During the Becker City Council meeting of Feb. 2, three new officers were sworn into the police department, and officer Chris Lindbloom was promoted to lieutenant.

The new officers sworn in were Adrian Johnson, Mike Gordon, and Jenna Voigt.

Johnson served with the army national guard before pursuing his degree in criminal justice from St. Cloud State University. This is his first job as a police officer.

Gordon previously served with the Springfield and Sleepy Eye police departments.

Voigt is a Becker High School alumni who previously served the department as a reserve officer.

All four of these officers had new badges pinned to their uniforms during the meeting before heading back over to the police department for cake and celebration.

Committee Reports

Budget and Finance reviewed year end numbers. They also discussed applying for potential grant funding for city projects. Going forward, the city will prepare for the audit presentation in May. 

Fire board reported numbers for the year. There were 509 calls for service in 2021, down from 594 in 2020. Mayor Tracy Bertram reminded the audience that many of those calls are medical calls. 

The Planning Commission held several public hearings, and those items came before the council later in the meeting. 

CMRP recently advocated for the ability to better plan for local land use. 

Bank Street

The vacant lot on Bank St. next to Country Lumber may be home to a new business soon. The council approved splitting the lot, which is currently set up to support one building, into two buildable parcels. It will be necessary on the owner’s part to fix the sewer line in order to support two separate buildings, which they will do during road projects this year, as the road will be torn up anyway. It was not stated what business was interested in the lot. 

In Other Business, the Council:

• Approved updates to Chapter 11 ordinances to include some clarifying language;

• Approved a CUP for Red Balloon Day Care (The owner previously held a CUP which had expired. As the owner pursues an expansion of their business, the CUP needed to be brought back into compliance.);

• Directed staff to create a supplemental letter of agreement to allow engineering to prepare plans for road projects this spring.