What happened
- Special session held November 7, 2024 at 5:30 p.m. in City Council chambers; adjourned at 5:48 p.m.
- Resolution 2024-26 approving the City Administrator hiring adopted on roll call vote, 5-0-0
- Scott Lehner named the new City Administrator for Kenyon
- Candidate interviews were conducted October 29, after which an offer was made
- Employment agreement changed to extend relocation time from 1 year and six months to 24 months
- Council Member Molly Ryan participated via Teams from 706 John Nolen Dr., Madison, WI
- Interim City Administrator Frank Boyles outlined the recruitment process to the council
- Boyles informed the council of interest in opening a body art studio in the commercial district; no action taken
- Motion by Bailey, seconded by Helgeson, to adjourn at 5:48 p.m.
What was asked 22 raised · 10 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.
Motion Approving Pay Application #10 to BCM Construction
Pay estimate covering work from 9/28/2024 to 11/1/2024 including a partial retainage release.
Pay request 10 to BCM Construction for 31,726.22 dollars was approved on December 10 2024 on a motion by Bailey seconded by Helgeson. Olinger reported the Pearl Creek and Gates Avenue work substantially complete with a few repairs left, and the payment included part of the withheld retainage. A further pay application 11 was already on the agenda structure for the following month.
12.10.24 Council Packet and Agenda Updated · taken up again 2024-12-10
Other Adult Establishment – Body Art Interim Administrator Boyles informed the council that there was interest in opening a body art studio in the commercial district in Kenyon. For now, he just wanted to make the council aware of the request.
Adult establishment / body art item raised under Other at the special session.
At the meetingNo council action; item presented as information
The city wrote body art into its zoning two months later. Ordinance 110, before the council on January 14 2025, adds tattoo parlors and body art establishments as a permitted use in the downtown commercial district, and city code section 1135.05 requires a body art establishment license issued by the state Commissioner of Health. The informational mention in November became an ordinance without a separate application fight.
1-14-25 council packet · taken up again 2025-01-14
We have started design work for the project and are approximately 10% complete... We are currently targeting plan completion in February.
Status update on the 2025 street and utility project.
The February target slipped. On December 10 2024 Olinger still said design should be completed in February, but on February 11 2025 the design was reported approximately 75 percent complete with bid authorization pushed to the March council meeting. Bidding then produced the April 2 2025 opening whose bids were all rejected in June.
Design was targeted for completion in February 2025 but stood at roughly 75 percent on February 11 2025.
2.11.25 Council Packet Agenda · taken up again 2025-02-11
Following completion, we'll meet with the City and developer to discuss the results of the study.
Deliverables of the proposed 8th Street development cost study.
The meeting with the developer happened before costs were prepared, not after. On January 14 2025 Olinger reported a potential layout had been drafted showing an ideal buildout of the area and said discussion and input from developers would be helpful prior to preparing costs. The cost half of the deliverable is not recorded as delivered.
1-14-25 council packet · taken up again 2025-01-14
NC = Not Calculated. Lack of calculation and pay adjustment does not represent the city's intention to make future pay adjustments in accordance with the contract.
Pay App #10 shows substantial completion contract date 08/02/24 versus actual 10/12/24 at $1,600 per day, not calculated.
The city never assessed substantial completion damages. A change order in August 2025 adjusted the substantial and final completion dates to the dates the contractor actually finished, which the engineer described as effectively removing liquidated damage payments, and stated that assessment would not be appropriate because the project went smoothly and actual damages would be hard to evidence. The contract value was adjusted with no effect on payments already made.
8.12.25 Council Packet Agenda Updated · taken up again 2025-08-12
Final Punch List Complete, Final Documentation Submitted 09/27/24 11/01/24 35 $ (260.00) $ (9,100.00)
Other Payments Summary in BCM Construction Pay Application #10.
The arithmetic holds, 35 days at 260 dollars is exactly 9,100 dollars, but the deduction did not survive. On January 14 2025 the council was told liquidated damages would be suspended over the winter because final restoration on the Barrett property could not be judged until the spring thaw, and a completion date would be set in early spring. The August 2025 change order then moved the completion dates to the actual dates, removing liquidated damages from the contract.
1-14-25 council packet · taken up again 2025-01-14
The following members were present: Mayor Doug Henke, Council Members: Kim Helgeson, Mary Bailey, and Lee Sjolander Via Teams: Molly Ryan Also, present: Interim City Administrator Frank Boyles, Administrative Assistant Holli Gudknecht, Public Works Superintendent Wayne Ehrich, Police Chief Jeff Sjoblom, Finance Director Whitney Kyllo, Scott Lehner, and Eric Hoversten Mayor Henke called the special session to order at 5:30 pm.
Appointment item scheduled under presentations/recognitions.
Chief Sjoblom administered the oath of office to Officer Josephine Homeier at the December 10 2024 meeting and she introduced herself to the council. The same ceremony recurred for Officer Armani Tucker on July 8 2025.
12.10.24 Council Packet and Agenda Updated · taken up again 2024-12-10
In addition, a better understanding of potential site layout and basic costs is still unknown.
Summary of the October 15 meeting with CEDA, city staff and a local developer.
Half the unknown was closed. By January 14 2025 a potential layout for the 8th Street site had been drafted showing an ideal buildout, but Olinger said developer input was needed before costs could be prepared, so basic costs remained unknown. No cost estimate for the site reaches our records.
1-14-25 council packet · taken up again 2025-01-14
General Discussion of City Administrator Employment Agreement Interim Administrator Boyles outlined the process the city when through to find a long-term city administrator. Interviews were conducted on October 29 and an offer was made to one of the candidates.
Boyles outlined the hiring process before the vote on Resolution 2024-26.
The hire was completed at that meeting. Resolution 2024-26 approving the city administrator hiring passed by roll call 5-0-0 with Bailey, Helgeson, Henke, Ryan and Sjolander all voting aye. The search itself had been contracted in July 2024 to South Central Service Cooperative and Mike Humpal for 14,500 dollars, chosen over David Drown Associates. The interim administrator's own contract was then extended to January 31 2025 by Resolution 2024-31.
11.12.24 Council Packet And Agenda / KENYON_BIDS.md · taken up again 2024-11-12
42100 LAW ENFORCEMENT $569,902.38 $508,066.05 112.17%
October expense summary presented under Financial.
The overrun widened. Law enforcement finished November 2024 at 602,811.12 dollars, 118.65 percent of the 508,066.05 dollar budget, and the full year 2024 figure carried into the 2025 statements is 671,396.50 dollars, or 132.1 percent of budget. Capital outlay was the largest single driver at 66,376.37 dollars against 48,500 dollars, and the council raised the 2025 police budget to 579,837 dollars.
12.10.24 Council Packet and Agenda Updated / 6-10-25 COUNCIL PACKET Updated · taken up again 2025-06-10
We've discussed and agreed with the contractor that the remaining work can be best accomplished shortly after freeze-up, this year.
Project is substantially complete but close-out work remains.
No completion date from BCM reaches our records, but the size of the remaining work does. By the December 10 2024 pay application the punch list subtotal stood at 4,500 dollars with total retainage of 16,819.06 dollars, held at 1 percent of work completed plus 250 percent of the remaining punch list value. The subcontractor told the council the crew was waiting for frozen ground to avoid further damage.
12.10.24 Council Packet and Agenda Updated
In the next month we'll be plotting the initial set of preliminary plans, reviewing private utility impacts and reviewing private property impacts.
Next steps on 2025 Street & Utility Improvements design.
No preliminary plan set or private utility and property impact review reaches our records. The next documented design milestone is February 11 2025, when the project was approximately 75 percent complete, which implies the intermediate work happened but leaves its findings undocumented here. The preliminary plan sheets and the impact memo would settle it.
2.11.25 Council Packet Agenda
The city is still withholding approximately $40,000 to date for the remaining work.
Explanation of the retainage release included in Pay Application #10.
The pay application's own lines total 38,669.06 dollars, which is 1,330.94 dollars short of the approximately 40,000 dollars the engineer described as withheld. That figure is 29,569.06 dollars of retainage plus 9,100 dollars in liquidated damage deductions. A month later, after the further retainage release in pay application 11, the amount held had fallen to 16,819.06 dollars.
The engineer told the council approximately 40,000 dollars was being withheld, while the attached pay application shows 38,669.06 dollars.
11.12.24 Council Packet And Agenda / 12.10.24 Council Packet and Agenda Updated
The contract was mutually agreed upon with one change being requested. The city would extend the relocation time from 1 year and six months to 24 months.
General discussion of the City Administrator employment agreement before the resolution vote.
At the meetingCouncil adopted Resolution 2024-26 approving the hiring 5-0
The council adopted Resolution 2024-26 approving the hire by roll call 5-0-0 with the relocation term extended to 24 months as the single negotiated change, but the executed employment agreement is not in our holdings. The recruitment that produced the candidate cost 14,500 dollars, awarded to South Central Service Cooperative and Mike Humpal in July 2024 over David Drown Associates. The signed contract would confirm the relocation clause.
11.12.24 Council Packet And Agenda / KENYON_BIDS.md
The source of funding for the 8th Street Development Cost Study is left blank on the request for council action.
The funding line was never named, but the billing route was: the scope letter says costs will be billed as an extension of Bolton and Menk's general engineering services. The city uses that route elsewhere, including ongoing updates to its ArcGIS Online mapping after the 2024 conversion, which cost 14,500 dollars plus 1,260 dollars a year in ESRI licensing. Which budget line absorbed the 3,000 to 3,500 dollars is not recorded.
11.12.24 Council Packet And Agenda / KENYON_DATA_IN_MEETINGS.md
SOURCE OF FUNDING: Future Project Financing
Source of funding line on the 2025 project RCA.
Future project financing turned out to mean bonded debt carried by the levy. The project was awarded to Fitzgerald Excavating at 2,294,629.25 dollars in July 2025, and the pay 2026 tax rate shows the cost: the city's general rate fell 0.38 percent while its bond rate rose 35.91 percent, carrying the total city rate from 79.3028 percent to 84.6822 percent of net tax capacity. The certified 2026 levy is 1,528,541 dollars, up 9.18 percent. We hold no bond schedule tying specific maturities to this project.
taxes/levy.html / taxes/data/kenyon_tax.json
the desired development would consist of traditional, market-rate, single family homes on ~1/4 acre lots (similar to Whitetail Ridge on the north end of town)
Work scope description for the conceptual site layout.
We hold no Whitetail Ridge plat and no lot size data for it. What the market shows is the opposite of quarter acre lots: the only vacant lots listed for sale in Kenyon are three on Engel Drive at 2.27, 2.46 and 3.08 acres, nine to twelve times a quarter acre, priced at 187,778 to 252,230 dollars and sitting 657 days on market. The city also holds 33 vacant residential parcels inside its limits, 18 of them valued at 15,000 dollars or more.
dashboard/data/zillow.json / taxes/data/kenyon_tax.json
The attached scope and fee was discussed with the EDA on October 22 and was recommended for approval.
Background supporting the council's requested approval of the study.
The December 10 2024 minutes confirm the EDA recommended having the layout and cost projection completed, which corroborates the recommendation, but we hold no EDA minutes of October 22 2024. The scope letter itself states the fee was discussed with the EDA on that date and would be billed as an extension of general engineering services. The EDA minutes would settle the date and the vote.
12.10.24 Council Packet and Agenda Updated
E 101-41610-304 LEGAL $60,676.56 $25,000.00 242.71%
October expense summary presented under Financial.
The percentage checks exactly, 60,676.56 dollars is 242.71 percent of the 25,000 dollar budget, and the same table shows 2023 legal spending at 37,803.40 dollars, so 2024 ran 60.5 percent above the prior year with two months still to go. No explanation of the overrun and no budget amendment appears in our records. The city attorney's billing detail would show what drove it.
11.12.24 Council Packet And Agenda
E 609-49750-501 CAPITAL OUTLAY $92,973.58 $10,000.00 929.74%
October expense summary for the liquor fund.
The percentage checks, 92,973.58 dollars is 929.74 percent of the 10,000 dollar budget, and the bid record accounts for most of it. Municipal liquor store building work awarded in February and March 2024 totals 66,600.86 dollars: the Chandler Roofing reroof at 40,640 dollars, Hamernick's flooring at 7,480.86 dollars and the Action Plumbing and Luikens heating and mini split work at 18,480 dollars. No authorizing action raising the 10,000 dollar capital line appears in our records.
KENYON_BIDS.md / 11.12.24 Council Packet And Agenda
we cannot guarantee the true feasibility and accuracy of any data produced with respect to final development of the property
Assumptions section of the scope and fee letter, noting surveys, wetland delineation, zoning and geotechnical work are excluded.
This is a professional disclaimer, not a factual question. Whether to buy the excluded work, topographic and boundary surveys, wetland delineation, zoning review, geotechnical borings and other environmental review, is the council's call if the 8th Street project advances. Our records show the study never progressed past a drafted layout, so none of that follow-on work was commissioned.
11.12.24 Council Packet And Agenda
If the city would like to move forward, please indicate so through a formal motion and approval at the next available meeting.
A planning-level layout and cost analysis for a potential low-density housing development south of 8th Street.
No council motion on the Bolton and Menk 8th Street development cost study appears in our record. At $3,000 to $3,500 the fee sits below the $4,999 staff purchasing limit that Administrative Policy No. 34 set two months earlier.
KENYON_BIDS.md · would settle it: A council motion approving the scope and fee letter dated 10/21/2024
Decisions 1 motions
| Motion | Moved / seconded | Vote |
|---|---|---|
| Adopt Resolution 2024-26. Roll Call Vote: Bailey- Aye, Helgeson – Aye, Henke – Aye, Ryan – Aye, Sjolander - Aye | Ryan / Bailey | 5-0-0 |
Who did what
| Person | At this meeting |
|---|---|
| Doug Henke Mayor | Called the special session to order at 5:30 p.m. and voted aye on Resolution 2024-26 |
| Molly Ryan Council Member (via Teams) | Moved adoption of Resolution 2024-26 and voted aye |
| Mary Bailey Council Member | Seconded the motion to adopt Resolution 2024-26, voted aye, and moved to adjourn |
| Kim Helgeson Council Member | Voted aye on Resolution 2024-26 and seconded the motion to adjourn |
| Lee Sjolander Council Member | Voted aye on Resolution 2024-26 |
| Frank Boyles Interim City Administrator | Outlined the administrator search process and contract terms, and reported interest in a body art studio |
| Scott Lehner New City Administrator | Attended the meeting and thanked the council for the opportunity to join the city |
| Holli Gudknecht Administrative Assistant / Deputy City Clerk | Attended and signed the minutes |
| Wayne Ehrich Public Works Superintendent | Attended the special session |
| Jeff Sjoblom Police Chief | Attended the special session |
| Whitney Kyllo Finance Director | Attended the special session |
| Eric Hoversten Attendee | Attended the special session |
Organizations named: City of Kenyon
Said at the meeting
The contract was mutually agreed upon with one change being requested.
Minutes record (re: Interim City Administrator Frank Boyles) · minutes, verbatim
The city would extend the relocation time from 1 year and six months to 24 months.
Minutes record (re: Interim City Administrator Frank Boyles) · minutes, verbatim
The new city administrator, Scott Lehner, thanked the council for the opportunity to join the city and expressed his enthusiasm to work in Kenyon.
Minutes record (re: Scott Lehner) · minutes, verbatim
For now, he just wanted to make the council aware of the request.
Minutes record (re: Interim City Administrator Frank Boyles) · minutes, verbatim
Resolutions and ordinances
- Approve City Administrator Hiring for the City of Kenyon, MN Motion by Ryan seconded by Bailey to adopt Resolution 2024-26Res. 2024-26
Agenda
Each item links to where it appears in the packet.
Full packet text (1k characters)
The minutes
Official minutes as adopted, from 11.12.24 Council Packet And Agenda; text extracted from the PDF.
Council Special Session was duly held in the City Council chambers at 5:30 p.m. on the 7th day of November 2024.
- Present
- Mayor Doug Henke, Council Members: Kim Helgeson, Mary Bailey, and Lee Sjolander Via Teams: Molly Ryan
- Also present
- Interim City Administrator Frank Boyles, Administrative Assistant Holli Gudknecht, Public Works Superintendent Wayne Ehrich, Police Chief Jeff Sjoblom, Finance Director Whitney Kyllo, Scott Lehner, and Eric Hoversten
Mayor Henke called the special session to order at 5:30 pm.
General Discussion of City Administrator Employment Agreement
Interim Administrator Boyles outlined the process the city when through to find a long-term city administrator. Interviews were conducted on October 29 and an offer was made to one of the candidates. The contract was mutually agreed upon with one change being requested. The city would extend the relocation time from 1 year and six months to 24 months.
Approval of City Administrator Employment Agreement
Resolution 2024-26: Approve City Administrator Hiring for the City of Kenyon, MN
Motion by Ryan seconded by Bailey to adopt Resolution 2024-26.
Roll Call Vote: Bailey- Aye, Helgeson – Aye, Henke – Aye, Ryan – Aye, Sjolander - Aye
Motion carried 5-0-0The new city administrator, Scott Lehner, thanked the council for the opportunity to join the city and expressed his enthusiasm to work in Kenyon.
Other Adult Establishment – Body Art Interim Administrator Boyles informed the council that there was interest in opening a body art studio in the commercial district in Kenyon. For now, he just wanted to make the council aware of the request.
Motion by Bailey seconded by Helgeson to adjourn the meeting at 5:48 p.m.