Public Notices October 15

Winthrop City Council
Meeting Minutes
Monday, September 8, 2025
A Regular Meeting of the City Council of the City of Winthrop was called to order at 7 p.m. on September 8th, 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:
Staff Present: City Administrator Michael Looft, City Clerk Heather Haun,
Call to Order
Approval of Agenda
Establish Current Agenda Motion by O’Connor to accept the agenda as presented. Second by Wickenhauser. Motion carried unanimously.
Consent Agenda
3.1 Approval of Minutes: August 8, 2025
3.2 Approval of Financials: August 2025
3.3 Pay Equity Yearly Evaluation from MN Management and Budget
Motion by Stoll to approve the consent agenda, seconded by O’Connor. Motion carried unanimously.
Public Hearing
4.1 Police Policy #17 Update: Body Worn Cameras & Retention Schedule. Motion by Pierson to open the public hearing. Second, by Wickenhauser. Motion carried.
During the audit section I and the retention schedule had some minor changes to the policy that came up in the recent audit. Some of the changes came from updates to the Minnesota State Statute.
Mark Santelman spoke. He had general questions about the policy. Motion by Stoll to close, seconded by Wickenhauser. Motion carried.
New Business
5.1 Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities – Darrin Lee (I) An update on the last legislative session was given to the council members. LGA is a primary issue that they work on among other items. A handout was given with the outcomes on certain issues, events that are coming up, and staff contacts for the CGMC. Darrin went through a power point for the legislature update.
5.2 Personnel Policy Update for Paid Family Medical Leave (I) Staff are working on a policy update for the personnel handbook that includes the mandatory Paid Family Medical Leave for the state of Minnesota. This will be our first attempt at language for the new policy guided by LMC and MN DEED.
5.3 Electrical Rates – Demand (A) Current demand rates for commercial spaces have risen since last updating them in 2023. The current loss on this account line is over $150,000. To balance, at the end of the year we are asking council to make a mid-year adjustment to demand accounts. It would raise the current rate of $6.50 to $12.92 for the remainder of the year until staff has time to evaluate.
Looft explained that in 2017 there was a rate study done and the information that was presented back then stated the demand needed to be raised. Spoke about the reasons the fund needs to be in the positive and what the cost of repairs for things are. Santelman asked why it had been running at a deficit. Trebelhorn explained that in 2017 when the study was done there wasn’t a rate increase.
Motion by Pierson, Second by O’Connor. Motion Carried.
5.4 Resolution 2025-023 Hiring PT Police Officer Nick Erickson (A) Chief Anderson has gone through a full background check and is requesting to hire another part-time reserve officer to help fill gaps in coverage when full-time officers take vacation or need to miss work. This would add bench strength to our roster.
Motion by Pierson, Second by Stoll. Motion Carried.
5.5 Resolution 2025-024 Police Department Schedule Restructure (A) As requested by council previously, we are presenting a new schedule for the assistant police chief position that includes weekends and a supervisory role. Please see the attached schedule for more details.
Motion by Stoll approving changes, Second by Wickenhauser. Motion Carried.
5.6 Police Policy #17 Update – Body Worn Cameras & Retention (A) Updates to this policy include the use of body worn cameras and the retention of evidence for video footage. The policy is part of the ongoing efforts to ensure compliance with Minnesota State Statutes regarding body worn cameras (BWC).
Motion by Wickenhauser approving changes to the policy, Second by O’Connor. Motion Carried.
5.7 Property Line & Easement Agreement – Kruempelstaedter & Biermann (A) This property line adjustment has been approved by planning and zoning and now the governing body must sign off on it. Staff recommends that the parties involved ensure that it is recorded accurately at Sibley County and that they meet the county requirements.
Motion by Stoll approving property line change & easement, Second by Pierson. Motion Carried.
5.8 Perennial Bank – Account Review (A) Recently, one of the City’s savings accounts incurred a fee after funds were withdrawn to support our 4M investment. At this time, the Fire Department checking account does not earn interest, while the Ambulance checking account does. To maximize the City’s funds and avoid unnecessary fees, staff are requesting council approval to close the Perennial Savings Money Market account—due to its associated costs—and transition the Fire Department checking account into an interest-bearing account. Resolution 2025-025 outlines this in resolution format since it does deal with our money accounts.
Motion by Wickenhauser approving, Second by O’Connor. Santelman abstained. Motion Carried.
COMMITTEE NOTICES
& UPDATES
Administration – STREAMS is hiring SEH to conduct the rest of the studies; the appropriations committee may come through Winthrop. We have meetings set for September, October and December. Parks has had some setbacks from the splash pad company. They subcontracted the cement slab to be poured. There are chalk lines all over with the imperfections in the concrete. Right now we are in the middle of conflict resolution to replace the entire pad or put down a rubber mat to even out the problems. VADA would like to complete their portion and they can’t due to CRS holding it up. We are not the only city having these problems from this company and are in conversations with them as well. We are still waiting for a response from the CRS company. Plan to have some estimates on the baseball lights. New systems are 450,000 – 500,000. The GFW meetings will hopefully have a recap in October. The EDA has been really busy, there are two new businesses starting both asking for GAP financing. Mary has been making great progress in the three cities with businesses. Reminder to council members about when to ask from items to be placed on the agenda. The ambulance building will meet sometime in the week of the 22nd, going over affordability and then they will be coming to council. They have met with our building code inspector to make sure they are complying.
Public Works/Utility– They are working on fall items right now, they will be flushing hydrants soon. Martha was not able to make it to the meeting. Looft advised that they have been talking about transmission lines and the new Solar farm just went online.
Ambulance – A couple more cadets have passed their FISDAPS and will be progressing on.
Police – Nick and Nash have been really busy. Looft spoke about the collaboration and great teamwork for a local event that recently occurred.
Cable Commission – Approved and denied grants. Next meeting Sept 24.
ADJOURNMENT
Motioned to adjourn by Wickenhauser the meeting at 8:09 PM by, seconded by O’Connor. Motion to adjourn carried.
Michael Looft
City Administrator
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City of Winthrop
City Council Meeting Minutes
Monday September 22, 2025
A special meeting of the city council of the City of Winthrop was called to order at 7PM on September 22, 2025, 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:
Staff Present: City Administrator Michael Looft, City Clerk Heather Haun,
Call to Order
Approval of Agenda
2.1 Establish Current Agenda
Motion by Pierson to accept the agenda as presented. Second by Stoll. Motion carried unanimously.
New Business
3.1 Resolution 2025-027 – 2026 Preliminary Tax Levy.
Motion by Wickenhauser to accept the preliminary tax levy as presented. Second by Santelman. Motion carried unanimously.
ADJOURNMENT
Motioned to adjourn by Wickenhauser the meeting at 8:37 PM by, seconded by Stoll. Motion to adjourn carried.
Michael Looft
City Administrator
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NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
You are hereby notified that a public hearing will be held by the Sibley County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday, October 28, 2025, to begin at 10:00 a.m. in the Sibley County Courthouse, Commissioner’s Room (2nd floor), 400 Court Avenue, Gaylord, MN 55334.
The purpose of the said public hearing is to consider moving the position of the Sibley County Auditor-Treasurer from an elected position to an appointed position.
You may appear if you so desire, either in person or by agent or attorney, in opposition to or support of the proposed request.
If you are unable to attend in person, please reach out to Marilee Peterson, the Sibley County Administrator, or to your County Commissioner: Lyle Grochow, Keith Hennen, Peter Koch, Christian Lilienthal, or Steve Saxton. Contact information is available at www.sibleycounty.gov
SIBLEY COUNTY BOARD
Date: October 7, 2025
By: /s/ Marilee Peterson
Sibley County Administrator
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