By Jenny Kirk The Slayton City Council addressed a trio of unfinished business items as well as three items of new business at its regular meeting on Monday, Nov. 6 at City Hall.
In Mayor Miron Carney’s absence, councilman Blake Heronimus took the lead. Council member Kate Harmsen was also absent from the meeting. After two deletions were made, the agenda was approved. With no questions or comments, the minutes then stood approved as printed. A motion to accept the claims also passed.
City Administrator Josh Malchow then gave a short recap of the unfinished business of the Maple Avenue mill and overlay project, reiterating that the city had changed the adjacent resident special assessments from 40% to 20% but that the methodology to get there in terms of front yard and side yard didn’t change from the first time they started talking about it, so the meeting would kind of be a redo of the preliminary improvement hearing they had. While those special assessments went down by half for most adjacent residents, the scope of the project remains the same. The public hearing basically opened and closed with only one resident asking a question. Gaylen Jensen merely asked if the city would be repairing down to 34th Street at some point and in front of main street someday, too. Malchow said they certainly would be and probably in that order. Resolution 1106-2023, which orders the improvement and orders the preparation of the plan, was then introduced and approved by the council.
In a lagoon riprap update, Malchow noted that they were slightly overbudget, by $8,600, but that an executive decision between Heronimus, City Works Director Weston Mahon and himself allowed them to complete the project, which he said, “looks fantastic.” Malchow said it didn’t make a whole lot of sense to stop with 3/4 or 4/5 of the lagoon done. They also asked the board to approve an additional $16,000 in order to do the secondary as well. “There is enough rock left in the stockpile there to do that,” Malchow said. “Budgetwise, yes, it would be about $28,000 overbudget, but the water fund can handle it.” The council approved the request.
The Lundblad Solar Field was the next item of unfinished business. Malchow explained that Standard Solar has applied for a conditional use permit to put a solar field at the end of Juniper Avenue south of 34th Street and that he does not like the location at all. “It is very explicitly listed in our 2016 comprehensive land use plan as identified as future residential development if needed,” he said. “We’re not completely landlocked in every other direction, but there are challenges. You hit the lagoon, you hit the airport, you have Lake Elsie and a big hill. South is the most viable, easy, cost-effective option to develop residentially. There are utilities on the south side of the road. They’re not stubbed in, but they are there.” Malchow said the county board is having a hearing at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 16 and that he will be there to make a presentation of sorts during the public comment period. While rules state he cannot lobby each individual member, Malchow plans to submit a letter ahead of time, letting the county know of the city’s stance.
In new business, the council discussed 2024 and ongoing township fire contract rates. Malchow provided a historical review of the increases since the early 2000s, with a notable $5 increase per section up until 2015, then a $10 annual increase afterward. There is now a need to raise rates even higher. “We’ve hit a point where stuff is more expensive and whether that’s equipment or fuel, literally everything,” Malchow said. “It’s come to a point where we need to increase the revenue to at least try to keep up with the expenditures. This is the only lever we have to pull other than property tax revenue.” While no one debated that there is a need for a significant increase across the board, the process in which to go about raising those rates produced good conversations. Incremental increases and bigger jumps were posed as options but ultimately, the council opted to stick with the $10 increase for 2024 after the realization that townships and cities have already set their levies for the year and that a significant increase would most likely be a real budgetary hardship for all of them. While they kept the status quo for ’24, it’s with the understanding that there will likely be big changes the following year(s) to come. A 5-year plan was suggested as a way to help townships and cities ease into the change.
The council also approved a motion to adopt the 2023 bodycam audit, which is a state requirement. The audit showed that the Slayton Police Department body camera program under the guidance of Police Chief Jeremy Steinle meets statute requirements, safely protects private data collected, has adequate policies and procedures, shares data responsibly with other agencies and has trained its staff properly.
The council’s final action of the night was to ratify the library hiring of Rose Moudry, who started on Oct. 24. Malchow stated that the process was basically just for the records, to make it double official, as the library already approved Moudry. He added that she is doing a fantastic job. The council approved the ratification.
The next meeting is slated for 6 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 20 at City Hall.
