By Jenny Kirk An update regarding the Lundblad Solar Field and the 202426 AFSCME contract garnered the most discussion at the Slayton City Council meeting on Monday, Nov. 20 at City Hall. On Nov. 16, councilman Blake Heronimus and City Administrator Josh Malchow attended a two-hour public meeting in which the zoning board was given a presentation by representatives affiliated with the project. The two city reps shared their disapproval of the location for the community solar garden, as did other parties via a letter brought forth by concerned individuals, according to Malchow. “If I were to sum it up, and Blake can jump in any time, too, it was mostly heavy criticism of the site, in a negative way,” he said.
Malchow added that the developer kept saying that they needed to be in Xcel territory, primarily because of favorable rebates and credits available to them. He said he understood that it was a business decision but that it still didn’t change the city’s opinion that it’s a “terrible” location for it. Heronimus noted that one of the things that seemed rather misleading at first was that this location was the only one that would work for the project, but that wasn’t quite the whole truth. “The reality of it is that this is the only location the project can go on that parcel of land because the northern part of that parcel is Xcel territory and the southern part is not. But there are many other parcels everywhere (throughout the county and beyond) that they could potentially go on. They really beat around the bush answering that (question).”
Malchow explained that, just like their zoning board when they do a conditional use or variance, there’s certain findings of fact that they have to do. There are eight broad questions, such as whether or not the project would affect safety or general welfare of the surrounding area, impede future development, has a natural or historic impact and so on. While he anticipated that the zoning board was headed to vote on approval or denial to the full county board, Malchow said its seven members voted to table the decision until the next meeting at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 21.
The council approved the 2024-26 AFSCME contract with the new changes. After a one-year contract for 2023, it’s back to the scheduled threeyear contract. For Article IX regarding vacation leave, the accrual schedule continued to be compressed. It went from 25 to 15 in 2023, Malchow said, and now from a 15-year accrual schedule to 12 steps to match the new grade/step scale. The max cap of 150 hours was kept the same. For Article XI regarding donation of leave, there was clarification in terms of catastrophic illness or injury and how fellow employees could donate to someone. “If someone has a catastrophic event of themselves or their direct family members, they can receive up to 400 hours per year from people’s sick or vacation, but those donating cannot drop below 80 hours in each bank,” Malchow said. “That’s not combined. We want people to be gracious but also maintain their own leave banks and not have them drained.”
Employees may also utilize up to $1,500 max per year for a wellness incentive, but they have to maintain a minimum of 80 hours in their sick leave bank. The implementation of the salary schedule remained the same as presented to the council during closed session recently. A 2% cost of living increase is approved for 2025 and 2026. A public works coordinator position in salary scale and a safety officer position I salary scale appendix were deleted as part housekeeping things that aren’t utilized anymore. The final change was the addition of a certified pool operator stipend of 30 cents per hour.
In other new business, the council also approved a recommendation after receiving an audit engagement letter for the next audit. Malchow explained that they typically don’t go out for quotes but that this will be a single line full federal audit because of the city’s broadband grant. “We received more than $750,000 in federal funds, so it will be a bit more intense and thusly, more expensive,” he said. “A single line federal portion can be put toward the grant, I believe. I recommend approval of that.”
The next Slayton City Council meeting is slated for 6 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 4 at City Hall. An informational public hearing regarding the Maple Avenue project will take place ahead of that, at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 30 in the Murray County Central High School Auditorium.
