Delano Herald Journal

Serving the communities of Delano, Loretto, Montrose, MN, and the surrounding area

Dassel principal suggests a different pickup location



DASSEL, MN – During the Dassel City Council meeting last Monday, the council once again discussed parking congestion on the east side of Dassel Elementary.

This time, Dassel Principal Rob Nudell attended the meeting and offered input from the school’s perspective. Nudell suggested that parents use a different location to pick up or drop off, suggesting the north side of Breed’s Park.

This would require students to cross two crosswalks, across Guy and William, and then end up in a pickup area with no sidewalks. Nudell asked the city to consider installing sidewalks there. “Safety is the priority,” he said.

It was noted that high snowbanks existed just a few weeks ago, and made the problem worse.

Previously, it was suggested to post no parking on the east side of Guy Street during school hours, which is where students are usually picked up or dropped off now.

Council Member Jason Benzing has pointed out in the past that there isn’t room enough for a line of parked cars and two active lanes of traffic.

Scanlon indicated that the city would review the subject and discuss the cost of sidewalks, if these were to be done.

Purchase of acoustic equipment OK’d

The council approved its attention to the community room acoustic problems at the Dassel History Center.

To solve the problems, the council approved the recommendation of the Dassel Area Historical Society, which is to install a 12” x 12”x 3⁄4” acoustic tile over the entire ceiling, direct-glued at a cost of $10,450, with an additional cost of $760 for light fixture adjustments. This will offer a noise reduction co-effeciency of .70. The low bidder was Stumpf Acoustics of Buffalo.

This option allows for manageable adjustments of all other suspended items by the ceiling contractor, McGrath said.

There is an allowance of $11,000 remaining in the project budget to have this work done.

The acoustical tiles were approved on a vote of 3-1, with Mayor Mike Scanlon, Bob Lalone and Jason Benzing in favor, and Pat Haapala opposed. Council Member Alesia Warner was not present for the meeting.

Planning commission seats appointed

Two seats were appointed by the council, Jack Adams, who was reappointed to his seat, and Billy Wallace, who was appointed to the seat previously served by Brad Nelson. The seats are both two-year terms.

Wallace is the pastor at the Dassel Church of Christ. Former council member Wayne Medcraft had also applied for a position on the planning commission, and Nelson, who reapplied.

Odds and ends

In other business, the council:

• decided to conduct another city cleanup day in May, on a day yet to be determined.

The cost is $4,000, but the effort has yielded 120 tons of waste over the past two years, McGrath noted.

It’s cheaper to offer the service than go into blight ordinance enforcement, which involves court costs and paying for extra law enforcement, it was noted.

• will be working on a copy of the Dassel personnel policy and procedures over the next few weeks.

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