BREEZY POINT — The Breezy Point City Council agreed with a recommendation from Mayor Todd Roggenkamp to try to enter contract negotiations with the city of Nisswa for fire services.
Breezy Point is currently in an agreement with Pequot Lakes.
“For more than a year, we have been working on discussions with the city of Pequot Lakes,” Roggenkamp said at the council's regular meeting Monday, Jan. 3. “Pequot Lakes has long been our provider for fire services. However, even before my term as mayor - and we have the former mayor (Tom Lillehei) sitting right next to me as a council member – there were already some things going on that, quite honestly, the city wasn’t really comfortable with as far as how things were being done.”
Issues of concern cited in a council memo include a lack of capital expenditure planning and the contract amount.
Pequot Lakes formed a committee to review a proposed joint powers agreement with Breezy Point, but Breezy Point has not yet heard from this committee, Roggenkamp said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Breezy Point must give Pequot Lakes a 12-month notice if it intends to receive fire services elsewhere, and that deadline will come in the springtime.
“Once the contract comes back, then the council has to make a decision: Do we want to go this way or do we want to stay with Pequot?” Roggenkamp said. “I am fine with that, but I think you need something to compare.”
Also Jan. 3, the council completed its reorganizational duties.
- Mayor Todd Roggenkamp will serve as the fire department representative and take part on the finance committee.
- Council member Michael Moroni was named acting mayor and will serve on the personnel and roads committees. He will also serve as liaison to Heartland Cable and the city police department.
- Gary Bakken will serve as liaison for the cemetery commission as well as parks and recreation, and will serve on committees for the Citizen of the Year Award and Commercial Beautification.
- Rebecca Ball will serve as the administrative liaison and be a part of the finance and personnel committees.
- Tom Lillehei will serve on the roads committee and short-term rental task force, and will be liaison to public works and the planning commission.
- Joe Langel, of Ratwik, Roszak, Maloney, was named city attorney. Joe Dubel, of Widseth engineering firm, is city engineer.
- Pine River State Bank was named the city’s official depository, and the Echo Journal was named the official newspaper.
In other action, the council:
- Approved David Drown Associates posting, description and brochure for the city administrator position.
- Adopted a resolution opposing a request from certain property owners on Lake Ossawinnamakee Road to detach from the city, and requesting the State of Minnesota Office of Administrative Hearings deny petitions from those property owners.
In December, the Breezy Point Police Department responded to 207 incidents, which is an increase of 76 from December 2020. Included in the incidents were three traffic arrests, two thefts and one fire. In Pelican Township, they responded to an additional 11 incidents.
In 2021, the department responded to 2,411 incidents, an increase of 484 from 2020. Among those incidents were 33 traffic arrests, 22 thefts and 41 crashes.
Dan Determan may be reached at 218-855-5879 or dan.determan@pineandlakes.com. Follow him on Facebook and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/@PEJ_Dan.
