No minutes for this date are in the archive yet; minutes appear in the following month's packet. What follows is from the agenda and packet.
What happened
- No minutes are on file for this date; contents below come from the agenda and packet only.
- Special Session/Work Session called for 5:30 PM at Kenyon City Hall, focused on the compensation study.
- Robert Bjorkland of Bjorklund Compensation Consulting was scheduled to present the salary study and pay scale recommendations via Zoom.
- Three pay scale options presented: Option 1 $64,744.51 and Option 2 $64,381.74 (July 1, 2024 implementation); Option 3 $153,036.09 (January 1, 2025).
- Personnel Committee recommended Options 1 and 3 to the Council for consideration.
- Longevity schedule ranged from 1% increase or 20 hours vacation (1-5 years past salary step structure) to 1.75% or 35 hours (16-20 years).
- Salary survey drew 12 of 36 identified organizations, a 33% participation rate; published sources aged by 3% were used as supplement.
- Survey data effective as of September 2023; average anticipated pay increase among participants was 3.9%; average organization size 61 employees.
- Fourteen benchmark positions were listed; Administrative Assistant/Police and Pool Manager were eliminated.
- Regular agenda items included the KW School's Habitat for Humanity House, a draft tobacco ordinance, Muni roof quotes and the Kenyon Country Club on-sale liquor license renewal.
What was asked 24 raised · 8 settled
Every question, assignment, pending figure and unsourced claim from this meeting, quoted from the record, each checked against the county, census, listing, bid and budget data we hold.
X.A Muni Roof Replacement ... A. Muni Roof Quotes
Agenda items X.A 'Muni Roof Replacement' and 'Muni Roof Quotes' are listed for the regular meeting.
The Muni roof went to Chandler Roofing at 40,640 dollars. The competing figure in the record is L and M at 53,000 dollars from 2022, so Chandler came in 12,360 dollars lower, and a third quote was attached. The award followed the staff recommendation.
KENYON_BIDS.md
III.B Agenda Item Summary CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM REPORT DATE: March 12, 2024 SUBMITTED BY: Holli Gudknecht, Administration ITEM TYPE: Miscellaneous AGENDA SECTION: Business to be discussed and Possible Action SUBJECT: Further discussion of Compensation Study SUGGESTED ACTION: Consideration of adoption of Salary Study. MOTION NEEDED ATTACHMENTS: 34
Work session item III.B lists consideration of adoption of the salary study with a motion needed.
The council did not adopt the study in March 2024. On July 9 2024 it instead made a detailed review of the pay study one of four priorities assigned to the interim administrator, ranked behind hiring a recruiter and executing an employment agreement for a new city administrator. The instruction was to determine what portions of the study were usable rather than to adopt an option.
7.9.24 Council Packet Agenda · taken up again 2024-07-09
Lot Combination – Kevin Maring
Agenda item VIII.B/C under Legal.
The Maring lot combination returned as Resolution 2024-07 approving lot combination, listed under Legal on the April 9 2024 agenda alongside the Taco Express agreement with Luis Tellez. Our records carry the agenda listing but not the recorded vote or the legal descriptions.
4.9.24 Council Packet Agenda · taken up again 2024-04-09
On-Sale Liquor License Renewal- Kenyon Country Club
New business agenda item XI.A/B.
The license has been renewed continuously. The Kenyon Country Club on-sale renewal recurs as a routine consent item, appearing again on March 11 2025 and March 10 2026, each time paired with the Cahill Bistro and Bar renewal. The 2024 vote itself is not in our extract.
3-11-25 council packet / 3-10-26 Council Packet Updated · taken up again 2026-03-10
Draft Tobacco Ordinance – Chief Jeff Sjoblom
Agenda item VIII.B on the regular meeting agenda listing.
The tobacco ordinance passed on May 14 2024. Attorney Riggs presented it as amending section 1105 of the city code to bring Kenyon current with state law, and Ordinance 103 carried 3-0-0 on a motion by Bailey seconded by Helgeson. Resolution 2024-10 authorizing publication by title and summary passed on the same vote.
5-14-24 AGENDA · taken up again 2024-05-14
CSAH 12 Project update.
Agenda item VII.B on the regular meeting agenda.
CSAH 12 moved from an update to a contract. A CSAH 12 partnership agreement appears on the April 9 2024 agenda and again on May 14 2024 as a partnership agreement for planning and design, bundled with the 2025 street and utility project items including Resolution 2024-12 ordering preparation of the report on improvement. Our records hold the agenda entries but not the executed agreement.
4.9.24 and 5-14-24 agendas · taken up again 2024-05-14
KW School's Habitat for Humanity House – Superintendent Beth Giese
Presentation item VI.A on the regular meeting agenda.
The school partnership became a funded Habitat house. Superintendent Giese presented on April 9 2024, and by September 8 2026 Kenyon had a 75,000 dollar Minnesota Housing Tier II grant aligned with Goodhue County Habitat for Humanity, with the home planned for the 2027 to 2028 school year built by Kenyon-Wanamingo construction classes under Doug Thompson. The city serves as fiscal agent, submitting receipts and disbursing reimbursements, and the funds must be spent by 2031.
9-8-26 Council Packet · taken up again 2026-09-08
Earl Merchlewitz – Emergency Management Director
Presentation item VI.B on the regular meeting agenda.
Merchlewitz was asking for garage space. The Goodhue County Emergency Management Director requested that the county mobile command center vehicle be stored at the Kenyon Fire Hall, which had bay and office space free, at no cost to the city or the fire department. The council approved the Goodhue County memorandum of understanding 5-0-0 on June 11 2024.
6.11.24 Council Packet and Agenda · taken up again 2024-06-11
Option 3 would be implemented January 1, 2025. Options 1 and 3 were recommended by the Personnel Committe to the Council for consideration.
Three pay scale options were presented, with two recommended by the Personnel Committee.
Our records never say which option the council chose. They do show a compensation plan in force by mid 2025, when the personnel committee recommended moving the city administrator to grade 18 step 10 and described that as consistent with using the 2025 employee compensation plan, retroactive to June 14 2025. The adopting resolution or minutes would settle which of Options 1 and 3 became that plan.
7.8.25 Updated Council Packet and Agenda
Options 1 and 3 were recommended by the Personnel Committe to the Council for consideration. If option 3 is selected by the Council cost of living and longevity should also be applied.
Conditional instruction attached to the Option 3 implementation date of January 1, 2025.
Cost of living increases have been applied but no longevity schedule appears in our records. The 2026 budget was built on a 3 percent cost of living increase for full-time employees with health insurance up 5 percent, and the 2027 budget assumptions repeat 3 percent cost of living, 5 percent health insurance and 5 percent workers compensation and property insurance. Whether the longevity schedule tied to Option 3 was ever adopted is not documented.
9-9-25 Council Packet / 6.9.26 Council Packet Agenda
Administrative Assistant/Deputy Clerk Page 8 Bjorklund Compensation Consulting LLC 13 LIST OF PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS Data are provided from 12 organizations that completed and participated in the salary survey out of the 36 identified organizations for a participation rate of 33%.
The survey report explains why published sources had to supplement the responses.
The arithmetic holds, 12 of 36 is 33.3 percent, so two thirds of the comparison group never responded and published sources had to fill the gap. We hold no list of which organizations returned questionnaires, so the comparability of the responding third cannot be tested. The consultant's participant roster would settle it.
3.12.24 Council Work Session Packet Agenda
Average # of Organizational Employees: 61 ... Range of Population Size: 1,000 – 4,000
General summary data describing the comparison group.
Kenyon sits in the lower half of the stated comparison band. Its population is 1,811 on the 2019 to 2023 American Community Survey, against a survey range of 1,000 to 4,000, and the city has 732 households. We hold no participant by participant employee or population counts, so whether the 61 employee average describes cities like Kenyon cannot be checked.
dashboard/data/census.json
Administrative Assistant/Police (Eliminated) ... Pool Manager (Eliminated-insufficient responses and seasonal)
Two of the 14 listed benchmark positions carry an 'eliminated' notation.
Neither eliminated position gets a documented pay scale placement in our records. The Pool Manager job continued to be filled by committee recommendation rather than by scale, with Chrissy Alexander recommended as manager and Vanessa Bartel as assistant manager on February 11 2025, and pool wages before that were set with the manager directly in February 2024. The adopted classification plan divides the organization into nineteen grades across six departments, but where these two jobs land in it is not recorded.
2.11.25 Council Packet Agenda / 8-29-24 work session
A. Schedule of Upcoming Meetings
Agenda item XII.A on the regular meeting agenda listing.
The March 2024 posted list is not in our holdings, but the meetings that followed are documented: KMU on Tuesday May 21 2024 at 4:00 pm and city council on Tuesday June 11 2024 at 7:00 pm, then council on Tuesday September 9 2024 at 7:00 pm. The schedule at that time carried KMU and council only, without the EDA line that appears in 2026 packets. The posted schedule from the March meeting would settle it.
5-14-24 AGENDA / 9.10.24 Council Packet and Agenda
III.A Agenda Item Summary CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM REPORT DATE: March 12, 2024 SUBMITTED BY: Holli Gudknecht, Administration ITEM TYPE: New Business AGENDA SECTION: Business to be discussed and Possible Action SUBJECT: Review of Compensation Study- Robert Bjorkland-Bjorkland Compensation Consulting SUGGESTED ACTION: Robert Bjorkland will review the salary study and the pay scale recommendations via Zoom at the Council meeting.
Agenda item III.A of the special session work session.
We hold no record of Robert Bjorklund's presentation to the council or of the questions asked. The later passages cited here are budget work sessions from August 2024 and September 2025, none of them the compensation review. Minutes of the March 12 2024 work session would settle it.
no holding · would settle it: Record of the consultant's presentation and council questions
KMU will discuss their part of the salary study separately at their regular meeting in March. Also attached is the Salary Survey Report. The executive summary report will be posted on Monday.
The packet included the full salary survey report but not the executive summary.
We hold no executive summary of the salary survey. Nothing in any later packet records it being posted. The posted summary or the packet attachment list from the following meeting would settle it.
no holding · would settle it: The posted executive summary report
The impact of the increases to the overall budget are: Option 1 $64,744.51 (7/1/24 implementation) Option 2 $64,381.74 (7/1/24 implementation) Option 3 $153, 036.09 (1/1/25 implementation) I have met with the department heads to review the salary study prior to the Council meeting. KMU will discuss their part of the salary study separately at their regular meeting in March.
The utility's share of the compensation study was carved out from the Council work session.
We hold no KMU Commission minutes from March 2024 and no record of its action on the study. The commission meeting referenced in later packets is the March 17 2026 session on the electric rate study, two years later. KMU Commission minutes would settle it.
no holding · would settle it: KMU March meeting minutes and action on the study
The impact of the increases to the overall budget are: Option 1 $64,744.51 (7/1/24 implementation) Option 2 $64,381.74 (7/1/24 implementation) Option 3 $153, 036.09 (1/1/25 implementation) I have met with the department heads to review the salary study prior to the Council meeting.
Budget impact figures given for each of the three pay scale options.
We hold no payroll worksheet behind the 64,744.51 dollar figure. What the three options show on their own numbers is that Option 1 and Option 2 differ by only 362.77 dollars, so the choice between them was not a cost decision. The consultant's costing spreadsheet would settle how the figure was built.
no holding · would settle it: The underlying payroll calculation worksheet
The impact of the increases to the overall budget are: Option 1 $64,744.51 (7/1/24 implementation) Option 2 $64,381.74 (7/1/24 implementation) Option 3 $153, 036.09 (1/1/25 implementation) I have met with the department heads to review the salary study prior to the Council meeting.
Budget impact figures given for each of the three pay scale options.
We hold no payroll worksheet behind the 64,381.74 dollar figure. Option 2 is the cheapest of the three by 362.77 dollars over Option 1 and by 88,654.35 dollars over Option 3, and it was the one option the personnel committee did not recommend. The costing spreadsheet would settle how it was built.
no holding · would settle it: The underlying payroll calculation worksheet
The impact of the increases to the overall budget are: Option 1 $64,744.51 (7/1/24 implementation) Option 2 $64,381.74 (7/1/24 implementation) Option 3 $153, 036.09 (1/1/25 implementation) I have met with the department heads to review the salary study prior to the Council meeting.
Budget impact figures given for each of the three pay scale options.
We hold no payroll worksheet behind the 153,036.09 dollar figure. Option 3 costs 2.36 times Option 1 and 2.38 times Option 2, and its January 1 2025 start date pushed the whole burden into the 2025 budget year rather than splitting it across two. The costing spreadsheet would settle how it was built.
no holding · would settle it: The underlying payroll calculation worksheet
Average Anticipated Pay Increase: 3.9% Page 10 Bjorklund Compensation Consulting LLC 15 Page 11 Bjorklund Compensation Consulting LLC 16 Page 12 Bjorklund Compensation Consulting LLC 17 CITY OF KENYON Survey Analysis of Market Pay Lines Graph I $60.00 $50.00 $40.00 Hourly Rate $30.00 $20.00 $10.00 $0.00 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 Job Evaluation Points Kenyon Avg. Pay Rate Market Median Average Pay Rate Market Median Minimum Pay Line Market Median Maximum Pay Line Page 13 Bjorklund Compensation
General summary data in the salary survey report.
We hold no survey responses reporting planned pay increases and cannot test the 3.9 percent average. The passages cited for this item concern land surveying, not the salary survey. The consultant's response tabulation would settle it.
no holding · would settle it: Survey responses reporting planned increases
Given the low participation rate, the survey was also supplemented with published sources available to BCC and the City of Kenyon. Published sources were aged by a factor of 3% to bring all data to the effective date when applicable.
Methodology note on how supplemental published data was adjusted.
We hold no aging calculation methodology from the consultant. The passages cited here concern surveying certifications and pay application retainage factors, not wage data aging. The consultant's methodology appendix would settle it.
no holding · would settle it: The consultant's aging calculation methodology
Trail Committee Summary
Agenda item VII.A on the regular meeting agenda.
We hold no written Trail Committee summary. The passages cited for this item are unrelated summary reports on construction engineering and treasurer's reports. Park Board minutes or the committee's own report would settle it.
no holding · would settle it: The Trail Committee's written summary
The impact of the increases to the overall budget are: Option 1 $64,744.51 (7/1/24 implementation) Option 2 $64,381.74 (7/1/24 implementation) Option 3 $153, 036.09 (1/1/25 implementation) I have met with the department heads to review the salary study prior to the Council meeting.
Reported as completed prep work ahead of the compensation discussion.
At the meetingReported as already done.
We hold no department head feedback from the pre-meeting review of the salary study. The comparable record two years later shows how such reviews are handled: in early 2026 Lehner had completed department head performance reviews but was holding distribution pending a council decision on step increases. Notes from the 2024 department head session would settle it.
3-10-26 Council Packet Updated · would settle it: Any department head feedback recorded from that review
Decisions
- No minutes on file for March 12, 2024; no recorded motions or outcomes.
- Packet called for possible action: "Consideration of adoption of Salary Study. MOTION NEEDED"
Who did what
| Person | At this meeting |
|---|---|
| Robert Bjorkland Bjorkland Compensation Consulting | Scheduled to review the salary study and pay scale recommendations with the Council via Zoom |
| Holli Gudknecht Administration | Submitted the agenda item reports on the compensation study and met with department heads to review the salary study before the meeting |
| Mark Vahlsing City Administrator | Signed the posted work session agenda; worked with the consultant to identify survey participants and benchmark jobs |
| Beth Giese Superintendent | Listed on the regular agenda to present on the KW School's Habitat for Humanity House |
| Earl Merchlewitz Emergency Management Director | Listed on the regular agenda for a presentation |
| Jeff Sjoblom Chief of Police | Listed on the regular agenda to present a draft tobacco ordinance |
| Kevin Maring Applicant | Listed on the regular agenda for a lot combination item |
Organizations named: Bjorklund Compensation Consulting LLC, City of Kenyon, Kenyon Municipal Utilities (KMU), Habitat for Humanity, Kenyon-Wanamingo Schools, Kenyon Country Club, League of Minnesota Cities, Bureau of Labor Statistics, City of Mountain Lake, City of Caledonia, City of Windom, City of Jackson, City of Blooming Prairie, City of Tracy, City of Crystal Lake, City of Kasson Utility, City of New Prague Utility, City of Redwood Falls, City of Princeton Utility, Sleepy Eye Utility
Figures
| Amount | What |
|---|---|
| $64,744.51 | Budget impact of Option 1 pay scale, July 1, 2024 implementation |
| $64,381.74 | Budget impact of Option 2 pay scale, July 1, 2024 implementation |
| $153,036.09 | Budget impact of Option 3 pay scale, January 1, 2025 implementation |
Said at the meeting
Robert Bjorkland will review the salary study and the pay scale recommendations via Zoom at the Council meeting.
Holli Gudknecht, Administration (agenda item summary) · packet, verbatim
Options 1 and 3 were recommended by the Personnel Committe to the Council for consideration.
Holli Gudknecht, Administration (agenda item summary) · packet, verbatim
I have met with the department heads to review the salary study prior to the Council meeting.
Holli Gudknecht, Administration (agenda item summary) · packet, verbatim
Consideration of adoption of Salary Study. MOTION NEEDED
Holli Gudknecht, Administration (agenda item summary) · packet, verbatim
Due to the relatively poor survey response, salary data was supplemented with published data available in BCC's database, salary survey library, when applicable, and pay data provided by the City.
Bjorklund Compensation Consulting LLC, Salary Survey Report · packet, verbatim
Agenda
Each item links to where it appears in the packet.
- I. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL
- II. CITIZEN COMMENTS
- III. ADOPT AGENDA
- III.A Adopt Agenda
- IV. CONSENT AGENDA
- V. APPROVAL OF MINUTES and APPOINTMENTS
- V.A Approval of Minutes and Appointments
- VI. PRESENTATIONS/PUBLIC HEARINGS
- VI.A KW School's Habitat for Humanity House – Superintendent Beth Giese
- VI.B Earl Merchlewitz – Emergency Management Director
- VII. ENGINEERING
- VII.A Trail Committee Summary
- VII.B CSAH 12 Project update.
- VIII. LEGAL
- VIII.B Lot Combination – Kevin Maring
- IX. FINANCIAL
- X. OLD BUSINESS
- X.A Muni Roof Replacement
- X.B Salary Survey
- XI. NEW BUSINESS
- XI.A On-Sale Liquor License Renewal- Kenyon Country Club
- XII. F.Y.I. - Department Updates
- XIII. COUNCIL AND STAFF GENERAL COMMENTS
- XIV. ADJOURNMENT
- A. City Council Meeting Minutes of February 13, 2024
- A. KW School's Habitat for Humanity House – Superintendent Giese
- B. Earl Merchlewitz – Emergency Management Director
- A. Trail Committee Summary
- B. CSAH 12 Project Update
- B. Draft Tobacco Ordinance – Chief Jeff Sjoblom
- C. Lot Combination – Kevin Maring
- A. Muni Roof Quotes
- B. On-Sale Liquor License Renewal- Kenyon Country Club
- XII. OTHER BUSINESS
- A. Schedule of Upcoming Meetings