The Becker City Council had a visit from a girl scout, discussed a racquetball court conversion at the BCC, witnessed the swearing-in of three new police officers and had a closed session to consider offers or counteroffers for the purchase of property along Hancock Street SE.

 

A huge crowd of family and friends converged on city hall Tuesday as Chief Brent Baloun introduced three new officers to his department.

 

David Rydberg, Brent Fandel and Sean Smallen took the oath of office from Clerk Julie Blesi and were decorated with their badges by family members.

 

Rydberg, was hired in November of 2016 as a PT officer but moved up to full-time status three months later. He had also worked with the BPD as a volunteer police officer in 2015, supervising and scheduling for reserve officers. He holds a marketing degree from Franciscan University in Ohio and completed his law enforcement skills training at SCSU.

 

He resides in St. Cloud with his family.

 

Fandel was hired as a PT officer in February and recently completed his field skills training from SCSU and is now a working PO with Becker. He holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from SCSU and is one of Baloun’s past students. Fandel also resides in St. Cloud.

 

Smallen started with the BPD in May and has an impressive background in law enforcement, having worked with numerous agencies and is currently a supervisor with Allina Health Hospitals. He holds a bachelor’s degree with a major in law enforcement from Metro State in the Twin Cities, He resides in Burnsville.

 

Rydberg is a FT officer while Fandel and Smallen are assigned PT.

 

Morgan Meyer was introduced and gave a speech on her project with Cystic Fibrosis that has earned her the Gold Award with the Girl Scouts of America.

 

Meyer explained to the audience her project and the time and effort she has expended to bring awareness to the community about CF. 

 

The Gold Award is the highest award a Girl Scout can earn, encompassing sustainability, community involvement, leadership, and lots of time and dedication.  Moving forward, the Gold Award can offer multiple scholarships and assist in college and job applications.

 

Bruce Schwartzman of BKV Group — a full-service architecture, interior design, and engineering firm was commissioned by the city in 2016 to conduct a building assessment of all city buildings and a space needs analysis specific to several city departments.

 

Schwartzman ran through his findings and made suggestions for council to consider should they feel compelled to make improvements to certain city structures and offices. Each facility was examined, with photographs taken of areas of concern. This information was presented to show what was recommended, but also the cost of potential replacement and the timeframe that these updates should be considered.

 

Additionally, a space study was conducted on the police department, city hall and the clubhouse at Pebble Creek. A separate look was given to the viability of the streets department to examine a potential move to a different location. With this study, recommendations were identified and concept plans were created.

 

Council voted to approve the study with no intent to move forward with any action on any part of the plan in the near future.

 

Jamie Cassidy and Tracey Otto from the BCC discussed the idea of converting the current racquetball court to a free-weight room.

 

Cassidy said the use of the racquetball court has been dwindling for the past five years and local and national trends show racquetball to be a slowly fading sport. Cassidy and Otto also mentioned they have heard numerous times the BCC is in need of a free-weight room.

 

Cassidy says the project could be completed at a cost not to exceed $65,000 — though it is likely not to exceed $60,000, he says. He points out the BCC Revolving Capital has $44,000 specified for this project and additional costs will be covered utilizing the $21,000 from the BCC-CIP designated for building controls.

 

Council approved the conversion.

 

• Council retired to a separate room to discuss the potential purchase of property located at 12196 Hancock St., SE and further direction was given to staff;

 

• City Planner Jacob Sanders was named safety award winner for the month of June for being health conscious by riding his bike to work and encouraging others to do the same.

 

The next Becker City Council meeting is Wed., Aug. 2 (due to Night to Unite on Tuesday).