Thursday, July 17th, 2025 Church Directory

Big Lake City plans for summer events

During last week’s city council meeting, Corrie Scott gave an update on the events Big Lake has planned for the summer months. 

There will be two drive-in style Movie in the Park dates. The first was Friday, May 21, showing The Croods (Note: this article was written before the event took place. Due to rain, the event may have been rescheduled to May 28.) Shrek will be screened at Lakeside Park on Sept. 10.

The Big Lake Farmers Market will be held at Lakeside Park every Wednesday starting in June and going through August.

In partnership with Sherburne County 4-H, there will be “Cloverbud Camp” gardening camps for kids at Big Lake parks in August. Thanks to a donation from Big Lake Spud Fest, there will be no fee for students who participate in the event. Registration is required. 

Music in the Park events will take place June 3, 10, and 17, and July 1 and 8. A variety of live bands will be featured.

The council accepted donations from various community organizations in order to run all of these events.

Debt Bonds Purchase 

The council accepted bids for bonds to cover work for the street improvement project and made a motion to approve the sale of the bond for $3,140,000.

The council asked questions about the city’s AA rating from S&P global ratings, which, essentially, is like a credit score for the government entity. The AA rating is very common, and it’s a decent rating. A representative of Northland Securities walked the council members through the significance of the rating. 

Annual City Report

City administrator Clay Wilfahrt gave a presentation on the city for 2020.

There was a higher volume of violent crimes in the city, likely due to COVID-19.

There was a temporary stall of development in 2020, but development came back later in the year or this year and Wilfahrt expected to see no long term issues related to the stall. 

Some infrastructure projects were put on hold last year, such as the street improvement project.

The liquor store had a 30% increase in sales year over year. 

The wastewater treatment facility was expanded to meet capacity needs. The city paid for the expansion with cash.

The Framework 2030 project is still ongoing, with staff looking to see how the community will grow over the next ten years. 

After Wilfahrt finished his presentation, Acting Chief Matt Hayen gave statistics for the year for the police department. 

In Other Business,the Board:

• Approved Midwest Sound and Stage, Inc. Equipment Rental Agreement for the 2021 Music in the Park Events;

• Approved Big Eagle Lake Improvement Association Temporary Liquor License for the Music in the Park Events at Lakeside Park; 

• Authorized Disposal of Big Lake Fire Department Non-Compliant Turnout Gear; 

• Heard reports from the BLPD, BLFD, Engineering Dept., Student Liaison, City Administrator, and the board committees.