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Cyrus raises preliminary levy by 5%
Pope County Tribune - Starbuck Times
Written by Valerie Schmidt   
Wednesday, 17 September 2008 19:33

Pieske said their request to purchase the property had been turned down. Not because of price, the board was OK with that. The main concern was having young people involved in such activity in that close proximity to the elevator noting that the heaviest use of the facility would also be when the elevator would be having the heaviest traffic; namely, spring and fall.

The council will be reviewing two issues in regard to having a BMX bike trail and skateboard park in the future. The first and most important issue is finding a suitable space in town for the facility and second is financing.

The financing portion brought up discussion at utilizing the West Central Initiative Endowment Fund. The agency had recently requested a five year pledge of $400. The city has not utilized the agency although they have contributed to them for a number of years. The city is likely to turn to the Initiative Fund as plans develop for the park.

The council took action to increase the proposed levy and budget by 5 percent increasing the levy from $37,574 to $39,453 an increase of $1,879 for 2009. It was noted these figures cannot be increased, but in December the council can take action to reduce the proposed budget and levy.

Clerk Julie Rutter had researched a program Kids
Vote Minnesota Program which she felt would be useful for the children at the school. At first she was under the impression the program was available at little to no cost. However, she learned the cost of the program was $600.
Rutter said the Morris School has offered the program at the last election and a staff member there would be available for training. In the interim she had also learned there were grants available which brought the balance to $150. Rutter said she would be willing to teach the program as part of her work at the elementary school library.
When she had presented the program to the staff they were all for it; however, when they learned there was a cost to providing the program to students they were hesitant about proceeding. Clerk Rutter asked if they could use some of the money from Runestone Telephone. Council members agreed this would be a good way to use some of  this money as it would benefit the community and the students in the school as well. The request was granted.

In other business:

• Read and made a few changes in the letter to update residents on the feral/stray cat issues in Cyrus. The letter will be sent to all residents via the utility bill and those in rented properties will be sent the letter separately.
• Approved a building permit to Mark Osborn for a 12’ x 24’ addition to his garage.
• Discussed using the nuisance ordinance in regard to cars parked on city streets during snow removal.
• Discussed curfew and getting a timer installed on the siren and setting that to blow at 10 p.m.
• Learned the compost site will be open on October 11, October 25, and November 1, depending on the weather. The last date will either be closed or could be extended another week if needed.
• Authorized the purchase and installation of a commercial garage door opener for the firehall at a cost of $600. The only negative comment came from Mayor Roger Pieske who believes the local townships should become more involved in finances of building maintenance and upkeep rather than depending on the city. Council member Lee Krusemark agreed noting they should be meeting with  the townships to explain their future plans and presenting them with the actual costs of providing fire protection. During the discussion it was noted they had not increased rates for a number of years and were the lowest of the surrounding fire departments asking for financial support from the townships. The city agreed to pay one-half of the cost to install the door opener with the fire department paying the other one-half.
• Discussed salaries of city employees. It was agreed to increase mileage for the city police officer from $100 a month to $125 a month. All other salaries are to remain the same for the 2009 fiscal year.
• Learned Tuesday was the last day to file for city office. Positions open on the council is a two year mayoral position and two city positions. Only Roger Pieske has filed for mayor, and three have filed for the open positions on the council, namely, Lois Ness, and Allen Rutter, both incumbents, and Nola Smith.