Kenyon City Council, January 14, 2025

The notices went out and the open house was held January 27 2025 at city hall from 5:30 to 7:00 pm, with four residents attending and offering comments. The May 13 2025 minutes confirm what the mailing contained and that it was not final: the notices included sidewalk assessments for the 8th Street alternate walk, and staff committed to sending another official notice to affected properties if the council omitted that alternate.

3-11-25_council_packet_(1); 5-13-25_council_packet_updated · taken up again 2025-03-11

The design team held the meeting on January 27 2025 and four residents came with comments, but no summary of those comments is in our holdings. Resident objections surfaced instead at the assessment hearing: no residents attended in person, and two contacted Engineer Olinger in advance, the owner at 10 Slee Street saying the assessment was too high and the owner at 608 8th Street opposing the 8th Street work. The hearing was continued to July 8 2025 and closed without action on assessments because the project was being rebid.

3-11-25_council_packet_(1); 6-10-25_COUNCIL_PACKET_Updated; 7.8.25_Updated_Council_Packet_and_Agenda · taken up again 2025-07-08

The council approved the 2.25-acre ag lease with Richard Nystuen on a motion by Helgeson seconded by Bailey, carried 5-0-0, as recorded in the February 11 2025 packet. It is a renewal of a three-year lease on city land just east of the wastewater plant overflow lagoon. The rent is not stated in any document we hold.

2.11.25_Council_Packet__Agenda · taken up again 2025-02-11

The council approved the 10.5-acre ag lease with Scott Wickum on a motion by Bailey seconded by Brunner, carried 5-0-0, a three-year renewal on city land along Highway 60 east of the Waste Treatment Plant. With the Nystuen lease approved the same night, the city has 12.75 acres out on ag leases. Neither rent figure appears in our records.

2.11.25_Council_Packet__Agenda · taken up again 2025-02-11

Donald Kirchmann was added as a signer on the City of Kenyon checking account at Security State Bank of Kenyon, motion by Helgeson seconded by Bailey, carried 5-0-0. Three more signers followed in June 2025, when Randy Eggert, James Malloy and Jerry Houglum were added on the same 5-0-0 vote. Security State Bank is one of the city's designated depositories alongside 4M and Northland Securities.

2.11.25_Council_Packet__Agenda; 6-10-25_COUNCIL_PACKET_Updated · taken up again 2025-06-10

Resolution 2025-02 was adopted on a motion by Bailey seconded by Helgeson, carried 5-0-0, accepting donations of $45,488.23. The parallel resolution a year later, Resolution 2026-02 accepting 2025 donations, passed on the consent agenda with no dollar figure recorded.

The agenda titled the item as acceptance of 2025 donations, but the resolution the council actually adopted accepted the 2024 donations of $45,488.23.

2.11.25_Council_Packet__Agenda; 2-10-26_Council_Packet · taken up again 2025-02-11

The council voted 5-0-0, on a motion by Sjolander seconded by Bailey, to send all council members and the city administrator to the LMC Elected Leaders Institute in Mankato on February 7 and 8. Interim City Administrator Boyles recommended it and said the funds were already in the city council budget. No individual registration list is in our holdings. The League relationship later produced money as well as training: Kenyon took up the LMC Grant Navigator program in July 2026, which pays up to $5,000 per city against a $500,000 program cap.

2.11.25_Council_Packet__Agenda; 7.14.26_Council_Packet_Updated; GRANTS.md · taken up again 2025-02-11

The Historic Preservation Commission seat was still vacant in the 2026 Appointments and Designations list, in both the February 10 and March 10 2026 packets, so it has gone unfilled for at least fourteen months. The wider picture got worse over that period: the Planning Commission held Jim Malloy and Elana Brunner in 2025 and shows all three seats vacant in 2026. The city has a comparable gap on valuation, where the county Assessor has run the Board of Appeal as an open book since 2023 because no council member holds the required training.

2.11.25_Council_Packet__Agenda; 3-10-26_Council_Packet_Updated; KENYON_DATA_IN_MEETINGS.md · taken up again 2026-03-10

The second Park and Recreation seat was still vacant in the 2026 appointments, and the first seat changed hands, with Bailey Ament replacing Jill Warner. The board oversees 18 park and recreation facilities on file, including Depot Park, the Kenyon Municipal Swimming Pool, Riverside Park and Disc Golf Course and Trondheim Park.

2.11.25_Council_Packet__Agenda; 3-10-26_Council_Packet_Updated; data/parks_recreation.csv · taken up again 2026-03-10

The request was approved. It was moved off New Business item XI.F onto the amended consent agenda and passed 5-0-0 on a motion by Bailey seconded by Helgeson, in the same motion that carried the Kennedy and Graven rates and Resolution 2025-01. Jacobsen came back for the same increase a year later, on the December 9 2025 consent agenda for the 2026 contract. Neither the old rate nor the new one is recorded.

Two consecutive prosecution fee increases were approved with no dollar amount entering the public record at either meeting.

2.11.25_Council_Packet__Agenda; 12.9.25_Council_Agenda_and_Packet_Updated · taken up again 2025-02-11