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Grade school-aged kids will have a place to burn off a little extra energy during the winter months
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By Charlie Warner
Argus News Editor
Grade school-aged kids will have a place to burn off a little extra energy during the winter months. The Caledonia City Council approved a motion to have “open gym” in the Municipal Auditorium from 5 to 7 p.m. Sundays.
A request was presented by Craig Welch, who explained that the school district has open gym on Sunday evenings, but the older kids seem to dominate the action, forcing the younger kids to the sidelines.
“There’s 100 kids or more using the high school gym,” Welch said. “It just doesn’t work out well for the younger kids. If you would open up the auditorium, I would be willing to supervise it. I’d have the kids shooting baskets and other supervised activities.”
Mayor Bob Burns said he felt it would be a good thing, another way the city could provide a service to the community.
It was pointed out in the past when the Municipal Auditorium was open for adult volleyball, the participants would donate money to help pay for the lights.
Welch felt the parents of children participating would probably be willing to donate to help pay for the lights.
“I don’t think the cost of lights for two hours would be that big of a deal. If some of the parents want to donate something, that’s fine,” Burns said.
He made a motion to put Craig Welch in charge of open gym for grade school kids from 5 to 7 p.m. Sundays for the winter months. His motion was seconded by Councilwoman Randi Vick.
In other council action:
CIP planning continues
Councilman Tom Murphy said he is continuing to tweak the conservation improvement plan (CIP) that is mandated by the state. All utility companies and municipalities that sell electricity to its residents must have a CIP in place.
The city plans to offer rebates for the purchase of compact florescent light bulbs, energy star appliances and replacing smaller electric motors.
City Electrician Matt Blocker said Tri-County Electric has been taking care of rebates on electric motors and suggested the larger electric motors used at the manufacturing firms in town continue to be handled by Tri-County Electric.
The council agreed with Blocker’s recommendation. Murphy said he will fine-tune the city’s plan and have it ready in the up-coming months.
“We will be doing quite a bit of publicizing of the program, once we have everything in place. I’m sure there are many people who don’t realize the rebates that are available when they buy energy star-rated appliances,” Murphy noted.
Foltz building
The council reviewed the building plans for a 40 by 80 foot pole building that Dean Foltz is planning to construct on the back portion of his property on CSAH 12 and highways 76/44.
The building meets all setback requirements. The property is located in an agricultural zoning district.
No council action was required.
Chains for fire trucks
Assistant Fire Chief Matt Hoscheit said the fire department wanted to purchase two more sets of “On-spot” chain systems. The On-spot system automatically sets the tire chains on the wheels of a vehicle. This would do away with the time-consuming and dangerous work of manually putting the old-fashioned chains or cable systems on a fire truck.
He pointed out that the department currently spends about $500 each year repairing and replacing the current cable and chain systems.
The two sets will cost approximately $4,500. Half of the money will come out of the charitable gambling fund and the other half from the department’s 501-C3 non-profit fund.
Automatic meter reader
Blocker informed the council that if the city purchases an automatic meter reader, to be used on the new meters the city recently purchased, the company would let the city use several more on a trial basis. If the city feels the automatic meter readers is the way to go, they would be able to purchase the other readers later in 2010 for the price quoted in 2009.
The cost of the first meter, which includes the software and training, is $9,900. Additional readers would use the same software and cost approximately $4,500 each.
The city plans to install the new automatic meters in all new homes and will begin replacing old, worn out meters throughout the city with the new meters.
The new automatic meter readers would allow the reading of electric meters from the street.
The council approved a motion to purchase one meter, software and training with the understanding that the city will be allowed to use up to three more readers on a trail basis with the option to purchase at the 2009 price.
No MMBA Boot Camp
The council rejected a request made by Liquor Store Manager Patty Gavin and Assistant Manager Nancy Steele to attend the 2010 Minnesota Municipal Beverage Association Conference (Boot Camp) at Breezy Point Resort. The cost for both to attend was $364 plus reimbursement for mileage, parking and meals provided at the conference.
Murphy said he and Councilman Bob Lemke, who make up the liquor store committee, discussed this request and recommended the council reject the request.
Unpaid utility bills
The council decided to establish a policy for businesses that do not remain current with their utility bills. The city currently has a policy for residential users, but council members felt the city has been too lenient with businesses that get behind with their utility bills.
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