The regular meeting of the Mankato City Council was called to order by Mayor Justin Schoonover Tuesday, Sept. 3. Councilmembers present were Kevin Ost, Stuart Boyles, George Hennion, Rodney Payne and Sam Becker. Also present were Anthony Roy, city administrator, Mavin McCormick, electric superintendent, and Darrell Miller, city attorney.
Visitor present was Shelby Dennard.
City administrator presented Ordinance No. 478 allowing female chickens within city limits. The council approved the ordinance.
After the council reviewed payment number 6 for the sewer project and an invoice from North Central Regional Planning Commission, they approved both.
City administrator Roy and electric superintendent McCormick discussed recent outages with the city council. Roy told the council that the city’s digger truck has broken down again.
Roy let the council know the guys that work in the field will go back to normal hours starting Monday, Oct. 7. He also recommended the hours for City Hall remain 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and the city hall staff continue 10-hour days 4 days a week permanently.
Roy asked the council to approve bonuses for lifeguards that finished the summer working at the pool. The council approved the bonuses.
Roy reported to the council there was an issue with the country club’s water meter at the golf course. The water meter is the wrong size which has resulted in the usage not being accurate. The country club has been overpaying for water for several years.
The council approved to reimburse the country club $10,869.
Roy presented to the council a proposal to have Emma Walker manage the city’s electronic sign on Highway 36. The council approved and also to pay Walker $35 per hour and a limit of $100 per month for the day-to-day managemtn of the electronic sign.
The city council considered a request from the Mammoth Fest that the city waive the cereal malt beverage license fee. Roy cautioned the city council in waiving the fee but did support a potential donation to the Mammoth Fest committee. That donation could be used to pay the license fee. No action was taken at this time.
Roy and City Attorney Miller discussed the city code. The city code is nearly 25 years old and needs to be updated and recodified in the near future.
Roy gave a brief report on a couple of items. He updated the council on the status of the sewer project. The project is mostly completed. The work on Jefferson Street should start within a few weeks. The city’s sewer discharge permit expires in March of 2025. Roy has submitted the new permit application. Roy met with Keegan Bailey, NCRPC housing coordinator, to discuss housing in Mankato.
The City of Mankato will need to do an update to the housing assessment. On Aug. 24, the standpipe was hit by lightning. Pierce Electronics was there that morning to get it back up and running. Some additional parts were needed and had been ordered.
The 2025 budget has been filed with the county clerk. The city needs to adopt the 51st Edition of the Standard Traffic Ordinance. Roy will bring an ordinance to the next council meeting.
The city council went into executive session to discuss pending litigation pursuant to the attorney client privilege exception with the governing body, Anthony Roy and Darrell Miller.
The council approved to pay Mapes and Miller CPAs $21,000 for the 2022 budget preparation and the 2021 audit.
The city council went into executive session to discuss an individual employee’s performance pursuant to the nonelected personnel exception with the governing body, Anthony Roy and Darrell Miller. The meeting resumed with no action taken.
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