The Litchfield City Council approved of a resolution Tuesday evening awarding $10-million in general obligation bonds. Piper Sandler & Company of Minneapolis had the low interest rate of 3.6881%.
Mayor Ron Dingmann says Jason Aarsvold of Ehlers presented the information to the City Council and says it was a better interest rate than they had expected. He says $2-million will be used for the floor and dasher board project at the Civic Arena which is long-overdue, and $8-million will be money used up front for the LARC, but that money will be recouped with the city’s sales tax proceeds.
Mayor Dingmann says the Council approved of union contracts on Tuesday evening that had been negotiated with the Personnel Committee for the Police, Public Utilities and Public Works employees. He says the law enforcement contract was a little more complicated than the others.
Mayor Dingmann says the police contract includes cost of living adjustments of 5% for 2025, and 4% both in 2026 and 2027. He says the Public Works and Public Utilities contracts were similar with cost of living adjustments for both of 4% in each of the next 3 years – 2025, 2026 and 2027. A wage research comparison was also approved for all non-contract employees including fire and rescue personnel, and a report is expected within about 60 days.
Mayor Dingmann says the Litchfield City Council also approved of some items related to the façade grant including a request for proposal with New History for architectural services and more decisions on this process will be coming up at the February 3rd meeting. He says the Council also approved of tobacco licenses for Marathon on South Sibley Avenue and Speedway on East Highway 12 due to changes of ownership at those businesses.
The Litchfield Rotary Club hit an impressive milestone this past year – 45 years since it began. The organization was chartered back in 1979.
Mark Nicholson was one of the charter members as was Steve Kess and both men are still active in the Litchfield Rotary Club. Nicholson says Willmar had just started a chapter the year before and met with the group in Litchfield that was interested in starting a local chapter.
Nicholson says the Rotary Club has done numerous projects in Litchfield over the years, and the biggest was probably raising more than $150,000 to be used towards the Splash Pad at Memorial Park on Lake Ripley. He says they raised extra money so used those funds to install a shade canopy, picnic tables, benches, and then began the AED installation project – with the first unit installed near the Splash Pad.
Dr. Mike Solback, who joined the Litchfield Rotary Club 36 years ago, says Rotary International began in Chicago in 1905. He says the Rotary Club has been instrumental in nearly eradicating polio with the Polio Plus project – as polio is only present in two countries now – Afghanistan and Pakistan. He says they also help with clean water projects – drilling wells in third world countries.
The Litchfield Rotary Club meets each Tuesday morning at 7 a.m. for breakfast and a speaker at the Fire/Rescue Hall. New members are welcome to join the Litchfield Rotary Club.
Two members of the Litchfield Rotary Club traveled to South Africa back in September. Mark Nicholson, Dr. Mike Solbrack and their wives and Nicholson’s son, along with about 30 other Rotary members from the U.S., delivered “study buddy” desks to students.
Nicholson says the desks are manufactured right in South Africa and they were originally called Tutu desks – after Bishop Desmond Tutu who was a champion in the fight against apartheid. He says it’s estimated that there are 95-million students in South Africa who don’t have desks.
Nicholson says they delivered the desks to three different schools. He says he had heard about the trip from Howard Tours of California – the same company that did a trip that he took to India – and Dr. Mike Solbrack also expressed interest in traveling to South Africa.
Dr. Solbrack says the desks cost $20 each and the Litchfield Rotary club purchased 25 of them for the students in South Africa. He says the students were very excited to get their desks.
Dr. Solbrack says they were in South Africa for 12 days and also got to go on a safari, traveled to the Cape of Good Hope – the southernmost point on the continent of Africa, and they also saw Robben Island where Nelson Mandela had been imprisoned. He says it was early spring when they were there in September – as the seasons are opposite from ours – and they only needed a typhoid shot, but if it had been the rainy season, they would’ve needed protection from malaria.