City Talks Land Exchange
At their August meeting on Monday night, the Britton City Council discussed a land exchange with Josh Kraft and the US LBM company. The hope is for the city and US LBM to swap some land around the library owned by US LBM and land by the old city hall plus additional land to the south. Currently, the propane tank for the library does not sit on city land so they would like to obtain that lot. The land would also be needed in the event of future expansion of the library. The building to the south of the library would likely have to come down as well. Both the city and Kraft discussed the assessed value of their respective lots with the city’s being valued higher by about $125,000. Kraft said he would have to discuss with US LBM on how to proceed. No action was taken. Before any final steps are taken, information will be posted and the public will have a chance to weigh in.
The council briefly discussed the budget. South Dakota code now allows entities to introduce their budget in September or November. According to Finance Officer Marie Marlowe, “The budget might be tough this year with all the increases. A little more time to work on it would be nice.” The group conducted the first reading of an ordinance to change the date to November. A special meeting of the council will be held next week for the second reading in order to meet later publication deadlines.The council discussed GPS mapping of the cemetery GPS. This project would use ground sonar to determine where people are buried, something that is needed in the old cemetery. Marlowe who has been communicating with a company who does that work said it will be around $50,000. They discussed when the project would fit into the budget. Marlowe added that the project is crucial as the city has frequently run into problems with their current cemetery map. The ballpark project was briefly discussed. The project would add another field at the ball complex. The city requested an extension of the grant that was committed to the project but will expire this year. There are some new requirements if the extension is granted. The city hopes to rebid the project later after the recent bids came in very high.
Snapper Strong attended the meeting again. He said that they will likely put their bean bag league on hold for a month or possibly next summer at Snapper’s Dry Bean. He also brought up the awning on the front of his building. There has not been any changes made yet. Mayor Clyde Fredrickson noted they have some concerns about handicap accessibility if posts are added for an awning. Nothing was decided on the matter.
In other council business, Lindsey Kimber (Ward 1) took the oath office as a councilmember. She ran unopposed recently. Norm Mack was added to the parks and pool committee. The council approved the purchase of spare pumps for the pool. The money for the purchase was available in the pool budget.