Public Notices August 20

Winthrop City Council
Meeting Minutes
Monday, July 7, 2025
A Regular Meeting of the City Council of the City of Winthrop was called to order at 7 p.m. on July 7th, in the city council chambers of the City Hall, for the purpose of conducting city business.
Councilors Present: Mayor Trebelhorn, Councilors Wickenhauser, Pierson, O’Connor, Stoll and Santelman
Councilors Absent: None
Staff Present: City Administrator Michael Looft, City Clerk Heather Haun, Chief of Police Logan Anderson.
CALL TO ORDER
Mayor Trebelhorn took a moment to talk about the tragic events that happened with the MN elected officials Hortman and Hoffman families. Encouraging the public to not assume ill intent from council or city staff reminding all that we are people first with hope and dreams of a better community.
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
2.1 Establish Current Agenda Motion by Wickenhauser to accept the agenda, seconded by Pierson. Motion carried unanimously.
CONSENT AGENDA
4.1 Approval of Minutes: May 5, 2025
4.2 Approval of Financials: May 2025
4.3 Water Sewer Adjustment Requests: Gomez, Messerli, White/Schwartz, Haines
Motion by Santelman to approve the consent agenda, seconded by Stoll. Motion carried unanimously.
NEW BUSINESS
4.1 Flags on Polls (I) Recently the council directed staff to get an estimate on flags on light polls. Staff would like some clarification on how much they would like us to budget next year, where the flag holders would go, and if we want to have an alternative banner instead of flags. As a review, staff generally put flags down on Main Street, not 2nd Street. If the City Council directs us to put them on Highway 19 MN DOT would like to have a conversation about line of sight and restriction/regulations (minimum regulations attached). Public Works would appreciate it if they could be put up by hand, not by bucket truck. Discussion: $850 Main St, $700 2nd Street (one flag) $1700 Main St, $1400 (2nd Street) 17 down Main and 14 down 2nd St. Banners take two brackets and a poll: $3100 Main St, 2nd St $3000. In the 1990’s there were flags on Hwy 19; however, we would need to get approval from MNDOT again and they have certain specifics that would need to be. With the construction that is coming in 2029 for Hwy 19 the poll will likely change. Ask staff to put together a proposal for next month and layout. Check with local community groups if they would be willing to help with banners.
4.2 STREAMS Letter of Support (A) As the council may remember, we asked for direct state spend of $4,000,000 on engineering and consulting costs. This was done in conjunction with Lafayette, New Auburn, and Gibbon. The sample letter of support is due in September; we will upload it with the rest of our documentation for funding.
STREAMS is a 10-year vision. Just for EPA review it takes almost two years. We have recently switched engineering firms. These letters are used for preliminary engineering documents and allows the state to see that all of the city councils are interested in this project. Motion by O’Conner accepting the letter of support, seconded by Stoll. Motion carried unanimously.
4.3 Out of State Travel Policy (A) During our last audit the audit team identified a non-compliance item that the city did not have on file a travel policy that directly states specifics when traveling out of state. Part of the state compliance checklist includes this out-of-state policy. The policy that staff have prepared follows state guidelines and reimbursement policies that are similar or identical to cities in Minnesota. Motion by O’Conner approving the travel policy, seconded by Pierson. Motion carried unanimously.
4.4 Resolution 2025-021 Utility Collections (A) Motion by Stoll approving the utility collection write-offs, seconded by O’Conner. Motion carried unanimously.
4.5 Resolution 2025-022 BCA Joint Powers Agreements of the City of Winthrop (A) This is a fairly common agreement between the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) and the City of Winthrop with regards to prosecution and investigative driven tasks. Cities are required to have these agreements when it comes to using BCA services. Motion by Pierson accepting the joint powers agreement, seconded by Santelman. Motion carried unanimously.
4.6 Order for Abatement of 101 N Hennepin – Declaring 101 N Hennepin building hazardous (A) Motion by O’Conner approving the declaration of 101 N Hennepin, seconded by Wickenhauser. Motion carried unanimously.
COMMITTEE NOTICES
& UPDATES
Administration – There is a lot of progress in the park right now, the splash pad is behind; however, they will have cement to walk on for FCFF. The playground is as safe as a playground in your backyard to play on, that is why they are not roped off. The dirt piles might remain due to wanting to use them for leveling out the ball field. Reminder that the GFW building discussions will be on July 21st at City Hall with cost estimates and brainstorming to take place. There has been a lot happening with the EDA lately and there will be some significant projects that will be coming up soon. The Winthrop Laundromat is looking great with their Façade Grant that they utilized. Mary Hodson is our REV coach for Fairfax, Gibbon and Winthrop. She has met with several entrepreneurs lately in all three communities. We are working to partner with Region 9 and SMIF on some loans. Santelman asked about getting another beauty salon in Winthrop. Looft explained that there is a lot of hours that is needed for a licensure.
Utilities – Next MMPA meeting is the annual meeting July 22nd.
Ambulance – Main rig was out of service for a couple of days due to a cot issue. Some of the candidates have gone through their four tests, some have chosen to separate, some are going through remediation. The cadet program is still moving forward.
Library – Board didn’t meet in June. There are family activities on Saturday during FCFF and a float in the parade.
Police – Responded to 828 total calls for the first half of the year. Nick is settling in with his K9 partner. We have been asked to assist in other places out of Winthrop, and they have provided a positive impact not only for Winthrop but other communities as well. Pierson inquired about the hours that the K9 works. Chief Anderson spoke about the hours of the K9. Nash has been deployed approximately 13 times in the short amount of time he has been fully trained. O’Connor has asked if anyone has expressed a want to become a phlebotomist. Anderson spoke about using the other partners around us and why it is helpful with drug DWI cases.
Public Works – There was a small electrical outage. Thanks to the AMI System we were able to pinpoint the location in which the outage started saving time in searching for the issue at hand. They have been running new electrical in the park and planning for future use. MMUA is here training this month and there will be some high-line replacement parts put in place.
Cable Commission – Met on June 25, Commission Gatton verbally resigned, Trebelhorn will take his place as chair. Payment for the Gaylord baseball field was approved. Improved reimbursement for the City of Winthrop for a new TV Screen.
RS Fiber – There was an informational letter sent out from Mark Erickson, Mayor Trebelhorn read the letter. There isn’t a joint powers board meeting scheduled at this time. The intention right now is if the company would be sold the terms would include paying off the bonds the cities used to finance the project.
ADJOURNMENT
Motioned to adjourn the meeting at 8:02 PM by Wickenhauser, seconded by O’Conner. Motion to adjourn carried.
Michael Looft
City Administrator