City Council approves garbage rate increase
— Angie Steffen
Laurel Advocate
LAUREL — The Laurel City Council held its first-ever meeting Monday under new COVID-19 pandemic guidelines.
Instead of the Council chambers, the meeting was moved to the city auditorium with people sitting at separate tables to maintain proper social distancing.
The council approved Ordinance #583-2020 for Commercial Garbage Rates.
The 23.6 percent rate increase was needed since the landfill the city uses, L.P. Gill of Jackson, raised its rates by that amount.
The increase from Gill went into effect March 1. The new rate will be reflected on the April 20 bills the city sends out.
The Council also approved a Local Disaster Declaration and Resolution #2020-354 - Lower Elkhorn Resource District Hazard Mitigation Plan.
In addition, the Council approved Arbor Day and Fair Housing proclamations.
In her report to the Council, Hillcrest Care Center administrator Virginia Lundahl said Steve Muir presented health insurance plan options to the board for Hillcrest Care Center employees starting in March 2020.
Hillcrest Care Center contributions were increased to 70 percent and a switch was made to an All Save Plan. Muir will meet with employees and enroll them in a new health insurance plan and explain to them the option of the Health Savings Account (HSA) plan.
In Lundahl’s report, 24 residents are in long-term care and five are in assisted living. She also noted she had finished a Gardner Grant application and has now sent it in.
Lundahl said most washing machines are working, but one washer continues to leak water, but it is minimal. She will continue to evaluate when a new washer will need to be purchased.
Lundahl’s report also mentioned the admission agreement given to all residents when admitted to Hillcrest, which was last updated in 2003. In this agreement, there is a paragraph that talks about overdue accounts and that an interest rate of 1.5 percent will be charged on all unpaid accounts that go over 30 days. This agreement started March 1.
Andy Tisthammer repaired walls and ceilings at the facility.
The care center will pay him for their portion of the bill and the installer of the fire safety pipes will pay Tisthammer for the portion of the damages they caused with installation.
Lundahl said she visited with Culligan about water softener issues. She was shown how to manually regenerate every couple of days with the current system.
Council members were also told the Laurel Chamber Community Club met via Zoom on March 23. With COVID-19 causing disruptions for many, and gatherings being restricted in size, they voted to cancel this year’s Easter Egg Hunt and they did an Easter Egg Drive-by Scramble.
All Laurel businesses had the opportunity to have a paper egg with a letter in their business window.
The Golden Egg Contest concluded with all four clues given this year. The egg was found by Maddy and Stella Graham on the 14th hole of the disc golf course.
The Chamber is also doing a Shop Local campaign during April. People who shop our local businesses will be able to put a ticket into a bucket for a drawing for $100 of Chamber Bucks. This promotion supports shopping local at all the Laurel businesses, and the buckets are at 15 of the Chamber member businesses.
The completed Citizen’s Survey and Workforce Housing Needs Survey were sent to Keith Carl at Hanna Keelan March 23. As of that date, 154 surveys and 40 Workforce Housing Needs surveys came from four larger employers. The online links for the two surveys on the Laurel Facebook page and on the www.laurelne.com website were extended an additional week to March 27. There were 34 online surveys.
DTR: Jan Merrill sent information (as stated in the Fair Housing Letter) for the City to take care of the DTR grant #19-DTR-104. Fair Housing Activity includes the following:
1. The City of Laurel will proclaim “April 2020 as Fair Housing Month.” Along with this, the City will print off the attached 11x17 poster and place it at local businesses: Security Bank, Gary’s Foodtown, Laurel ACE Hardware, Hansen Brothers Parts and Service, Corner Mart and at the City Offices; 2. A representative of the City will attend the Fair Housing Conference in Norfolk April 21. The Norfolk Housing Agency is in the process of finalizing the agenda with the keynote speaker Joe Garcia. This meeting was cancelled for this year. The DTR committee met via Zoom April 9 to discuss a change of the DTR project to exclude the part on Elm Street that goes by the Senior Center. Jenny Mason was asked if the plan can be changed.
Community Center Committee: Grants have been submitted and the committee is waiting on awards. The grant subcommittee is working on a grant for Peter Kiewit Foundation due April 15.
LCC School is hosting community conversations on the first Wednesday of each month, February - May. Due to the new social distancing, the April 1 meeting was rescheduled to one meeting via Zoom.
Wednesday of each month, February - May. Due to the new social distancing, the April 1 meeting was rescheduled to one meeting via Zoom.
Laurel Police Department reported one fix-it ticket, six warnings, one parking ticket, two animal complaints, two motorist assists, one outside assist, one open door, six school traffic complaints, two citizen complaints, two noise complaints, 130 building checks, two suspicious people and one traffic complaint.
CRA Board approved the purchase of 507 Oak St. from Jana Chase. They will have an Asbestos Survey and get estimates for building removal.
Council members also learned that Sargent Drilling will be installing the new casing and pump for the North Well.
They are waiting for all the repair parts to be delivered. They are ready to come and do the repair once the parts come in, but there have been delays from the manufacturer.
Council members were also told John Holmes would be back to address the failure of the Fourth Street repair which his company performed last fall with a guarantee of lasting 5 to 10 years.
All City Parks are currently closed due to the Corona Virus situation.
The Swimming Lesson Instructor this year will be Ashley Wolfgram, who is currently seeking her certification. Helping her will be Brittany Wolfgram. They will be in charge of the sign-ups.
The Laurel Pool Co-Managers this year will be Makayla Forsberg and Delaney Ehlers. There were eight applicants interested in being lifeguards / assistant managers that were hired to be the pool staff this summer pending they all obtain their correct certifications and the pool is open pending the Corona Virus situation.
One outside summer help application has come back.
The Council also approved new members Elaine Bathke, Shane Bathke, Dwayne Freeman and Mike Mainz to the Laurel Tree Board.
Building Permits were granted to Paul and Makayla Garcia for a 97’x58’ chain link fence and to Brian Oberhelman for a 12’x24’ storage shed addition.
Supt. Jeremy Christiansen shared information on COVID-19 changes and how LCC School is working with the mandates.
LCC School is now closed for the students, but online schooling is being done via Zoom meetings with the teachers and Google docs for homework. LCC School is also offering free lunches for youth age 18 and younger during this time of closure.
Council members learned seven applications were recently submitted for the Cedar County Tourism Board Improvement Fund and one for the Promotion Fund.
Cedar View Country Club was approved for $2500 for fixing the bridge at hole #7 and was also approved for $500 for a new sign for the golf course.
Bow Valley Dance Hall was approved for $2500 for improvements for their 125th anniversary of Schuetzenfest.
Bow Valley Dance Hall was approved $1000 for advertising budget for Schuetzenfest event.
Cedar County Ag Society was approved $2500 for new livestock arena that will tie into existing buildings.
Hartington Veterans Memorial was approved $2500 for their project.
Wynot Veterans Memorial was approved $2500 for their Veterans Memorial.
Randolph ROAR group was approved for $2500 for 12 pebble stands that will be installed at the City Park for youth ages 2-12. They are also installing other equipment as part of this project.
Discussion was entertained on fund availability for next September’s round of funding due to COVID-19 repercussions.
