Rice council approves gas franchise

by Dave DeMars

news@thenewsleaders.com

Mark Osendorf of Xcel Energy was on hand May 2 when the Rice City Council took up the gas franchise agreement which had been expired since 2012.

Osendorf apologized for the situation, explaining that non-renewal was the result of retirements and staff problems. Xcel has about 400 franchise agreements across the state and agreements are standardized as much as possible. There were some small changes in the Rice agreement, but the council was unanimous in its approval.

Council member Chris Scheel raised a question regarding the charging of fees by the city for providing the gas franchise service. Osendorf explained Scheel’s concern was mostly because of a group that was advocating for more transparency when cities enacted or raised fees to consumers. Currently, no action is required and, according to Osendorf, the legislature is not going to do anything with the requests by the lobbying group to enact notification legislation.

The franchise agreement was approved unanimously and council authorized publication of the ordinance governing the franchise.

School district presentation

Principal Christina Bemboom, representing Rice Elementary School, and Superintendent Dan Bittman, representing the Sauk Rapids-Rice School District, gave a two-part presentation to the council relative to happenings in the district.

Bemboom summarized the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program, which is designed to “ensure learning is engaging, relevant, challenging and significant.” It’s a professional-development model to help teachers better use best practices, state standards, PATH program (Prepared, Accepting, Trustworthy, Helpful) and technology teachers already incorporate into learning activities.

The baccalaureate program seeks to develop students in 10 areas that include teaching inquiry and research skills, teaching reasoning skills, language skills, some values such as fairness and honesty, open-mindedness, and caring for others and the environment.

In his opening remarks, Bittman thanked the council, in particular Mayor Dale Rogholt, for support in securing a grant of $618,000 for the district. The money is to be used in “alternative-type programming.”

Bittman then turned attention to the results of the facilities study recently completed in the district. While not yet formally presented to the Sauk Rapids-Rice School Board (that will occur on June 2) the results indicate the study group will recommend some major building projects be undertaken in the Sauk Rapids-Rice School District.

The study group, comprised of 75–100 community members, made some general recommendations the district needs to address. Cost to implement the recommendations was not part of the study, and Bittman said he needed to figure the costs for addressing the recommendations, which were based on several factors, including the fact there are now 800-plus additional students in the district than there were six years ago. Bittman cited state demographer findings that showed the district will grow by 17.3 percent in the next five to 10 years. Birthrates in the Sauk Rapids community are estimated to increase by 35 percent, far above the state average of 4 percent. Those findings point to a need for improvement in facilities and the establishment of new schools.

Bittman acknowledged Rice is already hard-pressed to find space for early-childhood learning activities in Rice. That is a priority in the recommendations. Other areas of Rice’s specific concerns included facility improvement – for examples, updates in mechanical systems such as heating and air conditioning, creating more multi-purpose spaces and upgrading playground equipment.

Other general recommendations included building a new elementary school on a site near the present Sauk Rapids-Rice High School, (the district already owns the land), and significantly improving Pleasantview Elementary School.

“Pleasantview is our most expensive facility to own and operate.” Bittman said. “It will require $8 to $9 million in the next five to 10 years in deferred maintenance-type projects – things such as roofs, heating and cooling (and more).”

Also of great concern is security of buildings, particularly in Pleasantview since it is an “open pod” school designed in the 1970s with few interior walls and doors. After getting rough estimates on cost, the study group thought it might be better to completely replace Pleasantview school rather than repair it.

Other actions

In other actions, the council approved a three-year agreement with the city building inspector, approved the large gathering permit for the farmers’ market site and heard from Ken Nodo on the improvements made to the city park. In the wake of the resignation of the city clerk, council also scheduled interviews for a new clerk for May 3.

Consideration of installing a sound system was put on hold. Cost of the system was estimated to be $5,600, and there were other more pressing concerns demanding attention. In the final action of the night, the council authorized spending $3,000 with Multiple Concepts to repair and improve the men’s bathroom in the city hall.