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Two owners of downtown Taylors Falls landmarks were approved at Monday night’s city council meeting for use of city facade improvement funds to do repairs and painting.

 The exterior of Schoony’s and Chisago House are getting some TLC for about $3,000 and $10,000 respectively.  Council also directed staff to get in touch with other downtown businesspersons to gauge interest in utilizing the state agency funding before increasing the approved amounts of the two applications before council.  If there’s funding remaining out of an estimated $45,000 in the account, council can revisit the additional amounts detailed in the applications.  If you are interested in commercial facade repair and maintenance in Taylors Falls downtown you are encouraged to inquire about assistance at city hall.

Council was unanimous in wanting to address the projects  as these are major structures impacting the appearance of main street.

Council also authorized staff to participate in the League of MN Cities salary and benefits survey for next year and to earmark $2,200 out of existing city funds to buy the data for use in this year’s budgeting process.  If cities participate in the survey, the data is available no charge, but Taylors Falls missed the window to submit its own data this past year and still desired access to the statistics.

Council member Larry Julik Heine stressed this information from comparable-sized cities will be invaluable in understanding the municipal marketplace and in retaining city staff.  

In other business:  Taylors Falls has charged a fee for tackling clean up of nuisance properties in the past (lots need mowing, etc.) and the city fee schedule was revised to more accurately reflect costs.  

Council member Tim Grote observed the fee needs to carry some punitive impact as well, because this is not a “city service.” 

Mowing will be ordered if the property owner has been notified there’s an issue, not responded and the condition persists. Mowing, for example, is a task that public works takes care of outside of normal duties and calls for irregular hours as well.

The list of election judges was expanded with a number of names accepted by council to be included in the judges who serve as election officials. 

There was some review and discussion on the Short Term Rental or vacation rentals by owner, ordinances the city is working on updating.  The public hearing is not scheduled yet.  

Council considered aspects like septic system adequacy, safety of sites with well water and their testing.  The wording so far recommends no more than 20 short term rental sites being allowed.  The city attorney was absent so word smithing will continue and council will hear of ordinance progress later.

The neighborhood along Briar Lane, and the immediate area being looked at for extension of city services will be getting a survey soon.  Mayor Weiberg remarked he was personally unimpressed with the engineering firm’s effort at a recent neighborhood information session.  He’d like more details made available and to see the process kicked into a faster gear.

Council member Grote read aloud from a letter submitted by the Taylors Falls Lions commending public works for hours spent in Lions’ parks this season. The sites have never looked better and staff is appreciated for their obvious care and efforts. 

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