The Slayton City Council met on Monday, September 19th. The agenda was approved along with the minutes from the Sept 6 meeting. The claims for the month were also approved.
Councilmember Blake Heronimus mentioned how nice Lake Elsie is looking and Kate Harmsen mentioned how nice City Hall is looking. The Golden Living Center Development will give an update to the Council at the next City Council meeting. John Marshall with Xcel had stopped recently at City Hall and provided Josh Malchow with tentative numbers for the Xcel that being $12 Million (purchase of sub-station and to build a new one for them to use) was what he stated but Malchow said an “official” letter will be coming. Malchow also stated the consultants think there may be better options. Once the official letter is received it will be discussed more.
The next item of business was to send Officer Schreier to a training for School Safety Officer. This doesn’t mean that the school is getting this position, it’s just a step towards that possible need and Police Chief Steinle stated the training focuses on how to deal with certain issues that happen in schools today and how to handle them the best and tips on interacting with the students. This was approved by the Council.
The next item of discussion was the 2022 water main project. Each year a portion of the cast-iron pipes are replaced with plastic. There is a portion between Linden and Broadway near the 4-way stop by the Sheriff’s Office and the other is Garnet Alley. This project can happen this fall still and was approved by the Council.
Fall conference will be held in Alexandria. Malchow, along with two councilmembers, will be attending. They next discussed the Ambulance Service Agreement for the City of Slayton. The assessment amount will need to be raised to help cover the rising costs of replacements. The 2023 cost will stay the same, but it will be increased starting in 2024. It was discussed briefly how the Ambulance and County don’t pay for the ambulance rig purchase, but they do cover the costs of operating the ambulance. There could be a taxing district created to change this procedure in the future. Malchow did express to the Council that he’d like to sit down with MCMC CEO Luke Schryvers to discuss options for the future for budgeting and planning. The Council agrees that it needs to be paid and will be – but also feels that a discussion needs to be had about the future for the ambulance purchasing procedures. The Council agreed that they would hold off on approving the 2022 agreement and payment at this time until a conversation with the hospital is held regarding the agreement structure for the Murray County Ambulance.
They next approved going out to hire an additional part time police officer. The current part-time officer works full-time in Rock County and farms, so is not available enough. The other part-time officer was trained awhile back and hasn’t worked since then. The Council approved allowing Steinle to advertise for a part-time officer. They next approved the final plat for the Townhomes on Ironwood Condominium #3, which is the third condominium in the county.
With no other business the meeting was adjourned.
