City Council has short meeting

GLENWOOD CITY — Meeting on the 12th day of the 12th month, the Glenwood City Common Council’s  final regular meeting of 2016 was its most abbreviate of year.

The council needed less than 20 minutes to approve the agenda, minutes, bills to be paid and hear some committee and department reports before adjourning.

With a scant few items to report on, much of the meeting time was used by Mayor John Larson to inform the board about a few developments.

Larson was pleased to announce that the Hinman Park project had been awarded a $25,000 grant from the Otto Bremer Foundation as well as a $100 gift from former Glenwoodite Mark Flottum.

Larson noted that the funds would be put to good use as there is “still work to be done in the spring”.

Alderman Terrance “Porky” Klinger added that the committee is looking at extending the roof to provide for a larger concession area.

Later, the Mayor said that he had been approached by William Johnson, Sr. who was asking the council for permission to park his semi tractor-trailer in front of his building for a few hours during the day.

Johnson owns the former Glenwood Garage on the east side of First Street about two blocks north of Oak Street.

“Our ordinance does not allow for this,” said Larson. “But Bill is asking the council for some consideration.”

Larson said that he had checked on ordinances in other municipalities regarding large truck and semi parking and most prohibited vehicles over 12,000 pounds from parking on the street.

 The mayor gave the request to the City’s street committee to consider and discuss possible solutions with Johnson.

Larson also stated that Johnson would like to be able to turn his vehicle around within the city limits but due to weight restrictions on Syme Avenue, Johnson has to go all the way to County Road D in Emerald to turn around.

In other business, Public Works director David Caress said that Cory Larson of the DNR had  went over the City’s test sites and verified them. He also noted that the county had performed a DOT inspection on the city trucks.

Police Chief Robert Darwin also took a few minutes to introduce new full-time officer Vincent Rudesill.