By Chad Koenen

Publisher

A large donation and sale of city property helped the City of New York Mills general fund balance grow by over $230,000 last year.

During its regularly scheduled meeting last week, the NY Mills City Council received it end of year audit from John Hagen of Eide Bailly. Hagen said the city received $151,523 in donations last year for things like upgrades at Lund Park, which in turn, resulted in larger expenses as well. The city also sold property at South Point and one property at Country View totaling $185,000. 

On a positive note, Hagen said the city received $310,562 in additional revenue than it originally budgeted, due in large part to the donations that were not accounted for in the original budget. 

The city also overspent its budget by $337,347. Hagen said this was due to costs associated with unbudgeted projects at the city hall and the boiler project. 

In all, the city’s general fund grew by $234,891 in 2022. 

Vacating Gilman St.

Matt Geiser, of Brunswick/Lunds, approached the NY Mills City Council about potentially closing Gilman St. near Brunswick. The idea was discussed in the past and has been brought up once again after an active shooter incident at the Brunswick in NY Mills on February 9. Geiser said the plan would be to fence in the property, where feasible, in order to limit the points of entry into the building. 

Geiser said representatives from Brunswick and the school recently met about closing the road. He said both groups are in favor of closing the road near the school and Brunswick to improve safety for the Brunswick employees, school and community as a whole. He said most people don’t drive down Gilman St. due to the high level of pedestrian traffic during the day and closing the road will allow for better safety for the public as a whole. 

City Clerk Julie Roberts said Brunswick/Lunds will need to bring a formal proposal to request closing a portion of Gilman St. After receiving the proposal, she said the city will then gather more information about the potential road closure, before eventually holding a public hearing on the matter. 

In other news

• Heard the monthly liquor store report, which showed that combined gross sales for the month were up 2 percent from last year and the net revenues for the month were up 4.75 percentage of sales from the prior year. 

• Heard the NY Mills Fire Department responded to 20 calls in the month of March, a majority of which were medical calls.

• Heard the monthly report from the police department, which showed 148 calls for service in March. The police department responded to five citations, issued 34 warnings and made no arrests. 

• Approved purchasing two additional line locating machines due to a projected increased in the number of Gopher State One Calls the utility department will likely receive in the next couple of years due to Arvig and MidCo fiber installation projects. The utility department typically responds to 200-250 locate tickets per year, which utility supervisor Kyle Mattson said the department can handle with their current equipment. However, Mattson expects that number to triple and potentially quadruple in 2023-24. The city approved purchasing a new locator from Locators and Supplies for $5,935 and a used locator for under $1,000 from an area locating company. 

• Approved a change for the summer swimming lessons, which will now include a week of special evening sessions in late July for levels 1-5. The addition of evening sessions was made to provide residents the chance to take swimming lessons in town who may not otherwise be able to take the lessons during the day. 

• Approved three ordinances following a public hearing on each of the proposed ordinances. The ordinances that were approved included: an ordinance regulating nonessential water usage upon critical water deficiency as authorized by the state, an ordinance regulating specifications for cross connections and back flow prevention in potable water systems and an ordinance to enact a new chapter of the code of the ordinances to administer and regulate the public rights-of-way in the public interest and to provide for the issuance and regulation of the right-of-way permits. 

• The city also held a hearing on an ordinance prohibiting private wells for domestic use on properties within the city and serviced by the city water system. Following the public hearing, the city tabled the ordinance for further research and information.

• Heard from Jerry Nesland about different options to communicating with the public about city matters. Nesland highlighted options including putting a summary of minutes in the newspaper to columns, placing the agenda on the city website and better signage for city office buildings. 

• Approved a formal usage agreement between the City of NY Mills and the NY Mills baseball and softball associations for the use of Smith Park and Lund Park.