by Logan Gruber
operations@thenewsleaders.com
Don Posch has volunteered to record and broadcast the city council meetings for a long time, and even he seemed surprised when the city council meeting ended early on June 8 – really early.
“That was the shortest meeting I’ve ever seen,” Posch said afterwards.
The council meeting lasted from 6-6:05 p.m. The mayor and council powered through the meeting quickly due to the lack of items on the agenda, and the ease of dealing with those items which were on the agenda.
The only action taken by the council was to approve the previous meeting minutes, a list of bills and claims, and two items on the consent agenda: an agreement to seek bids for 2015 seal coating in cooperation with the cities of St. Augusta and Waite Park, as the city did last year; and, a conditional hire of a police officer, pending the passing of psychological and physical tests. All were passed easily and quickly, without much, if any, discussion.
The only resident in attendance, Henry Oerhlein, thought the meeting was pretty humorous.
Regular city council meetings are held at 6 p.m. on the second and fourth Mondays of the month in the council chambers at the Government Center, 250 Summit Ave. N. These meetings are open to the public, and a public hearing for any topic a citizen might want to speak about before the council is held near the beginning of every meeting. The meetings are also broadcast live on the city’s cable access channel, Charter channel 181. Agendas and meeting minutes may be viewed at the Government Center, or online at ci.sauk-rapids.mn.us.
The city council chambers on June 8 were pretty empty, with only one resident in attendance. Most staff members were also not present as they were not needed, with only the city council and police chief Perry Beise in the chamber.
