Bellechester City Council Meeting Minutes
July 17, 2024 @ 6:00 PM
Meeting is recorded, and the recordings belong to the City of Bellechester.
Pledge to the flag.
Roll call was taken: The council in attendance: Mayor Jody Gordon, Council people Mark Gerken, Jered Buxengard and Rich Majerus as well as City Clerk Lisa Redepenning, Treasurer Kyle McKeown and City Engineer Matt Mohs. Councilmember Kyle Blattner was absent.
Minutes of June 19, 2024 regular meeting minutes were reviewed and motion was made by Jered Buxengard with a second by Rich Majerus to approve the minutes. Motion carried.
Bills were reviewed and a motion by Rich Majerus with a second by Mark Gerken to approve and pay the bills as presented. Motion carried.
Old Business:
• Sewer Lining Project - Update progress, Pay Application No. 2, – Matt provided an update. Mains are done until fall. We need to wait for harvest to finish. Lateral lining - most all laterals have been televised and provided a list of what they found. Laterals will start in the next several weeks. Project is on schedule so far. A change order will be needed for the size of the pipe near the church. Motion was made by Rich Majerus with a 2nd by Mark Gerken to approve the 2nd pay application of $107,215.09. Motion carried.
• Water Meter Project - Update progress. Contracts are all approved. August 1st is a preconstruction meeting to get this started. Oct/Nov timeframe is tentative schedule. Rochester Plumbing and Heating will be doing all the installs and scheduling.
New business:
• 2025 Preliminary Budget – initial look at numbers.
• Junk Ordinance Review – will revisit at August meeting.
• Police Contract – will revisit at August Meeting
• Ideas for possible excess sewer grant fund expenditures – council discussed possible purchases for excess funds from grant.
Engineer Report – See above.
Clerk Report - Property Tax Payments – FYI – both Goodhue and Wabasha County has been received as well as special assessment payments. Login.gov Email – There will be an effort to make government emails to have the .gov extension for security reasons. It is free and only government entities can get it. This will eliminate the monthly charge we have for Nuvera to just host our email. It is not mandatory yet, but we are paying Nuvera monthly now, so I will be getting it switched soon and advertised. Police Contract – With our street project paid in full, we have more flexibility to absorb the increase in police fees. The bond payments that are estimated are approximately $15,000 less than the street project payments – FYI.
police Approved Rates
2025 $87.70 17364.60
2026 $90.63 17944.74
2027 $93.68 18548.64
The GCSO needs to know maintain the historic 198 hours of service from May 15th to September 15th as described by Sheriff Kelly’s letter on May 29th, 2024, or if you would like to discuss alternative hours of policing that are at or above the minimum of 219 hours per year. Budget FYIs – Telephone budget will go down due to switch to Verizon. We will also not have the $6.95/month Nuvera charge when I switch email. Loan payment is going down (difference in payment amount from Street Loan to RD Bond). The increase in legal fees and publishing fees was directly related to lining project and easements and will not be the issue in 2025. Previous electricity included expenses that get paid from water and sewer. This budget is for general fund only, so it was reduced. LGA from State – should be coming later this month. LGA stated on budget proposed for 2025 is estimated. Final amount not set yet. Quarterly filings done – Building Reports, Fed withholding, unemployment, sales tax.
Election training – I have 2 session scheduled, but they are online. Wifi Box – We tested it at the project meeting and the library box worked fine. As long as I have a month’s notice, it is not a problem to keep requesting the library box for the remaining of the meetings until project is done – FYI.
Treasurer Report – Shut off notices will be sent.
Water/Wastewater/Facility Report – extra discharge was needed due to excessive water.
Mayor Concerns: None
Council Concerns: None
Adjourn
Motion was made by Rich Majerus with a second by Jered Buxengard to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried. Meeting was adjourned at 7:21. Motion carried.
Submitted by Lisa Redepenning – City Clerk
