The 54th annual Peanut Butter & Milk Festival is underway this week as ten people from Hartford, Alabama are visiting their sister city – Litchfield. The group is busy touring area farms and businesses and enjoying some winter activities.
Litchfield High School FFA President Emmett VanDerBill says he’s hosting Geneva County High School student Hunter Brooks and he enjoyed snowmobiling on Sunday on Lake Manuella as that was something he’s never been able to do before. Emmett says he got to go to Alabama last fall for the annual exchange trip and he enjoyed learning about the cotton and peanut industries.
Emmett says he will get to tag along with the Alabama guests on Wednesday as they tour Steffes Auctioneers, Litchfield High School, the Litchfield Area Recreation Center, IRD Glass and Bushmills Ethanol. He says everyone is welcome to the Potluck Banquet on Thursday evening at St. Philip’s Church which begins with social half hour at 6:30 – bring a dish to share.
Litchfield High School FFA Vice President Bianca Forsberg is hosting Geneva County High School student Callie Cotton. She says she got to go to Alabama last fall and really enjoyed the day that they got to travel to the beach in the Florida Panhandle.
Forsberg says she gets to accompany the Alabama visitors as they travel to Benson to see the Mini Sota Agricultural Museum. She says they are really looking forward to their day of skiing and tubing at Powder Ridge on Thursday.
The Litchfield City Council has approved of advertising for a couple of positions. One of those positions is the Office Lead – the former office supervisor position, and the other position is a new one – City Planner. The Council approved of the job descriptions for both of those positions last night.
The Council also approved of a construction manager request-for-proposal as part of the state historic building grant process. The selection criteria matrix was also approved. City Administrator Dave Czoik says this step is needed so that they can proceed with estimates and meet with the property owners. He says, in the future, a public hearing will be held to reveal the amounts for each property as the façade improvement program proceeds in downtown Litchfield.
The Council approved of a certificate of appropriateness application last night from the Heritage Preservation Commission for John Braun/Blind Pig Aviation for a second story window project at 215 North Sibley Avenue. The Council also approved of the airport being used for the 2nd annual Pistons and Props event on August 8th.
Also last night, the Litchfield City Council approved of an additional 4 hoops at the Litchfield Area Recreation Center – and the boys and girls basketball clubs will be asked if they are willing to use their $20,000 donation towards that project; approved of the purchase of a pick-up from Davis Motors for the wastewater department; approved of the purchase of two Dodge Durangos from Litchfield Automotive; and reappointed Jared Culbertson to the Litchfield Police Commission.
On Sunday, February 1st, at approximately 2:45 p.m., the Meeker County Sheriff’s Office received a report of an ATV that had broken through the ice on Belle Lake. The incident occurred near the lake access on 163rd Street in Ellsworth Township. The driver, a juvenile male, reported that while returning to shore, the front end of the ATV broke through the ice and the vehicle eventually became fully submerged. Both the driver and a juvenile passenger were able to escape without injury and safely made it back to shore.
