ELECTED – New Ellendale city council person Stephanie Lageson-Kibbler, new Mayor Mark Skroch and returning councilman Scott Groth. Submitted photo
By SCOTT GROTH
Contributing Writer
The Ellendale City Council met for the first time in 2015 on Thursday, January 8. Present at the meeting was outgoing Mayor, Roger Swearingen, newly elected Mayor Mark Skroch, Councilman Goebel, re-elected Councilman Groth and newly elected Council person Stephanie Lageson-Kibbler. Also at the meeting was LeeAnn Hojberg-Clerk, Josh Otto-Maintenance, Pete Paulson-Municipal Liquor Store Manager and Steve Engel.
The meeting was called to order by outgoing Mayor Swearingen. Swearingen called on Clerk Hojberg to administer the swearing in of the three elected individuals. Being sworn in this evening were Mark Skroch-Mayor, Scott Groth-Council and Stephanie Lageson-Kibbler-Council. After taking the oath of office Mayor Skroch took over the meeting as presiding officer.
The agenda was approved as presented.
The first order of business for the new council was to approve resolution 01-08-15-01 approving Mayor Skroch as an approved signature on City checks. At the same time the council made a motion that would release Swearingen’s name as an approved signature on City checks.
Mayor Skroch next went over the City appointments for 2015. Some of the noteworthy appointments were Official Depository -1st National Bank Waseca-Ellendale Branch, Official Newspaper-NRHEG Star Eagle, Acting Mayor-Scott Groth, Liquor Commissioners-Skroch & Groth, Buildings and Ground- Lassahn and Kibbler, EDA Board-Kibbler & Groth, Animal Office-Otto, Weed Inspector-Otto and Emergency Management-Mark Lee. The remainder of the appointments will stay the same as 2014.
Clerk Hojberg informed the Council that the Fire Department contracts with area townships were ready to be signed and delivered. These contracts are for fire protection.
The claims were presented by Clerk Hojberg for council approval. After reviewing the claims the council moved to approve the claims as presented. The total for the claims was $41,770.37.
The minutes from the 11-13-14 and the 12-11-14 meetings were presented for approval. After review the council moved to approve the minutes as presented.
Mayor Skroch was next on the agenda with any items he may have for the council. Skroch told the council that he is still trying to get up to speed on budget and projects that are ongoing within the City. Skroch told the council that he has some areas of interest, for example the Sherriff protection contract. Skroch said he will be looking into the contract.
During the open discussion for the council, new Council person Kibbler asked the council to consider providing more social media for the residents of Ellendale. She will work with both Clerk Hojberg and Asst. Clerk Zimprich on this task. The council discussed looking into the possibility of updating the Community Building. This has been discussed in the past. Buildings and Grounds will look into the matter.
Josh Otto was recognized if he had any business for the council. Otto told the council he had nothing. Mayor Skroch told Otto that he had received many good comments about Otto’s snowplowing of the streets.
Pete Paulson was next on the agenda and Paulson told the council he had one item for the council to consider. Paulson said that he was down one cook and would like to have the council approve an applicant. Paulson told the council that he would like to recommend Shane Johnson be hired as cook. The council approved the hire.
The next meeting of the Ellendale City Council will be on January 22, 2015 at 7:30 p.m.