Bruce Iverson, retired, firefighter

Paperwork Complete, Kwik Trip building begins in April

By Josh Hall, Staff Writer
February 17th was the make-up meeting from Tuesday, February 10 with the Plainview City Council. This meeting consisted of the Special Plainview City Council & Department Head Work Session followed by the regular monthly meeting.
The Work Session was called to order at 5:30pm followed by the approval of the agenda. Some of the topics discussed were Kwik Trip and the liquor store.
It was noted that despite rumors sailing around town, the Kwik Trip store will begin construction on their store in April, with an anticipated opening in August (or before).
Donnie Hall, manager of the Plainview Liquor Store, was present for the discussion, which was the question of location as well as whether it should continue being On Sale/Off Sale Liquor or become strictly Off Sale. If the municipal liquor store were to become just off sale, the profitability could be more, insurance would be less, as well as the hours it’s open. They also discussed the option of moving the liquor store along Highway 42, where there is more traffic going through town. All of these items will be looked into and discussed before any action is taken place.
Another item that was talked about was the glass partitions in the City Hall building, on both the police department side as well as the city hall side. These partitions will prevent anyone from being able to just walk into the offices. The reasoning for doing this is simple - security. These are different days, and instead of saying, “I wish we would have done that”, we could say “Whew, I’m glad we decided to do that.”
Another ongoing discussion is business about the snow ordinance. Plainview charges $25 for a ticket and $100 for the tow, in violation of the snow/parking ordinance. There is also the fact that it’s knowledge that the plows cannot get around to all the parts of the town in the 5 hours of the ordinance. The Sheriff’s Department and the City Council would like to stress the importance of following the ordinance, and that they are serious about enforcing the ordinance and that they do mean business. Already this winter there has been about 100 tickets written. As a courtesy to the City of Plainview, the Sheriff’s Department and those who get up in the early morning to clean the streets, they are asking that the city residents please adhere to the snow ordinance of 2am-7am and check the weather to see if it’s a possibility that it could snow.
Public Works Director, Michael Burgdorf, stated that they will be replacing some manholes along main street, as well as doing some crack filling and seal coating on some of the streets. They also discussed information regarding the pool and hiring more lifeguards, swim instructors, assistant pool director, assistant rec director. There are about 8 applications between those positions, and in March they will begin to hire some of those positions and hopefully get more applications in to have it all taken care of by April. As far as the number of lifeguards is concerned, they require a minimum of 10, but 16 would be ideal. Anyone wanting to be a lifeguard must be aged 15+.
The special meeting was adjourned at 7:00pm and went right into the regular city council meeting.
The meeting was called to order, Pledge of Allegiance cited and approval of the agenda and consent agenda were all moved and approved.
The first item discussed was the public hearing on the small cities development program grant. Karen DuCharme was present and talked about what they are planning to do. They are applying for 15 residential rehabs, 24 units of rental rehabs, consisting of Eastwood Apartments, who has applied through their office for state funding and they will match that. They collecting all the due diligence on that program. There are also 8 commercial rehab projects in the downtown area. The total request for small cities development funding is $853,000, with an added $450,000 in match money, bringing a total project of approximately $1.3million. There are 26 homeowners who have expressed interest and meet the qualifications. Because the 3rd party verification is only good for 90 days, it has not been done yet. The preliminary total has remained the same from last November. There was no comment from the public, so the hearing was closed.
Next was the presentation of community petitions/guests, with 3 individuals speaking comments.
First, Mike Johnson of Orchard Hills, brought show-and-tell for the council, regarding the island at the end of the road, next to Hwy 42. Three years ago the west light on the island was wiped out and never got replaced, and two years ago the east light wiped out and has never gotten replaced. Last winter, on his way to work he had to push a woman’s car off the east end of the island, right where the light post was. In the spring when the snow was melting he saw wires sticking out the the green post where the light was and asked the city what they were going to do about it. All they did was shut the power off to the whole island. During the last snow storm, a couple of people had hit the island, and one individual’s car had left a piece of the underside of their car behind and the remainder of the green stander was wiped out. That morning there was an orange cone put there, but they did not pick up any of the car parts that were left there. He is asking whether the city could possibly put a post with a reflector on it to hopefully prevent anyone from hitting it again. He closed his comments.
Next was Dan Arcott (sp), who lives across the road from the catholic church, addressed the council regarding an issue where the Rochester City Bus Lines are picking people up and dropping people off, and they sit in the entrance with their lights on and shine right into his house. It is an issue every morning and every night for about 15 minutes, and they are wanting to drop people off in his driveway. He has addressed the bus line about this issue. He stated that two years ago this was never an issue because that entrance used to be entrance only, but it has changed into an entrance and exit somewhere along the line. He wanted to ask the council if that could be made an entrance only again by putting a sign back. The council see what they can come up with. Dan closed his comments.
Lastly, Tracy Hutchinson brought to the attention regarding the Ambulance Service staffing. She stated that the ambulance numbers are down, and that when a person is not working, they are on call. Her thought is that if an individual does not have a felony, or a DUI, but if you have a state license or a national license, the Plainview Ambulance Service should not be so particular in their selection of new hires. There is one person in particular that she was addressing as a potential hire, Andrea Schouweiler, who has applied numerous times, had one interview and nothing after that. She is on the Elgin Ambulance Service, she has been working as a first responder during the motocross races for several years. She also discussed the use of Gold Cross, and that they were in town one day over the weekend and assisting them was one of Plainview’s employees, which she feels is a conflict of interest, instead of working for Plainview for their smaller wage, they work with Gold Cross for more pay. Another issue that she has brought up, is how they are being paid for a run. For instance, it used to be that if there was an accident with 10 people, and they treated all 10 of them, they would get paid per patient. Now, if there are 10 people in an accident and they treated all of them, they only get paid for 1 run, instead of 10 individual patients that they treated. All of this has changed when Gold Cross came in, and they have lost a lot of workers because of this change. She just wanted to bring this up to the city and let them know this information and possibly make a change. She closed her comments. There were no further presentations, so they moved into unfinished business.
The first order of unfinished business was to approve the resolutions and city’s commitment to SEMMCHA via Karen DuCharme. The resolutions were not assigned numbers as of the meeting, but they will amend them and assign numbers on the next day. The resolutions were motioned, seconded and approved.
Next up was a Pool Group update. Some of the items they have come up with as possibilities are: 1) Change the scheduling, so it would be a one week lesson of 45 minutes/lesson as opposed to two weeks. Doing this would allow for more lessons throughout the season which would also increase the revenue. 2) During hiring process changing the title from Assistant Director to Pool Manager, to increase programs for patrons and increase supervision of the lifeguards. The pool group has been working with the Pool Manager from Chatfield, and they have been helping them come up with the ideas that will benefit everyone. They believe that the Pool Manager would be able to make decision to get more people involved.
Last up on unfinished business was approval of Lakeside Foods Phosphorous Reduction. Since Hormel pulled out of Lakeside, they do not require as much Phosphorous, but are obligated to the same amount. To offset the cost, the city of Plainview will cover the extra that Lakeside does not use until they get someone else in who can cover the cost. This was motioned and approved.
They then moved on to new business, which the first item was a Presentation of a Plaque for Bruce Iverson, Fire Department Retiree. Bruce was with the fire department for 24 years, from February 1990 to December 31, 2014 for “Commitment, Dedication and Outstanding Service to the Plainview Fire Department.”
Next on the agenda was Mary Ploof discussing snow plowing in front of her house. For several years they have plowed and pushed the snow down to the ditch. Because this is a private drive, the city is technically not responsible. But they will make sure that it is open so that they can get out of their driveway. This was agreed upon by Mary Ploof and the Council.
They had a discussion/approval for Gold Cross Contracts, which were: 1) Reimbursement for the Ambulance Captain. - Approved. 2) Reimbursement of the Support Services. - Approved.
They have tabled the next item, pay for Ambulance Runs, until March.
The next item is an information only item, discussing the shield/partitions protecting the city hall and the police department, to prevent an angry or irate individual from being able to just walk in. This is being priced out.
Up next was the Pool/Parks Interview committee. They are looking for volunteers from the city council members to sit in on the interviews as they are scheduled. Roger Ziebell and Ben Jacobs have volunteered to do this.
The next item is a request by Kim’s Saloon to close 4th Street for a street dance from Main Street down one block on Saturday during Corn on the Cob Days. This is their 3rd year and there have not been any issues with this. The request was approved.
The last item on the agenda is approval of an Ambulance hire, Rodney Kaiser pending background check and drug screen. This item was approved.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:00pm.

Plainview Mayor Bill Goede congratulated and presented retiring volunteer firefighter Bruce Iverson with a plaque. Photo by Josh Hall
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