Community Flag Day

Mayor Joan Jagt is pictured signing a document proclaiming Friday, April 17 as a Day of Community Pride in Tyler.

By Mark Wilmes
tributeeditor@gmail.com

 
On Monday, Mayor Joan Jagt signed a proclamation designating Friday, April 17, 2020 as Community Flag Day in Tyler. The proclamation states that in light of the COVID-19 pandemic directly impacting the quality of life of area residents, it is time to promote unity during the crisis. The City of Tyler, along with the members of A.C. Hansen Post 185 of the American Legion will be jointly carrying out the project.

For the full story, read this week’s Tyler Tribute.

Dallas Cornell rehired as county deputy

Lincoln County Parks Manager Daryl Schlapkolh reported that improvements at Norwegian Creek Campground are in progress. Schlapkohl also requested that the county follow the governor’s guidelines regarding opening the county owned campgrounds.

By Shelly Finzen
lbvjeditor@gmail.com

The Lincoln County Board of Commissioners met for their regular meet­ing through a combination of in-person and telecon­ference attendance. Board Chair Joe Drietz was ab­sent. Because the meeting included teleconference members, all votes were conducted by roll call vote.
According to Lincoln County Auditor-Treasurer Deb Vierhuf, the county is required to identify the parcels where those taxes cover the bond payment, which is referred to as a property tax abatement. A public hearing regarding the property tax abate­ment was held at 9:05 a.m., during the regular meet­ing. According to Vierhuf, “We plan to use the addi­tional wind tower produc­tion tax money to pay for the bond but we still have to identify those parcels just in case the wind tax money is not sufficient to cover. Our expectation is that the additional wind money will cover the pay­ments.” There were no members of the public at­tending the public hearing for approving the property tax abatement.

For the full story, read this week’s Tyler Tribute.

Rep. Peterson, Sen. Weber hold online conferences

Senator Bill Weber (top) and Representative Rod Hamilton on Thursday’s virtual press conference.

By Mark Wilmes
tributeeditor@gmail.com

U.S. Representative Col­lin Peterson and State Senator Bill Weber held a remote conference last week to discuss issues in­volving the pandemic. Pe­terson was available for questions on Wednesday afternoon.
In opening remarks, Pe­terson expressed that he, like everyone else, was struggling to adjust to the current pandemic realities, but encouraged everyone to be assured that “this, too, shall pass.”
“We’re using this time to answer questions and take advice,” Peterson said. “This is my first telephone town hall. We have passed the CARES Act, which has an unprecedented amount of money in it being dis­tributed in many different ways. Some of it through direct checks to people, some of it through loans that can be forgiven. There are unemployment bene­fits and money out to hos­pitals. A number of things that we’re in the process of implementing.”

For the full story, read this week’s Tyler Tribute.

Council accepts sewer project bid

Mayor Joan Jagt at Monday’s city council meeting.

By Mark Wilmes
tributeeditor@gmail.com

 
Mayor Joan Jagt opened Monday evening’s regular monthly meeting of the Tyler City Council with a message to the community.
“I just want to say thank you to everyone who is considered an essential worker in this town,” she said. “It is amazing how things are still working in town. We can get the groceries that we need and the gas that we need. I want to say thank you to our staff for working through all this. I want to say especially, thank you to the citizens of Tyler who are practicing social distancing and I think we’re all doing really well.”
The council awarded the sanitary sewer project bids at Monday’s meeting. The city received a total of five bids, with a nearly $174,000 gap between the highest and lowest, with the lowest coming in below even the engineer’s estimate.

For the full story, read this week’s Tyler Tribute.

Tyler City Council calls special meeting

The Tyler City Council held a special meeting on Tuesday last week. Pictured clockwise from left—Councilpersons Scott Dressen and Cricket Raschke, City Administrator Stephanie LaBrune, and councilpersons Tim Sanderson and Kenny Jensen.

By Mark Wilmes
tributeeditor@gmail.com

The Tyler City Council met in special session on Tuesday, March 24 to ap­prove a resolution extend­ing the city’s Declaration of a State of Emergency. Mayor Joan Jagt, attending the meeting via conference call, told the council that the meeting was called at the direction of Lincoln County Emergency Man­ager Amber Scholten, who said the city needs to have a council meeting if the threat is to last for more than three days.
“That is why we called this meeting, to make sure that we can move forward with it,” Jagt said. “We’re asking that we continue the State of Emergency until May 4, 2020.”

For the full story, read this week’s Tyler Tribute.

Commissioners approve law enforcement pact with Lake Benton

County Commissioner Mic VanDeVere

By Mark Wilmes
tributeeditor@gmail.com

The Lincoln County Commissioners met with representatives from Lake Benton on March 17 to discuss a new law enforcement partnership between their city and the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department. Commis­sioner Jack Vizecky was present by speakerphone. Lake Benton City Council Member David Enke and City Administrator Eileen Christensen were on hand at the meeting. Enke told the commissioners that the contract was approved on the previous evening at the Lake Benton City Council meeting.
“We’re thankful for the time spent by Sheriff (Chad) Meester to pre­pare that contract as well as everyone else who was involved with that,” Enke said. “We’re here this morning to present that contract for approval from the commissioners.”

For the full story, read this week’s Tyler Tribute.

How COVID-19 affects our city

City Administrator
Stephanie LaBrune

 
From Tuesday, March 17 at 5 p.m. through Friday, March 27 at 5 p.m., all Minnesota bars, restaurants, and other places of public accommodation will be temporarily CLOSED to the public in an effort to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Executive Order does not prohibit deliveries, curbside pickup services, or drive thru/drive up services.
In an effort to avoid Minnesota residents from congregating in larger groups, many other establishments are also included in the Executive Order and will be temporarily CLOSED, such as museums, bowling alleys, theaters, fitness centers, recreation centers, coffeehouses, country clubs, etc.

For the full story, read this week’s Tyler Tribute.

Equipment and grant funds discussed at county meeting

By Shelly Finzen
lbvjeditor@gmail.com

The Lincoln County Board of Commissioners met for their reg­ular meeting on Tuesday, March 3. All commissioners were pres­ent for the meeting.
Lincoln County Environmental Officer Robert Olsen reported to the board that the Lake Benton Lake Improvement District re­ceived an invasive species man­agement grant from the DNR for $7,000. The grant funds are lower than what was received in previous years, but the $7,000 in grant funds will help with the treatments for curly leaf pond­weed (CLP). Olsen said the En­vironmental Department will be on Lake Benton Lake checking the CLP infestation as soon as the ice is off the lake. “We know from ice-fishing reports that the curly leaf is prevalent in the east­ern end of the lake again,” Olsen said. That area was treated last year, but, according to Olsen, it can take several years to bring the infestation of CLP under con­trol due to the number of seeds in the sediment.

For the full story, read this week’s Tyler Tribute.

Helping NextEra Energy Resources help Lincoln County

Photo courtesy of NextEra Energy Resources
Lincoln County residents can help NextEra Energy Resources help Lincoln County by showing support of the proposed wind farm between Lake Benton and Tyler through a variety of methods.

By Shelly Finzen
lbvjeditor@gmail.com

At the Feb. 26 Lincoln County Commissioners meeting, Danell Hertzig of NextEra Energy Re­sources commented on frus­trations the company is expe­riencing in the planning and development of a new wind energy farm west of Lake Ben­ton. The frustrations involve the regulations and costs associ­ated with adding new power to an existing grid. The potentially excessive costs could delay the project, which would delay the revenue generated for the local economy. Lincoln County resi­dents can help to resolve these problems.
NextEra Energy Resources is a wholesale power generation company that delivers clean, re­newable energy to much of the North American continent. “We develop, construct and operate power projects to produce elec­tricity,” their website explains, “We market electricity to whole­sale customers and invest in critical infrastructure for power delivery. We also offer a variety of energy-related products and services to customers across the country. Equally important, we are dedicated to quality, com­mitted to environmental stew­ardship and care about our com­munities.”

For the full story, read this week’s Tyler Tribute.

Public hearings held for variance request, sewer plan

Vanessa and Joel Bedow spoke to the council Monday evening, seeking a variance on their property.

By Mark Wilmes
tributeeditor@gmail.com

 
The Tyler City Council met on Monday evening at the Tyler Fire Hall. Acting Mayor Tim Sanderson ran the meeting for Mayor Joan Jagt, who was absent.
The evening opened with a public hearing to hear a zoning variance request from Vanessa and Joel Bedow of Tyler to convert a portion of their business property located at 2577 W. Hwy 14 to a residential living space. Joel Bedow explained that they would like to add on to a building currently used as office space to convert into a living space for their family.
“We’d like to add on to accommodate our family and put our house up for sale,” he explained.

For the full story, read this week’s Tyler Tribute.