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We had 21 Rotarians, including Honorary Member Elaine Olson, as well as Erika Lahti on our Zoom link-up; we recited the Pledge of Allegiance and the Four Way Test, followed up by Anthony Nordan with our invocation. This writer related a recently imagined conversation with Bob Dylon and then we all were suppose to join in singing Blowin' In the Wind. That went well (not)! Randy Kempfer reported he had delivered Josh the Otter books to OLV that morning and that McKinley would be handing them out this week. Randy recorded himself reading the book to his children and that will be made available to all the students. In our brags and fines segment, Keith Olson stated they had a gender reveal party for their Number Three daughter, who is expecting a boy. Pete Wasberg's sister's oldest boy received an ROTC Scholarship and will be attending Syracuse seeking a degree in electrical engineering. Elaine Olson commented on Keith celebrating his 60th birthday the previous Friday, with Buzz Lundeen then recalling when Keith was the youngest member of our club. Buzz also told us someone had inquired of him the prior day when our peaches would arrive. Erika said that her exchange for this year was up in the air , but if it is canceled she may consider going the next school year (since Erika's report, our Rotary District did in fact cancel all youth exchanges for the 1920-21 school year). Andrew Bremseth, our City Administrator, was then introduced and after cheering on the Jack Rabbits he debunked the notion that Fergus Falls is dying, sharing sales tax revenues and the amount of building permits issued since 2016 or 2017. While the single-home start-ups in 2019 were up, at 18, that figure, he admitted, needs to be much higher. Andrew stated our city finances are in great hands with Bill Sonmor and his team, with healthy reserves and fund balances. The City maintains an Aa3 credit bond rating, which is very good for a community of our size. We are, however, heavily dependent on local government aid from the state, which is in jeopardy this year, as well as the collection of property taxes. The City is already considering what the impact of the Hoot Lake Power Plant closing in the not-to-distant future will be. He then reviewed the 2020 improvement projects, including street work, the dairy property demolition (the site is approximately 29 acres and the intent is for the area near the river to be maintained as a public space with the remainder available for redevelopment), and the rehab of our water reservoir. The latter was built in 1905 and has a 1.5 million gallon capacity. The City's water plant has a total capacity of 4.4 million gallons a day, while our current use averaged 2.27 million per day. As to COVID-19, the local emergency was declared on March 16 and the City is taking a three-prong approach broken down into 1) community outreach/resources; 2) public safety/public health; and 3) city operations. Andrew stated the Food Shelf initiative raised over $60,000 and that over 100 volunteers signed-up the vey first day. The City also developed a hotline and e-mail address to connect those in need to available resources. Fergus Falls did have a pandemic plan in place and it was brushed off in January. Special recognition was give to Lake Region Healthcare, Andrew describing it as a "fantastic partner." The last two months have been the best revenue producing months for the liquor stores. In terms of financial relief, the city has deferred payments on loans made by it to local businesses for three months and has also refunded three months worth of liquor license fees paid by establishments. Efforts to authorize a local sales tax to help finance an aquatic center, Delagoon Park improvements and/or Old Smokey/recreational projects have been deferred to the 2021 legislative session. The local peak in pandemic cases is expected to hit mid-summer. The splash pad (our club's centennial project) was described as a very important component of the Downtown Riverfront Project and Andrew shared a couple renderings of what it would look like behind the federal courthouse on the north side of the river. It would have a multi-terrace design, with otters spraying water throughout. Depending on what happens with the bonding request made by the City when the inevitable extra session of the legislature occurs, Fergus Falls may have to consider doing the project, including an outdoor amphitheater and location for the farmers market, in stages. |
