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Pennock council swears in officials and adopts administrative policies, fee schedule
Summary
At its Jan. 7 meeting, the Pennock City Council swore in its newly elected mayor and council members, approved a slate of appointments, and adopted several administrative policies and fees including an out-of-state travel policy, a credit card policy, a 2025 fee schedule and intergovernmental billing for brush-site use.
Pennock — The Pennock City Council swore in Kevin Crowley as mayor and reinstalled or affirmed council members Jeff Arends, Shane Dillabough and Lance Crowe during its regular meeting on Jan. 7 at the Pennock Community Center. The council then voted to accept a slate of administrative appointments and approved several policies intended to govern city operations and finances.
Mayor Kevin Crowley presented appointments covering legal counsel, administrative and operational roles, and neighborhood assignments. Council member Shane Dillabough moved to accept the appointments and Council member Lance Crowe seconded; the motion passed. Appointees and roles listed by the council included Brad Schmidt (City Attorney, Johnson, Moody, Schmidt, Kleinhuizen, & Zumwalt P.A.), Dawn Johnson (City Administrator/Clerk‑Treasurer), Donavan Peters (licensed water and wastewater operator and maintenance), Mike Jacobson (Building Inspector/Zoning Administrator), Heritage Bank as official depository and Kerkhoven Banner as the official newspaper.
The council moved through a set of administrative policy votes. Citing Minn. Stat. §471.661, members adopted an Employees and Elected Officials Out‑of‑State Travel Policy despite the city’s practice of not sending staff or officials out of state. The council also approved a City Credit Card Policy and a standard premium option from LMCIT for workers’ compensation coverage. To reduce late charges, the council authorized Clerk Dawn Johnson to pay monthly bills that arrive after meeting packets are prepared.
On operations and fees, the council adopted the 2025 Fee Schedule; approved billing Mamre Township and St. John’s Township $300 per year for use of the brush site; and set a $35 fee per meeting for St. John’s Township to use the community center. Council members also voted to continue paying Donavan Peters and Clerk Dawn Johnson one hour per day on weekends and holidays for meter-reading duties and to front‑load 48 hours of earned sick and safe time (ESST) for both employees.
Other approved administrative actions included accepting a collateral pledge from Heritage Bank NA for excess deposits and authorizing safekeeping of the original pledge certificate at U.S. Bank Money Center. The council discussed a possible community sign but took no action on that item.
The council carried these motions without a recorded roll‑call tally in the minutes; each motion listed a mover and seconder in the meeting record and was reported as passed.
