by Carrie Moritz, Gazette
On Monday, January 4, the Garretson City Council held its regular monthly meeting. At that time, they heard committee reports, voted to change the setback ordinance, and received an update from ISG and Infrastructure Design on the Community Center/City Hall concepts.
The meeting began with committee reports. Natural gas rates were set at $0.95 per Ccf, and should stay fairly steady, according to Finance Officer Anna Uhl. The City contracted with a new natural gas supplier in Oct that works in bulk ahead of time, which means prices can be averaged out rather than raising or lowering due to demand.
The council then heard from the Garretson Fire Department and the Ambulance. GFD Fire Chief Dan Wagner informed the council the bulk of their training was in water training due to increased visitations at the parks this past summer. While many of their meetings and fundraisers were interrupted due to the pandemic, they were able to perform many meaningful community events such as birthday drive by's and parades. They do have a waiting list of pending volunteers who are waiting for classes to resume.
Council member Richelle Hofer and Mayor Greg Beaner expressed the council's gratitude for the community support the fire department provided in the past year.
Ambulance director Kurtis Nelson reported they were slightly down in the number of calls for the year, despite the pandemic. They have placed an order for a new ambulance vehicle, which came in at $190,000. They expect it to arrive between April and May. No decisions on what to do with the old vehicle have been made at this time.
Both departments have had members affected by COVID, though with a smaller roster, the ambulance was impacted more heavily than the fire department. The ambulance was able to find coverage at times that they had 2-3 members out, but it was a strain. Vaccinations for COVID-19 have started for EMTs and ambulance personnel.
The Park Board then gave a committee report, beginning with Split Rock Park campground manager Bruce Rekstad.
He informed the council that RoverPass had been well-implemented, and thanked Park Board member Carrie Moritz for insisting on "modernizing our campground registration process." He stated that the new on-line system made everything much easier, as it streamlined management. It also helped to increase the number of registrations. He noted that 2020 was one of the busiest years of all, with 748 electric site registrations and 811 tent site registrations.
Park Board member Kelli Schleuter then spoke about increasing the number of tent sites in the north area. The board outlined three new areas, one across from the new day use shelter and two between sites 24 and 25, and proposed eliminating tent site 28.
Site 28, which borders Split Rock Creek, is very popular, but the area behind it is also popular with the park-goers, who felt they were restricted from using it due to the campsite they would have to walk through in order to access it. The Park Board would like to convert it to a day use site only.
The council gave permission for the Park Board to continue with its plans to implement the new sites, re-number the existing ones, and eliminate site 28 as a tent site.
Mayor Beaner then spoke on a meeting he'd had with building inspector JR Hofer. The new recordkeeping process the City has undertaken with regards to building permits is likely to increase the City's ISO rating, which is an insurance risk rating. A higher number means lower insurance rates for the City, lowering the cost to homeowners throughout the community. A higher rating will help the fire department obtain grant funding as well.
The council then heard an appeal from Rollie Peschon, who was requesting a variance to place steel siding on an outbuilding. The City had made a decision at the December 28 special meeting to allow the steel siding on only two sides of his building.
Peschon appealed that decision in the January 4 meeting, noting to the Gazette that the steel siding he was planning was similar to that of the Morton building by the baseball field, and would be aesthetically pleasing. He stated to the council that they're still in the design phases of building a new house on the same property, and were unsure what siding they would have on the house, whether it be wooden slat or all brick siding. This lack of knowledge impacted his ability to place siding on the outbuilding, and said the steel would be most cost-effective.
Council members had initially been concerned about future development, but voted to rescind the amendment and passed the variance as it was originally written, with council members Dave Bonte and Tom Godbey against.
The council then moved on to approving 2021 salaries, which are published in this week's Gazette. They passed without debate.
At the special meeting on December 28, a first reading and discussion had occurred with regards to changing the setback ordinance to 25', which came up after a variance request by Nielson Construction was denied. The denial would have meant tearing out six foundations that were already laid.
While the council still stood by their decision not to allow the variance, a study of surrounding communities had found that the vast majority of them have 25' setbacks, so the change was not unreasonable.
Councilmember Godbey stated that he had viewed the current foundations, and said if one doesn't know what they're looking for, the change in setbacks is not very noticeable.
Despite the intense discussion and debate that had occurred the week before, the council voted to approve the ordinance with very little discussion.
The final two pieces of business prior to adjourning for the evening was the update on the Community Center/City Hall concepts, and an update regarding the purchase of the driveway between 4th and 5th Streets off Center Avenue. Currently, the homeowner has opted to block traffic through what had historically been used as an alley because the instances of reckless drivers had continued to increase, and two vehicles she owned had been damaged. With the purchase, the City assumes the liability, and can become a proper alleyway. The property had been scheduled to be surveyed earlier that day, but Maintenance Supervisor Craig Nussbaum said the surveyor had postponed to later in the week. The purchase should go through after the survey is complete.
Josh Muckenhirn with ISG Architects and Chad Hanisch with Infrastructure Design Group then presented their initial community responses, site options, and concepts to the city council regarding a community center and city hall. (For a full story on the presentation, please see the January 7, 2021 issue of the Gazette.)
A survey was taken on-line by community members at the end of October, with approximately 200 responses. ISG compiled those results, finding that an overwhelming majority of respondents were in favor of both a community center and a new city hall. Nearly 90% thought it would be a positive addition to the community, with 53% strongly in favor, 32.4% in favor, and 11% not in favor.
With the responses from the initial survey, ISG and Infrastructure Design Group created three options for the facility, which consisted of a City Hall, Community Center, and Event Space.
The City Hall could contain offices, a conference room, a new council chamber, and a new garage for City-owned vehicles. The Community Center could contain a community room, fitness space, and therapy pool. The Event Space could contain an event hall and meeting room area that could be combined into a larger space, along with a performance stage.
They then identified five locations that could be possible for these options. Four are owned by the City, and one is owned by a private party. The options included west of Split Rock Creek south of 5th Street, east of Split Rock by the railroad property, north of the maintenance sheds off 5th Street, the current City Hall site (which would require a second site for the events center), and the corner of Dows and Center (which would require a second site for City Hall).
They planned for a community open house to be held on Tuesday, January 12, inviting the community to voice their wants and needs and to view the initial concepts.
The council then adjourned, with the next meeting scheduled for Monday, February 1 at 6:30 p.m. at the Legion.
