Kenyon City Council, January 13, 2025

Two of the three passed and one was held. Resolution 2026-03 approving the application was adopted on a motion by Bailey seconded by Helgeson, carried 5-0-0; Resolution 2026-04 on willingness to work with Rebound on tax increment financing was tabled on Attorney Riggs's recommendation; Resolution 2026-05 committing the local match was moved by Bailey and seconded by Brunner. The TIF thread finished later in the year, with $1,855,000 of assistance over 26 years approved May 18 2026 and Resolution 2026-18 creating Municipal Development District No. 2 and TIF District No. 2-1 adopted June 30 2026.

2-10-26 Council Packet and KENYON_INCENTIVES.md · taken up again 2026-06-30

Change Order No. 1 was tabled at the December 9 2025 meeting and approved at this one, on a motion by Bailey seconded by Brunner, carried 5-0-0. It is a contract amendment extending the completion dates for 2025 work to reflect the extra time needed for the 2nd Street watermain and other 2025 season work. No dollar or contract-time figure for the change order appears in anything we hold, and the base contract is $2,294,629.25.

2-10-26 Council Packet · taken up again 2026-01-13

The council approved hiring part-time police officers on a motion by Bailey seconded by Brunner, carried 5-0-0, after the chief reported interest from trained officers already working in the profession. The part-time bench mattered later: on September 8 2026 part-time officers were covering while the chief and the one full-time officer were on vacation, and the full-time vacancy posted July 28 2026 at $33.54 an hour entry had drawn no applicants.

The minutes name the recommending officer Police Chief Sjolander, while the September 8 2026 agenda lists Jeff Sjoblom as police chief and Sjolander as a council member casting votes.

2-10-26 Council Packet, 9-8-26 Council Packet, data/jobs.csv · taken up again 2026-09-08

The Kennedy and Graven 2026 rates for legal services were approved on the consent agenda on a motion by Helgeson seconded by Brunner, carried 5-0-0, the same route the 2025 rates took a year earlier. The rate sheet itself is not in anything we hold, so the size of the increase is unknown. The budget effect is visible: the city attorney legal line ran $68,326.50 in the earliest year shown, was budgeted $50,000, and is proposed at $60,000 for 2027.

2-10-26 Council Packet and 9-8-26 Council Packet account 101-41610-304 · taken up again 2026-01-13

The Kenyon Leader was designated legal newspaper for 2026, the same designation it held in 2025. Terry Campbell of the Kenyon/Wanamingo Messenger had asked to be considered at the December 9 2025 meeting and was not selected. The Leader is owned by APG Media of Southern Minnesota, its paid circulation has fallen from 2,866 to 416, and the city paid APG on 19 register lines between November 2024 and August 2026, with Kenyon's annual legal-notice spend running roughly $2,600.

2-10-26 Council Packet, APG_MEDIA_DOSSIER, MN_CITY_NOTICE_SPEND · taken up again 2026-01-13

The transition finished. Lehner reported it ongoing and needing more time at this meeting, and on July 14 2026 he told the council the KMU checking account had been officially closed the previous week. Consolidating the KMU and city accounts was one of the named tasks in the Abdo engagement approved August 12 2025 at $92,100 a year.

7.14.26 Council Packet and 8.12.25 Council Packet · taken up again 2026-07-14

A 3 percent cost-of-living adjustment was already in the 2026 budget but no step increase was, and Lehner put the cost of adding one at approximately $41,000. The council moved, Sjolander seconded by Kirchmann, to pay a step increase for 2026 retroactive to the first payroll of the year, and Lehner recommended a January cost-of-living adjustment with steps on employee anniversary dates from 2027. That $41,000 is 2.7 percent of the $1,528,541 certified 2026 levy.

2-10-26 Council Packet and taxes/levy.html · taken up again 2026-01-13

Minnesota Paid Leave took effect January 1 2026 with the premium split evenly, the city paying 50 percent and employees paying 50 percent through payroll deduction. Lehner reported at this meeting that all required paperwork had been submitted and deductions had begun. The deduction had an immediate staffing cost: part-time employee Brittni Schmitz told the council the same night that she would not continue, citing ineligibility for the cost-of-living and step increases together with the new payroll deduction.

12.9.25 and 2-10-26 Council Packets · taken up again 2026-01-13

Lehner reported he had received all performance reviews from supervisors and had completed the department head reviews, but was holding distribution pending the council's decision on step increases. That decision came at the same meeting, when the council voted to pay a 2026 step increase retroactive to the first payroll. No evaluation schedule or written review process appears in anything we hold.

2-10-26 Council Packet · taken up again 2026-01-13

The position was reposted after the selected candidate declined the offer, with a new application deadline at the end of January 2026. The first posting had closed November 17 2025 and the council voted 4-1-0 to continue that hiring process, with Sjolander the sole nay. The role turned over again within the year: Rachel Goven resigned effective August 7 2026 for a family relocation and the position was posted a third time with an August 25 2026 deadline.

12.9.25, 2-10-26 and 9-8-26 Council Packets · taken up again 2026-09-08

Mike from On-Site Computers reviewed the city's computer needs and layout, and the planned upgrades are a new computer and monitors for the finance office, an upgraded conference room system, and a new printer for the deputy clerk. No quote for any of it appears in our record. The spending context is that computer support ran $26,903 in 2025 against an $8,500 budget, with $19,000 budgeted for 2026 and $21,600 proposed for 2027, and On-Site Computers billed $1,500 to $2,700 a month in spring 2025.

Computer support ran $26,903 in 2025 against an $8,500 budget, more than three times the appropriation, before any of these upgrades were quoted.

2-10-26 Council Packet and KENYON_IT_SPEND.md · taken up again 2026-01-13

Lehner reported only that staff had been busy completing year-end tasks and transferring files. No closing summary and no list of outstanding 2025 items appears in anything we hold, so the wrap-up as recorded carries no detail to check.

2-10-26 Council Packet · taken up again 2026-01-13

The $45,488.23 figure is a real total, but it belongs to a resolution the council already passed a year earlier. Resolution 2025-02 authorizing acceptance of 2024 donations of $45,488.23 was approved February 11 2025 on a motion by Bailey seconded by Helgeson, carried 5-0-0, and the January 2025 packet described it as the 2024 donations not already accepted during the year. The donor-by-donor ledger is not in anything we hold.

The 2026 resolution recites a 2024 donation total the council had already formally accepted in February 2025.

1-14-25 and 2.11.25 Council Packets · taken up again 2025-02-11

The annual licenses were approved in one motion on the consent agenda, Helgeson seconded by Brunner, carried 5-0-0. The comparable 2025 list names Flom Disposal twice, Waste Management twice, Veit, LRS of Minn, Goodhue County Public Works, Countryside Rental and City and Lakes Disposal for hauling and recycling, then Kenyon Ace Hardware, Kenyon VFW Post 141, Mary's Rustic Rose, Mark Lenway, D and S Banner Sign and Print, Angie's and Taco Express for sidewalk use. No insurance certificates and no fee payment records are in anything we hold.

1-14-25 and 2-10-26 Council Packets · taken up again 2026-01-13

The change was approved on the consent agenda in January 2026, but the paperwork lagged. By March 10 2026 the packet notes that CMPAS wanted Resolution 2026-09 signed and returned to confirm removing Jim Malloy and appointing John Lee as alternate on the CMMPA and CMPAS boards, and that Resolution 2026-07 verbally approved in February also still needed a signed copy for the record. John Lee then resigned from KMU with a last day of August 14 2026, which puts the alternate seat back in play.

3-10-26 Council Packet and 9-8-26 Council Packet · taken up again 2026-03-10

Renee Caron and Bryana Lothert were appointed to the Library Board on the adopted 2026 appointments list, replacing Kayla Larkin, the single name on the 2025 list. Term end dates are not stated in anything we hold. The library itself runs on SELCO hosting at $230 a year plus $347.55 a month for integrated library system support, with the automation line budgeted at $6,500 for both 2026 and 2027.

2-10-26 Council Packet and KENYON_IT_SPEND.md · taken up again 2026-01-13

The slate was adopted: Acting Mayor Mary Bailey, legal newspaper the Kenyon Leader, depository Security State Bank with 4M and Northland Securities, City Attorney Scott Riggs of Kennedy and Graven, Prosecuting Attorney David Jacobsen, City Engineer Derek Olinger of Bolton and Menk, and City Auditor BerganKDV. The one substantive change from 2025 is the auditor, which moved from Abdo Eick and Meyers to BerganKDV following the December 2024 RFP where BerganKDV bid $27,540 to $29,500 against CliftonLarsonAllen at $97,640 to $70,940.

1-14-25 and 2-10-26 Council Packets, KENYON_BIDS.md · taken up again 2026-01-13