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Holiday activities begin

By Ellie Beman

Christmas comes but once a year and the countdown starts Friday.
Canby businesses will stay open late and St. Nick will take up residence in the Santa House at The Connection Youth Center.
The Chamber of Commerce will sponsor free photos with Santa for the second year, according to Chamber Secretary Katie Delaney, along with cookies and punch.
Santa will be on hand at the Connection on Thursday, Dec. 4 and Dec. 11 from 6:30 and 7:30 for free photos , as well.
Friday’s schedule kicks off a long list of events sponsored by community organizations.
Minnesota West’s Canby campus will host it’s holiday mixer Wednesday, Dec. 3 from 5:30 to 7:30. A variety of holiday treats are provided annually by students and staff at the college and everyone is invited to attend, according to campus CEO Rebecca Weber.
The holiday tour of homes, a fundraising event for The Connection youth center will move to Sunday, Dec. 7 this year, according to Connection manager Karen Houtman. Held on Saturday until last year when a snow storm forced postponement, Houtman said the delay brought bigger than usual attendance, especially by men.
The homes and hostesses on this year’s tour include Carol Gorder, Danielle Frazeur, Pat Peterson, Nancy Gorder Lindsey Anderson, Amy Gorder and Dr. Maritza Lopez.
The tour shares Sunday with the 16th annual Living Nativity, an all-volunteer, reenactment of the birth of Christ.
Jody Olson, who has been involved since its inception, said everyone is welcome to participate helping organize, taking part in the nativity tableau, providing the stable animals or doing any number of tasks.
Performances are planned for 5, 6 and 7 pm at the corner of Haarfager Ave and 1st St. W.
The Chamber of Commerce and the area Schriners will sponsor a free Saturday matinee on Saturday, Dec. 6 and Canby Jaycees will host a Santa movie on Saturday, Dec. 13.
Add in Christmas programs at Canby Elementary School, School of St. Peter and the area churches.
The entire holiday season will be bracketed by two free community dinners, a Thanksgiving dinner at noon Thursday at the First Presbyterian Church and a free Christmas dinner Christmas Day at St. Peter’s Catholic Church. Reservations for both are appreciated but not required. For Thanksgiving, call (507) 223-5331.
The entire calendar of holiday events appears on page four of this issue of the Canby News.
The calendar of events was compiled and produced by Joyce Olson Baer. Copies and will be available at Jim’s Market, as well as in the newspaper.

Streets-Utilities move closer

by Don Beman

Canby’s major street and utility project inched closer to a public review last week after the City Council accepted a preliminary engineering report that goes to the federal government for a financing review.
Dean Helstrom, the city’s engineer, said the project will be to replace old clay sewer pipes and manholes that are falling apart along with a water system that dates back to the early 1900s and is made of cast iron with leaded joints.
“Canby has been looking at this project for 18 years,” Helstrom said, taking note of a discussion that has taken place on and off before the Council for years and has been stalled by the price tag and hopes of grant money that so far has pretty much eluded the city.
What the city is looking into is loans with a small amount of grant money. But Helstrom said that could change in the months ahead with a new administration coming in and an apparent emphasis on rebuilding infrastructure. Helstrom said it is way too early to tell what kind of financing the city could get, but it could be different from today’s prospects.
The prime area, the oldest part of town, comes in with a $6.2 million price tag. Also in the plan is a possible addition of a second project that would stretch from the old part on out to Fairgrounds Road. That project comes in with a $4.6 million price tag.
The primary project is bounded by Poplar and Haarfager and First Street and Sixth Street. The secondary project would go from Sixth Street to Fairgrounds Road.
The projects also include street repairs or replacement as well as improvements in the storm sewer system.
Helstrom said the utilities are basically falling apart in the primary project area and he noted that the city’s water system loss is about 20 percent, based on the amount of water pumped and the amount of water sold to customers. He said the state would like to see that loss cut in half.
Officially, the Council approved submission of the preliminary plan to the federal government for a financial review by the Rural Development agency, which is under the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
At some point before the Council begins to take action on putting the plan into effect, the city would have a public hearing that would spell out the costs to taxpayers and individual property owners. Some costs would be paid by all taxpayers and others would be paid by individual landowners.
In other business, City Administrator Diane Miller reported that the Custer Avenue bridge is finished. Gene Eilers wanted to know if his earlier questions about a sewer line have been answered. Eilers questioned whether the sewer line was deep enough into the ground because it looked like it was near the surface where it crossed the creek.
Helstrom said the project was completed according to specifications from SEH engineering, which was in charge of the project, but he could not answer Eilers’ specific questions without doing some more work. The Council voted to okay the extra work.
As of now, the line is working as it should, Eilers said. The question is whether it might be subject to freezing.
The Council also approved a request from Airport Manager Matt Wagner to go ahead with preliminary work on adding jet fuel service at the airport. Wagner said the project would cost $125,000, of which the city would pay about $6,200. The rest would come from federal airport funds.
The Council action called for drawing up the plans and specifications.
The Council also approved changing the first meeting of December to Monday, Dec. 1 to avoid holding a later meeting because of the hospital district election.
Delayed until the new mayor and Council takes office in January was discussion of policies related to tax increment financing and tax abatement for use in building projects. Mayor Rich Blackwelder said he thought it would be better for the new mayor and Council to make those policy decisions.