Recycling, birds and bees, hot topics at council meeting
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GLENWOOD — The Glenwood City Common Council had a list of over thirty items on their agenda for the regular monthly meeting on May 20th. The range of items was from department head reports, liquor and operator’s licenses, ARPA funds and the normal things that come before the council.
One of the items that was on the agenda was the recycling fee charged to businesses and multi-family residents. Over thirty people, mostly business people were seated in the Community Center for this meeting.
It was surprising that most business people were unaware that City Ordinance bands business and multi-family residents from bringing recyclable items to the center, an item that has been going on for many years. At present all business and homes are billed $120 annually to finance the city’s recycling facility. The question was brought to the council’s attention recently that businesses pay the fee but are not allowed to use the facility. This drew the attention of the council and they decided to invite the community’s business people to this months meeting to try to come to some sort of an agreement over the cost and use of the center.
It was learned at the May 17th meeting that the city spent some $42,000 in cost associated with the center plus labor cost. The figures for labor cost were not available at the meeting. The city generated about $60,000 in revenue from the annual assessment of $120 to each utility customer plus receiving a grant of over $9,000.
Local businessman Peter Johnston addressed the meeting and talked about the threatening letter he had received from the local police department stating that he may face a citation if he continued to bring used cardboard to the center.
In a letter that Johnston presented to the council, he questioned the recycling charge noting; “Why are we being charged a $120 fee for recycling when we mix the recyclables with the rest of the garbage, and we aren’t even recycling?”
Johnston also had prepared a list of local businesses with the amount of property taxes each paid, which totaled $147,913. Mayor Kent Kletscher quickly pointed out that the amount paid was the businesses total tax bill and the city only got a fraction of the total.
At the end of the discussion it was apparent that more work has to been done to find a solution to the recycling and fee structure.
Johnston also touched on snow removal, questioning the city over their new policy that stopped businesses with parking lots from moving snow from those parking lots onto the city street and the city would haul the snow away. Now those businesses must contract with a firm to haul the snow off their parking lots. The city had a big deficit in their budget from the 2022-23 year for snow removal and in hopes of reducing that deficit they stopped snow removal for local businesses.
Johnston also questioned the council? “When the city visited this topic last, they used numbers from the 2022-23 snow season which was the largest snowfall we have seen in some time. This year, was the least snow we have seen in recent years. We cannot look at one bad season, but rather average out the cost of snow removal when estimating.”
Birds and Bees
On the agenda were two items regarding bee keeping and a pigeon problem. The pigeons apparently had nested in the attic of a building and have left dropping on neighbors and also are a noise problem. The council had a discussion on bee keeping and hives within the city. It seems that no council member had a feeling about allowing beehives within the city.
ARPA Funds
The city is in receipt of funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and at the meeting addressed a couple of items that needed financing. First the council heard from City Public Works Director David Caress about the need to repair or replace storm sewer catch basins. “Four should be addressed now,” Caress told the council. The cost is about $5,000 per catch basin.
The council also entertained the idea of using those funds to purchase a new police car. Police Chief Joe Klatt informed the council that a new Ford Explorer for police duty is two plus years out, but that there are two units available now at Rice Lake. The cost of the lowest price unit is about $42,000, but when all the police items that are needed are installed brings the price to somewhere around $57,000. City Clerk, Sharon Rosenow informed the meeting that after the storm sewer cost is removed the city has only $31,700 left in ARPA funds, so the city will have to find the balance. The police department is looking to replace a 2013 Ford, which Chief Klatt stated had 300,000 engine miles.
At the opening of the meeting the discussion turned to the down spots that carry rainwater off the roof of the Municipal Building and the water runs across the sidewalks onto the parking lot. Council members Ben DeGross seemed upset over the ongoing problem with the down spots saying, “It’s Bull Crap.”
Todd Danielson, who has property to the east of the municipal building asked the council if they could do something about the water that runs off the municipal parking lot onto his property and it has been a problem for him.
Public Works Director Caress informed the council that the swimming pool has been drained and cleaned and that the treating system piping will need replacement within the next couple of years. DeGross spoke up about mowed grass being blown onto the street. “We have an ordinance against that and the city is doing it yourselves.”
In her report, Librarian Rochel Karlson told about two grants that the library had received. The first was for $4,000 from Mayo Clinic for a engaging in parent, child conversations about mental wellness through shared book reading. The other was for $2,000 for I EEE Region 4 science kits.
In other action, the council approved a request to use the municipal parking lot for fair parking.
• Approved the outdoor music schedule for M & M Bar.
• Accepted a donation from a local firm for pest control at the fire station.
• Approved a new city logo.
• Approved a Class B Combination license application for Nelly’s Boondocks, LLC DBA Boondocks 2.0.
• Approved a temporary Class B picnic license application for the St. Croix County Fair for July 17-21 and August 16 and 17.
• Approved Operator’s Licenses for Shauna D. Fehlen, Peter L. Fehlen and Emma N. Fehlen.
