The Litchfield City Council heard a year-in-review presentation Monday evening from City Administrator David Czoik. He went over many of the projects that have taken place in the past year including the completion of the Litchfield Area Recreation Center and the extension of Johnson Drive to 260th Street on the west side of Walmart.
Czoik also mentioned the Midtown Lofts project, which is not a city project, but will help address the need for housing in the community. He also spoke about the wastewater agreement with First District Association, the many ordinances that were approved in the past year, and some of the challenges and opportunities facing each city department.
Mayor Ron Dingmann says Czoik’s presentation was followed with a closed session in which the Council did Czoik’s performance evaluation. He says the results will be presented at the next meeting.
Mayor Dingmann says the Council had a visit from State Representative Scott Van Binsbergen on Monday evening as he gave them some information on his background and spoke about the 2025 Legislative Session. He says the Council approved of increasing the precondition amounts for grants in the Downtown Historic District as part of the State Historic Grant process as they received more applications than anticipated.
Mayor Dingmann says the State Historic Grant process will be on the Council agenda every two weeks for updates. He says the Council split 3-to-3 (as Councilman Eric Mathwig was absent) on a decision of whether to purchase an autonomous floor sweeper for $80,000 or a manual one for $16,000, so the item will come up again at the next meeting. Those in favor of the more expensive option argued that the manual one did not account for the labor costs to run it over the year, and the issue of trying to find someone to operate it, along with the fact that an autonomous machine could operate when the facility is not occupied.
The Meeker County Board of Commissioners has approved of a resolution establishing the preliminary property tax levy for 2026 at $19,010,390. The final levy will be set following the truth-in-taxation hearing which is scheduled for 6 p.m. on December 2nd.
Meeker County Administrator Andrew Letson says the preliminary levy represents a 9.16% increase over 2025. He says the increase is largely attributed to increasing operating expenses including planned wage adjustments, as well as legislative changes at the state and federal level that are resulting in increased costs and revenue cuts in various areas.
The Meeker County Board of Commissioners has moved to approve of a resolution authorizing Public Works Director Phil Schmalz to execute the necessary documents to apply for a grant from the MN Transportation Economic Development Program. The grant funds would be used towards the Highway 12 and County-State-Aid-Highway 34 intersection improvement project.
The Commissioners approved of a conditional use permit for the expansion of dairy animal units at Ru-Be Dairy at 54738 210th Street – south of Grove City in Section 2 of Danielson Township. The Board approved of a rezoning application and a preliminary plat application for Laughlin Acres for the property located in Section 11 of Dassel Township. A final plat application for Lundin Hills Addition in Section 3 of Dassel Township was also approved.
Also – the Meeker County Board of Commissioners approved of Met Life as the County’s dental insurance carrier for 2026-to-2028; approved of the 2026 Prime Health insurance rates for non-contract employees; reappointed Louise Brooks and Susan Steuck to 3-year terms on the Public Health Advisory Board; heard an annual report from Parks Superintendent Braden Piram; and set a public hearing for 4:30 p.m. on December 2nd on the proposed 2026 fee schedule.
A Night of Piano Performance by accomplished pianists will be held at the Litchfield Opera House on Friday evening at 7 p.m. – with doors opening at 6:30. Piano teacher Rebecca Dawson has been coordinating the list of talented performers.
Dawson says there will be six players ranging from 11-to-75-years-old. She says there’s going to be a wide range of music.
Dawson says the piano they will be using has been at the Litchfield Opera House since 1900 and some of the history of the piano will be revealed during the program on Friday evening. Connie Lies says the piano was refurbished a few years ago.
Lies says there will be heavy hors d oeuvres including meatballs, cocktail wieners, deviled eggs, mushrooms, sliders, nachos and desserts. She says the cost is $7 with reservations – which must be made by this evening – or $8 at the door. For reservations, call 320-221-6679.
The Litchfield City Council had a visit last night from State Representative Scott Van Binsbergen. He gave the Council some background about himself as he was just elected to the Minnesota House last fall and provided an update about the 2025 Legislative Session.
Van Binsbergen spoke about growing up in Montevideo, about starting various businesses, and serving on the commerce and health care committees in the House. He says he would like to do something about regulations and taxes that make it tough to do business in Minnesota.
The Litchfield City Council approved of increasing the predesign conditions for the state historic grants in amounts up to $20,000 per application in order to be able to accept more buildings in the downtown historic district. The Legislature approved of over $2,000,000 in the program and there are 23 façade improvement applicants.
The Litchfield City Council approved of an airport maintenance and operations grant agreement; approved of an airport hangar lease agreement; and approved of a motion for staff to complete a rate comparison for the airport.
The Council split on a vote 3-to-3 on whether to have an autonomous floor sweeper or one using a manual operator for the new Litchfield Area Recreation Center, so the motion failed and it will be tabled until the next meeting when all Council members are present.
Also last night, City Administrator Dave Czoik gave a year-in-review presentation – highlighting some of the projects around town from the past year and the challenges and opportunities facing each of the city departments. During a closed session last night, the Litchfield City Council did its performance evaluation of Administrator Czoik.