City of Dennison
Meeting Minutes
March 6th, 2025
The March Dennison City Council meeting was called to order by Acting Mayor Heidi Cooke on Thursday, March 6th, 2025 at 7:0 pm. Present were Councilors Nichole Schloesser, Caleb Voight, and Diane Ruddle, and clerk Jessica Page. Mayor Jeffrey Flaten was unable to attend.
Councilor Schloesser moved to approve the Meeting Minutes from the February City Council meeting. Councilor Voight second. Motion passed 3:0. Councilor Ruddle abstained as she was not at the January Meeting.
Councilor Voight moved to approve the Treasurer’s report. Councilor Schloesser second. Motion passed 4:0.
Goodhue County Sheriff:
Utilities:
1. Update from Nate: Nate sent an email update as he is just returning from the MRWA Annual Conference. He noted that Ponds are stable. Well house is functioning as it should. Quarterly fluoride and coliform samples done last month. Training went well.
Post Office water finally thawed out. Nate mentioned to postal employees that the owner of the building needs to put heat tape on their line as it is not city property or the City’s issue to fix.
2. J Hasse water Maybe talk to Bollig if they have any ideas. Wait to bring sample in. One possible solution to Jeff Hasses’s water problems may be a flushing hydrant mounted outside his building to keep water supply from getting stagnant. Get information on costs . Look at doing a flushing hydrant. Estimated cost is $1400 for materials.
3. Review and discuss proposal from Minnesota Pump Works for maintenance on our lift station pumps. This would include calibrating the pumps twice a year, which we need to do for the MPCA. Typically, the maintenance and calibrating of pumps occurs in the spring, calibrating again in the fall. The cost for the spring inspection/maintenance/calibration is $299.50. The fall calibration will be based on the time it takes to complete the task. The previous maintenance agreement with MN Pump Works we had been paying $190 for each visit in the spring and fall. Councilor Schloesser move to approve the contract for a three year contract. Councilor Ruddle second. 4:0
Old Business/Committee Reports/Building Permits:
Land split for Danny Nesseth, do public hearing at 6:45 before the April meeting? Reviewed and looks to be ok. Set Public hearing for April meeting at 6:45.
Administrative Issues:
1. Discuss and vote on the land split for David Koester. Public hearing was held prior to the regular monthly meeting. There were two people in attendance beside Council representatives. The proposed land split was explained to those present. There was not opposition to the proposed land split. Councilor Ruddle move to approve the land split. Councilor Schloesser second. Motion passed 4:0.
2. New City Cannabis Ordinance discussion. Any updates? Councilor Ruddle noted that the City will need to designate what zones Cannabis would be allowed in, and not be allowed (as an in-home business, for example). The Zoning Ordinance would need to be updated to reflect those Zoning specifications. Council would like to do a 1 year moratorium on the zoning/cannabis issue. Check with the city attorney on how to do that. The Cannabis ordinance is easier to do, but to update the Zoning Ordinance is going to take a long time to do. Clerk to send an email to lawyer asking if the City can do a moratorium while we work through the zoning ordinance.
3. Discussion about the City moving funds into CDs at the Heritage Bank. 3 or 6 month CDs have really good rates at this time? Mayor recommends putting city funds into CDs. We can sell bonds to pay for the remaining costs of the street projects and not cash out CDs before their maturity dates. Councilor Voight move to have the CD’s as follows: 3 month CD’s 4 @ $50,000, 6 month 2 @ $50,000. Councilor Ruddle second. Motion passed 4:0. Councilor Schloesser move to designate Jessica, Jeff and Heidi to make the transactions to set up the CD’s. Councilor Voight second. Motion passed 4:0
4. Update on the damage to 5th Avenue Way and the shoulder of the road, going back to the fall of 2023. The right-of-way was disturbed (ground sunk) in the area of the private driveway of 37347 5th Avenue Way, which is owned by Jeff Hasse. The mayor filed a claim to be reimbursed for the damage from Sedgwick, a third-party administrator for Lumen Technologies, essentially Century Link. After weeks of emails and telephone calls with the claims representative, they sent a letter to the City denying the claim on September 4th. The mayor sent follow-up emails and one letter to Sedgwick since then without any responses. The mayor notified the Minnesota Attorney General's office about the letter sent by Sedgwick and follow-up attempts. The mayor told the AG that he had checked the Gopher State One for locates on 5th Avenue Way for 2023. On 9/14/23, emergency work was done to replace the telephone main. On the ticket it said the work was being done for Lumen. The contractor was out of Hibbing. The mayor checked the longitude and latitude coordinates and it appeared that work crossed the road, which would explain why the ROW was disturbed. So, basically, the mayor believes there's enough evidence to go to court and win, but does the Council want to proceed with that course of action? If we use our city attorney, the costs to win the judgment could exceed the amount to be reimbursed, which was $500. Discussion was held and it was agreed that the City should go ahead and fix and that it wouldn’t be work the extra expense of taking it to court.
5. Missing gray chairs from City Hall. It was reported to the City that several of the gray chairs were at Beebe's house. Clerk sent a text message to them requesting the chairs be returned. That hasn't been successful. Mayor is requesting a letter be sent to them. Checking to see if there are current phone numbers and clerk will send another text, and update at April.
6. Update from Jessica about the City audit. No progress has been made on the audit at this point in time, but clerk will try to get as much done as soon as possible.
7. Pay Equity Report was reworked and submitted on February 25th.
8. Spring Clean up day (requested date from Floms) May 17th or 31st May 10th if nothing else available.
9. Trees (Possibly use some of the proceeds from the 4th Quarter gambling check of $2503.02.) Councilor Cooke has been looking into getting trees from the SWCD. Councilor Cooke was thinking maybe 75-100 trees could be purchased for just under $200. Can discuss various ways to get them out to folks. Councilor Schloesser move to get 100 trees, 4 different kinds for just under $200. Councilor Ruddle second. Motion passed 4:0. Will try to come up with a plan to do some type of community thing, hotdogs, etc.
Citizens Issues:
Chickens in town. Will be doing an update to the zoning ordinance. Currently there are no chickens allowed in town.
Mayors Issues: None
Councilor Schloesser move to pay the bills as listed, plus the one for Xcel Energy at $941.76. Councilor Voight second. Motion passed 4:0.
Acting Mayor Cooke moved to adjourn the meeting. Councilor Schloesser second. Motion was adjourned at 8:10.
Next meeting: Regular meeting is Thursday April 3rd, 2025 at 7:00. Public Hearing to be held before the meeting at 6:45 pm to hear input on the split of a parcel owned by Danny Nesseth.
