Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Municipal Governance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Paynesville council approves state-backed loan agreement and trail payment, hires seasonal and permanent staff; roll-call rejects prior funding allocation
Summary
The Paynesville City Council approved a Minnesota Investment Fund loan agreement administered by the city for Lewis Industries, approved payment estimate number 3 for a trail extension, and approved multiple hires; the council also conducted a roll-call vote that found a previously proposed allocation of fireworks-donation funds to several community organizations did not carry and will be revisited during the December budget meeting.
At a regular council meeting, Paynesville council members approved a set of routine motions on economic-development financing, infrastructure payment and personnel hires and resolved an ambiguous prior funding vote with a roll call.
City administrator Tarek explained the Minnesota Investment Fund (MIF), the state-managed program administered through the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). "MIF is the Minnesota Investment Fund... the way it works is they grant the money or they give the money to the city, and the city manages the loan and the loan repayment," Tarek said. The council moved and approved the loan agreement with Lewis Industries; the motion passed by voice vote with no opposed recorded.
On infrastructure, staff reported that the trail extension from Highway 55 to Bork Lumber is largely complete and that payment estimate number 3 in the amount of $26,089.38 is due to Land Pride Construction; the council approved the payment estimate on a motion and voice vote.
The council approved personnel actions: hiring five part-time seasonal snow-removal operators (Dave Ampe, Kirk Aftman, Adam Fuchs, Bill Ludwig and Dominic Plateau) and approving two full-time hires — Stephen Hurley (grade 5 step 1) and Shannon Rearing (grade 5 step 3) — while placing Jason Johnson on the eligibility list at grade 5 step 3. Funding sources for the additional position were discussed and staff indicated available surpluses in water and sewer budgets could be used.
The council also resolved a procedural ambiguity from a prior meeting: after reviewing bylaws (section 9 d/e) and the administration's notes, the chair recalled a motion made at the previous meeting that had unclear passage status, called for a roll call and announced that the recalled motion did not carry. The chair directed that the historically promised $1,500 to the lake association be treated as a starting point for the December budget meeting so members can make formal motions on final amounts then.
What happened to the consent agenda: the council approved the consent agenda (minutes and vouchers) by voice vote; the vouchers were listed in the packet as totaling $296,002.92.
Next steps: staff will prepare follow-up materials for the December budget meeting (lodging-tax eligibility and final budget allocations) and will confirm final contract closeouts and final trail payments in the spring when punch-list landscaping is complete.
