Saturday, December 28, 2024

December 30th Council Agenda

 

CITY OF MANTORVILLE

MANTORVILLE, MINNESOTA

NOTICE OF SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING

(Closed and Open)

Monday, December 30, 2024

4:00 p.m.

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the City of Mantorville City Council will hold a Special City Council Meeting pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, Section 13D.04, subdivision 2 on Monday, December 30, 2024, commencing at 4:00 p.m. at City Hall, 21 5th Street East, Mantorville, Minnesota for the following purposes:

  1. CLOSED MEETING: Pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, Section 13D.05, subdivision 3(a), to conduct a closed meeting (the meeting must be open at the request of the individual who is the subject of the meeting) to evaluate the performance of an individual subject to the City Council’s authority, Ms. Gretchen Lohrbach.

  1. OPEN MEETING:

  1. City Council’s summary of conclusions regarding the evaluation; and

  1. Additional action regarding evaluation; adoption of resolution; etc.

    3. Compensation rates for Council

    4. Last Meeting approval

    5. Committee reports

    6. Other Items


/s/ Chuck Bradford___________________

Chuck Bradford, Mayor


DATED: December 27, 2024.




Thursday, December 26, 2024

Happy Boxing Day

 December 26, 2024 - Boxing Day in America

Instead of me paraphrase several web site this year, I'm going to directly quote wikipedia the following is copied directly from "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxing_Day"

"Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, occurring on the second day of Christmastide (26 December). Boxing Day was once a day to donate gifts to those in need, but it has evolved to become a part of Christmas festivities, with many people choosing to shop for deals on Boxing Day. It originated in the United Kingdom and is celebrated in several Commonwealth nations. The attached bank holiday or public holiday may take place on 27 or 28 December if necessary to ensure it falls on a weekday. Boxing Day is also concurrent with the Christian festival Saint Stephen's Day.

In parts of Europe, such as Catalonia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Netherlands, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Romania, Sweden, Belgium, Norway, Latvia and the Republic of Ireland, 26 December is Saint Stephen's Day, which is considered the second day of Christmas.
"

Happy Boxing Day everyone
 

Tuesday, December 17, 2024

Limited Hours at City Hall

 Due to a new hire resignation and some PTO at the office, City Hall Will have limited hours for the next week

Friday, December 6, 2024

Happy St. Nicoli Day

 

One of the traditions we brought home is with Sandra is celebrating St. Nickolas day. 

 December 6th is celebrated in Poland as the birthday of St. Nicholas of Myra (circa 280 ). The traditional birthday of St. Nick is celebrated by giving one small gift to the children to open when they wake up. We made arrangements for Nickoli to visit us in America, and he did not forget this year. Happy St. Nickoli Day everyone!


 

Tuesday, November 26, 2024

Happy Thanksgiving

Giving Thanks to those that gave

This week we gather family together and celebrate one of our nations' oldest traditions, "Thanksgiving Day". We all know the story we were told in school about the help the initial settlers received and how Gov. William Bradford (yes distant relative) struggled even with the Native Americans help. While the help the Native Americans gave the settlers was crucial, the story we know stops short and misses some key details. Important take-aways from the missing details include:

  1. Forty members on the Mayflower first escaped to Holland to avoid religious persecution.
  2. The Mayflower had some Dutch sponsors who required all economic output go to a central bank.
  3. The central bank held all property and financial resources.
  4. William Bradford was charged with enforcing the "Mayflower Compact".
  5. Gov. Bradford declared their "collectivism a dismal failure after more than half died that first year.
  6. Gov. Bradford rewrote the rules of the commune and gave each person a share of land to "own".
  7. The new rules allowed for free enterprise and capitalism.
  8. After the new rules' success made it back to Europe, many peoples of faith choose to come to the new world to make their fortune and prosper in this free society.
  9. Overall message here: America experimented with socialism day one and it was a total failure, lethal actually, only free enterprise and capitalism saved the colonies, and America, from disaster.

Rush does a better job of telling the story than I ever could and here is a link to his detailed story of Thanksgiving. Rush's Pilgrim Story

This Thanksgiving, lets remember the sacrifices made day one for our nation, the ongoing sacrifices made every day by our military personnel and those that keep us safe on a daily basis including our fire-fighters and law enforcement personnel.

Thank you all for those that have served our country in any capacity to keep our nation safe, free and righteous. Bless you all!

Thursday, November 21, 2024

Winter Wounderland

With Summer (and the election) finally behind us, the best season of the year has finally returned to Mantorville. Last night we were embraced by the wonderfully beautiful embrace of a frosty glaze to the dull colors of fall. The fresh crisp white blanket added to our landscape has come just in time for our holiday celebrations, and with it my customary "Ode to Winter" so here we go......


The season has brought us smoked turkey, rack of lamb, honey glazed ham, apple spice, pumpkins, pecan pie, skiing, snow boarding, ice skating, ice fishing, building snowmen and snowmobiling. Rejoice for finally the hum-drum days of summer have finally been put to rest. The time of year has come once again for us to all join in with the Dr. Seuss classic “The Grinch” and celebrate winter as the Who's did with a rendition of dah who dor-aze! And remember to “Welcome Christmas while we stand, Heart to Heart and Hand in Hand”.  Lets get out there and enjoy the season, embrace the snow and once again remind ourselves of the beautiful environment in which we have chosen to live. dah who dor aze everyone,dah who dor aze!

Friday, November 8, 2024

Band Shell and More in the News

 KIMT's Emma Esteb did a fantastic job or presenting Mantorville and our new band shell. Emma spoke with both Jeff and myself about the smooth peaceful transition of power as well and the addition of the new band shell in Mantorville. Here is the link to Emma's story.KIMT's Mantorville Story


 


Monday, October 28, 2024

Time to turn over the reigns

 

City of Mantorville Press Release

August 13, 2024

Mantorville's Mayor, Chuck Bradford, stepping down

For immediate release

The City of Mantorville
21 5th Street East
Mantorville, MN 55955

Re: Mayor Bradford

After serving in the capacity of Mayor for the City of Mantorville since 2012, Chuck Bradford has chosen to not seek reelection this year. Mayor Bradford was on the City Council from 2008 to 2012 and had worked with the EDA, Planning and Zoning and the Dodge County Trails Board prior to 2008. The Mayor told staff that “This was a difficult decision for me, but I feel I need to focus my energies on my family for the near future”. The Mayor also indicated he would still be involved with the city and take an active role in our city celebrations.

When asked to reflect on his tenure as Mayor, Chuck said that he was most proud of the infrastructure projects like 9th street, 5th street the new sidewalk on 5th street and highway 57. He also spoke about the city's focus on reducing tax burden from 100% of the allowed levy to 50% and the successful grant of over a million dollars for the waste water treatment plant. Mayor Bradford also spoke about the beautification of the city with new lighting for highway 57 and a complete new branding effort.

Mayor Bradford has worked with Jeff Ingalls for several years now and he has served as the current Mayor's “Deputy Mayor” for the last four years. Mayor Bradford said that he has full confidence in Mr Ingalls ability and he has his full support and endorsement.

Mayor Bradford and Mr Ingalls will work closely to ensure a smooth and seamless transition of power to ensure the citizens of Mantorville continue to receive top quality leadership. Mayor Bradford said “I'm excited about this new leadership and I am very much looking forward to see Mantorville continue to grow.”

Contact Chuck Bradford for more details
MantorvilleMayor@Gmail.Com
507 381 - 7774



Saturday, October 26, 2024

Fall Festival a success

 Another successful year for the Fall Festival. There was a fun pet costume contest, hay rides and a few vendors selling goods and produce. The weather was perfect for the last fun fall outdoor activity for Mantorville.

Monday, October 7, 2024

Band Shell nearing completion

 Our new band shell is taking form and looks to be nearing completion. I am very happy that we as a community have this new great resource to use for our residents and neighbors and will add one more fantastic resource to the many reason to vising Mantorville.

The week after Marigold Days the Foundation forms were set.

The next week the foundation and floor were poured and allowed to set up with the new textured an d colored cement.

After given plenty of time to full cure, the structure has been started and the new banshell can finally been seen in a near complete formation.

The band shell will be a resource for the whole community and may be reserved like any other park resource though City Hall.




Tuesday, October 1, 2024

Dennison Park Donation

 The City of Mantorville was once again in the news today as a grant was awarded to the city to help with the cities investment in our park system. The new article can be viewed online at

kaaltv.com Dennison article

The grant of $10,000 from Minnesota Energy Resources will be utilized to help add ADA access to the playground that was newly added to the Dennison park softball field.

The City is extremely grateful to have partners like Minnesota Energy Resources that are willing to invest in out communities.

Bridge Mantaince work

 MNDOT was in town making sure our bridge is still in good condition after the major road reconstruction of Hwy 57



Monday, September 23, 2024

Footings Poured and floor has been installed

 The forms have been removed after the footing have set and the floor has been poured.



Wednesday, September 11, 2024

Footings for Bandshell are in

 The massive footing for our band-shell went in as soon as Marigold Days was over. The forms will be used to pour a deep foundation for the band-shell to rest on.