By Tim Douglass

tdouglass@pctribune.com

Glenwood City Commissioners heard a comprehensive report about the city’s Storm Water fees structure from Short Elliot Hendrickson, Inc. (SEH).  The company recently conducted an analysis of the city’s current rates for stormwater utilities and is proposing rate increases over the next five years.

The city commission did not approve any rate increases to the utility at last week’s meeting, but the topic will likely reemerge at a future commissioner’s meeting, according to City Administrator Dave Iverson.  Iverson told commissioners spend some time on the analysis and proposal.  “We aren’t asking you to make any decisions tonight, but look it over and let us know if you have questions,” Iverson said.  

The presentation on the city’s stormwater utility rate evaluation was done remotely via Zoom by Lily Hock, Water Resources Engineer for SEH.  She said the city of Glenwood had retained SEH to perform an updated evaluation of the city’s current Stormwater utility SWU program. Previous evaluations were conducted in 2008 and again in 2014.  She said the current rate for a residential property is $2.50 per month with a current maximum of $25 per month per parcel. The SHE proposal she provided included increasing the rate by 50 cents per parcel per year over the next five years and to increase the maximum charge by $5 per year over the next five years.

Currently, the rate raises about $90,634.  The estimated cost of the utility to the city is about $123,000, so the rates do not cover the total costs at this point, it was stated.

The goal is to cover the costs and provide funding for timely capital improvements to the system.  By the third year in the proposal, the city could be about $28,000 above the utility’s cost, if it adopted the 50-cent increase per year over the five years.

The stormwater fee is applied consistently to all single-family parcels in Glenwood regardless of size.  When applying the fee to non-residential properties, the base rate is assumed to correspond to a .32-acre parcel, according to Hock.  The fee is adjusted for parcel size, she added.

She also said that the parcel database for 2024 was created using GIS data obtained from Pope County.  In the 10 years since the last evaluation of fees, 290 parcels have changed or emerged.  A lot of the parcel changes are due to development that caused lots to be divided or merged and mainly affected residential and commercial land, Hock explained. The analysis provided by SEH also compared stormwater rates of cities near Glenwood, which is in the West Central area of MnDOT’s Atlas 14 rainfall IDF regions.  Eight counties (including Pope County) are in that area and have similar rainfall depths to Pope County.  

Parking violations

In another matter last week, the city commission approved a parking citation appeal from Kenneth Jacobs, who was given an $100 citation for violating the Glenwood City Ordinance for parking for more than 24 hours on a city street without moving the vehicle.  Jacobs, who was at the meeting, told commissioners that he had taken his vehicle that morning to check on fishing and because of the weather returned home and again parked his car on the street.  He was contesting the citation because residents can do that now under a recent resolution that established an “administrative penalty’ for the violation.  The notice for the penalty states that at any time before the payment is due, a resident may “request to appear before the city commission to contest the payment of penalty after completing an administrative appeal form.  The main reason the commission approved the appeal was because the police did not “chalk the tires” of the vehicle and commissioners decided without that proof Jacob’s statement that he had moved the vehicle was valid.  

The City of Glenwood recently began enforcing street parking violations and police will be issuing citations for motor vehicles, trailers, boats campers and RVs that are parked too long on city streets.

That could mean a $100 fine to the owner if those items are ticketed by police for removal. 

“The public streets are not storage areas,” said Glenwood City Administrator Dave Iverson in a recent discussion.  The city adopted ordinances preventing long-term parking of such vehicles.  “We’re trying to deal with the parking issue on city streets by administering a penalty rather than using the legal system, Glenwood Police Chief Dale Danter said recently.  “But I wanted to let the public know that we do receive complaints about long-term parking and we will now be issuing citations,” he added.

In other business, 

the commission:

• Approved paying the second half of the 2024 property taxes in the amount of $46,039.

• Approved a Wire Transfer Agreement between the city and Glenwood State Bank.

• Notified commissioners that a school board meeting about child day care would be held at the Minnewaska Area Schools on Sept. 18.  Mayor Sherri Kazda and Commissioner Brent Cochran were designated to represent the city at the meeting.  

•Heard from Pubic Works Director Andy Jergenson, about tank for collecting water will be stationed at 220 1st Ave. SW.  The tank could be large, Jergenson told the commission.  The resident at that address claimed that there is a gas odor in the basement when it rains.  Jergenson said a company will be placing tile around the residence to collect water and then store it into a tank for testing.  The residence is located near an old gas station at the former Autorama building, it was stated.