At the regular meeting of the Garretson City Council on Monday, April 11, finances were a constant on the agenda. The council fielded requests for a pole shed around the natural gas rig station and street improvements south of Dows Street, were given information about boring under the railroad tracks on Dows, and approved writing a payment for $73,000 to natural gas improvements.
The council meeting started with better news than it's had in a while with regards to natural gas. Market prices are starting to finally decline, and rates for the month were down to $1.01 per ccf, a decrease of $0.10. While still higher than this time of year's former prices of $0.73-$0.85, it's a far cry from last November's high of $1.186 per ccf.
However, the natural gas rig station just outside city limits is in need of a structure to be built around it, and an invoice for natural gas pipeline improvements came in at the tune of over $73,000.
The rig station has been surrounded by a fenced area, but has consistently had issues when the weather turns. Since the issues were mostly caused by weather, it prompted the city maintenance supervisors to recommend that a structure similar to a pole barn be built around it. This would also prolong the life of the rig station, delaying the need for replacement.
An initial estimate for construction was sought, and came out to approximately $16,000.
After a motion to accept the bid was made, council member Bill Hoskins, while stating that he was not opposed to the recommendation, requested the city seek more proposals. Council member Greg Franka agreed, and the motion failed 2-4. A new motion which directed City employees to seek more bids and to accept the most quality one was made and passed unanimously.
"I believe that as a government entity, having more bids is the most responsible thing to do," Hoskins said.
As for the natural gas improvements, the invoice for $73,000 was a bit of a surprise to the council until Hoskins had memories of accepting the cost for the upgrades in 2020.
In May 2020, the council had agreed to contribute towards a larger TBS (Town Border Station) at the tune of approximately $100,000. The improvements would increase the capacity, which is a boon for the community as it grows. Currently, Garretson is operating near the top of its capacity during peak times. In 2020, it was expected that funding would not be an issue as the loan that was taken out to build the natural gas system had just been paid off. This meant that while the funds would be coming out of reserve, monies should have been set aside each year to ensure the cost was covered.
After some discussion, the council approved payment of the invoice.
City maintenance supervisors Ryan Nussbaum and Jordan Doane also gave the council a proposal for street improvements in the areas south of Dows Street. Since this is a newer area, infrastructure improvements to water or sewer will not be needed for some time, but the road conditions are beginning to deteriorate. Doane proposed the city do several blocks of streets at the same time at an approximate cost of $25,000 per block, up to $100,000 per year. This construction would include milling and laying asphalt, rather than patching holes as they appear. A major benefit to this expenditure would be prolonging the life of the roads.
Doane and Nussbaum then informed the council that boring a water line under the railroad tracks could happen as early as this fall if they are able to obtain matching infrastructure grants. The majority of it is likely to be paid for by ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds.
They are also looking to get the two oldest holding ponds dredged, as they are beginning to get full. However, a cost was not proposed at the meeting.
Nussbaum and Doane's final report pointed out that the estimated cost to clean up the branch pile was $7,000. This would include pushing the branches back and leveling out the area.
Sidewalks will also be installed this summer, with $30,000 proposed to be put toward the installation. Since there will likely be boring and trenching for a water line on Dows, the sidewalk committee appeared to be putting the installation of the sidewalk from Railroad to Highway 11 on hold, and are instead looking at continuing the sidewalk on Main Avenue.
The plans for the bridge on 5th Street were finally approved by the state. According to project manager and engineer Chad Hanisch of Infrastructure Design, after a request for proposals, one bid was received from a highly reputable company in Sioux Falls for $630,000. This amount will have to be paid up front by the city, but the state will reimburse 80% up to a max of the original grant award. The company is looking to begin this fall with replacement of the bearings under the bridge. Though they likely will not work on the bridge during the winter months, Hanisch stated there is a stipulation in the contract that the bridge cannot stay closed over those months. The rest of the project, which is projected to take a total of 5 months, will be completed in the spring.
In more financial news, City Finance Officer Paetyn Dreckman updated the council on her progress with organizing city accounts. She has been separating General Funds from Enterprise Funds, opening separate bank accounts for water & sewer, sales tax, Capital Outlay, and parks. She's been simplifying lines in the budget as well. This type of organization should help with reconciling.
At the same time, Dreckman was able to remind the Pool Board the city had $50,000 set aside for them, something former finance officer Anna Uhl had brought up to them last year but had been forgotten due to a changeover in board leadership. This was a boon for the pool board, who not only are paying out higher salaries this year, but also required a replacement of the pool decking, a new storage shed, plumbing fixes, and a new sidewalk along the outside of the fence.
Board treasurer Mallory Zell and president Jill Stiefvater stated during the meeting that they already had contractors lined up for the projects, and that those would be completed by the pool's opening date of June 1. The council voted unanimously to release the funds and allow the board to utilize the funding as they wished, up to the $50,000 allotted.
In final financial updates, Kelli Schleuter of the Garretson Parks Advisory Committee informed the council that the board had been able to order two pieces of playground equipment after a grant award from Prairie Rose and tallying the funds from the most recent Light the Park event. Those pieces will be installed this year at the Jaycee Complex playground, which was expanded via a fence upgrade last year. Schleuter also stated the board had visited five places around Garretson with the hopes of finding a good location for a dog park, but that none of them quite fit the bill. She said they were going to remain in contact with Leslie Black, who was hoping to write grants for funding, but that the project was going to continue to be tabled until the newer part of town south of Sarah C Street is more developed.
The next regular meeting of the Garretson City Council will be held on Monday, May 9 at 6:30 p.m. at the Legion.
