The City Council of Garretson met on Aug. 7, 2017 with five council members and the mayor present. It began with the approval of the consent calendar, and moved directly into committee reports.
The Parks Board, represented by council member Richelle Hofer and board members Carrie Moritz, Kelli Schleuter, and Carole Oien, presented first on their budget requests for 2018, including a request to hire a Parks Maintenance Supervisor for $10,000 (16 weeks at $11.00 an hour, plus taxes and unemployment costs). It had been decided at the prior Parks Board meeting to start with a 16 week full-time position, a request that was more likely to be able to receive funds than the initial recommendation of a full-time, 9-months per year position. It was also recommended to budget for tree removal and campsite leveling above and beyond the regular parks budget that was granted in 2017. Council member Hofer discussed the idea of contracting out the bath house for 3-5 years, rather than having the City hire an employee to man it. It was brought up that Bruce Rekstad, who contracts the campground at Splitrock Park, might also be contracted for the bath house for another year, but the terms of the campground contract were currently unclear. Mayor Tim Mullin said he would check with Rekstad to ensure there was no miscommunication. There was also discussion regarding the west side of the dam, where there are still areas that are uncapped. According to the mason workers who were contracted to do the project, the lack of a cap was not a structural issue. The middle of the dam, however, still needed to be attended to, but that was not included in the FEMA grant. Anna Uhl, City Finance Officer, said she would check into that. The parks board had received the quote for the signage that needed to be replaced in and around the park, and was working on the final processes for that.
Next, a quick discussion ensued regarding tree removal within the parks. There is currently a class scheduled the third week of September for the work release inmates at the Penitentiary, who would be able to come out on a Friday and Saturday at $0.25 an hour per inmate. The park does have to be closed while they are there, and would be reopened upon completion. At this point, Mayor Mullin said the city will plan on it and will get confirmation.
Moving on with reports, the Sheriff’s office had no representative, but Uhl did confirm that the hours contracted and the hours billed were the same. There was concern last month that the City was being over-billed for hours. There was no report from the Ambulance or the Fire Department. The ambulance is requesting the same amount of funds they had requested the year before. Natural gas is down one penny, and the council voted to follow recommended prices.
Craig Nussbaum then presented on water/sewer/streets, starting with the suggestion by Council member Gloria Sanders to have a public meeting on the projects that are now planned for next year. Currently, the funds are $1,160,000 in a loan at 2.5% interest for 30 years for the sewer, and $639,500 in a grant and $639,500 in a loan for drinking water. The 2nd penny tax is expected to cover the cost of the streets, however, the city still needs to make decisions regarding frontage for the curb and gutter, and sidewalk replacement. Hofer questioned about other future projects, such as 2nd street sewer replacement. The council agreed that these were going to need to occur within the next ten years. Chad Hanisch, a community member and owner of Infrastructure Design out of Sioux Falls, was in attendance, and gave guidelines regarding creating a capital improvement project, which would include creating plans for this type of thing. He also stated that the contractor will also hold public meetings prior to the start of construction, as well as sending out newsletters and articles in the newspaper, giving timeline estimates and what is involved. Uhl confirmed that the budget for 2018 does include using funds from the sale of the land to Dollar General to be used toward the Capital Improvement Plan.
The council then started discussion of rejoining CCoG, a community development organization that helps with grants and loans in regards to improving towns and cities. (Continued on page 2 of our online edition!)
