In Tuesday’s meeting, the Becker City Council heard a presentation on the county vaccination update and the Great River Regional Library.

Sherburne County COVID-19 Update

As Sherburne County moves forward with vaccination efforts, staff thought it would be prudent to keep the cities in the loop on how things are progressing.

Currently, groups able to receive the vaccine include first responders, healthcare professionals, and residents of long term care facilities. The county is waiting for the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) to give the go-ahead to move on to other groups, such as jail employees. 

The MDH asks that counties distribute 100% of their allotted vaccine within 72 hours, but only to those in the first priority group. This is frustrating, since everyone in that group who really wanted a vaccination has more than likely received it by now, and staff is finding it harder to fill appointment slots. As of Tuesday’s meeting, there were still about 200 appointments available. If the county fails to distribute all of the vaccine, it could mean that it is allocated less in the future. Some wiggle room is available in case of no-shows, in which case staff is allowed to call in a standby patient from a lower priority group. 

So far, the county has distributed 3,070 doses of the first round of vaccinations, and 700 people have received the full series.

To get an appointment, regardless of occupation, age, or living situation, Sherburne County residents can fill out a COVID-19 Vaccine Interest Form, which can be found at www.co.Sherburne.mn.us/1169/COVID-19-Vaccine. When appointments are available for eligible patients, county staff will reach out to schedule an appointment.

GRRL Annual Presentation

In the last year, the Great River Regional Library (GRRL) suffered from being shut down due to COVID-19, but library staff was able to make the best out of a bad situation. 

After March, the library began to offer take-home projects for kids, rather than have events in the library. They also offered other creative ways to offer services to families that were virtual or socially distant, such as the story stroll, in which pages from a children’s book were displayed on signs around the perimeter of the Becker Community Center (BCC). This helped to promote activity and literacy at the same time. 

Staff was also able to offer their usual kids and teens reading challenge over the summer, although they needed to use to honor system when kids tracked how much they had read. Participation in the summer reading program was actually higher than normal, and staff believes this is due to parents encouraging their students to do something offline.

When the library was once again allowed to open, books were quarantined for three days after return to ensure they were safe for the next patron. Curbside pickup was made available as well. Each step the library took to reopen was made intentionally, and, though the number of items borrowed for the year overall was down from 2019, October and November were two months that had more patrons using the library than in the previous year. Traffic was down again when the BCC closed its doors towards the end of November and in December, despite the fact that the library remained open during that time.

GRRL is currently raising money to be able to continue to offer take-home crafts and activity kits. Their goal is to raise $500. To donate, patrons should stop by the library and request information on donating to the “Locally Growin’” event. In another effort to raise funds, GRRL is partnering with Pebble Creek on March 21, and 10% of restaurant proceeds for that day will be donated to the library.

Five-Year Street Reconstruction Plan

A public hearing was held for the five-year reconstruction plan, but no residents attended the meeting to give their opinion on the project. The plan outlines street projects to be done by the city over the next five years. Mayor Tracy Bertram gave her thanks to staff for putting the project together, and to the Patriot Newspaper for covering the project in last week’s issue. The council then approved the plan.

In Other Business, the Council:

• Put out a request for proposals regarding the development of city-owned property between the BCC and Pebble Creek Golf Course;

• Approved an agreement to engage Flaherty & Hood in professional services relating to solar power projects in the industrial park;

• Entered into a license agreement with Xcel Energy for the use of Snuffy’s Landing.