by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
Monday evening’s storm with its threat of imminent tornadoes interrupted the Sartell City Council meeting, but the council members and city staff functioned well with grace under pressure during a discussion of the city’s proposed Comprehensive Plan.
(For an in-depth story on the comprehensive plan and reactions to it, see the July 22 Sartell Newsleader.)
During a discussion of the new Sartell Comprehensive Plan, Deputy Police Chief Dale Struffert, who sits in on the council meetings, informed the members his computer tablet he had been monitoring showed there were possibly funnel clouds over Cold Spring and Richmond. Mayor Sarah Jane Nicoll asked Struffert to keep monitoring the storm situation and to interrupt the meeting if necessary; meantime the meeting continued.
Later, when the meeting was at the 46-minute mark, at 7:46 p.m., Struffert interrupted the council to inform its members rotation clouds had just been sighted above the Five Points area near Sartell. He recommended the council and everybody else in the council chamber take shelter in an interior room of the city hall. Nicoll tapped her mayor’s gavel to temporarily close the meeting. After about 15 minutes, the council returned to the chamber to finish its business, which concluded 20 minutes later.
