John Carlson talks with fellow City Council members Darlene Kotelnicki, sitting, and Betty Allen during the city’s open house last week.
Council member Sarah Miller takes notes as she listens to resident Jim Ellingson talk with others about the proposed wellness/recreation center.
City Administrator Dave Cziok explains details on one of the 30 projects on the city's capital plan.
Litchfield residents had an opportunity to look into the future last week, at least as it pertains to the city’s plans for investing in infrastructure and amenities.
In what some called a first-of-its-kind open house, residents were invited to review 33 projects that have been placed on the city’s Capital Improvement Plan calendar. The July 26 event allowed anyone interested about 45 minutes to check out project poster boards placed throughout the City Council chambers and in the City Hall entrance.
City Council members mingled with those who attended, listening to comments and questions. That was followed by a brief presentation from City Administrator Dave Cziok and City Engineer Chuck DeWolf, and then an open forum for residents to speak about the plans.
“There are 30 projects that are out here in front of you,” Cziok said. “It’s a pretty big (list) compared to what we’ve looked at previously with our capital improvement plans.”
All told, the plan includes 33 projects carrying a price tag of about $43 million. The plan includes some projects slated to be undertaken this year, including a $3.5 million digester project at the city’s wastewater plant, as well as a canopy for Optimist Park, rehabilitation of tennis courts and creation of a dog park.
In addition, the calendar lists eight projects total nearly $8 million in 2022 and six projects totaling nearly $15 million in 2023. Investment from 2024 through 2026 ranges from $3.4 million to $7.6 million.
Financing the various projects would be done through a combination of tax increases and utility rate increases, Cziok explained. Each of the project boards included the method of funding for the individual project.
“Whether we show it as taxes on a sheet and it turns into rates later on is kind of inconsequential, because we need that revenue somehow, some way from our citizens in order to fund the debt associated with these projects,” Cziok said. “So if you haven’t had a chance to take a look, I would take at look at that.”
Other funding mechanisms could be considered, too, Cziok said, including other rates increases or additions.
“One of the things we could do … is take a look at a stormwater utility that a lot of other communities have that we don’t,” Cziok added. “Right now, again, to me, it’s a chicken-and-the-egg thing. It’s still, we need to collect that revenue from our residents in some shape or form.”
Cziok said after discussing the Capital Improvement Plan with the City Council, he reviewed the city’s utility rates, comparing to other communities with similar situations to Litchfield. That review, he said, showed Litchfield’s rates are “extremely competitive.”
“In our own vacuum it feels like these utilities are expensive,” Cziok said. “Right now, again, with the cities that we traditionally use to compare ourselves (to), we are third from the bottom of that list, and doing quite well, to be honest with you.”
Even forecasting electric, water and sewer rates out three years, he said, the city’s rates will be in about the same spot in the ranking among its municipal peers, raising the average resident’s bill by about $11 over that period.
“So I think you can see it’s still affordable, anyway, to live in our community,” Cziok added.
All that said, Cziok reminded those at the open house that the purpose of the gathering was to gain feedback from residents.
“What tonight is about for us — the Council, staff — we want to find out what the community’s appetite for accomplishing these projects is,” he said. “And we want to hear your feedback, particularly on the grand scale of things, how aggressive we are or aren’t.”
As the meeting opened to public comments, several residents and other public officials strode to the microphone to express their opinions.
Jeanie Shoultz Doran, a long-time Litchfield resident, handed out a one-page letter to city staff and City Council members, then encouraged them to pay attention to needs of seniors.
“I think this town meeting is a really good resource, and I hope we have another one where we can explore some more ideas about seniors and what they need,” Doran said.
She was among many residents who also supported a wellness/recreation center, but with a focus on space for senior activities.
Litchfield School Board chairman Darrin Anderson and Superintendent Beckie Simenson also spoke in favor of a cooperative effort between the city and school district to make a wellness/recreation center a reality.
“I just want to compliment Mr. Cziok and Mr. DeWolf, as well as the whole Council, for having this kind of meeting,” Simenson said. “You know, I’ve been pulling up records from 2003 about the wellness/rec center, and the timing is right, we’re all working together.”
Another resident spoke about the water and sewer plant projects being critical needs for city residents. Additionally, she questioned electric and water meter upgrades that would cost the city a total of $2 million, while potentially eliminating a staff position. Finally, she also asked about a parking lot project at Litchfield Golf Club and whether some of the costs might be covered by Golf Club Inc., rather than the city.
Norann Dillon, who described herself as a resident of the city for less than a year, thanked the City Council for its work in putting together the Capital Improvement Plan. She also encouraged the city to look at state legacy amendment funds as potential sources of funding for the larger water projects in the plan.
“We always are looking for grant opportunities,” DeWolf responded. “Several (past projects) have gone through what’s called the Public Facilities Authority when it relates to water and wastewater.”
Resident Bill Hicks asked about upgrades at Jaycee Park on Lake Ripley, as well as the former tent camping area near the park.
“With the amount of use our lake gets, I would think that we (could) get another couple of families a weekend to spend money in this town if they could tent camp, with (other) campgrounds being full all the time and whatnot.”
As comments came to an end, Mayor Keith Johnson thanked people for attending and encouraged them to share the word on the CIP.
“As you walk in the community, talk to other people … and encourage them to know that the city is looking forward to keeping our city strong. And if we’ve got somebody out there that’s got strong feelings about anything, one way or the other, to get to us. It means a lot.”
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A drawing by Oertel Architects offered a first look at how a wellness/recreation center could be laid out. This initial plan, presented in September 2019, was used to illustrate the city’s ideas when the Minnesota House of Representatives Bonding Committee visited the city.
Darrin Anderson
A week after a city council member urged his fellow councilors to move ahead with a wellness/recreation center, that charge found additional backing from individuals and another governmental entity last week.
During an open house July 26 designed to give the public an opportunity to learn about — and sound off on — the city’s five-year capital improvement plan, the wellness/recreation center received more attention than any of the other 32 projects.
“We are looking forward and wanting to partner on this wellness/rec center,” Darrin Anderson, chairman of the Litchfield School Board, said during a public comment portion of the open house. “We will do everything in our power … work very closely, on something that benefits not just the school district but the city of Litchfield for years to come.”
The school district and city have had off-and-on discussions about a wellness/recreation center for several years, as both entities explored ways to meet a perceived need for a facility that could include a swimming pool, basketball courts, walking track and other activity spaces.
The school district included a new swimming pool as part of a third question in its 2019 referendum. Though two other measures — one for an excess levy and the other for $32.9 million in bonds to make upgrades at district schools — passed, the $11.43 million question that included a pool and soccer field failed.
But Anderson offered full-throated support for a wellness/recreation center effort in which the city and school district cooperated on a facility that could satisfy many things, including a pool.
“The school district and community as one … can achieve great things,” Anderson said.
That pitch was previewed one week earlier when Council member John Carlson spent more than five minutes reading from a prepared statement in which he encouraged the City Council to “unite, look at this project as a plus, not a negative and run with it.”
The city has a tremendous opportunity to make a wellness/recreation center happen, Carlson said, because of two bills passed by the Minnesota Legislature. One of those provides a $5 million grant to the city to fund construction of a wellness center; the other permits the city to hold a referendum on a half-cent sales tax that could bring in another $7 million to fund construction of a facility.
The grant, part of the state bonding bill, includes wording requiring the city to collaborate with the school district on the wellness/recreation center.
Support for that collaboration didn’t just come from elected officials. During the public comment period of the open house, three people spoke in favor of making a wellness/recreation center – including a pool – a reality.
“This is an amenity this community needs, deserves,” said Jim Ellingson, a Litchfield resident who served on the school board from 2010-2013. He said as a board member he was part of four or five referendum efforts, including some that would have improved the swimming pool at the high school, but “nothing’s ever happened.”
As a supporter of wrestling, swimming and hockey programs at LHS, he said, he knows “it takes space to run tournaments” and a wellness/recreation center could provide that space.
Holly Fleming, a Litchfield residents who ran for City Council in 2020, said she has five children who are swimmers, and she knows “the need and the want for a pool is huge in the swimming community.”
Miranda Gohn, another Litchfield resident, said she supported the wellness/recreation center concept because of its potential versatility of offering education, physical and mental health, “for all age ranges; it would be an asset to our community.” She said she was willing to help in any way she could to support and/or promote construction of a facility.
That support went beyond the open house, as well, with the subject arising at the Litchfield School Board meeting, which happened less than an hour later.
Board members Greg Mathews and Julie Rae Pennertz joined Anderson during the board’s discussion period in supporting efforts to build a facility.
Mathews said that though the school district’s third referendum question focusing on funding for a swimming pool failed two years ago, “we spent very little time pushing for that pool. And so now that we got proposition one and two in the books, we can really go after proposition three.
“I mean,” Mathews said, “we have the opportunity to do something here that would be marvelous for this community for the next half century.”
Pennertz said that while the district needs a replacement for the current high school pool, which is “really in tough shape” it will be important that wellness/recreation center go beyond a pool.
“We have to look at how we not only serve our students through the pool … but we also have to look at how we can support the community as a whole,” Pennertz added. “I think we need to say, yes, we need the pool, but we are here to support the whole rest of the thing and find ways (to help) the health and the wellness of our constituents within the school district.’
Presenting a shared vision with the city that explains that the pool the school district wants is part of the larger wellness center will be a key, Anderson agreed.
“I’ll say here, I’ll be danged if I’m gonna let that wellness center fail,” Anderson said. “I will … blood, sweat and tears.
“We have our building projects going on, but we have some experience to help. I think we have the manpower to help,” Anderson added. “So I’ve committed to this school district to help the city get their message out, and to ensure that we get this thing becoming a reality.”
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Bull riding is coming to the Meeker County Fair 7:30-9:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 7.
The Meeker County Fair is back this week.
After a pandemic-forced cancellation in 2020, the fair returns with a full slate of activities Thursday through Sunday at the fairgrounds in Litchfield.
Hours for the fair are 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $5 for adults 18 and older and $3 for students, with no charge for children 10 and younger. No admission will be charged Sunday.
Among the attractions this year are three grandstand events. A tractor pull is set for 7 p.m. Thursday, with an "ATV Big Air Show" set for 7 p.m. Friday. Saturday's grandstand attraction is a bull riding competition, which begins at 7:30 p.m. Grandstand admission is $10 each night for those 5 and older.
Other events on the fair schedule include:
Thursday
3 p.m. — Carnival rides open; 8-11 p.m. SubZero Entertainment DJ in the Towmaster Tent.
Friday
10 a.m. — Magic Show by Kevin Hall (also at 11:30 a.m., 3 p.m.) in the Towmaster Tent; 10 a.m. — Rainbow Singers perform in the bandshell; 11 a.m. — Euchre Tournament in the Beer Garden; 11 a.m.-1 p.m. — Lunch at the Fair offers free admission to those who show a business card or wear company apparel; 11 a.m. — Carnival opens; 11:30 a.m. — Bell Choir (also 4:35 p.m.) performs in the Bandshell; Noon — Everett Smithson 45 Show in the Bandshell; 1 p.m. — Senior Volunteer Awards in the Bandshell; 2-9 p.m. — Dunk Tank; 2 p.m. — Swinging Country (also 4:30 p.m.) in Bandshell; 6:30 p.m. — Raptor Show in Bandshell; 8:30-11:30 p.m. — Side Hustle performs in the Towmaster Tent.
Saturday
10 a.m. — Kids Pedal Pull in front of Commercial Building 1; 10 a.m. — Kevin Hall Magic Show (also 1:30, 5 p.m.) at Bandshell; 11 a.m. — Carnival opens; 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. — Dunk Tank; Noon-1 p.m. — Tie-Dye projects at DTS Tent; 12:45 p.m. — Stick Horse Contest at Sheriff's Building; 3 p.m. — 4-H Arts-In Performance (also 7 p.m.) at Bandshell; 4 p.m. — 4-H Blue Ribbon Dairy Auction at Steffes Arena; 4-7 p.m. — Revved Up, a variety band, performs in the Towmaster Tent; 5 p.m. — 4-H Livestock Auction; 9 p.m.-1 a.m. — The Hit List performs in Towmaster Tent.
Sunday
10 a.m. — Church service led by Cornerstone Church at Bandshell; 11:15 a.m.-2:15 p.m. — Lego Contest at Old White Barn; Noon-4 p.m. — Backyard Creations at DTS Tent; Noon — Carnival opens; 12:15 p.m. — Kiddie Parade; 12:30 p.m. — Minnesota Woman's Equestrienne Drill Team at Horse Arena; 1 p.m. — Kevin Hall Magic Show (also 3:30 p.m.) at Bandshell; 1:45-2:30 p.m. — Lego Contest open public viewing, winners announced at 2:30 p.m.; 2 p.m. — 4-H Arts In Performance (also 4 p.m.) at Bandshell.
Superintendent Beckie Simenson
Minnesota officials last week backed new federal coronavirus guidance recommending that everyone wear masks indoors when schools reopen later this summer and fall.
That means everyone: students, teachers and staff, vaccinated and unvaccinated.
However, Litchfield Public Schools Superintendent Beckie Simenson, responding to a comment string on the Facebook page Real Life in Litchfield, MN, said the district does not plan a mask mandate at this time.
The guidance last week from the Department of Education with the support of the Department of Health, should come as little surprise, since the delta variant of the coronavirus is spreading rapidly, finding fertile grounds in unvaccinated youth.
The total rise in cases across the nation is also being followed by a rise in the number of “breakthrough cases” — infections among the vaccinated — although much is not understood about the dynamics of these cases and the wider risk they might pose to public health.
Doctors, epidemiologists and public health experts urge everyone to get vaccinated, emphasizing they are safe and effective — especially effective at severe illness, hospitalization and death.
Currently, no vaccines are approved for children younger than 12, and no approval is expected before school starts — a fact not lost on parents, educators and public health experts.
MORE RECCOMENDATIONS
Indoor universal masking isn’t the only recommendation Minnesota officials announced last week.
Others included:
- Get vaccinated: All people age 12 or older should get vaccinated for COVID-19 before returning to in-person school, sports, or other activities to protect themselves and people around them who cannot get vaccinated.
- Distancing: Schools should maintain at least 3 feet of physical distance between students within classrooms whenever possible.
- Stay home: Students, teachers and staff should stay home if they have signs of any infectious illness, and should contact their health care provider for testing and care. Students, teachers and staff who have been fully vaccinated do not need to stay home, even if they have had recent close contact with a confirmed case so long as they remain asymptomatic and do not test positive. Follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention testing guidance for anyone exposed to a confirmed case.
- Get tested: People who are not fully vaccinated and returning to in-person school, sports, or extracurricular activities (and their families) should get tested regularly for COVID-19, according to CDC guidance.
- Ventilation: Schools should continue to strengthen good ventilation, rapid and thorough contact tracing in combination with isolation and quarantine, handwashing, respiratory etiquette, cleaning, and disinfection as important layers of prevention to keep schools safe.
‘CRITICAL’ FOR IN-PERSON
Since Minnesota is no longer in a state of emergency, none of these are mandates, state officials said. So ultimately, the decisions for each school would fall down the chain of governments that have power to determine such things: counties, cities and school boards.
Nonetheless, Education Commissioner Heather Mueller used the word “must” to emphasize how strongly she feels.
“In-person learning is critical, not only when it comes to academics, but also for our students’ social-emotional well-being and mental health,” Mueller said. “As we head back to school this fall, we must implement measures to protect the health and safety of all of our students, staff and families.”
WHY VACCINATED PEOPLE?
More than 99% of people currently hospitalized for COVID-19 are unvaccinated, state health officials have said.
But that’s hospitalizations — not cases.
The delta variant and the surge it’s fueling are poking holes in the idea that vaccines make people bulletproof to the virus.
In fact, fully vaccinated people are contracting the virus — and spreading it, officials have discovered. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Tuesday that this spread is especially tricky because those who are vaccinated are often unaware that they have it because their symptoms are mild or non-existent.
Walensky cited this as a major reason why the CDC has reversed course and now recommends even vaccinated people mask up when indoors in areas where cases have reached high enough levels. This includes 14 Minnesota counties: Cottonwood, Dodge, Isanti, Lake, Lake of the Woods, Mille Lacs, Pope, Redwood, Roseau, Scott, Swift, Traverse, Waseca and Wilkin.
