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Ceylon approves broadband contract

CEYLON — Ceylon City Council held its May meeting on Tuesday. It began with a phone message from CEDA’s Kelly Wilken which discussed the responses to the broadband project. The council had read the sealed bids that had been opened at a previous meeting. The LTD Company was one of the bidders and discussion was held about the FCC questioning their capabilities to do broadband to more than 100,000 in Minnesota. The Federated REA bid was also discussed. The council liked the fact that the FREA has been reliable in the town and that they are a more local company with a good business reputation. The council approved beginning contract negotiations with FREA concerning the broadband in Ceylon. They scheduled a meeting for negotiations for May 26th. This will give FREA a time to round out their contract proposal.

In the regular meeting they approved a building permit for a new sidewalk that was replacing a broken sidewalk. Some council members asked that building permits be brought to the council before the work starts. The permit inspector has, in the past, sent his approval and the council has appreciated his work. With one meeting a month it is sometimes hard to get to a meeting before work needs to be done. The council asked that, if possible, the permit be requested earlier.

The abatement of the property on Main Street was discussed and the council agreed that the company doing the work did not do a good job and was not finished. The company needed to be more organized and have equipment and workers available to do the job well and quicker. The payment was discussed as the costs to the City must be paid by the ordinance violator. The ordinance states that those who have nuisance and dangerous violations pay. Some questions arose and the council tabled the payment issue until the vehicles and other items at the dump could be sold or taken for salvage. Then the payment amounts could be cleared up. The council approved naming Wayne Walter as the Abatement supervisor to improve properties in ordinance violation. He will check on properties needing resolution and report back to the council.

The trees to be removed at the house on the corner of Main Street and Grove Street formerly owned by Mr. Walser were discussed and the council approved removing all the trees for a fee of $7,500. It was reported that some items may be salvageable for the July auction.

The council also approved the ordinance stating that it was the duty of the resident to have a garbage collection resource. The contract for a garbage collection company for the City was tabled until all resources were checked out.

The council also approved the issuance of a general obligation bond for $489,000 to pay for the new water mains that will have to be replaced when the new road is done this summer on Main Street which is part of the Hwy. 263 project.

A resident commented at the public comments time about a petition she was planning to start and a possible town meeting to ask for the resignation of the Mayor, John Gibeau. She sited several reasons like irresponsible behavior and inappropriate decisions. The Mayor responded with a no resignation and he commented that he had been living in the town of Ceylon almost all his life and wanted to do good things for the town. He said he did not want people to come to live in the town and not obey the rules and ordinances or live in squalor and not try to clean up their properties. He welcomed the opportunity to speak about any concerns anyone has concerning his mayoral duties.

Council reports discussed campers in town not on pavement, concrete, or gravel and that some have been used as a house. All that is against the ordinance concerning campers in town.

The next meeting of the Ceylon City Council is scheduled for 6 p.m. on June 9, at Ceylon City Hall.

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