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Lindstrom firefighters proposed to meld their fire relief association pension account with the state PERA system and the city council agreed it would be a good move.  

Last week the consensus among council members was to pursue the state Public Employees Retirement Account management program, and Council member Linda Merkel will attend the upcoming local relief association meeting for the authorization vote.  The meeting is April 29.

Lindstrom Fire charitable gambling program is separate from this pension action.

The pension portion of the department’s fiscal activity is at $3,500 per annum in payout now, for vested firefighters,  and the idea in joining with the vast state program is that this sum can only improve.  

Minnesota right now has an incentive available for departments to place their relief resources into the state retirement account.  

Fire Department charitable gambling manager Ryan Peterson explained to the council that incentives are being awarded on a first come basis;  so he’d like to get into the PERA  system as soon as possible.

The fire department will continue to have audit expenses for the charitable gambling revenues.  Not having to do the pension audit will be a savings.   Gambling revenues still go into the relief accounts, but also into equipment purchases, into renting space for the operations and fund other community charity expenses.

The engineering firm got the go-ahead on designing for the Park Street parking lot plans.

Engineer Brian Bachmeier of Bolton & Menk told council the firm is ready to initiate plans to do a September 2024 bid that would be built in spring 2025.  This way the project is complete in time for Lindstrom summer festivities and seasonal visitors.  There will be a meeting with affected property owners this June, he predicts.

Lindstrom is paying for this improvement with bond proceeds that were originally sold to acquire the Lakeview Motel, but the deal never materialized.  

City Administrator Dan Undem assured council he’d gotten the okay for redirecting this money from legal advisors.

The first tasks given to Bolton & Menk to get the parking lot plans underway were estimated at $65,000.

Service lines that may contain lead need to be identified and inventoried for the state.  The council gave the go-ahead to Bolton & Menk to complete an inventory of some 1,800 service connections and have a report for the state.  The task is an estimated $10,000.  Grants and outside funds will continue to be sought.

There was discussion last month on the extent of the city budget that is assisting the Chamber of Commerce.  Staff told council the lease between the Chamber and the city-owned building at Memorial Park expires in 2025.

Mayor Judy Chartrand remarked that nobody is looking for any immediate changes in the relationship but it’s time for all the city owned property to be reviewed and analyzed if the leases are favorable at this time and going forward.

Council member Brian Norelius commented that the lease has a while left on it, so it’s good there’s time to talk about this.

Comparing direct revenue from rent at $400 monthly, and city expenses to repair and maintain the building the last few years, the city ended several thousand dollars in-the-red, staff told council.

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