On Monday, May 3, the Garretson City Council met in full session. At that time, they held two meetings, one with the 2020 council and one with the 2021 council. Major topics included a plan to prevent fall-out from natural gas market spikes, an update on road construction projects, and the installation of the new council.
The meeting began with natural gas. Mayor Greg Beaner, council member Greg Franka, and City Finance Officer Anna Uhl met with Bill Lindley, CEO of Clayton Energy, Garretson's natural gas supplier, and presented a proposal to help insure the City against experiencing another spike similar to this past winter. He attended the meeting via Zoom to present the proposal to the rest of the council.
In February, the spike in natural gas prices took all energy companies by surprise, including Clayton Energy. At the time, Lindley had stated that nothing like that spike had ever occurred in his twenty-eight years in the business. However, he wanted to ensure this would not happen again while his company supplied natural gas to Garretson, and had come up with a proposal for the council to consider.
When the City Council set up the contract with Clayton Energy, they had requested the company lock in up to 70% of average usage for the year. This is a calculated risk, to ensure the City does not over-buy natural gas, as anything purchased over usage has to be sold back at market rates.
During the spike, that meant over $225,000 in savings, but still meant that the city paid over eight times their normal price for the month, and community members and residents were on the hook for an increase of over 3-4 times their normal natural gas bill.
Lindley's proposal included hedging out and locking down prices for 100% of the prior year's peak usage for the months of December, January, and February only, and 70% for the rest of the year. While this will result in a total cost increase, he said, overall it will lower prices, especially if a spike is seen again.
For a residential customer, this cost increase means approximately $0.95 per ccf instead of $0.86 (March's natural gas cost), or an additional $13.50 per month for 150 ccf.
Any gas that goes unused would be sold back to the market at the current going rate, which is likely to be sold at a loss due to hedged prices being higher than market prices, due to the law of averages. The current hedged price is $3.32 per decatherm, though Lindley expects the newly acquired hedge to be $3.50 per decatherm. The unused gas could be re-sold at a bottom peak of $2.50.
"I think this is a good plan, it's a way to self-insure yourselves," Lindley said.
After council member Franka questioned if all three months were necessary and council member Bill Hoskins questioned if it needed to be locked in, Lindley also noted the extra coverage gas would be a year-to-year commitment.
Franka motioned to accept the proposal, and it passed unanimously.
City to patch Dows and 5th Streets
After Uhl presented the Finance report, City Maintenance Supervisor Craig Nussbaum spoke about the street projects, noting that the truck route street project was slightly ahead of schedule. He was expecting asphalt to be laid within approximately three weeks. He also noted that 1st Rate was beginning the construction on the connection of Lacy Avenue to Sarah C Street, and requested to lay asphalt on Dows from Lacy to 486th.
There was also discussion about replacing or repairing asphalt on 5th Street west of the bridge, which the council agreed needed to happen. However, the request to replace was rejected due to the heavy machinery and construction use it will see during the bridge repair, but the council did give the go-ahead to have it patched this year, with the asphalt slated to be replaced in 2022 or 2023.
The council then looked at the initial proposal for flashing lights in school zones. Four lights, two on Main Avenue, one on Granite, and one on Depot, were recommended by the school resource officer. Initial estimates came in at $11,141 for four solar signs, and council member Tom Godbey requested that be dropped to two signs for this year and the final two signs re-evaluated for next year. The council agreed, and passed the motion for two signs to be ordered and placed on Main.
The Park Board presented next, with member Carrie Moritz stating that the board had met with landscaper Shannon Storm about the newly-cleared area north of the playground. Initial ideas had been to pursue a rain garden with the Minnehaha Conservation Office, but the land was not quite amenable enough for that to come to fruition. However, the Park Board and Storm felt a CFP-style "native flowers and grasses" area would work well, and were planning to pursue that. Council member and Park Board liason Jodi Gloe also passed along requests for changing the north end kayak launch/day use area, as it was being too easily perceived as a camping spot by those who were not making reservations on-line. She also requested that estimates be sought for fencing around the dumpsters at Devil's Gulch and Split Rock Park. She also asked city employees take a look at the entrance to Devils Gulch to see if there was a way to extend fencing on the west side in order to discourage people from driving around the gates.
New 2021 council members installed
At that time, the council adjourned, and reconvened as the new 2021 council. Ward I council member Bill Hoskins had to leave due to a prior commitment, but Ward II council member Tom Godbey and new Ward III council member Karen Stainbrook took their oath of office. Hoskins is expected to take his oath of office at the June meeting.
No applicants had filed for Ward 3 in February, which meant a council member needed to be appointed by the mayor. Long-time council member Richelle Hofer had signaled her intent to vacate her seat at the end of her term due to other commitments, a main one being working with Grow Garretson towards ensuring the bike trail between Palisades State Park and Garretson would come to fruition.
Mayor Beaner appointed Karen Stainbrook, a long-time community member who had run for council in 2020. At that time, incumbents Hofer and Gloe were also in the running, and both retained their seats.
The new council began by assigning appointments and nominating a President and Vice President of the council. Hoskins was nominated as President and Franka was nominated for Vice President. Both positions were passed unanimously.
Next, the council voted to support the consolidation of Minnehaha County Economic Development and Lincoln County Economic Development into one organization named the Sioux Metro Growth Alliance, and also voted to support a request to place a fence on the property line of Tim and Marissa Wollmann.
After those were passed, the council quickly considered and passed a resolution to repeal Resolution 2020-32, which had encouraged mask use in businesses and public buildings within city limits. While there was no enforcement, the resolution did increase the use of masks to help reduce infections from the pandemic. While masking is still recommended in public spaces, the CDC recently updated its guidelines for vaccinated people to meet in small groups without the use of masks. More information about the repeal can be found in the May 6, 2021 issue of the Gazette.
The council then voted to move monthly meetings to the second Monday of each month, returning to a date that had been in use until a few years ago. While it does mean that the School Board will be meeting at virtually the same time, the new date will allow billing to be approved by the council.
Mayor Beaner then requested council members Tom Godbey and Greg Franka form a committee to suggest one or two city blocks that are in need of sidewalk replacement. He noted that until now, all sidewalk funds have gone toward new builds, and he would like to see replacement begin community-wide. Both agreed to begin right away on that project, and the council moved on to a request by Nussbaum to re-visit the issue of the shed owned by Blue Dragon Academy that is on city property.
When it was first addressed in 2019, Todd Fink had agreed to bring the request for a long-term lease to the BDA board, but the matter was left there and never pursued further. Nussbaum again requested a long-term lease, while council member Bonte requested the shed be moved onto BDA property. Unfortunately, due to sewer and water easements, the land is unable to be sold to the organization. Bonte then motioned to give the organization the option to pay a $100/month rent or move the shed onto their own property, and the council agreed.
Several quick updates were then given. Bonte intended to meet with Ron Luke, current president of Garretson Industrial Development, to speak about the request to place a driveway west of VIP Livestock. City employee Jessica Fueston was hoping to finish putting content in the new city website by the end of the week, and to go live with the site as soon as possible. She also noted that American Legal was still slated to finish with Garretson's ordinances by June or July. There were no updates regarding the baseball field or the bike path, though both were on the agenda.
Uhl then gave an update on the city hall/event center process. She noted that most communities lose money on their event/community centers, but much of that was due to waiving too many of the fees, and noted that the fee schedule was important. Uhl then asked the council to hold a special meeting with the architect on May 24 at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall.
At that time, the council moved into executive session and adjourned. The next regular meeting will be held at the Legion on June 14 at 6:30 p.m.
