TRUMAN– On Monday the Truman City Council heard from Troy Nemmers from Bolton & Menk regarding some project updates including one about the campground and one about grant applications.

“The contractor was out there on Friday and addressed a bunch of punch list items. It looks like they cleaned it up pretty nice and got our dimensions all matched up. It looks pretty good,” Nemmers said of the campground site.

Next, Nemmers talked about some grant opportunities for planting new trees.

At the last council meeting on Sept. 15, Nemmers talked about a ReLeaf Community Forestry Grant through the Department of Natural Resources. He said that Bolton & Menk could write the grant for $4,000 and that that cost could be covered by a program though the League of Minnesota Cities (LMC).

On Monday Nemmers said that just last week the state changed some of the parameters to better reflect the priority areas and that Truman is now in the priority area and thus has a better chance of receiving the funds.

Speaking more about the community tree planting grant, Nemmers said it requires a one to one replacement.

“The timing of it is really what we want to talk about,” Nemmers said. “It was originally (deadlined for) the 13th but it got moved back to Oct. 27th.”

He went on to say that the grant navigator program through the LMC has a one or two month response time. He asked the council whether it wanted to proceed with the grant process.

“I think it’s relatively small, the risk of not getting the funds. Whether or not you get the grant is another story,” Nemmers said.

The funds need to be used within a year of being granted and in this case that would be by June 2027. Nemmers said there are also some special requirements with the grant, but that he thinks it’s worth pursuing.

Utilities Foreman Brent Brown added that right now they’re looking at replacing 50 trees.

The council approved of moving froward with the application.

On Monday the council also heard from Josh Kitzerow who provided an ambulance department update.

He said so far this year they’ve had 186 calls with 20 to Lewisville, 18 to Fairmont and the rest near Truman.

“This is the year for sick people. Basically just all sick people,” Kitzerow said. “Our falls are down.”

He later added, “Our response times have been fantastic. We’re averaging a six minute response from dispatch to sitting on a scene in Truman, about eight to nine minutes in Fairmont and about seven to eight minutes in Lewisville.”

Kitzerow said the department is looking for some registered drivers per a state change. He also said it’s looking into some options for gas cards considering Casey’s now is putting on a $2 or $4 per card fee.

“Trying to save the city some more money,” Kitzerow said.

In other business:

— The council heard from Martin County Sheriff’s Deputy Matt Owens who pointed out that while he and Micheal Anderson had been switching off coming to council meetings, since Anderson has recently retired, it will either be Owens or Deputy Corey Ballard who will attend the meetings going forward.

— The council approved a refuse license for CM Sanitation.