Mayor Mark Kolbinger took the oath of office to open the first city council meeting of the new year on Tues., Jan. 7.
Kolbinger defeated Mayor Tracy Bertram in the November race. In a close election, Council members Mike Doering and Becky Olmscheid retained their seats on the council. Doering took the oath of office as well. Olmscheid was absent.
Annual Report from SCAO
Sherburne County Attorney Kathleen Heaney presented her annual report to the council. Heaney was joined by Dawn Nyhus, currently the lead in the civil division of the County Attorney’s Office. Under the service contract with the city, all petty misdemeanors and misdemeanors are handled by the CAO. The contract is paid by the fines collected from those offenses. Last year, 533 traffic cases were handled and $9,003.94 was collected.
The CAO is on-call to Becker Police 24/7/365. The office handles administrative and regular search warrants, all appeals and post convictions for the cases they’ve administered, and absorbs the costs for witness and attorney fees. They also handle all expungements, including those required through the Clean Slate Act, all in custodies, any Rule 20’s, and new visa requests.
In reporting trends, Heaney reported that felonies (21) and gross misdemeanors (21) remained consistent with past years. However, 23 jury trials in 2024 was more than the 12-14 trials the office has handled in previous years and 17 appeals is not normal.
City Hall and Police HQ Update
City Administrator Greg Lerud gave an update on the progress of the construction at City Hall.
“All stud walls inside the PD are up, as well as the new entrance,” he said. “The garage doors have all been installed. Roughed-in mechanical and electrical is well underway. We do have a walk-through this Thursday with technology and furniture just prior to sheetrock getting started, so it’s starting to pick up.”
When asked about a date for completion, Lerud responded end of January, beginning of February.
Cannabis Regulation
The council approved amendments made to existing cannabis regulations for the city. Key issues that were addressed concerned buffer zones, registration and inspection, as well as zoning and land use compliance. Chapter 11 edits were reviewed and approved by the Planning Commission at their Dec. 30, 2024 meeting.
Misc. Items
A motion was approved and seconded to advertise to accept bids for the replacement of the Air Handling and Air Conditioning units in the library. Bids would be reviewed on Jan. 23 and brought back to the council on Feb. 4.
Committee appointments were made as well as annual designations. The official newspaper will continue to be The Patriot. The primary depository will be Sherburne State Bank. City attorney for legal advising, litigation, and prosecutions will be Scott Lepak with Barna Guzy & Steffen, Ltd. Bond counsel will be Justin Reppe with Kutak Rock. The city auditors will be Abdo.
Amy Stanger was appointed to a Planning Commission seat. Kolbinger announced six FT anniversaries - Jason Henderson, eight years, Caleb Hanson, five years, Caryn Dunderi and Rob Hackler, three years, Ryan Hamers, two years, and Austin Petersen, one year.
