State Fire Poster Contest Honoree
BPHS Grad Spends Time in China
Baseball Teams Wins Two Page 13
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ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SIXTH YEAR
BELLE PLAINE, MINNESOTA, april 19, 2017
75¢ SINGLE COPY
NUMBER 16
Community Center Committee Ready to Get to Work City-School Group Has 31 Members
Medics moved a 15-year-old Blaine boy to a waiting air am- Township. The boy fell off a tractor and was accidently run bulance Friday (April 14) after a workplace accident on the over by it. The Scott County Sheriff’s Office said his injuries 7700 block of Old Highway 169 Boulevard in St. Lawrence where non-life-threatening.
Boy Injured in Workplace Accident
A 15-year-old boy from Blaine working on residential property in St. Lawrence Township was injured after he fell off a tractor and was accidently run over Friday afternoon (Feb. 14) in St. Lawrence Township. Zackary Mayo was injured
around 12:30 p.m. on the 7700 block of Old Highway 169 Boulevard (County Road 66). The accidental fall injured his upper body and being run over caused a lower-body injury, according to Sgt. Ken Dvorak. Sheriff Luke Hennen confirmed
the injuries appeared to be nonlife-threatening. The boy was part of a group of hired help working at the site, Dvorak said. Belle Plaine firefighters and Ridgeview Ambulance medics helped
B.P. City Council Moves Ahead With Downtown Tree Lighting by John Mueller The Belle Plaine City Council is moving forward with its long-standing plans of improving the look of downtown by uplighting trees along Meridian and Main streets. Monday evening (April 17), the city council unanimously accepted bids from Gregory Electric of Belle Plaine for the electrical work associated with the downtown tree uplighting and OMG Midwest (Chard) for the concrete work. Gregory’s low bid was $33,000. Chard’s bid was $27,637.50. The engineer’s estimate for the work is $69,520. The lights will light the trees from the ground up with mul-
tiple colors. The city council has yet to OK the purchase of the actual lighting equipment and controllers for up to14 trees. The city currently has a quote for $37,870 from a Twin Cities firm. It is working to get an additional quote to assure a good price, said Mike Votca, Belle Plaine’s city administrator. The overall cost of the uplighting project is expected to be just over $98,500. Funding will come from an annual $13,000 donation by the Belle Plaine Chamber of Commerce and the city’s capital fund. Votca said the uplighting work on the trees would likely be done this summer.
Orderly Annexation
The city council also passed a resolution clarifying the city’s portion of the orderly annexation between the City of Belle Plaine and Blakeley Township. The agreement will complete the annexation of 43.29 acres of the Kimberly K. Devine-Johnson property at the west end of West South Street. The property is being annexed to facilitate the installation of a solar garden. The developer of the project – DG Minnesota CSG4, LLC – paid the township a one-time fee of $10,822.50 to accommodate the loss of property tax base when the Devine property becomes part of the city.
stabilize the boy’s condition. He was transported by ground ambulance to the adjacent St. Lawrence Township Hall parking lot and airlifted to Hennepin County Medical Center for evaluation, Dvorak said.
City-Wide Garage Sale Starts Friday Belle Plaine’s annual Spring City-Wide Garage Sale will take place Friday and Saturday (April 21-22). You can obtain a map listing registered garage sales and their locations at www.belleplainemn.com. For more information, call 952-212-2834.
The drive to determine if Belle Plaine wants a community center and, if so, what should it include begins tomorrow evening when a committee holds its initial meeting. The committee of 25 residents plus three representatives of the Belle Plaine School Board and three city council representatives will be held April 20, 6 p.m., at the Belle Plaine Schools District Center Building on South Willow Street. The initial plan was to select a dozen residents for the committee via a blind application process. But the applications were so impressive, the decision was made to include all the applicants on the committee, said School District Superintendent Ryan Laager. “That was really powerful. Their passion for this was really nice to see,” he said. The citizens on the committee members are Rachael Posusta, Crystal Doyle, Jake Balk, Kyle Sammons, Andrea Kuenzel, Terry Hawes, Douglas Sloan, Michelle Garcia, Linda Schwichtenberg, Betsy Ollhoff, Shaun Yahnke, Mark Dahn, Steven Kelm, Eric Johnson, Rachel Kelm, Shadd Gutzke, Laura Wiger, Tracy Bergland, Kristy Bieder, Brian Grant, Rick Krant, Brian Kruschke, Matt Lenz, Connie Lehman and Jim Van Zummeren. The early aspects of the committee’s work will likely include a survey of the community to determine if residents want a community center and what would it include. The survey would also include questions geared toward what the community is willing to fund, said Belle Plaine Mayor Chris Meyer. “Then we can begin to formu-
late a plan,” he said. The 31 members will likely work in groups of five or six focusing on various aspects of the community center proposal and then report back to the group as a whole, Laager said. If the committee decides to move ahead with asking residents to fund the construction of a community center, Laager sees it built in phases with the bulk of the work built in the first phase. He is hoping to see some initial concepts presented by the end of May. The proposal still has more questions than answers. Yet to be determined, besides if the community wants a community center and what would be in it is operational funding. Meyer noted the city and school district have an agreement on shared facility maintenance. A community center might be added to that agreement, he said. “I guess that’ll all be determined,” the mayor said. The driving force of a community center would be to add another amenity to the community that would make Belle Plaine a more attractive destination for new families and businesses. The proposed facility, along with planned improvements to the softball facility and cricket complex would hopefully host as many as 40 or more weekend events that would generate a potential economic development opportunity potentially drawing a chain restaurant to Belle Plaine.
Softball Complex
Friday (April 21) around 2 p.m., the school district will open bids on its proposal to improve the softball complex at Oak Crest Elementary School. The project will include the construction of a building in the confluence of the four
Community Center (continued on page 4)
Downtown Business Owner Ready to Turn the Page
Deb Koepp isn’t certain what embroidery business, she’s cerher next venture entails, when tain the time has come to turn or where it will take place. But the page and set a new course. after 18 years running her own Koepp recently announced she’s closing Deb’s Embroidery Business at 118 Meridian Street N. in downtown Belle Plaine. Koepp is currently liquidating remaining inventory. She started the business in 1999 and operated it out of her home for five years before moving downtown. Koepp plans to close the doors for good April 22, follow- Belle Plaine High School speech team members (from left) Jonah Meyer, Hannah Burmeister, ing the citywide garage sale. Emily Berger and Kadence Bran de Leon will compete in the state meet Saturday (April 22) “Eighteen years. Good lord, at Apple Valley High School. time flies,” she said. “It doesn’t seem that long. They’ve been 18 good years. It’s just time.” Koepp has enjoyed working with customers, creating designs that she embroidered Four Belle Plaine High School All four students earned berths Antichrist” by Peter J. Powell. students – two seniors and to in the Class A state meet with The play contains five “very Deb’s underclassmen – will repre- second-place finishes at the sec- goofy” characters in funny situ(continued on page 2) sent the school at the Minne- tion meet at Watertown-Mayer ations, said Morgan Niemela, sota State High School League High School April 8. After 18 years, Deb Koepp is closing her embroidery busiSpeech Meet Saturday (April BPHS senior Jonah Meyer will Speech ness. She’s looking forward to starting for a new chapter in 22, 10:15 a.m.) at Apple Valley compete at state in the humor (continued on page 2) High School. category presenting “Jimmy the her life.
Deb’s Embroidery Business Closing April 22
Belle Plaine Sending Four to State Speech Meet Saturday