The council continued discussion of a Public Works building from its March 28 workshop. Adding paved parking, and sewer easements are concerns for the new plans, as is equipment access to the proposed building through the fire hall parking lot. The council unanimously approved moving forward with the city’s engineer, SEH, on developing plans and seeking bids.
The council heard and approved results of the 2022 audit of city accounts.
The April 3 meeting began with the yearly Board of Equalization.
Continuing their discussion from last month about having an agreement with the local amateur baseball team, the Kimball Express, the council referenced a similar agreement from Dassel. Council concern is that, without an agreement, the city is paying for upkeep and utilities for the ball field and concession stand, without financial input from the team.
The city would also like to have a schedule for use of the ball field. The Kimball Express, high school baseball team, and Legion baseball all use the city’s baseball field. If the city kept a schedule, then they will be able schedule public use of the field as requested.
They discussed a property on Highway 15 in the city that is zoned commercial but has received many resident complaints about unsightly storage around the building. The council would like to enforce its nuisance ordinances this Spring. There was discussion about clarifying those ordinances that may be ambiguous.
The council held a workshop on March 28 for about an hour and a half. They discussed 2021 plans for a Public Works building; at that time, cost estimates were $350-400,000, and current cost is estimated at $500,000. Those at the meeting agreed that they would prefer to have a separate Public Works building rather than adding on to the current Fire Hall. Adding paved parking is part of the cost estimate.
At that workshop, the council had no report on the ball field fence, acknowledged that there is insufficient interest in having chickens in town so there is no need to change that ordinance. And those present toured the former library space to determine its future use. Both the Public Works building and library space would be further discussed at the April 3 meeting.
Kimball city council meetings are live-streamed on Facebook, and the recordings also may be viewed later. The next regular meeting of the Kimball city council will be at 6 p.m. Monday, May 1.