---

Center City Council met January 6 for a regular meeting.  Council member Lloyd Vetter joined via Zoom.  

Council then discussed a proposed meeting time with Chisago County Soil and Water, Chisago County HRA EDA and the city to discuss the twice failed rain garden behind the County owned Bayview Apartments.  The council wants to know who is responsible for the repairs as well as why it failed twice.  Council agreed to a January 16 meeting to discuss.

Mayor Jill Behnke then told council she had a meeting with Pizza Pub, Tony’s Bar and Jakes on the Lakes about charitable gambling.  Pizza Pub has requested the removal of the Center City Fire Relief Association charitable gambling which included pull tabs, bingo and e-tabs.  Behnke told the council she made it clear how important the Fire Relief Association revenues are to the city.  Some of the reasons Behnke was told Pizza Pub would prefer a different organization is the timing of when they pick up the boxes and drop off.  When asked about pick up times, charitable gambling manager Dan Twohy told the council boxes are picked up early mornings as are the other bars the fire relief works with.  Behnke said another concern was not having extra boxes available when a bar runs out of a pull tab box.  Twohy told council every bar has extra boxes on hand and was confused why the subject was brought up.  Twohy told the council if a game is destroyed or sold out, every bar has a back up box on their premises.  If a box is deemed undesirable by a bar and they decide to pull it, the Association has to eat the start-up money, which can be a few thousand dollars.

Behnke will try to set up a meeting with the bar owners and the association in January.

Council then approved a variance for the property at the end of Crescent Beach Road for an addition to the existing home.  The addition would infringe upon the required 50 foot setback on a riparian lot by eight feet.  The planning commission has met and approved the plans.  DNR also approved the proposal.  Council approved the variance unanimously.

Council then unanimously agreed on the annexation of a home next to the North Center boat landing into Center City, and the separation from the city of Lindstrom.  Lindstrom has already signed the agreement. 

Council then voted to keep the Municipal Development Group as the city engineering firm.  Behnke said the new representative Holly Kreft has reached out and met with her and city clerk Dana Miron.

In the staff reports, Mayor Behnke told the council the maintenance department will be attending a seminar in North Branch called “smart salting”.

Council then discussed the proposed water and sewer rates for 2026.  It is proposed to raise the base water rate , a minimum of 8,000 gallons from $40 to $47 and additional 1,000 gallons will be $2.25 instead of existing $1.75.

Pumphouse quarterly billing will rise from $5 to $6.50 per quarter. And tech  (testing) fees will rise from $6 to $7.50 per quarter.

For sewer rates are as follows:

Base unit charge will rise from $55 to $62 per quarter.

Treatment charge will increase by 65 cents per quarter.

Storm water will rise from $3 to $6 per quarter.

Council agreed on the rate increases which will be effective now and residents will see on next bills.

---