Happy Independence Day to each of you. We are so fortunate to live in this country! A big “thank you” goes out to our Fire Department for their tremendous work in displaying the fireworks on the 4th of July evening. And wasn’t it a wonderful display! It’s too bad the Knights of Columbus had to cancel their noon activities, but as it turned out, it was the right call. I’ve been asked several times why we couldn’t have postponed our fireworks display as some other communities did. When we purchase our fireworks, we sign a contract with the insurance company through the League of Minnesota Cities to launch our display within a 24 hour period. Though we have this restriction, it allows us to save on the bottom line.
One item on the agenda for the July 9 City Council Meeting will be the approval of the purchase of a new ambulance. The City has a seven year rotation on its ambulances so our newer one is a 2017 and our older one is a 2010. Interestingly, in 2017 the ambulance we purchased cost $189,517. This year’s bid on a 2024 is $290,322. That is a pretty steep increase, but every measure to lower the price that was available has been applied including being part of a purchasing group. Fortunately, the State legislature approved a measure this year to help communities with rising EMS costs and so we have received a grant of $110,000. It is proposed that we would use this entire amount to help offset the cost of the purchase.
I’m sure you are experiencing these rising costs at home as well. There’s no doubt that costs are rising very rapidly. As we begin work on next year’s budget, the Council is really going to be challenged to keep our City costs down. There will likely be some decisions that lead to cutting services versus raising taxes. Hopefully we can keep cuts to a minimum while keeping costs down.
Over the last several months our City Manager, Bob Elston, and I have been attending meetings of Cottonwood Middle Minnesota Advisory Council to assist in developing a Comprehensive Watershed Management Plan for this area. Tied to this 10 year plan is comprehensive allotment of funds to improve water quality. Lots of state and federal funds are linked to the plan.
Fortunately Sleepy Eye Lake has been tied into this plan along with an effort to impact our concerns about sedimentation in the lake and its east arm. All of this will unfold as the plan is implemented here in the future. But we’re very fortunate to have been mentioned in the Plan as it should have some very positive implications for our lake’s future.
The EDA is looking at other housing options in the City hoping to increase options. Good things are happening in Sleepy Eye.