Regular Meeting of the Mazeppa City Council
Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, December 13, 2023
The regular meeting of the Mazeppa City Council was called to order at 6:02 PM by Mayor Chris Hagfors.
The Pledge of Allegiance was said.
Present: Mayor Chris Hagfors. Council Persons Michael Hammes, Steve Liffrig, Dustin Wiebusch, and Erica Young.
Others Present: City Attorney Luke Lamprecht, City Engineer Matt Mohs, Municipal Liquor Manager Todd Ihrke, Wabasha County Sherriff’s Deputy Curt Struwe, Mat Sveen, Barb Sveen, and Administrator Clerk Karl Nahrgang.
Present via electronic meeting: Holly Galbus from the News Record.
Motion by Wiebusch, second by Hammes to approve the agenda and addendum. All in favor, none opposed. Carried.
Motion by Wiebusch, second by Liffrig to approve the November 8, 2023 regular City Council meeting minutes and the November 29, 2023 Council working session minutes. All in favor, none opposed. Carried.
Motion by Wiebusch, second by Young to close the regular City Council meeting and open the Truth-in-Taxation hearing. All in favor, none opposed. Carried.
Regular City Council meeting closed at 6:03 PM and Truth-in-Taxation hearing opened at 6:03 PM.
Budget fund comparisons from 2023 to 2024 were read and year-over-year budget increases explained. There will be a 3% levy increase from $393,248 to $405,045. About 1/3 of the increase will be offset by new housing coming onto tax rolls in 2024.
Motion by Wiebusch, second by Liffrig to approve close the Truth-in-Taxation hearing and open the Public Hearing on changes to Land Management Ordinance. All in favor, none opposed. Carried.
Truth-in-Taxation Hearing closed, and Public Hearing was opened at 6:16 PM.
A brief explanation of the change in language in Land Management Ordinance by Ordinance 2023-05 to allow fences to be built to property borders was given. No comments were offered.
Motion by Wiebusch, second by Young to close the public hearing and to re-open regular Council meeting. All in favor, none opposed. Carried.
Public Hearing was closed, and regular Council Meeting was re-opened at 6:23 PM.
Wabasha County Sherriff’s Deputy Curt Struwe gave the monthly Incident Command Report.
Administrator Clerk Karl Nahrgang gave the Public Works report.
Administrator Clerk Karl Nahrgang gave the Fire Department report and read the list of Fire Department Officers for 2024.
Motion by Wiebusch, second by Young to approve the 2024 Fire Department Officers. All in favor, none opposed. Carried.
Municipal Liquor Manager Todd Ihrke gave the liquor store report.
City Engineer Matt Mohs gave an engineering update.
Karl Nahrgang gave a City Hall activities report.
Motion by Wiebusch, second by Liffrig to approve building permits; Building Permits: MZ23-21, 1183 Cherry St. E – re-roof. MZ23-22, 483 2nd Ave. NE – wood stove install. All in favor, none opposed. Carried.
Motion by Wiebusch, second by Liffrig to approve the budget for the City of Mazeppa. All in favor, none opposed. Carried.
Motion by Wiebusch, second by Young to certify the 2023 Levy to be collected in 2024. All in favor, none opposed. Carried.
2nd Reading of Ordinance 45-1.24 establishing fees for the City of Mazeppa for 2024.
Motion by Wiebusch, second by Liffrig to approve Ordinance 45-1.24 Establishing 2024 fees for the City of Mazeppa. All in favor, none opposed. Carried.
The policing contract with Wabasha County Sherriff’s Office has been sent to Wabasha County for approval and signatures. Has not been sent back to the City as of this time.
Personnel policy with updated ESST has been distributed to employees of the City, some of the signature sheets have been signed and returned.
Motion by Wiebusch, second by Liffrig to approve Resolution 2023-46 approving Wabasha County culvert lining project 079-030-008 withing Corporate Limits of the City of Mazeppa. All in favor, none opposed. Carried.
1st Reading of Ordinance 2023-05 changing Land Management Ordinance Article IV, Section 13 to allow fences to be erected at property borders.
Motion by Young, second by Wiebusch to table changes to water & sewer policy and procedure. All in favor, none opposed. Carried.
City appointments cannot be considered until beginning of fiscal year. Discussion of changes of appointment duties.
Motion by Young, second by Liffrig to approve Resolution 2023-48 Reimbursing SEMMCHRA from grant funds for Small Cities Development Program projects. All in favor, none opposed. Carried.
Motion by Wiebusch, second by Young to approve Resolution 2023-49 Accepting a donation to the City. All in favor, none opposed. Carried.
Motion by Hammes, second by Liffrig to approve Resolution 2023-47 Transferring funds from General Obligation Loan to the City general operating fund. All in favor, none opposed. Carried.
Motion by Wiebusch, second by Young to approve the Attorney Retainer agreement for 2024 with Lamprecht Law, LLC. All in favor, none opposed. Carried.
Motion by Young, second by Wiebusch to approve transferring $10,000.00 from MMLS operating fund to City Operating fund and $4700.00 to MMLS savings (maintenance fund). All in favor, none opposed. Carried.
Matt Sveen of M.B. Sveen properties presented the Council with a rough draft of plans for more capacity at the manufactured home park. His plan showed an additional 4 lots immediately south of the current last row of manufactured homes. His plan showed the removal of the portion of the curve in 4th Ave. that lies on M.B. Sveen properties’ parcel. He shows a private road serving these lots coming from the original driveway portion of the disputed 4th Ave. area. The private road would be squared off and would not be connected to 4th Ave. NE right-of-way.
The Council would like to keep connection to 4th Ave. NE from Chestnut Street. Council asked the City Administrator Clerk to talk to emergency services to find out if response time would be diminished if connection to Chestnut St. was severed.
Council asked Mr. Sveen what his runoff plan would include. A natural waterway exists across the property and further development would need to have a plan for runoff management. Mr. Sveen stated the current plan would not change the current waterway at the moment, but the City would be required to do some ditch work along 4th Ave. to make sure the water will flow to the Elm St. and 4th Ave. area. The City Engineer also said that it would take a small amount of excavating to keep the waterway the low point as it moved across the ditch along the proposed private road to the Elm Street portion of the watershed.
Mayor Hagfors told Mr. Sveen that it was not advisable to move forward with the project until these questions had been answered. Mayor Hagfors also asked if it would be possible to join the proposed road to 4th Ave. and grant an easement for a period of time until 4th Ave. was completed.
City Administrator Nahrgang said that he had talked to an excavator about adding on to 4th Ave. and putting it within the right-of-way and making sure the drainage ditch was consistent to keep runoff flow moving. He had not received a dollar figure but would get in touch with the excavator again to see if he had that quote available.
Motion by Liffrig, second by Young to pay the bills and claims. All in favor, none opposed. Carried.
Motion by Liffrig, second by Hammes to have City Attorney Lamprecht contact Mr. Sveen’s attorney to propose an easement on the proposed new private road. All in favor, none opposed. Carried.
There were no Council comments, but City Engineer Matt Mohs briefly talked about the Active Transportation Grant for the proposed walking trail that he skipped during his regular report.
Motion by Hammes, second by Liffrig to adjourn the meeting until 6:00 PM, January 10, 2024. All in favor, none opposed. Carried.
Meeting recessed at 8:30 PM. _______________________________________
Administrator-Clerk