SLAYTON CITY COUNCIL

HIRES NEW POLICE OFFICER, VOTE PASSES TO MOVE FORWARD WITH MUNICIPAL ELECTRIC UTILITY

Slayton City Council met on Monday, May 20th. The meeting minutes from May 6th and the Emergency meeting from May 13th were reviewed, corrected and approved. The claims were also reviewed and approved. Mayor Carney asked how the trash day event went. City Administrator Josh Malchow and Works Director Weston Mahon both agreed that it was “a pretty average” utilization of the day. This year did not have a lot of items that were not properly tagged through the city with the fees for certain items. Malchow updated the Council on the County’s decision to approve the CUP for the solar field by EESolar28, LLC (Burmeister Field). He also updated them on the state legislation decisions. The bonding bill for 34th street was happening and then it wasn’t. A lot of things happened quickly at the end of the session.

Moving on to unfinished business, the Council moved forward with selling the Maple Avenue Bond Issue in the principle amount of $550,000 with a net of $701,438 (This includes true interest, capitalized interest, costs of issuance and yield percent of 4.688%). Keith Dahl with Ehlers Public Finance Advisors was present to help with the bond process. A joint bid from First National Bank and Minnwest Bank was submitted last week. They offered an interest rate of 4.688% with the option to pay off early with no penalties. The Council approved this offer. The next step will be to get the closing paperwork in place with a closing date of June 10th (estimated).

The Council next approved the results of the special election for the question, if the City of Slayton should move forward in looking to create a Municipal Electric Utility, that was held on May 14th. There was a total of 409 votes (300 yes 109 no) – 36.6% voter turnout. The council approved and certified the results from the election. The Council next discussed with Jim Strommen, from Kennedy & Graven, the next steps to move forward in the process. They also set a workshop date for a city property that is in “surplus”. It was decided to set a separate meeting for this on June 10th at 5:30.

New business included the new hires/returning staff for the park and rec/pool department. They are still in need of more lifeguards and are working to fill the schedule. This year there are a number of pool staff that aren’t returning due to graduation or other obligations. Many are also requesting part time hours. The city staff will be working to get more staff in place. There was a motion to approve this list and allow the city staff to hire the additional hires to fill the staffing needs.

The next item of discussion was the man hole rehab project. There is $15,000 in the budget with the estimate coming in slightly over that ($16,730). The city is working to get all of the manholes sealed and Mahon reported we are near 70% of that project completion. This company is very good and their rates have only increased due to their costs increasing. Mahon is very happy with their work.

The Police Department received an application from James (JJ) Peterson for the open officer position. They (Chief Jeremy Steinle, Malchow and Blake Heronimus) held interviews and were very happy with Mr. Peterson. Steinle reported that he has passed his post test as of “today” and all they have left if is the physiological test. The council approved hiring Officer Peterson.

The Fire Department is going to purchase a new ranger. The city will pay for it and the Fire Department will reimburse with relief association dollars. This was approved. They also approved moving Austin Irlbeck and Steve Swanson off of probation status. Field trip to the 2400 Block of King Avenue to Mr. Morin’s Property to address his concerns regarding drainage. The meeting was adjourned, and the next Council meeting will be June 3rd at 7pm.