NISSWA — A sea of blue took center stage at the Tuesday, Feb. 21, Nisswa City Council meeting.
Police Chief Craig Taylor and four officers attended to give an annual report for 2022 chock-full of statistics, notable cases, new systems and tools, trainings and other information.
Mayor John Ryan administered the oath of office to Sgt. Todd Szymanski and officers Jeremy Rooney, Conner Collette and Matthew Thompson. Officer Luke Hall was unable to attend the meeting.
Taylor shared that plans for 2023 include increasing officer visibility downtown and at Nisswa Elementary School, as well as increasing efforts to build community relationships with the Nisswa American Legion, Nisswa Chamber and Nisswa Lions Club.
Szymanski talked about new firearms; Collette shared a K-9 update with K-9 Shuri, who jumped up on a table and “prayed” in front of the council; and Rooney talked about scam and internet crimes against children investigations complete with real incidents he’s handled for Nisswa.
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The K-9, who joined the department just over a year ago, deployed 33 times in 2022 for narcotics detection and suspect tracking. Twenty of those deployments were assisting other nearby agencies.
Shuri also attended multiple community events in Nisswa.
The Nisswa Police Department has been involved in proactive chat operations, as well as self-initiated possession of child pornography investigations and other reported online sexually based offense investigations involving children.
The department took multiple reports of fraud and scam related crimes through the year. Year-end reported losses as the result of fraud and scam related crimes against Nisswa residents was just over $155,000.
2022 statistics included: 294 agency assists, 2,495 calls for service, 1,110 assigned calls, 1,373 self-initiated calls, 11 criminal citations, 207 traffic citations, 1,462 traffic warnings, 100 arrests/in custody, 175 emergency medical services calls, 96 alarms and 87,833 patrol miles.
Of 99 arrests, 88 were traffic related, seven were warrant service and four were other agency.
Of traffic arrest charges, 25 were DWI alcohol, eight were DWI controlled substance, 20 were methamphetamine, two each were heroin and fentanyl, and 30 were warrants.
In January 2023, police reported 200 calls for service, 22 agency assists, 137 traffic warnings and seven arrests.
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Firefighters reported 36 calls in January, including 30 emergency medical services calls and one each brush fire, gas smell, snowmobile crash, fish house fire, mutual aid fire in Pillager and carbon monoxide call.
In other business Feb. 21, the council:
- Accepted a $200 donation from Faith Harms for the police department.
- Granted a special event permit to Notice Wellness, a Nisswa business, to host a Mindfulness Triathlon from 9-11 a.m. Saturday, May 13, at Nisswa City Park and the Paul Bunyan Trail. The event will include a 5K run/1K walk and then yoga and mindfulness in the baseball outfield.
- Reappointed Josh Young to a four-year term and appointed Danny Mendel to a three-year term on the planning commission
- Approved a short-term rental ordinance and a short-term rental licensing agreement and fee schedule that will allow Crow Wing County to administer short-term rentals on behalf of the city. The city has approximately 32 short-term rentals in the city limits.
- Denied a request from Nature Link Resort to buy a parcel of land from the city. Council members had lengthy discussion to reach the understanding that others use the land to access their properties.
- Supported pursuing Community Impact Funding for construction of two backage roads and a lift station.
- Met in closed session to consider an offer for property purchase.
Find recordings of Nisswa City Council meetings on the city's YouTube channel.
Nancy Vogt, editor, may be reached at 218-855-5877 or nancy.vogt@pineandlakes.com . Follow her on Facebook and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/@PEJ_Nancy.
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