City pursues trail grant, while water treatment plant gets red light

The initial portion of the meeting focused on a grant the city is applying for from the Minnesota Department of Transportation for work in conjunction with State Aid Highways. City Administrator Lon Berberich explained that this grant stems from a new appropriation for MnDOT and that Sibley County has agreed to act as Henderson’s “pass through” such that the bills and payments will go through the county, but the funds will come to Henderson.

In order to complete the application process, the city had to hold a public meeting to discuss the pedestrian, bike, street and access plan. Engineer Chris Knutson from Short Elliott Hendrickson was on hand to share the concept plan for the city’s trail system which changed very little from the prior plan.

Comments from council members and the public attendees led to minor adjustments to the trail plan, which was then adopted with the changes as a resolution by the council. The council also added language to the resolution to serve as a Conceptual Street Policy, which will count as a point in the city’s favor in this application process.

Berberich explained that this grant is different than many past ones in that MnDOT has divided the state in sections so Henderson will be competing with other small communities, not with metropolitan areas or counties. The city is applying for $280,000 to fund the trail to connect the city’s existing trail system into the new Regional Trail to be built in conjunction with the County Road 6 reconstruction scheduled to begin in late 2022 or 2023. The city’s trail project is estimated at $340,000, so even if the grant is approved, the city will have to come up with $60,000.

Specifically, the new trail would connect the parking lot on the west side of Bender Park, the current levy trails, the Henderson sidewalk system and the new regional trail. The new path would be a 10-foot-wide bituminous trail. Also included in the project are improved crosswalks and repaired sidewalks.

OTHER ENGINEERING BUSINESS

Knutson next asked the council for direction on the city’s priorities for 2023 regarding water and street issues. The council’s top priority is to finalize the plans for the portions of the water system that have undersized mains and the associated street repairs. The next priority is to finish the loop for the Maple Ridge development. Hopefully those improvements will alleviate some of the worst water woes.

The proposed water filtration/treatment plant will not be scrapped but moved down the priority list. Preliminary scoring from the USDA Rural Development Agency, from whom Henderson hopes to receive funding for this project, indicates that Henderson is low on the list for assistance from them in the near future. SEH will continue to seek funding at the federal level through their political contacts. Earmarked federal funds are the best hope at this time for grant funding, otherwise funding for the proposed plant will probably need to come from low interest loans.

INSPECTION FEES

Jim Baumann, city building inspector, appeared before the council to discuss the building permit process for 2023 and his associated fees. Ever since COVID struck, the process has all been online and the public has paid no fees for building permits. An in-depth discussion followed, with council members Randy Tiegs, Steve Sellner and Amy Hardel, as well as Mayor Keith Swenson, chiming in with questions.

Tiegs said that citizens ask him if “so and so has a building permit because they have not seen one posted” and he wanted to know if there was an easy way to find out if the work was permitted. Bauman and Berberich went back and forth to explain that the current process has Bauman collecting information from an application filed online. Since there is no visit to the city office, the homeowner or contractor doesn’t necessarily receive anything to post. The city doesn’t receive a list of permits in real-time but only quarterly when he files a report. Bauman said he is willing to take phone calls from anyone with questions, including members of the public.

Sellner asked what to do when you see someone obviously doing work on their home that you don’t believe will be up to code or permitted, and Bauman replied that he can come in person to check on a project, but unless he sees someone carrying building materials into their home, he does not have the right to enter their home.

Mayor Swenson pointed out that while the city wants people to be following the rules, homeowners are taxpayers and it is not necessarily the city’s job to “police” community homes. He added that the new stringent standards for home inspections as part of a property sale will come back to haunt homeowners who did unpermitted work.

When selling a home, the inspection company will note home improvements and check to make sure the permit process and all associated inspections were performed. If not, a homeowner will not be able to sell their home without either doing extensive work to remedy the steps they skipped or take significant deductions from the purchase price. Unless people plan to live in their home for the rest of their life, they are taking a big financial risk in operating without a permit.

The council agreed that they wanted to start charging fees for building permits effective Jan. 1, 2023 and how to add accepting payments to the current process was bandied back and forth. Berberich was initially totally against the city getting involved in the process again or keeping any specific real-time reports, but when it came down to the options for collecting fees, he had to relent because the city will need to be part of that financial transaction. He recommended that Assistant Administrator Tim Pautsch work with Baumann to find the financial product that will best meet everyone’s needs. The council also agreed that they will reinstate at least a portion of the water and sewer access charges beginning in 2024.

For 2023, Baumann will charge 65 percent of the permit fee, 100 percent of plan review fees, and/or 65 percent of fixed fees, an increase from 60 percent in 2022. Baumann has been charging an administration fee, but if the city starts collecting fees, he will change that part of his fee structure.

PERSONNEL

The Personnel Committee presented its recommendations for 2023 to the council. A hearty debate ensued over the proposal to hire a new full-time police officer. After Chief Eric Karels presented his December report, Tiegs was extremely vocal in his stance against hiring a full-time person, insisting that the call volume does not justify this action. Swenson explained more than once that due to the current status of law enforcement personnel shortages, the only way that Henderson can get an officer who will stay for any length of time is to hire a full-timer. Other agencies in the area, such as Le Sueur and Sibley County, are having the same issues with an inability to find and/or retain part-time officers.

The council eventually approved offering a full-time position to Carl Martin at $4,400 per month with 80 percent of health care costs paid. Martin has passed the background checks and is already completely trained and certified. Karels will transition to 30 hours per week at $6,200 per month as of Jan. 1, 2023. One applicant for a part time officer, Jake Schneider, has passed the background checks but the inclement weather has held up the qualification process.

In other action, full time Street and Park Superintendent Bruce Gustafson’s wage will increase from $28 per hour to $30 per hour as a cost of living adjustment. Part-time water and sewer superintendent James Kroehler’s hourly wage will increase from $25 to $27.50. Part-time help for streets and parks will be offered $20/hour and part-time police officers will get $25/hour.

As Henderson does not have enough employees to constitute a group under insurance standards, each employee will obtain their own insurance and will be reimbursed at 80 percent of the cost by the city. Dental coverage will be handled similarly but at 100 percent of costs paid.

The Henderson Public Library staff became city employees under their own department as of Dec. 10 when the management switched from county to city control. The library has some funds on hand that will transfer to the newly created department for the library and the county will be adding funds to that account to cover the majority of the 2023 Library operations.

OTHER BUSINESS

The council passed Resolution 2022-13 to adopt the proposed 2023 budget, Resolution 2022-14 to set the 2023 tax levy at $593,500 and Resolution 2022-15 to designate the Henderson Meeting Room at 600 Main Street as the official polling place for all Henderson precincts for the election year 2023. No members of the public came forward to make comment on any of these resolutions.

The council reviewed the bids received for the 2006 Harley Davidson Electraglide that the city gained in an arrest/forfeiture and accepted the top bid from John Schaefer of Belle Plaine in the amount of $6,001.

The council certified $20,306.79 in delinquent utility bills and $1,175 for an unpaid fire call to the county to be added to the appropriate property tax assessments.

POLICE REPORT

During the month of December, the Henderson Police Department issued 10 traffic warnings, performed four agency assists, made 55 public contacts and six public assists, one animal complaint and nine incident reports. Body armor has been ordered, and delivery is expected in about three months.