:

  • The survey on this street has not been completed yet. Koppen noted a city resident was cited by law enforcement for parking in the road right-of-way.

Sidewalk Repair/Replacement-Policies:

  • Council had reviewed the information from LMC. Council felt to take each sidewalk issue case by case.  Koppen noted some metro cities no longer have sidewalks as part of their ordinances.

Storm Sewer-South Mather to West Street:

  • Koppen noted he would have liked to have had a meeting with Mike King to discuss this potential project, but Sweeney noted the city would also need an easement through the Mark Smith property, too. Sweeney suggested just replacing the culvert with a new culvert and improve the flow from the culvert.  Sweeney does have a call into Mehmert Construction for the cost to just replace the culvert.  Sweeney noted the city could just patch the street, leave the culvert alone, and replace the culvert at a later time during a different construction period.  Council consensus to replace the culvert that is there and repair the street.

Pickup:

  • White reported additional paperwork has been filled out for credentials for the Cooperative Purchasing Venture. These credentials have not been received yet.
  • Sweeney noted the parts for the pickup could now be out for a year or more. Thiel questioned about snow removal that was done with the pickup and plow.  Sweeney noted that at this time there is not an operational pickup to use that plow on.  Sweeney noted he would be happy with a good, used pickup.

ServLine Program:

  • Sweeney presented some information on this program. The program serves as insurance for the homeowner for water leaks, broken water service lines, or frozen water service lines.  Sweeney noted the program can also cover sanitary sewer service lines, but the sanitary sewer service line program requires much work for the city maintenance employees.  Thiel noted the program has two sides; the program could be good for the homeowner, but the program comes at a cost to the homeowner.  Council discussed the pros and cons of this program and took no action on this.

Public Buildings:

  • Koppen reported Ron Purkapile has the city on his schedule to move the gas valve on the community center range.
  • Thiel questioned about quotes for kitchen improvements. Payne is handling this.

North Park Vandalism:

  • Huntley reported Deputy Krebsbach is waiting for quotes for repairs for the vandalism. The quotes for the repairs totaled $1,326.96.
  • It was noted that nothing has been heard from the other perpetrator in this vandalism.

Well House:

  • Sweeney reported LeBlanc Consulting from Albert Lea has been doing some repairs at the well house. LeBlanc is requesting a new electrical panel to be installed with 400 amp breakers.  Wheeler Electric provided a quote for this panel in the amount of $9,150.  Sweeney noted soft starts will be installed on the pump motors.  Wheeler Electric and Sweeney do not feel this new electrical panel is necessary.  Sweeney would like to proceed with the bare minimum repairs to get everything running correctly.
  • Council questioned if anyone else does this type of work. Sweeney noted a firm from Harmony does this type of work in area cities.  It was the consensus of the council to have LeBlanc Consulting get the bare essentials installed at the well house.  They also authorized Sweeney to contact this other company.  Shipman noted he was in city hall when Wheeler Electric came in to drop off their estimate.  He noted that Wheeler told him what is being proposed is not necessary.

Service Award Recognition:

  • Koppen acknowledged the many Summer Fest events from the July 15, 16, & 17 festivities. He noted the events were all very well attended; he heard many good comments about the many events.  The parade, with 42 fire trucks, plus many other entries was well-received.  He noted it was a very good weekend.  He also commended the maintenance workers for their work during the weekend and the good comments he heard about their work.

Nuisance Properties:

  • The letters have been sent out to the five property owners by the city attorney. Council questioned what will happen next.  Koppen noted he hoped these letters would spur compliance so there would not be a next step.
  • Thiel noted the condition of the property at 210 East Frederick Street. A letter will be sent to the owner of record of this property along with pictures noting issues.

ARPA Funds:

  • Motion by Huntley, second by Shipman to authorize ARPA funds for payment of the new siren. Motion carried 4-0.

EDA & WWG Report:

  • Koppen noted the EDA subcommittee did not meet due to health issues at WWG. Koppen noted council should prepare for a deficit for year-end at WWG, but he does not believe the deficit will be too large.

September Meeting Date:

  • Due to the first Monday in September being Labor Day, Koppen suggested holding the September meeting on August 29. Motion by Huntley, second by Shipman to set the September meeting date as Monday, August 29, 2022, at 6:30 PM.  Motion carried 4-0.

Being no further business to come before the council, the meeting was adjourned on a motion by Huntley, second by Shipman at 7:41 PM.

– Ed Koppen, Mayor

– Patty A. White, City Clerk-Treasurer

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