New Richland City Council
By NICOLE BILLING
Editorial Assistant
The New Richland City Council held its first meeting of the month Monday evening, February 11. The meeting started at 6:30 p.m. and lasted for one and a half hours. Tony Martens was the only council person not present. The council members approved the agenda with consent items added.
The first item of business was to go over Resolution 13-04, the care center asking permission to change a job title from “Administrative Assistant” to “Business Office Manager.” Resolution 13-05 was the turning back of Highway 13 to Waseca County from the state. Resolution 13-06 was the NR Sportsmen’s Club Fish Fry asking for approval for liquor to be served during the event. The council approved all of these items.
The next item was the police report. The police department responded to 84 calls for service and had 19 additional contacts/activities during the month. Three felonious crimes were reported. One is completed and two remain under investigation. The police department is down from four members to three after the retirement of Larry Kuglin on December 31, 2012. So far no scheduling issues have arisen and no changes have been made to hours of coverage provided. Chief Scott Eads hopes to add another, with the possibility of two more, part-time patrolmen; one would fill Kuglin’s former position, and the other would fill in the fifth vacant position which was vacated in 2007.The maintenance report was next. They announced there has been $1,436.03 used so far this year, with $110 unaccounted for water. Budach Implement is holding a filter sale this year and in years past the maintenance department has bought all the filters for them, the fire department, and the ambulance trucks for the year. Ryan Nissen asked permission from the council to do that again this year with it coming to $380. The council approved this purchase, seeing as how it would be cheaper to buy the filters during the sale than other time during the year.
The next report was the fire department report. Two applications were looked at, Kurtis Pederson and Caleb Jacobson, and it was agreed to hire them pending background checks. Jeremy Parpart then talked about the grant for training they will complete later in the year. The city will have to pay for the training, but will get reimbursed from the state after the training is done.
The council then talked about the pay raise for the ambulance and the benefits and consequences of doing this. They talked for a good deal about if paying 25 cents more an hour will bring in new people, and they decided to table it until the next meeting until Martens, who sat down and talked to the ambulance crew about it, could be at the meeting.
The last order of business was that the maintenance department organizational structure was discussed. It was decided that the department commissioners would meet to discuss further.
The next meeting of the New Richland City Council is Monday, Feb. 25 at 6:30 p.m.