In another very speedy meeting, the Becker City Council reviewed committee reports, altered committee assignments,  a budget request, acknowledged the police department and approved a resolution to apply for a grant through the Initiative Foundation.

 

 

Council approved  and authorized staff to seek and accept grant funds from the Initiative Foundation for the purpose of assisting in economic development and coal transition efforts. 

 

Marie Pflipsen said the Initiative Foundation’s  grant opportunity would be to assist Becker with economic transition efforts —including grant writing, comprehensive plan update, and economic development and policy events. 

 

The 2019 budget includes funding for the above areas, she said. 

 

“The initiative Foundation funding will help bolster and expand our opportunities for grants and events,” Pflipsen said. “In addition, the funding will help towards additional economic development goals into the comp plan update process. 

 

 

The Becker Police Dept. — along with their law enforcement partners of Elk River, Big Lake, Sherburne County Sheriff and the MN State Patrol — were designated  recently as the 2018 Commissioner's Award recipients. 

 

This award was handed out June 5 to the above listed agencies by Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington. The award recognizes the law enforcement departments for their work and commitment to the Toward Zero Deaths enforcement projects for the timeframe of October 2017 -September 2018. 

 

Projects conducted include: DUI enforcement, seat belt enforcement and distracted  driving.

 

The Becker PD and their partners were selected under the  following criteria: 

 

• Demonstrated continuous coordinated enforcement efforts throughout the year;

 

• Timely and accurate grant reporting and invoicing;

 

• Short reports were completed by all partner agencies during the grant year;

 

• Citations generally exceeded warnings.

 

• Participated in traffic safety community awareness and education activities such as school programs, media events, child passenger safety clinics, etc;

 

• If applicable, active participation with local TZD Safe Roads Coalitions.

 

The TZD Program is a program that is funded by the Office of Traffic Safety and provides overtime hours to officers to work the various projects. The funds are  reimbursed by the grant agency, the Elk River Police Dept. 

 

In addition to the award, Becker PD was recognized for its enforcement efforts in crosswalk safety, which is likely to become a model for Sherburne County and other areas. Officer Chris Lindbloom also received a Leadership Award for his work with the program and for being the coordinator for the Becker PD. 

 

A plaque was received by Chief Baloun from Commissioner Harrington. This is the first time that Sherburne County law enforcement has been recognized for their efforts. 

 

 

Pflipsen said State of Minnesota's Bonding Bill process requires communities to submit bonding requests to Minnesota Management and Budget through the Capital Budget System. 

 

She said city staff is proposing to submit a capital budget request of $22 million for the buildout of infrastructure for the expanded Becker Business Park. The bonding request required the city to pass a resolution of support of the project, which they did. 

 

 

With the swearing in of new council member Becky Olmscheid, committee assignments were reviewed and changes recommended. Resolution 19-35 revised Resolution 19-01 changing the committee assignments  with Olmscheid joining budget and finance, fire joint powers board, personnel and police management. Troy Cox moved from budget and finance to firefighter’s relief association and Mike Doering to golf management. 

 

 

The next Becker City Council meeting is July 3 1t 5 p.m.