B.P. Students Sign Letter Of Intent
Study Underway To Keep Traffic Flowing During Flooding
Golf Season In Full Swing Page 11
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ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SIXTH YEAR
BELLE PLAINE, MINNESOTA, maY 17, 2017
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NUMBER 20
City OKs Tennis CourtRink Land Swap With B.P. School District
Friday afternoon (May 12) Roger Slater prepared a 100-acre field along County Road 60 in Sibley County’s Faxon Township for planting soybeans the following day. Despite a moist spring, Slater said the soil was ready for planting.
Area Farmers Hoping for Good Mix of Rain, Warmth During Planting Belle Plaine area farmers who haven’t been able to get their crops planted yet this spring are watching the sky this week, hoping Mother Nature will allow them to return to the fields sooner than later. After a wet April, farmers were slightly behind in their planting until a warm stretch occurred last week. This week’s expected rainfall could further delay planting. April saw 4.66 inches of rain. Just over 3½ inches of rain fell in the area after April 15, said Ewald Gruetzmacher, a local farmer who maintains precipitation totals. Chad Swanepoel, the agronomist for Genesis Growing Solutions, said Monday (May 15) farmers have completed planting about 90 percent of the corn in the area. About half of the soybean crop is in the ground. Genesis generally serves farmers in the Belle Plaine area and points south and east, including
Le Sueur, Le Center and Morristown areas. Planting the remainder of the corn and beans, Swanepoel said, will depend on how much rain the area receives during the first half of the week. By midweek, about 2 inches of rain could have fallen in the Belle Plaine area, if predictions hold accurate. Monday, Scott Nelson, agronomy manager at Mid-County Cooperative in Cologne, spent much of his morning on the telephone with farmers talking weather. By 3:30 p.m., the area had received just under a half inch. If the area receives the rainfall as predicted, farmers could be out of their fields for several days. “That’s not perfect, but it’s hard to complain about getting water,” Nelson said. Nelson’s clientele, primarily north and west of Belle Plaine, have about 90 percent of their
corn planted and 40 percent of their soybeans in the ground. A year ago, Nelson said, all the corn was planted by May 1 and “a good chunk of the beans” were planted. Some area farmers are feeling they’re a few weeks behind getting their crops planted. “In reality, we’re fine,” Nelson
said. “I think a lot of it is perception.” But Nelson is also concerned about temperatures. Overnights low temperatures this week will dip into the upper-40s. He’s hoping for a quick rebound. Temperatures should climb into the high-60s during the days.
Memorial Day Program Planned for May 29
Sergeant First Class Jeremy Nagorski of Belle Plaine will be the guest speaker at the annual Memorial Day program at Veterans Park in Belle Plaine on Monday, May 29. Jeremy just finished his third tour of duty overseas. Monday’s program will begin at 11 a.m. with an introduction by Warren Wolf, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance and the reading of Flanders Field by Elissa Moonen. The Belle
Several months after it was initially discussed with the Belle Plaine School District, the city has completed its share of a land swap. Monday (May 15), the city council formally OK’d its portion of the agreement involving the old tennis courts on South Market and West Prairie streets. The school district will give the city the tennis courts in exchange for the ice hockey rink/ off-leash dog park, pleasure rink and warming house at the corner of West Park and South Market streets. Scott County property records show the tennis courts and ice hockey rink to the south are a 1.39-acre parcel. The city owns the land on which the pleasure skating rink and warming house sit. This city’s new land -- the old tennis courts -- could one day be used for an expansion of the municipal swimming pool. Back in January, the city council directed staff to file an application for an administrative subdivision and transfer of the land. The school district agreed to pay half the cost of the legal fees. The tennis courts are in a state of slow decay. School Board Director Dan Gardner, the board’s chairman, said last spring an agreement between the city and school district to not invest any additional money into maintenance of the courts dates back almost a decade. The courts were once home to BPHS’s varsity tennis team. The district constructed new tennis courts at its athletic complex adjacent to Oak Crest Elementary School about a decade ago. School District Superintendent Ryan Laager views the courts as an eyesore on the junior-senior high school’s east side. The city has not yet estimated the cost of removing the surface and equipment from the old tennis courts. Laager said last spring the school district has no immediate plans for what it would do with the space the pleasure skating area and warming house occupy. “The strength of a small town is when the city and school can work closely together,” Laager said at a workshop last June. “We want to create efficiencies and do more with less for the people we serve.”
Plaine High School Band and Choir will present the National Anthem, and an invocation will also be provided. Presenting symbolic tributes will be VFW Commander and Belle Plaine Veterans Club President Larry Ruehling, VFW Auxiliary President Tricia Burmeister, American Legion member Wally Koepp, the American Legion Auxiliary President, and Sons of the American Legion Commander Albert Koepp. The list of deceased members will be read by Larry Ruehling and followed by the benediction. Closing the ceremony will be a three-volley salute by the firing squad and the playing of Taps. Everyone is encouraged to bring lawn chairs. In case of Alley No. 104 inclement weather, the program will be held at Chatfield During a workshop after the Elementary School, 330 South council meeting Monday, council members set a course for imMarket Street.
proving storm water drainage from Alley No. 104, a T-shaped alley south of East Main Street, between South Meridian and South Chestnut streets. The council seemed to favor a plan to replace smaller storm water pipes with 24-inch pipes behind the businesses on the south side of East Main Street. The pipe would be extended into Chestnut Street and linked with 24-inch pipes running under East Main Street and head north downhill toward Forest Street and ravines. Storm water will be emptied into ravines and eventually drain into the river. The council will discuss the proposal at its June 5 meeting. City Engineer Joe Duncan of Bolton & Menk said the existing pipes were designed for a 10-year storm, a rainfall dumping 4.23 inches of rain over 24 hours. The 24-inch pipe would, in theory, be designed to handle a 100-year storm, 7.2 inches of rain over 24 hours. There’s a 1 percent chance of that kind of storm occurring in a given year, Duncan told the council. The improvements are expected to cost about $195,000. Assessments to benefiting property owners will fund about 30 percent of the estimated $120,000 for the new pipe in Alley No. 104. The pipe along Chestnut Street will cost an estimated $75,000. It will be completely funded by the city. Councilor Paul Chard took issue with the city engineer noting the city’s engineering firm when the existing pipe was installed in the late-1990s, Boonestroo & Assoc., didn’t recommend the proper size pipe and now the city is spending more money to fix an avoidable problem. Al Fahey, the city’s street superintendent, said the city has to this point designed its storm water management system to handle 10-year storms. Using a bigger pipe back in 1999 would have cost the city more money. “It all comes to money,” Fahey said. “How much do you want to protect?” In other action at the May 15 meeting, the Belle Plaine City Council: • Paid bills totaling $94,784.12. • Approved the hiring of lifeguards and water safety instructors for the 2017 municipal pool
City OKs
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DARE Graduation Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) certificates were presented to 129 fifth-graders (above) at Oak Crest Elementary Thursday (May 11) during a commencement ceremony in the school’s gymnasium. The students spent several weeks learning DARE lessons from Police Officer Brian Vycital. Following the ceremony, they enjoyed the humor of ventriloquist/comedian Wedgwood and other Belle Plaine High School musicians -- band and choir members alike -- displayed their talents fun activities as a reward for their work and commitment to for a standing-room-only crowd Friday in the school’s north gymnasium at the annual Pops making good choices about drugs and alcohol. Concert. The talents of BPHS’s visual arts and tech. students were also on display as well.
BPHS Musicians, Singers Show Their Best at Pops