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Canton l Chatfield l Fountain l Harmony l Lanesboro l Mabel l Ostrander l Peterson l Preston l Rushford l Rushford Village l Spring Valley l Whalan l Wykoff
Water rates a major concern for Lanesboro residents By Jade Sexton jade@fillmorecountyjournal.com
Rushford Village Council met Tuesday, March 3 and discussed the city’s frozen water policies. (L-R) Mayor Gordon Johnson, Zoning Administrator Jon Pettit, councilors Dennis Overland, Todd Baker, Hamilton Peterson, and Chad Rasmussen. Photo by Kirsten Zoellner
Rushford Village reviews frozen water policy By K irsten Zoellner kirsten@fillmorecountyjournal.com
As talk of frozen pipes loom in the area, still reminiscent of the great freeze of 2014, the Rushford Village City Council discussed the matter at length at the Tuesday, March 3 meeting. 2014 was notably a winter like no other and in the end the council made no official motion on the two related policies other than to note the circumstances which brought their adoption. “Last year was different. It wasn’t just one or two people,” explained Mayor Gordon Johnson. The policy for residents of the South Rushford Water District specifically speaks to continuous running of water to prevent frozen water pipes and is separate from a Frozen Water Reimbursement Policy that was adopted
February 27, 2014. The Village was quick to note that the fourpart process detailed in the first policy must be adhered to in order for the city to address issues. The steps include checking the temperature of water and contacting the Village office or Public Works directly for further temperature monitoring and prevention methods. The policy also specifically notes that frozen pipes may last into spring, stated as “into April, depending on the weather and how the spring thaw occurs” in the document. Furthermore, it states, “Although taking the steps in paragraph C does not guarantee that you will not experience frozen pipes, the above steps must be followed if you want to have the CRV (City of Rushford Village) assist with the cost of running the extra water
in an attempt to prevent freezeup of your water pipes.” This last paragraph was of particular concern as the council debated whether or not to continue to offer financial assistance in future instances. “I don’t know why we’d want to get into that if we don’t have to,” cautioned Councilor Dennis Overland. Typically, property owners are responsible for their water lines from the curb stop in. In 2014, the city assisted with the cost through the Frozen Water Reimbursement Policy, paying 50 percent of the actual cost incurred, not to exceed $1,000, for one freeze occasion. Payment was conditional upon proof of incurring the cost and after all insurance proceeds; a 50 percent reimbursement of the See FROZEN WATER Page 12
Aisles O’Savings
It was a crowded house Monday evening as several Lanesboro residents and business owners came to the Lanesboro City Council meeting to voice concerns over the new water rates. The state recently mandated Lanesboro do something to reduce the radium levels in their water. The answer is to build a treatment plant that will reduce the levels. In order to pay for this plant, the city received a loan from PFA (Public Facilities Authority). In order to qualify for this funding, the city had to change the way they bill for water usage and use an REU (Residential Equivalent Unit) system. Phil Dybing, President of the Lanesboro Golf Club board, spoke for the golf club and on behalf of many business owners about the difficulties they are all facing with the higher rates. The golf club, with its high water usage, now has a $900 a month
base rate for water. “This has put the businesses in real hard situations,” said Dybing. He added they will have to look for other alternatives to city water, which is something they would rather not do. Dybing feels the REU rate system will create even more difficulties down the road. If the golf club stops using city water, the rest of the community will have to absorb those costs in order to pay back the loan. “Bottom line is it isn’t good for anybody,” said Dybing. City Administrator David Todd explained the city worked at finding funding for the project. One grant from the Community Development Block Grant program required a survey from residents regarding their income. Lanesboro did not get enough responses to the anonymous surveys. They had to use the income average generated by the surveys that were received, and from that information, Lanesboro did not have a low enough median See WATER RATES Page 18
Doing things differently at Houston Schools? By A ngie Rodenburg angie@fillmorecountyjournal.com
The Houston school board held a meeting on March 3. Nearly half of the meeting was given to Houston high school principal Todd Lundberg as he discussed several ideas that resonated with him for doing things differently as far as education is concerned. Lundberg has been researching methods that seem to work for other schools. One thing that
Lundberg has begun this year is called “The Breakfast of Champions”. “This is a program that honors students that may not be “A” students, but are overall great students, that are doing the right thing and are going to be great citizens when they (graduate).” said Lundberg. Lundberg then began to discuss the relationship between grades and behavior. He gave the example of a student that turns in a piece of homework See HOUSTON Page 13
Prices Effective March 9th-March 15th, 2015