Posted: 12/4/07
City council agrees to cut utility payments for Caledonia Mall
By Charlie Warner
Argus News Editor
The Caledonia City Council was apparently in the Christmas spirit Nov. 26 when a motion to cut the monthly utility arrears payment for Mike Nanof, owner of the Caledonia Mall, from $1,000 to $500 was unanimously approved.
Nanof spent more than an hour explaining how he got so far behind in his electric, sewer and water account with the city. After owning the former Caledonia Area Elementary School building, located on West Main Street, since 2005, Nanof's utility bill had ballooned to $11,230 in July of 2007. After negotiations with the city, he agreed to pay $1,000 per month on the balance, plus the monthly usage.
According to City Administrator Bob Nelson, Nanof had whittled the past due balance to $4,400 in the past five months.
Nanof explained due to the August floods, the gymnastics school he and his wife operate at the Caledonia Mall, saw a major drop in business. The week following the floods was when they were conducting their sign ups for the next session. Because Highway 76 between Caledonia and Winona was closed, and road construction in La Crescent made travel very difficult for potential clients from the Winona and La Crosse areas, their fall classes were not what they had anticipated. Nanof added they also had several businesses move out of the mall with the completion of another office building in town.
In a nutshell, Nanof said he just couldn't make the $1,000 per month payment and wondered if the payment could be reduced.
Mayor Mike Morey said he didn't feel the city should renegotiate the agreement with Nanof. "The city has been cutting off electric service to families who owed a lot less than what Mike Nanof owes us,"' Morey said.
"I feel Mike has come to us and is trying to make arrangements to resolve this issue. He's cut his past due account a lot since summer. I think we should work with him," Councilman Gary Klug said.
Councilman Bob Standish agreed and added, "he's working to cut down the balance. He's here talking to us."
Klug made a motion, which was seconded by Standish to reduce the money arrears payment from $1,000 per month to $500. The $500 payment must be paid by the 10th of the month, and the monthly bill must remain current and paid by the 20th of the month.
In other council action
Trailer must go
During the marathon council meeting, which exceeded four hours, the council spent nearly an hour discussing the pros and cons of allowing Norman Snodgrass to keep a semi trailer parked on his mother's property next to the former root beer stand on North Kingston Street. Snodgrass moved the large white trailer onto the property to store all of the "stuff" that is currently stored in the root beer stand building.
Snodgrass explained he plans to tear down the root beer stand building this winter and construct a garage with storage in the spring. But, he needs a place to store all his tools, and other belongings during the course of the construction project. Hence, the semi trailer.
According to Nelson, parking a semi trailer on a residential lot is against city ordinance. Snodgrass contended there are other semi trailers parked in Caledonia, as well as old campers, and other eyesores.
"I'm going to tear down that eyesore people see when they drive into town. But I need a place to store my stuff. This really isn't any different that a construction trailer. I'll even put Christmas lights on it, or a ëWelcome to Caledonia sign,'" Snodgrass said.
After considerable discussion, a motion was made by Morey and seconded by Councilman Paul Fisch to give Snodgrass until Dec. 22 to move the trailer. "If we allow this, we would be opening up a big can of worms," Fisch said.
The motion passed 3-2 with Morey, Fisch, and councilman Randi Vick voting in favor and Klug and Standish voting against.
Harzard Mitigation Plan
Houston County Emergency Management Director Kurt Kuhlers made a short presentation regarding the Hazard Mitigation Plan Houston County is in the process of developing. According to Kuhlers, there are only six counties in the entire state (out of 87 counties) that did not have hazard mitigation plans. And five of those counties, including Houston County, were affected by the August flash floods.
The Houston County Board has approved a resolution to develop a plan with Fillmore County. The estimated cost of developing the plan is $94,000, 75 percent of which will be paid for by FEMA. The other 25 percent will be a local match, using in-kind dollars.
Various projects, such as burying power lines, clearing out culverts and waterways, raising streets, are just some of the examples Kuhlers noted that could be done in Caledonia.
"We're trying to get all of the governmental agencies in the county on board with this plan. Then, we will work with Fillmore County to develop a joint venture plan to improve things in case we have another rain event like this past August, we won't experience so much damage," Kuhlers said. The two counties would actually have their own plans, but would utilize one planner or consultant, which would be a big cost savings.
A motion to participate in the program was unanimously approved.
Caledonia Argus
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