Canby moves on streets

The Canby City Council last week voted to move ahead with a proposed $5.3 million overhaul of the oldest section of town.
The project covers water lines, sewer lines, storm sewers and necessarily the streets that are on top of them. The major problem is getting financing for the streets and the Council had been hoping for some grant help as well as low interest loans.
Shane Hastings of the USDA Rural Development office in Marshall told the Council that the grant hopes were slim, although he did say the city would get a few thousand dollars and possibly could be in line for more.
The streets pose a problem because they are wider than most city streets in other towns and yet the wide streets are what people like about Canby.
At one point, the Council even discussed the possibility of narrowing the streets. However the idea had no traction for the time being.
Hastings said the odds of getting the low interest loan, which would have an interest rate in the 3 percent range, “are pretty good.” The state gets an allocation of federal money every year and he said it appeared the city was in a good place on the list to get it.
“The sooner we do this, the better,” said Council member Rick Bueltel.
“Yes,” said Hastings in response.
The Council then formally voted to move ahead, which included directing the city’s new engineers, Bolton and Menk, to come up with a new rundown of the project, including cost estimates. The city had one, but it was done two years ago by SEH Engineering. Hastings said a new one was needed and also said an environmental statement was needed.
In other business, the Council began preliminary work on the budget for next year. City Administrator Diane Miller said the first look at the new budget had an increase that ranged from about 8 percent, down from this year’s 11 percent, up to an $18 percent boost.
The preliminary b udget, Miller said, basically represented a wish list of things the Council has discussed, such as $25,000 for a skateboard park and $7,000 for a new mosquito sprayer.
The Council opted to meet with department heads and ask them what they really needed as opposed to what did they want in the new budget. A working session was scheduled for Monday night.
Police Chief Isaiah Keating participated in the discussion saying he thought the Police Department could delay buying a new squad car for a year. He said he made the suggestion because the city will have to spend $16,500 during the coming year to change the radios used by police from analog to digital.
The switch has been discussed for the last couple of years and Yellow Medicine County is ready to make the switch.
Keating also asked permission to use $1,280 from the vehicle forfeiture fund to buy a new computer. He also got permission to spend $974 for voice recorders and digital cameras.
The forfeiture fund is set aside for use by the police department. The money comes from the sale of vehicles the city gets through forfeiture. The fund currently has a balance of about $4,000, keating said.
The Council was asked by MVTV for permission to put an antenna on the water tower for television and internet services. The Council said no based on previous decisions to deny access. There are antennas on the tower now for cell phone service. The Council previously denied permission to internet antennas on grounds that they could interfere with the cell phone antennas.
During the general discussion session, comment were made about garbage found on the parking lot next to the Post Office. The city owns the lot and it is a gathering place for youth.
“It would be nice is the kids would take care of their own garbage,” said Mayor Rich Blackwelder.

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