Milaca City Council Briefs: Meeting July 21 | Free

The Milaca City Council conducted the following business at its July 21 meeting. Written by Chloe Smith.

New council member oath of office

New city council member Kenneth Muller was sworn into service during the July 21 meeting. After being sworn in, he participated in the remainder of the council meeting. Muller will serve on the council for the remainder of the term which ends on Dec. 31, 2022 at which point the newly elected city council member will take over in Jan. 2023. Muller fills a seat vacated in June by the resignation of Cory Pedersen.

During the open forum portion of the council meeting, a city resident brought forth a concern she had about the mowing down of the wildflowers along the banks of the Rum River in Rec Park. The specific section of wildflowers mentioned were north of the footbridge. The city resident requested that the funds typically used the mowing be reallocated to hand-weeding of any buckthorn in that area rather than mowing down all of the flowers.

The city council will be taking this concern into consideration.

The city’s request for funding the airport road was approved in its first draft. The Airport Road Project funding totals $1.5 million of which the full amount was approved. Representative Pete Stauber was mentioned as planning to continue advocating for the project.

The council approved multiple donations from different city businesses to go towards the RecFest music festival. Town and Country Finance donated $600, United Country Real Estate donated $450, the American Legion donated $500, the First National Bank of Milaca donated $1,000, The Insurance Shop donated $450, Spire Credit Union donated $750, Teals Market donated $800, Granite Ledge Electrical donated $700, and Jim’s MIlle Lacs Disposal also provided a donation with the dollar amount not listed.

The council approved the pay request of $350,621.62 towards the 2022 street improvement contractors. The payment includes the paving work done to the streets in the Hidden Pines area.

The council approved the pay request of $128,874.67 towards apron reconstruction at the city airport.

Update on the portable toilet vandalism

The city council held a discussion regarding the cost of fixing and replacing the vandalized portable toilets the city rented from Jim’s Mille Lacs Disposal for Rec Park. The council also discussed removing all but one of the portable toilets from Rec Park and allowing more access to the Gorecki Center toilets for public use. The city will be looking into a coded lock for the door to the bathrooms at the Gorecki Center as the issue continues.

The council approved the special event application for the 125th Anniversary City Celebration lumberjack show, kids event, and craft fair.

The council approved the Timber Valley Grill temporary off-premise sales for existing on-sale intoxicating liquor license.

Council member Norris Johnson opened a discussion regarding city employee compensation. The compensation would go towards the city employees that need to conduct overtime hours to cover the loss of the city treasurer during budget time. The council decided to allow those doing overtime to keep track of their hours, and they will come back to the issue at a later date when they have a better idea of what that compensation would look like.

Your comment has been submitted.

There was a problem reporting this.

Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything. Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.