Fire station, water and sewer, holidays, retirement on agenda

An overview of how the city plans to fund a new Fire Station, a change in how sidewalk reimbursements will get done, grant monies awarded Flandreau for upcoming water and sewer projects, a K9 bite suit put up for sale, the approval of Juneteenth and MLK Day as city holidays, and the new contract and salary for incoming City Administrator Cohl Turnquist, are just a few of the highlights from the most recent Flandreau City Council meeting.                                                                                
A public hearing on how the city intends to pay for a $2.93 million fire station was required before the city could apply for funding assistance from Rural Development. Should the RDA approve of the loan application, which is for about half of the overall cost Pederson said, the rest of the funding should be lined up to get the project done. Other sources are still being looked at to help defray the total cost, including asking the other communities that the department serves either to assist in the new station’s development, or to possibly take on an increase in expenses for services. The city would otherwise be borrowing about $1.5 million at a rate of 2.125% for a 40 year term.
Pederson added that given the rising cost of materials over the past couple of years, it may be a good thing the process has taken as long as it has.
“Best information is there has been some stabilization in pricing and availability since then,” said Pederson. “In other words, we’ve heard that pre-engineered steel is not as far out as it was six or nine months ago and that the price may have stabilized some. I’d like to be able to say that where materials and materials availability is concerned, we are in a better situation now than we would have been last fall had we gone to bid.”
In regard to the more than $8 million needed for necessary water and sewer line improvements, Flandreau was just awarded $2,811,165 for improvements from the American Rescue Plan Act funds awarded the state.
“The State grant funds comprise 35% of the project cost, and pledging our local ARPA grant funds kicks this up to 38% grant-funded. That is a good grant percentage these days,” Pederson said.

The focus, he added, “now needs to be on how much of a new surcharge the Council is willing to pass along. The project can be downsized, but we will lose a proportionate amount of our grant and loan funds if we do so.”
Under the funding formula, the monthly surcharge for water would be $10.40 and for sewer it would be $11.00. The surcharge would be the amount necessary to cover the debt from the loan amount of $5,594.174. Discussion on the issue is scheduled for the next regularly scheduled Council meeting.
Flandreau’s sidewalk reimbursement/incentive program was modified. Residential property owners will now be reimbursed a flat amount of $3.50 per square foot for whatever work might be done, although property owners would first need to have the project approved by city officials. The rate, Pederson said, should cover about half the cost for homeowners.  
He added that residents might start to see street sweeper out more as other priorities get addressed and have more time.
Turnquist mentioned that Missouri River Electric has put its member communities on notice that there may be rolling blackouts on power throughout the summer during peak demands for service.   
A project that he has been working on, otherwise, took up the bulk of the remainder of the meeting — which was updates to the city’s employee policy manual. Updates were made in nearly every chapter, although some were more editorial changes than actual changes to policy. Council members had previously gone through the changes and agreed to a final version at their last meeting.
The biggest discussion and only change made to the list of final recommendations included adding Juneteenth and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day to the list of federal holidays that the city would formally recognize. The distinction would mean that the two dates would both then be formal employee holidays. Previously MLK Day was not added to the city’s list of recognized holidays in exchange for offering the day after Thanksgiving off for staff. That particular day will now be given consideration for time off for staff on a year-to-year basis. Because staff has already worked the MLK holiday this year, the day after Thanksgiving this fall will still be granted as a city holiday and time off for staff.An employment agreement and starting salary of $75,000 was approved for Turnquist, the incoming City Administrator. Council also approved retaining Pederson as a consultant to Turnquist and the city over the next five months, as major projects continue to move forward so that the processes are as seamless as possible. A retirement party for Pederson will be held at 1 p.m. on July 5th at City Office, his last official day of full-time employment.