Bellechester City Council Meeting Minutes
November 15, 2023 @ 6:00PM
Regular City Council Meeting was called to order by Mayor Jody Gordon at 6:00 p.m.
Pledge to the flag.
Roll call was taken: The council in attendance: Mayor Jody Gordon, Council people Rich Majerus, Kyle Blattner, Mark Gerken, Jered Buxengard as well as City Clerk Lisa Redepenning, treasurer Kyle McKeown and Engineer Matt Mohs. Goodhue County Deputy John Huenke was also present.
Minutes of October 18, 2023 regular meeting minutes were reviewed and motion was made by Kyle Blattner with a second by Rich Majerus to approve the minutes. Motion carried.
Bills were reviewed and a motion by Jered Buxengard with a second by Mark Gerken to approve and pay the bills as presented. Motion carried.
Old Business:
• Sewer Project Update – We were contacted by Rural Development that we were 3 days short of the public hearing in 2021. We are waiting for word from the attorney if we need to redo this. Based on what we hear, a special meeting for Tuesday at 2:00 for the possible public hearing if we do not meeting the qualification of the notice for public hearing. Motion made by Jered Buxengard with a 2nd by Rich Majerus to tentatively set up this special meeting to address the public hearing. Motion carried.
• Lead Service Line Inventory Grant Update – Work on inventory lines is half completed. The state will fund via a grant for all communities to pay for the rest of the inventory of curb stops and mapping. Hopefully early December, we will know if we qualify. We need a list of current homes that have galvanized lines in the city. There may be about 7 or 8 residences. Bolten and Menk will receive the bills for this.
New business:
• 2024 Polling Place Resolution – approve. Motion was made by Rich Majerus with a 2nd by Kyle Blattner to approve the polling place resolution as presented. Motion carried.
• 2024 Policing – Goodhue County Deputy John Huneke spoke about policing. We will probably have an increase when our contract ends in 2024. We will be looking making adjustment this summer for our next contract agreements. Discussion was occur in the spring.
• 2024 Final Levy - discuss/change/approve. Motion was made by Rich Majerus with a 2nd by Mark Gerken to keep the levy the same as was approved in September. Motion carried.
• 2023 Special Assessments – approve list for submittal to County. Motion was made by Rich Majerus with a 2nd by Kyle Blattner to approve the list to the county for special assessments for 2024. Motion carried.
• Agreement for State Building Code Administration with Goodhue County – discuss and approve. Motion was made by Jered Buxengard with a 2nd by Kyle Blattner to approve the agreement with Goodhue County to administer our building permits for 2024. Motion carried.
• Fence/Shed Ordinance – discussion. We contacted the county about having them come to city
• Wabasha County State Aid Paving project in city limits – approve. Motion was made by Rich Majerus with a 2nd Jered Buxengard by to approve the paving project agreement with Wabasha County. Motion carried.
• Presecuting attorney – Motion was made by Rich Majerus with a 2nd by Kyle Blattner to approve the presecuting agreement with .
Engineer Report – See above
Clerk Report - Fence Ordinance – I do not see that you did a formal ordinance. I only could find in past minutes that you had guidelines that were established and sent with quarterly billing. Here is that text:
Storage Shed & Fence Requirements – if you are planning to put a storage shed on your property, you need to submit to council before it is placed, no matter what the size is. In addition, if it is over 200 square feet, a permit will also need to be submitted. If you are planning on putting in a fence, you will also need to submit the details to council prior to installing and depending on the height, location, etc, it may require a building permit. Please include all details for both projects when submitting requests to council. I have contacted Goodhue County building with this, so they know it needs to come to us in the future. Goodhue County Prosecuting Services – As of Friday, I have not received information on the agreement and pricing with them. I followed up on Wednesday and he hoped to get something to me by the meeting for us. Xcel Representative – Could not make it to this month’s meeting. Will be coming in December – FYI. Land Purchase from Wabasha County – Checked with Wabasha County Administrator and it is still being completed. He will have an update for me before the meeting.
Treasurer Report – Special assessments list was addressed.
Water/Wastewater/Facility Report – Do we want to look at water and sewer rates before 2024. Will discuss.
Mayor Concerns: None
Council Concerns: None
Adjourn
Motion was made by Rich Majerus with a second by Kyle Blattner to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried. Meeting was adjourned at 7:20. Motion carried.
Submitted by Lisa Redepenning – City Clerk
Goodhue County Board of Equalization meeting for 2024 will be held on Thursday, April 18, 2024 at 4:30 pm at the Bellechester Community Center
