New Richland City Council

The Care Center Report followed with the council approving the accounts payable and minutes. The new administrator, Lyn Sebenaler, will start the beginning of November. The care center has a new smoking policy where employees have to smoke in their cars and residents and visitors can not smoke in the front of the building. The report mentioned that a new speed bump has been ordered and that there has been an office reassignment where they clarified job descriptions. The report ended with the mentioning of four new private rooms being available.

The Fire Department report was next with the council deliberating over the decision to grant the department money for a building to house fire equipment and office reserve. The council approved an amount of $42,500. 

The next order of business was a public hearing about organizing a public trash collection in the city. This hearing was to allow the community to voice their concerns about this and state their opinions on whether or not they wanted this to happen. City Clerk Wayne Billing mentioned that the only thing the council will do right now is to agree to look into the possibility, which has to take at least three months before another hearing can take place. There were a lot of questions about how this would improve trash collection with reducing truck traffic and problems about if people would be able to vary the size of their trash bin. Another concern was about if this idea would include a more accessible trash recycling.

The Peoples Service Report was given by Brad Fields.  A request was made to reroof some roofs; the roofs have been in good condition for 20 years but need to be replaced before they start to fall apart. The council approved this motion. Roots were discovered in the sewer pipes and it was discussed how to get rid of them.

The next order of business was the ambulance report. One hundred fifty calls were reported so far this year. An application for training school was accepted for Brandi Anderson, pending background check and a six-month probationary hearing. Probation periods were also discussed for new ambulance personnel.

The council approved Scott Eaves to get a new camera for the police department as long as the total amount of the camera does not exceed $1,000.

The city council continued trying to go through ways to spend less money to keep the tax levy down.

The city employee evaluations will be held next month.

The last item on the agenda was the council approving the city clerk to attend a grant seminar in Stillwater at the end of November. This seminar will provide the clerk with information about how to write grants.