SHERBURN — At the Sherburn City Council meeting on Monday, there was a council consideration request for a blighted property fund. A resident who would like to participate in the city’s blighted property fund has requested consideration for the use of grant funds for demolition-related dumpster and disposal costs, rather than reimbursement solely for contracted demolition services.

City Clerk Andrea Ballard said that the resident intends to complete the demolition work themselves and indicated that the barrier is the cost of the dumpster and hauling and disposal fees and not the demolition work.

The council approved that the cost for the dumpster should be included in the $2,500 and paid with that. They reminded residents that the money to help demolish a condemned property would not be used to clean out the house of items or demolish only part of the house.

City Attorney, Birkholz, reported on the abatement process and costs. There are about 20 dilapidated properties in the city that were sent a letter to clean up their property. The basic cost from him would be about $1,500 per property. The council decided that going after all the properties at once was too expensive. They will work with the city property inspector to list and categorize the properties and start with the worst properties first. The inspector has set a date to be in the city soon.

In other business, there was a report and request from the Sherburn Fire Department, which included the fundraising amount of $30,000 and what equipment was purchased and the financial report with good amounts. The need for recruiting new hires and increasing the investment profits using a higher interest portfolio was mentioned.

Ryan Ross, the report personnel, said that Sherburn was ranked second in the group of fire departments of their size for their liability to access ratio of over 110 percent. He also mentioned that they have been successful in grant writing and resources found. The profit from alcohol sales goes to a special account for retirement or pension and they requested to increase the amount for pensions to $2,700 from $2,400. He showed that the increase would not put the investments in danger. The council discussed the matter and approved of the increase to the pension account.

The public works employee was asked to bring quotes for the loader, blower and plow needed to replace the 30-year-old equipment. The quotes brought were from the Ziegler company, which the city has dealt with successfully in the past. The funds loaned for the fire truck purchase have been returned and could be used for the purchase and there are funds in the budget for the replacement of those equipment items.

Ultimately the matter was tabled to look at another quote and discuss only purchasing the loader and blower now and plow some other time. Council asked about the trade-in value of the old equipment and selling the equipment was recommended instead.

Clerk and council reports followed. The Hazard and Mitigation Planning of Walsh Company recommended some workplace safety items, such as a door or barrier for city workers. The clerk recommended that it be discussed at a meeting. The ash tree situation was discussed and the proposals of the different companies will be brought up at a meeting soon. The EDA improvement grants were discussed. The city workers took many calls when the new hydrants were installed and the water was turned off. The workers mentioned that if the residents had the portal program that was offered, they would have received information before the water shut off. The workers mentioned the different ways they tried to inform the residents ahead of time. The public works department reminded residents that water may be rusty and some air may be in the lines since the water was off.

The public works employee reported that the truck suctioning the pipes worked well and there was less excavation. The wastewater plant had some regular maintenance done on the pumps and the knives and other equipment looked good when checked.

The parks were discussed and the elephant slide and swing set will be replaced at city park. They will be listed as excess equipment and sold.

Council Ringnell reported that the Fire Department had quite a few refusals of care for the ambulance and received $20,300 from the state. They have had a replacement fund started and have some money there, too. A new ambulance is needed. The old (2016) one has 90,000 miles and the 1996 ambulance can be used at the race track. The council asked him to get more information.

In other news:

— A resident asked about the ash trees and an option to spray them. The clerk answered that a compilation of all the proposals for the ash tree problem was being made from all the proposals and that the proposal brought up would be included in that compilation and then the resident could report and explain his proposal.

— The Relief Association from the Fire Department requested approval of a purchase of a mini cutter for the Fire Department. The council approved that purchase.

— Some questions about the Temperance Lake Ridge not making a budget for the last few months raised some concern about the $50,000 transfer of funds. There will be a TLR meeting soon and that will be added to the agenda. The replacement of Facebook at TLR was also mentioned as a concern for resident’s families.

— The council discussed the policy and ordinance changes concerning the boulevards and maintenance and upkeep being assigned to the owner. The discussion also included possible tree planting and the definition of a boulevard. The council tabled the ordinance and definition for further information since there are so many different situations in the city.

The next Sherburn City Council meeting is at 5 p.m. on Monday, June 15, at City Hall.