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New Prague council approves routine administrative items: depositories, appointments, engineering and legal contracts
Summary
In a brief Jan. 20 meeting the New Prague City Council approved routine appointments, designated official depositories and the official newspaper, reappointed consulting professionals and approved municipal state aid engineering services and city legal representation for 2025.
The New Prague City Council on Jan. 20 approved a package of routine administrative measures including bank depositories, board appointments, city‑attorney representation, professional consultants and an engineering services proposal for municipal state aid streets.
The council passed a resolution designating the city’s official depositories for 2025 under Minnesota Statute 118A.02 and approved annual appointments to boards and commissions, including the nomination and voice‑vote approval of Bruce Wolf as City Council vice president.
Why it matters: These procedural votes set the city’s fiscal and administrative relationships for 2025, including legal counsel, engineering support for state‑aid roads and the official newspaper for legal notices.
Key votes and approvals (at a glance):
- Resolution designating official depositories (Resolution No. 25010701 as presented). Motion made by Councilman Sean Ryan; seconded by Councilman Bruce Wolf. Outcome: approved by voice vote. The council cited Minnesota Statute 118A.02 as the statutory requirement to designate depositories annually.
- Appointments to boards and commissions (listed in the council packet). Motion to approve by Councilmember Maggie Bass; seconded by Councilman Sean Ryan. Outcome: approved by voice vote. The packet lists member assignments including Bruce Wolf (Utility Commission), Maggie Bass (Park Board/Planning Commission), Sean Ryan (Golf Board), Rick Seiler (New Prague Area Community Center Board) and others.
- Nomination and approval of Bruce Wolf as City Council vice president. Motion and second by councilmembers; outcome: approved by voice vote.
- Appointment of city legal counsel for 2025. The packet presented proposed hourly rates for the city’s legal representation; council recommended retaining Kennedy & Graven as the city’s legal counsel for 2025 with the attorney team led by Scott Riggs as the primary contact. Motion: made and seconded; outcome: approved by voice vote. (Hourly rates as presented in packet: $204/hr general/civil; $240/hr for litigation; $287/hr for reimbursable/pass‑through matters, as described by staff.)
- Consulting professionals: reappointment of SEH as city engineer and Ehlers Public Advisors as city financial advisor. Motion made by Councilman Bruce Wolf; seconded by Councilwoman Maggie Bass. Outcome: approved by voice vote.
- Municipal state aid street engineering services proposal. The council approved a one‑year routine services lump sum of $7,100 plus a not‑to‑exceed hourly allowance of $1,500 for non‑routine changes to the state aid route system. Motion made by Rick (seconded by Councilman Sean Ryan). Outcome: approved by voice vote.
- Designation of the New Prague Times as the city’s official newspaper for 2025. Motion made and seconded; outcome: approved by voice vote.
- Approval of New Prague Fire Department officers as presented in the department’s December meeting packet. Motion made and seconded; outcome: approved by voice vote.
What council members said: Councilmembers characterized most items as routine and necessary for normal city operations. A council member asked for an annual breakout of legal‑counsel usage by matter type; staff agreed to provide that information at budget time. The council also discussed remote attendance for advisory boards and said state law currently limits counting a remote member toward quorum except for limited exceptions.
Background: City staff told the council that the municipal‑state aid engineering proposal covers routine certification and reporting responsibilities to MnDOT, plus occasional route adjustments tied to recent development on First Street Southeast. Staff also said the 2025 street project (02/2025) has a neighborhood open house scheduled the next day and is expected to go out to bid in February, with a potential award at the council’s first March meeting if reviews go as planned.
Ending: All listed motions carried by voice vote; no roll‑call tallies were recorded in the minutes presented at the Jan. 20 meeting.
