KIESTER CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
Monday, November 13, 2023
THESE ARE APPROVED BY THE COUNCIL

The Kiester City council held a regular meeting on Monday, November 13, 2023, at the Kiester Community Center.

Mayor Hope Bauman called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm. Council Members Present: Larry Dahleen, Brandon Hagenson, Kurt Grobe. Jason Kluender was absent, City Maintenance: Gary Skartland; City Clerk: Doris Troll; Members from the public were Marcia Dahleen, Tina Thrond, Carol Rinehart, Michelle Alphs, Jerry Alphs, Sheila Grobe, Nicole Rosberg, Dawn Flaskerud, Karen Busch.

Agenda: motion to accept the agenda with the omission of the ambulance, by Brandon Hagenson, seconded by Larry Dahleen, vote 4-0. Motion carried.

Council minutes: Motion to accept the October 23, 2023, minutes by Hope Bauman, seconded by Brandon Hagenson. Vote 4-0, motion carried.

Claims: Motion by Larry Dahleen seconded by Hope Bauman approving claims totaling $21,897.57. Vote of 4-0 motion carried.

Financials. Questions were asked and answered as to the Cd’s. Motion by Larry Dahleen, seconded by Kurt Grobe, approving financials as presented. Vote 4-0, motion carried.

Past Due Water Billing: Motion to shut off on a 11-25-2023 if not paid, by Brandon Hagenson, seconded by Kurt Grobe. Vote 4-0, motion carried.

Fire Department: Jerry informed the council that there is a Public Safety Grant the city will receive in late December for Police /Fire/ Ambulance of $21,136.00. The fire department is looking to use the grant monies for a ram that is used in car accidents. The Cost is $12276.00. The council felt they should split the money between the Fire Department and the Ambulance Department. They stated that some of their gambling monies could be used for the difference. The Clerk will investigate the grant information.

Library: the adult reading ended on 9/28. The winners of the Gift cards from Conger Meat Market were.
Terry Roalstad, and Peggy Gonsalez. There was an author event with Mary Perrin that included 34 participants. The Quilters Cottage hosted an event at the library. They used pumpkins that were donated by Judy Rosen for a contest and the 2 that had decorated them both won a prize. We also had a candy corn guessing game and the adult winner wanted to have the candy to go to a child, so they awarded it to the child with the closest guess the candy prize. For Thanksgiving, Mary and Gayle Aske and Global Innovations donated turkeys and they will hold the drawings on 11/16. There will be 2 hams to give away for Christmas that were donated by Karen Busch for the Liquor Store and by Larry & Marcia Dahleen. There will be another adult reading program held December to March. Letters to Santa will be collected and given to Santa. They also have Christmas items for the children to pick up. There was also a donation from Benco Electric that they received.

Liquor Store: nothing.
EDA: the brochure that they would like to hand out to all new residents was presented to the council for approval. The council felt that the What’s up in Kiester Facebook page should be removed as it is not part of the city. Motion to accept with changes by Hope Bauman seconded Kurt Grobe. Vote 4-0. Motion carried,
Kiester market came to the EDA requesting a reduction in rent. The EDA has denied the request and tabled it until January when the market can produce year end financials. The EDA with replacing lights in the dairy cooler provided that is less than $ 1000.00. The EDA would like to have the council approve Michelle Alphs to the Board. Hope Bauman as mayor will appoint Michelle Alphs to the EDA Board. The EDA would like to recommend Minnesota Design Studio to redo the City Web site. Motion to have Them redo the website by Kurt Grobe seconded by Brandon Hagenson, Vote 4-0. Motion Carried. The clerk also informed the council that she still does not have a copy of the EDA bylaws and were voted on and needed to be signed.

Public Comment: Marcia asked if the phone numbers have been verified on the EDA flyer as one of the phone numbers was incorrect.
Karen B requested a raise for Dawn as she has not received one. The council felt that they would revisit this issue after the new web site is up and running.
Tina asked if there was a way to see how many people have looked at the website. She was informed the current one does not, and we are hoping the new one does. Everyone was reminded that if they needed something on the web page that they need to bring it to City Hall or Dawn to have them posted on the web pages.

Maintenance Report: Gary updated the council that Empire Pipe was here and videotaped of the sewer lines in the field to the east of town. They also cleaned out the catch basins, and some of the valve stops. I will be discharging the ponds starting in a few days. The snow fence will be going up on the north end as well as the west side of town. The gables on city hall will be painted and the Christmas lights be put up.

Clerk Update: With the end of the year coming we need to hold a hearing on the liquor store that will be on 11-27-2023, the final levy will have to be voted on 12-11-2023. And the last meeting of the year will have to be moved from 12-25-2023. The council decided that they will not hold the second meeting in December. Kurt is still having issues with his tablet, Would the council like to update all of them, or just Kurt’s. They decided to get two new ones. One for Kurt and one for the clerk. There was a letter of joint powers for the road project to be done in conjunction with the county doing Front Street. Motion to accept the Joint powers by Larry Dahleen seconded by Hope Bauman. Vote 4-0, motion carried.

Mayor Update: I am going to start working on a new employee handbook. Clean up days went well. The letters for cleaning up the yards have been somewhat successful.

Adjournment: Motion to adjourn by Brandon Hagenson seconded by Kurt Grobe, Vote 4-0, motion carried.

Respectfully Submitted by
Doris M Troll
City Clerk/