The Clear Lake City Council met Monday evening and dealt with a rarity on the agenda, a $25,000 donation to city to be used for whatever the council decides.

Marilyn Goenner Hicks, whose father was Roger Goenner, emailed the city that her family had recently sold some land in the area and she wanted to make the donation.

“I spent quite a few summers in Clear Lake with my grandparents and have lots of happy memories of McDonalds, the post office, the church, the ball field, and the lake,” stated Hicks’ email.  “I would like to donate $25,000 to Clear Lake to be used for whatever you think is needed.”

Council happily approved a motion to accept the donation and will be working in the coming months to decide how to best use the funds.  Mayor Tim Goenner pledged that the city will keep Hicks in the loop as to how the money is spent.

Employees

Council met before the meeting to conduct employee reviews, which Mayor Goenner then reported on during the regular agenda.  Goenner stated that the reviews went very well and he spoke glowingly about the working relationship between staff and council.

“It’s very nice to have a council and staff that work together as well as we do,” said the Mayor.

In addition, council also approved the pay equity report.  This document will then be forwarded to the State of Minnesota which will review it and notify the municipality if there are any irregularities or any positions that need attention.

City Hall

Clerk Kari Mechtel presented a quote for the painting of some of the interior walls in City Hall.  This was last done 16 years ago and the paint is starting to show wear and tear.

Council was pleased with the quote and then discussed adding some additional color to the interior of the building.  It was noted that the main areas of the building will be painted, while the smaller offices will be skipped since many contain file cabinets, etc. that hide many of the walls and would need to be moved for the painting. 

Mechtel said that the paint used for the project will be washable so that any spills or scuff marks can be cleaned up in the future, unlike the current wall coverings.

Public Works

Council heard from Public Works Director Dustin Luhning that work on Well #3 is finishing up, and with the warmer weather forecast for this week there are plans to scrape the city streets to remove any left over ice and snow.

Snow removal on sidewalks was also discussed, as currently the compliance is good overall but there continue to be some isolated issues.  The city does not own the proper equipment to do the snow removal on sidewalks so enforcement would be an issue for properties that do not comply.  Either it would need to be contracted out or additional equipment would need to be purchased.

No further action was taken on the issue.

In other business, the council:

• Accepted the Sheriff’s Report, which included 42 calls for service in the last period;

• Decided to wait one additional month for any interested citizens to submit a letter of interest for filling the open council seat.  The opening was advertised in the newspaper last month and will be shared on Facebook to try and generate more interest;

• Heard from Mechtel that at this point, the Lions Club has put all of its events on hold for the upcoming summer.  If conditions change, they could apply for their special permits at any time.

The council will next meet on March 1st at 7 p.m.