Working Session Meeting of the Mazeppa City Council
Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, August 30, 2023
The Mazeppa City Council Working Session was called to order at 6:05 PM by Mayor Chris Hagfors.
The Pledge of Allegiance was said.
Present: Mayor Chris Hagfors. Council Persons Erica Young, Michael Hammes, and Dustin Wiebusch.
Others Present: City Engineer Matt Mohs, Project Engineers Roberta Cronquist and Brady Nahkala, Public Works Director Scott Ellingson, and Administrator Clerk Karl Nahrgang.
Absent: Councilperson Steve Liffrig.
Motion by Wiebusch, second by Young to approve the agenda. All in favor, none opposed. Carried.
Council chose to hear the 4th Ave. NE matter first, so that representatives from the City’s engineering firm could leave after the discussion of 4th Ave. NE.
Administrator Clerk Karl Nahrgang said he had talked with former Valley View Manufactured Home Park owner Rick Bazille about the extension on 4th Ave. A synapsis of the conversation will be included with this meeting. He said that he had receive a Freedom of Information Act request from Lemmons and Kelly Attorneys at Law for information regarding 4th Ave. NE. Nahrgang said that he would be sending all information that had been gathered for Mr. Sveen in the past and any additional items and send it to the Lemmons and Kelly.
City Engineer Matt Mohs said that the overview of what Mr. Sveen had verbally proposed would be viable for stage one of squaring off a private drive between 4th Ave. NE and the original farm driveway. He also said that if Mr. Sveen intended to add a storage facility between the proposed driveway and the property to the south, it would require a drainage plan and control basin the hold runoff due to the increased non-permeable surfaces associated with the storage facility.
Administrator Clerk Nahrgang said that he had emailed Mr. Sveen asking for a simple concept drawing showing what his proposal would entail.
Mr. Mohs spoke about the overall watershed study in the area and some of the options to relieve runoff problems. The proposal to add in storm sewer pipe from 6th Ave. NE to the river to be done with the Sanitary sewer project would be at minimum $700,000, not including the excavating to get a portion of the water along 6th Ave. watershed to flow south to enter the underground storm pipe. Mr. Mohs said that if the land to the east were to be developed in the future, excavating could be done at that time to split the watershed and move a portion of the runoff to the south along 6th Ave. NE and allow the runoff to move along Highway 60 to an existing culvert and continue flowing south. Construction of a road for Chestnut Estates would also need to have plan to move runoff from that area into the 4th Ave. NE watershed and to a future 6th Ave. drainage area. One more factor to consider is that Wabasha County does have plans to update County Road 54 (Chestnut St.). Depending on the scope of the road update, there may be additional drainage factors to consider with the project. The projection for such an update is 2028 and is subject to change.
Mr. Mohs, Roberta Cronquist, and Brady Nahkala went through the flood plain calculations for the wastewater treatment plant site. The Minnesota DNR had no objection to their new calculations, but the Army Corps of Engineers rejected the new calculations. The design group will hold a meeting to discuss changes and cost for final plant design that this obstacle will present.
Administrator Clerk Karl Nahrgang went through a new replacement schedule that Public Works staff and City Hall developed. They agreed that it was not set in stone, and could be altered to address changing needs, but it does help to show that the streets and parks equipment budget is underfunded and will need to be built up moving forward.
Most budget specifics were in the Streets and Parks fund. Mr. Nahrgang, Mr. Ellingson, and the Council felt that some urgent needs would be in that fund. Mr. Ellingson said to the Council that he would like to have more coordination between Public Works and committees that help direct funding to projects.
Mr. Nahrgang said that he figured the costs and was trying to stay at a 3% levy increase. He said that he had done that but would like to get to 3% to add a bit more funding to the Streets and Parks budget.
Mr. Nahrgang discussed the Sewer Fund budget. He had consulted with Mr. Mohs as to how to budget for the project. There is not an accurate way to know how much of the project would be done and must be financed during 2024, but if the project looks to be done over a 2-year period, using 50% of the total would be a reasonable rule of thumb.
Mr. Nahrgang said that he would make small changes to the 2024 budget before presentation and not exceed a 3% levy increase.
Motion by Young, second by Wiebusch to adjourn the Council working session. All in favor, none opposed. Carried.
Meeting adjourned at 8:46 PM. Next meeting, September 13, 2023 at 6:00 PM.
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Administrator-Clerk