The Slayton City Council met in regular session on March 17, 2025 with all members in attendance. No one was present for Public Forum. They began by approving the agenda with no additions, as well as, the minutes from the last meeting. They then went on to approve the claims and cash balances for the month. Everything is set for the Northwest Natural Gas Buy-out Community Meetings. The postcards informing the public of the first meeting on Thurs. March 27th at 6:30 have been sent. Joel Herrig will be there to live-stream it and have it available on Christensen Broadcasting.
City Administrator Josh Malchow was excited to inform the council that he has received notification of a Grant of up to $116,579 from the MN Dept. of Transportation and Aeronautics Division to replace the 1985 tractor at the airport with a loader/disc mower/snowblower for the airport. He will secure a final quote and get the official request in the mail by the end of the month. Malchow also received notification from Minnesota Dept. of Education in regard to a Multi-Purpose Community Facility Projects Grant to bring the Council Chambers/Senior Center “into the 21st century”. This grant is for up to $403,500. Everything that needs to be addressed in that building will be addressed. This will include things like Basement Waterproofing and Groundwater Drainage System, HVAC System Replacement and Ceiling Installation, Flooring Replacement, ADACompliant Bathroom, along with Fiber-Based Wireless Internet Access and Private Virtual Meeting Space to enable job seekers, students, and community members to participate in remote work, education and healthcare activities. Both of these grants require zero matching money.
The next item of business was the bill received for the 2025 Ambulance Agreement which also included 2023 and 2024 which hadn’t been billed out yet. Typically, the hospital hears the agreement requests and brings them to the county board. The county board approves them and takes them to the cities and townships. However, in 2023 and 2024 the agreements did not get sent out. So now the agreement s for 3 years came as one bill. Because this money is budgeted within the general fund each year for this, and since those funds do not carry over from year to year, it would be a burden to pay for 3 years at once. The Board is happy to pay this year’s amount. They also noticed that the population numbers used in the new agreement are from 2010. The Board proposed a motion to pay nothing at this time, but to send a letter stating the reasons, and asking for a new agreement to sign. The Board will also request that the ambulance agreement use appropriate population counts in the future. The motion was approved.
The board moved to approve for Officer Schreier to attend a Field Teaching Officers Certification Course. This course is designed for experienced personnel to serve as FTOs for probationary police officers. They also approved for up to 2 council members and City Administrator Malchow to attend the 2025 League of MN Cities Annual Conference.
The last item of business was to approve “bringing this room (the Council Chambers) into the 21st century” stated Mayor Miron Carney and approved the quote from Advanced Health Safety and Security to go forward with this. They have $35,000 in PEG funds for this project.
Meeting adjourned.
