In preparation to work on the city’s comprehensive plan, Big Lake staff and council came up with a strategic plan to outline important goals for the city. 

Council and staff created an eight-point plan of goals for the city last June. The goals they felt important were infrastructure, development, natural resources, public safety, quality of life, leadership/cohesion, economy, and financial stability, with specific bullet points of focus within each of those areas. This plan will guide the city as it moves forward, and staff and council can reference this plan as decisions are made regarding the growth of the city. Going forward, staff and council will create an action plan based on these eight goals.

Open Forum

Two ex-council members spoke during the open forum section of last week’s meeting.

County Commissioner, and former Big Lake Mayor, Raeanne Danielowski spoke in order to remind the council that the comprehensive plan was created by volunteer community members, and that it was a living document. It’s an important document for guiding the future of the city. 

Former council member Scott Zettervall also spoke on the comprehensive plan, specifically on the importance of sidewalks. He reminded the council that sidewalks should be considered on a case-by-case basis for roads that have less than 300 cars worth of traffic every day.

Finance Update

The city’s preliminary tax levy will appear before the council September 8, and the Truth in Taxation meeting, when the public is invited to share their opinion on the levy, will take place November 29. The final levy will be approved December 8. 

Streets and Parks Update

Streets and parks fixed sidewalk trip hazards at Lakeside Park, the liquor store, and the public library.

Water/Wastewater Update

The DNR approached the city and asked them to cut back on water further. To meet the levels requested by the DNR, no outside watering would be allowed, other than hand-watering gardens. However, the city is not required to put further limitations in place, and so there will be no further restrictions at this time. However, before the rain came last week, the city was close to beginning to enforce much stricter water use policies as the area neared a state of emergency regarding the drought. 

As Big Lake grows, staff anticipates needing a larger waste water treatment plant to handle the larger load, so a plan for that will appear before council sometime soon.

In Other News, the Council:

• Set a joint powers meeting to take place 4 p.m September 8 to consider an application for the industrial park;

• Heard updates from the liquor store and from community development.