Bellechester City Council Meeting Minutes
March 19, 2025 @ 6:00 PM
Call the meeting to order at 6:01. Meeting is recorded, and the recordings belong to the City of Bellechester.
Oath of Office
Pledge to the flag
Roll call was taken: The council in attendance: Mayor Jody Gordon, Council people Mark Gerken, Kyle Blattner, Jacob Gilsdorf, Nick Keller and Rich Majerus as well as City Clerk Lisa Redepenning and treasurer Kyle McKeown. City Engineer Matt was absent. Peter Bartholome was also present.
Minutes of the February 19, 2025 meeting were reviewed and motion was made by Jake Gilsdorf with a second by Rich Majerus to approve the minutes. Motion carried.
Bills were reviewed with a motion by Mark Gerken with a second by Rich Majerus to approve and pay the bills as presented. Motion carried.
Old Business:
• Update – Sewer Lining Project – see below
• Update – Water Meter Project – see below
New business:
• New Dumpster at old Feed Store – will discuss after summer
• Determine Water and sewer rates based on water usage ($ per 1000 gallons) – we cannot customize the new billing system. We will table to monitor before setting rates.
• Resolution No.: 2025-01 - Resolution Adopting the 2024 Wabasha County Hazard Mitigation Plan - Motion was made by Rich Majerus with a 2nd by Mark Gerken to approve resolution 2025-01. Motion carried.
• Relaunching Meals on Wheels – A request came in inquiring about relaunching this program in town. Bellechester City Council is
• Goodhue Baseball raffle/fundraiser request – Ryan Holm presented a request for a raffle at Tavern at 6:00 on May 18. Motion made by Rich Majerus with a 2nd by Jake Gilsdorf to approve the raffle request. Motion carried.
• Seal coating – Rich presented information on seal coating for Bellechester’s streets. In working with surrounding communities, we can get on the schedule for this. Motion was made by Nick Keller with a 2nd by Rich Majerus to approve the scheduling of seal coating for the City. Motion carried.
• Mowing for upcoming year – Motion was made by Nick Keller with a 2nd by to Jake Gilsdorf approve to hire 2024’s mowing employee for 2025 with Rich Majerus abstaining. Motion carried.
1. Engineer Report – Lead Service Lines
a. Kyle applied to the Department of Health for another round of LSL data collection funding (same as last summer).
b. This does not mean we are applying for funds to fix the lead or galvanized water lines. This is only for additional research.
2. Sewer Project
a. Saturday (3/8/25) – 507 1st Street sewer service backed up. The cause was due to imperfections in lateral liner. The lateral liner has since been fixed and the homeowner has been connected with the contractor to resolve costs.
b. The contractor has completed all initial lateral liners.
c. On Monday (3/24/25), the contractor will be back in town to re-do two lateral that were damaged last week during the installation. They’ll also do some extra televising that we requested on Great Western.
d. Work left to be done:
i. Finish the remaining manhole chimney seals (frost dependent)
ii. Cleanout cutting & turf establishment
iii. Replace manhole lid
e. We intend to process Pay Application No. 6 in April.
3. Water Meter Project
a. I need to start the process of finalizing the project and paperwork.
Clerk Report – LGA – for some reason, the State will be sending 9.2% of our LGA this month that we would normally get in July and December - FYI. Update on Funds:
Savings account - current balance $42,655.31. We have earned $1207.72 in interest on this account.
Interim Sewer Loan – Initial Deposit $160,950.00. Current balance = $161,815.86. This will be paid when our project is complete and rolled into final loan. We have earned $865.86 in interest.
Checking Account – FYI – we earned $1321.20 interest during 2024.
Edward Jones – initial deposit was $100,000. 2024 ending balance was $114,693.09.
Wabasha County Hazard Mitigation Plan – although we have already passed one for Goodhue County, since part of Bellechester is in Wabasha, we have to do one for them too.
Treasurer Report – letters were sent and some payments were made.
Water/Wastewater/Facility Report – flow meter was calibrated last week. Flows are lower than normal.
Mayor Concerns:
Council Concerns:
Adjourn
Motion was made by Rich Majerus with a second by Jake Gilsdorf to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried. Meeting was adjourned at 7:37. Motion carried.
Submitted by Lisa Redepenning – City Clerk
