OSMOND — The Osmond City Council met Monday, Feb. 10, in the conference room. A number of items were on the agenda, including Osmond Summer Youth, the community sign, vacant properties and cemetery plots.
Summer Youth Raises Questions Alli Aschoff spoke on behalf of Summer Youth, bringing several questions before council. She said the group was told gutters had been installed at the baseball field, but that was not the case. The gutters are currently at the maintenance shop and will be installed once the weather warms up.
Dragging the field has been done by the city, but she asked if someone from their group could be instructed on how to drag the field without damaging it.
Maintenance agreed to meet with them at the field before the season begins.
She also had concerns about the baseball backstop lifting up and a flag for the softball field. There are fairly large washouts that also need attention. The drainage hose must be plugged and will be dug up and fixed with fill dirt then added.
Councilman Haselhorst advised that
the electricity issue has been fixed on the softball field and the hand dryers will be going back in the restrooms. Mrs. Aschoff advised Summer Youth will be purchasing a couple picnic tables and new bleachers.
They are also discussing the possibility of changing from supporting only baseball/softball to adding yearround sports in an effort to get more youth interested in all sports. Sign up for playing summer ball will happen in March.
ASummer Youth representative will come back in April to report on their player numbers and coaches for the teams. Mayor Dennis Kuhl thanked them for their efforts.
Community Sign Lease Signed Councilman Doug Schmit brought a lease agreement with Osmond Farm Supply for the community sign to be installed in the southeast corner of the intersection of State Street and Highway 20. Council approved the lease agreement and Mayor Kuhl then signed the agreement. Councilman Schmit will get the final signature from Osmond Community School Superintendent Skip Bremer.
The cost sharing agreement for the community sign was next on the agenda. Since Osmond Farm Supply is donating the site with no rental fees, the only expected costs are if the sign needs repairs, with the city and the public school agreeing to split costs equally. The council approved the cost sharing agreement. Since all agreements have now been approved, the actual installation will move forward.
One final legal step remained for the acceptance of the land donation from Terry McClain. Resolution 2025-3 was brought before council to make it official, with the council approving Resolution 2025-3.
Vacant Properties Update Given Updates on vacant properties was next on the agenda. With Clerk Brittney Timmerman out for maternity leave, Asst. Treasurer Cindy Hoffman read the updates the clerk had prepared. One property has been demolished with the lot all cleaned up in January.
Mayor Kuhl will speak with the owner of the property along High- way 20 to find out when they plan to start taking it down. One owner had contacted the fire department with the department agreeing to do a controlled burn when weather allows.
A roll-off dumpster was at another vacant property while the interior was cleaned out. Nothing more has happened yet. Another property along Logan Street now has a deadline set by council to be demolished by March 31st. This agenda item will continue to forward to next month’s meeting for updates.
Cemetery Plot Reclamation Discussed
Next, council was informed that the ad for reclamation of cemetery plots had been run in the Feb. 5 Osmond Republican, and would be run again Feb. 12 per state statute. Cemetery plot owners will have 30 days to contact the city to reclaim any plots they own. To meet legal requirements, CITY HEARS FROM SUMMER YOUTH
council approved authorizing the city attorney to file suit to reclaim the undisputed cemetery plots listed in the advertisements once the waiting period has passed.
Workers Comp Audit Done The Workers Comp audit was recently completed. Mayor Kuhl pointed out the different costs involved with the different departments, explaining why it is necessary for each employee to keep track of how many hours worked in the different departments each day.
Each department has its own risk factor, which is how the total cost for the audit is figured. The audit found the city’s estimated hours for the last fiscal year were less than the actual hours worked, so the city ended up owing more money.
Other Items on Agenda
The official Fiscal Year 2023-24 audit from city auditors AMGL was received that morning and a copy was given to each council member.
No significant findings were reported.
The last day for the clerk in training was Jan. 31, 2025. With Clerk Timmerman out on maternity leave, it was decided to wait on advertising that position until she is back since she would be handling the training.
On a related item, Assistant Treasurer Cindy Hoffman, who is cover- ing the office during maternity leave, discussed the hours she hopes to have the office open. She is planning on Monday-Wednesday-Friday unless something like payroll or billing would require a change in the days she will work.
Hoffman advised she will make up a schedule and post that on the of- fice doors and on Facebook. Council agreed to that plan. The schedule is as follows: Feb. 19 – Open until 2 p.m. for an appointment. Feb. 21, 25, 26 and 28 — open. March 3, 5, 7, 10, 12, 14, 17, 19, 21, 24, 26, 28 and 31 – open. April 1 – open. Payroll will be open on Tuesday instead of Wednesday.
Mayor Kuhl reported $2,700.00 was received from ACE Public Alliance for the Community Energy revenue return program for Fiscal Year 2023-2024; $2,075.53 received from Black Hills Energy for the 2024 franchise fee; $40,985.37 received from Northeast Power the lease payment ($29,862.52) and operations fee ($11,122.85) for the fourth quarter of 2024.
Clerk Timmerman and Councilman Dan Timmerman had attended a meeting of the Pierce County Economic Development (PCED) group in January. Since no by-laws or quarterly finance reports were available for review, Osmond requested those be provided by the February council meeting. An email was received the day of the meeting, but the attached by-laws were impossible to open and the financial report only had income and expense totals with no breakdown of those amounts. Another request will be made to PCED and hopefully more information will be available at the March meeting.
Mayor Kuhl read correspondence received from HighStreet Insurance, advising their office has been moved to Plainview and thanking Osmond residents and businesses for their past patronage, assuring them their business will continue to meet any customer needs just like in the past. Also received was a letter from ACE Public Alliance for Community Energy along with a press release regarding the $2,700 Osmond received from ACE this year.
Police Chief Tyler Wells presented a short report on recent activity within the city, including one report of a stolen trailer, one probation update, one report of erratic driver, a barking dog complaint, and one unlicensed vehicle update, to name a few.
The last item on the agenda was personnel matters. Maintenance employee Bert Wattier asked council to approve hiring Xander Brown at $15 an hour for off-street help during snow removal and garbage pick-up days. Former employee Tucker Timmerman will usually fill in but was unavailable this time. Council gave their approval. Council also accepted the resignation of Jason Willard as of Feb. 3, 2025. The last maintenance employment ad will be emailed to all council members for their approval and for length of time to run the advertisement.
In other business, the council: — approved Main Street Alley’s special designated liquor license application for New Frontier’s customer appreciation at the city auditorium on March 11, 2025.
— approved Royal Bar & Grill’s special designated liquor license application for a wedding at the city auditorium on March 22, 2025.
— heard Mayor Kuhl state city sales tax for November 2024 was $14,915.62 (of that amount $1,078.34 is from motor vehicle tax).
