City Council Covers Several Agenda Items

The Litchfield City Council covered several agenda items on Tuesday evening including the approval of plans and specifications and advertisement of bids for the massive wastewater treatment facility improvement project. The project is estimated to cost between 55 and 60-million-dollars.

Mayor Ron Dingmann says Paul Saffert of Bolton & Menk has been working on this project which will address MPCA restrictions and accommodate First District Association’s new wastewater treatment process. He says bids will be opened on October 29th and will be awarded in December, and then the project will be underway from January of 2027 to October of 2029.

Mayor Dingmann says the Litchfield City Council has approved of the preliminary levy for 2027 with an increase of 6.9% from the previous year or $281,000. He says the total preliminary levy is $4,333,020.

Mayor Dingmann says the preliminary budgets include the general budget of $7,623,412 and the debt service budget of $809,575. He says the truth-in-taxation hearing is set for 6 p.m. on December 7th.

Mayor Dingmann says there is a committee of Council members, Masons and pickle ball enthusiasts who will be meeting with city staff to come up with a plan and budget for improvements to South Park; and there was also a report on Tuesday evening on the Litchfield Area Recreation Center which is performing better than expected after its first year of operation. He says the Council also reappointed Jeff Woods and Mike Flaata to the Planning Commission on Tuesday evening.