During the recent city council meeting, council approved some updates to the Pebble Creek event space. New interior finishings will be added to the space. New finishings and accent walls will be included. Pebble Creek staff hopes that the updated look will lead to more event bookings.
Committee Reports
The council members gave a review of recent committee activities. Some of the highlights are as follows:
• Public works is looking into setting up a key card security system at Kolbinger park, and perhaps other parks;
• Public works is also interested in doing an upgrade to the snow plow control program, which will include a GPS tracker on all plows to monitor speed and location at all times;
• Becker Community Center memberships have been recovering from the pandemic, and are over 700 now;
• There will be two upcoming retirements from the fire department, both members having served over 20 years.
Wastewater HVAC System
Council moved to upgrade the HVAC control system at the wastewater treatment facility. The current system is no longer working correctly. Settings are stuck on the last preset and cannot be changed. It has also made it more difficult to work with contractors, who would otherwise be able to connect their equipment to the system to diagnose any issues at the facility. Public works staff hopes that this replacement will lead to less wear and tear on their equipment, conserve electricity, and save money for the city in the long run.
Roads
Council approved construction plans for 153rd and 127th Streets in their partnership with Becker Twp. The township set the standards for the project and had their engineer do the design work. The city only had to approve these plans and support the township as they go out for bids. The city engineer also reviewed these plans and gave them a “green light.”
As bids come in, the city and township may revisit the arrangement they had for sharing the costs of this project.
In Other Business,the Council:
• Made updates for the 2022 fee schedule;
• Approved year-end fund transfers between city accounts;
• Hired Jeff O’Neill as the interim City Administrator;
• Made a partial payments towards the installation of the Pebble Creek golf simulators;
• Wished Beckerites happy holidays and new year.
