Published: July 15, 2020
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The Waseca City Council voted last week to approve the annexation of 120 acres from St. Mary Township to provide Conagra the possibility to expand.
The land backs up to the former Quad Graphics facility and extends south toward the wastewater treatment plant. Conagra, which is the parent company of Birds Eye Foods, may use the undeveloped property for expansion.
“Conagra believes Waseca is a great location for Birds Eye,” Conagra Communications and External Relations Manager Terah Fox said in an email. “We’ve been in the area for a long time and intend for that to continue well into the future. We are evaluating options should the business continue to grow and we need to be able to increase the operations beyond what we have today. This activity is something we do routinely at sites across our network.”
The council also voted to rezone the property to I-2, Moderate Industry District. The annexation will allow Conagra access to city utilities.
The council has a special meeting scheduled for July 16 to discuss possible expansion for Birds Eye Foods.
Tink Larson Community Field dugout upgrades
Tink Larson Community Field will see more upgrades in the coming months.
The council voted unanimously June 7 to award a contract to Fendler Patterson Construction to complete dugout work for $55,000.
All the materials for the project had been purchased as part of the original grandstand rebuild but hadn’t been installed.
Mayor Roy Srp said at the meeting that he’d received phone calls about the project and asked City Administrator Lee Mattson if any taxpayer money would fund the project. Mattson told the council that the bid to finish the work is below the $58,454 remaining in donations to the Tink Larson Community Field.
The dugouts will be cleaned, the concrete block repainted will get a thin brick veneer on the exterior. In addition, the fascia will be replaced in both dugouts and a 5-foot high chain link fence with padding on the top will be installed.
Fundraising dollars for the field will be used to pay for the project, but should it require any additional money, the city will use the capital improvement funds to cover it. Future donations to the park would reimburse the fund.
The city had Stantec Architecture Inc. complete a facility assessment of Tink Larson Community Field back in 2019 and the report found the dugouts to be structurally sound. It recommended that the dugouts get remodeled rather than rebuilt.
Tink Larson Field burned down in April 2016 and reopened in August 2018. The rebuild cost $1.85 million and was funded through $800,000 in insurance money, $350,000 from the state, $100,000 from the Minnesota Twins, along with many donations. The city contributed $200,000 to the rebuild as well.
Mask policy
The council discussed the recent mask requirements the cities of Rochester, Winona and Mankato have made and felt Waseca doesn’t need a mask requirement at this time. Councilor Mark Christiansen broached the subject in the meeting.
Srp says he wears his handkerchief when he is out, but has trouble with issuing a mandate.
“I think if I were in another community and the mayor said I had to wear a mask as mandatory, I probably wouldn’t like a mayor telling me I had to wear a mask. I know I wouldn’t like that,” Srp said. “I think people in this community are adults and they know what they want to do and they know what they need to do. I think there are a lot of people who think the mask prevents them from getting sick and I can’t say that it does or doesn’t. I can’t imagine it wouldn’t help a little but it’s mostly to make sure other people don’t get sick. I wear mine and a lot of other people wear theirs. I would prefer not to follow suit with Rochester, Mankato and Winona.”
The councilors agreed that the city doesn’t need to take action on any mask requirement at this time but should something change, it’s something they’ll need to consider.
“If things started heading downhill, I wouldn’t be afraid to take a look at it,” Councilor Les Tlougan said.
As of Monday, Waseca County has had 76 lab confirmed cases of COVID-19. Six cases have required hospitalization and there have been no deaths.
Airport Board positions
The council also voted to allow three residents from outside Waseca to serve on the Airport Board. The board has had an open position and has had trouble finding someone who lives in Waseca to fill the position. The board previously allowed for just two members from outside Waseca. The Airport Board is a five-member board with one Waseca City Council member on the board.
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