February 12, 2025 at 5:30 PM - Council Meeting Agenda

Discussion:  No one from the WVFD was present at the meeting to discuss the grant.  Therefore, no action was taken. 

Discussion:  Even with advertisements in the newspaper, City's website, and FaceBook, no one has expressed any interest in any of the vacancies.  Mayor Lehmkuhl urged the council to help find people to fill the vacancies especially for Planning and Zoning as they are unable to meet due to not meeting a quorum.  

Discussion:  Council members Brenn and Geiser met with City Administrator Mogus to discuss several items including the following:  the 1- & 6- year Street Plans, Street budget, getting bids for both cement and asphalt overlay, and researching how often armor coating should be done.

Discussion:  Dixon County Sheriff Tom Decker informed the council that the newest deputy, Andy Vazquez, has passed everything so far in training and is doing very well.  Also, deputies are currently in union contract talks.  Decker has spoken with the mayor and city administrator regarding the trash at the Logan Creek apartments and would like to see a fence around the area.  Truancy has been a big issue at Wakefield schools lately, and when officers go to homes, doors are not being answered.  Decker believes this could be because residents may think the deputies are with ICE.  He went on to state that his department will assist ICE if needed; however, they have their own people to take care of issues.  

Discussion:  City Administrator Mogus informed the council about several issues.  Last month's Sales Tax was a bit over $22,000.  The State was out to look at the bridge on Highway 35 just north of town.  All is safe for now; however, state engineers will continue to monitor the bridge over the next several months.  All conduit for ALLO has been completed, and they are burying a lot of anchors.  Mogus has been meeting with the Wakefield Rural Fire Board, specifically Galen Samuelson, Lyle Ekberg, and John Sandahl, regarding the building of a new fire hall.  The Rural Board would like to speak at next month's council meeting, and they should be prepared with specific numbers for the project.  They plan to ask the City to divide the costs 50-50.  As far as utilities south of town, Mogus is looking into the effectiveness of a lift station vs gravity and plans to have the City's engineer look things over.  Mogus is no longer looking for a boom lift as he proposed at the January council meeting.  Instead, he is considering a tower that would work with our AMRs.  The tower would send the City an alarm for overusage, water line breaks, or backflow issues.  This would allow for more immediate attention to issues instead of finding out when the meters are read once a month.  The projected cost is around $50,000 with half being forgiven; however, Mogus will have a better estimate for next month's meeting. 

Discussion:  Miranda Long has applied for membership to the Wakefield Volunteer Fire and Rescue.  Her application for membership has been approved by the WVFD.