The Becker City Council met Tuesday on a snowy night to discuss the swearing-in of new officers, an annual report from the county, an economic development award and the 2019 fee schedule.

 

 

Becker Police Chief Brent Baloun introduced three new officers to be sworn-in by Clerk Julie Blesi.

 

The first officer was Trevor Wolseth, who Baloun said was hired as a PT officer in August of 2017 but has since moved up to FT status one year ago. Wolseth was also a volunteer reserve officer and holds a bachelor’s degree in law enforcement from SCSU. Wolseth resides in St. Augusta with his future wife, Abby.

 

The second officer was Tyler Hecht. Hecht, Baloun said, was hired as a PT officer in May of 2018 and completed his field training program over the summer.

 

Hecht has a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from SCSU and was previously employed as a community service officer and PO with the St. Cloud Police Dept. He lives in Clearwater with his wife and two children.

 

Officer #3 was Tyler Lawson, the son of former BPD Officer Jason Lawson, who left the department for a job in Texas. Tyler also attended SCSU and is a proud member of the Minnesota National Guard. He works FT as a correctional officer with the Mille Lacs County Sheriff’s Dept.

 

Wolseth, Hecht and Lawson recited the oath of office and were “pinned” with their badges by family members.

 

 

Kathleen Heaney gave a report on the on-goings with the Sherburne County Attorney’s Office in 2018.

 

Heaney started off by thanking the city and the work of Baloun and his staff at the police department for being so thorough and willing to help the county with anything they require.

 

Heaney said that in 2018, 32 felony cases were opened by her office while 24 were closed. Another 24 of gross misdemeanors were opened while she closed 19 of that same category. 121 misdemeanors  and 37 petty misdemeanors were opened in 2018.

 

Heaney said her office has been working tightly with Becker Schools to bring safety to the school system. She said vaping is becoming quite an issue at schools as well as other addictions and mental health issues. She said she was grateful the schools have opened their doors to Victoria Powell, who has been doing presentations on bullying and cyber-bullying to the t=youths of Becker.

 

County-wide, Heaney says case loads have increased about three percent since last year, while gross misdemeanors has leveled off and misdemeanors has dropped slightly.

 

 

Clerk Blesi presented an update 2019 fee schedule to include changes to the water and sewer base and per gallon charges.

 

Apparently, when the fee schedule was last presented, the 2016 rate study that was recently completed did not include a proposed increase in the base and per gallon charges by two percent. That means the base charge for water for residents (per 1,000 gallons) would increase by two cents while 0-6,000 gallons would go up five cents, 6001 to 12,000 gallons would go up six cents and 12,001 and above would go up seven cents.

 

For commercial (per 1,000 gallons), the base charge would increase from $1.24 to $1.26 while 0-25,000 gallons would increase from $2.51 to $2.56. Twenty-five thousand one to 50,000 would increase from $2.86 to $2.92. Fifty thousand and one to 100,000 would increase from $3.27 to $3.34 and 100,001 and above would jump from $4.10 to $4.18.

 

The sewer up to 2,000 gallons would rise from $10.62 to $10.83 (minimum charge) and sewer 2,001 gallons and above would increase from $7.08 to $7.22 (per 1,000 gallons used).

 

 

The award handed out from the Economic Development Association of Minnesota to Marie Pflipsen is being covered in a separate story elsewhere in the Citizen-Tribune.

 

 

The next Becker City Council meeting is Feb. 19 at 6 p.m.