Tri-County News

Kimball city council special meeting


The Kimball city council held a special meeting Monday evening, June 25. The stated purpose of the meeting was to discuss the Police Department and to work on a Capital Improvement Plan.

At the Sept. 5, 2017, council meeting they discussed the police chief taking the squad car home. The city’s attorney was present; he asked if the city’s policy allows it and he was told it does not. “Mayor Konz stated that this was only allowed in the instance when the police chief’s personal vehicle was broken and while he is working TZD shifts in St. Cloud; it is not to be done routinely.” (from the 9/5/17 minutes)

Councilman DuWayne Orbeck said he was for allowing the police chief to take home the squad car, because it allows better response time.

Mayor Konz said she’s against it, asking what the Fire Department does for calls. “I’m not against it,” she said. “I’m just against the way it was done.”

Mitchell and Julie Libby were in the audience. He said there have been two rapes since 2003 and he’s had 6 heart failures; each time the first responders were the Kimball Police.

The council agreed that response time is extremely important. (The chief is on-call 24/7 to cover his officers while they are on duty, and to cover the city when they are not. He is called first, before the county, for all police-related calls within the city.)

Aaron Dahlinger said the question is will taxpayers be okay with Jason taking the car home?

Dustin Orbeck, representing Kim-Built Country Store & Deli and Kim-Built Propane, also was in the audience. Those two businesses, he said, pay more than $17,000 in city taxes and he is very happy to have Jason respond three minutes before he did when they had a break-in.

DuWayne Orbeck added, “We’ve got to have Kimball Police have access to equipment. We don’t know when we need two officers here. We have young officers.”

Another attorney from the city attorney’s office was at the meeting. He reminded the council that the council as a whole decides and supervises police. He also brought up municipal prosecutions, some of which their office handles. Because of the relatively new officers and a change in the way tickets are e-filed, no tickets have been sent to their office for prosecution. (The default goes to the county; the new offices now know they must purposely select “Kimball” instead.)

A DUI case was dropped during the past year, and the individual was released. There is a mandatory, 36-hour hold on cases like domestic violence and DUIs; conditions of release are set at a hearing. Police chief Jason Mehr stated that everyone now knows the proper procedure, and this won’t happen again.

Back to the squad car issue, councilmember Sheryl Carlson said, “I don’t believe the car should leave the city.” Mayor Konz said it’s okay, if he’s going to court or something, but not every day.

Mehr said, “It’s no benefit to me. But I can’t answer calls at 3 or 4 a.m. in my personal car.” He added that he can respond to a call and interact with dispatch through the computer on the way to Kimball, with the squad car.

Dahlinger asked Mehr what his pay was last year, including overtime. (This is a matter of public record.) At $22-something per hour, with lots of overtime covering a short-staffed department, Mehr earned $60K last year. “I’m happy with where I’m at,” Mehr added. “I need to be able to pay my officers more to keep them.”

At this point in the meeting, the council took a vote. Councilmembers Orbeck, Dahlinger, and Kiffmeyer all voted to allow the police chief to take the squad car home. Mayor Konz and councilmember Carlson voted against.

The council then looked to the five-year capital plans for the city.  Discussion went on at great length, and it was decided to continue the meeting at another time. The police, fire, and public works departments were to present their five-year plans for capital purchases. The council also discussed a new comprehensive plan for the city, money to be allocated to the city’s parks, road and street repairs, and the proposed new library building.

Video of the meeting can be viewed at youtu.be/CPckdveNkYU.

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