Town votes to approve AUP

The town of Keystone will enter into a contract with Ketel Thorstenson to do an Agreed Upon Procedures (AUP) for the Keystone Area Historical Society (KAHS), according to the most recent town board meeting. The cost of the AUP is $3,500.

According to KAHS board president  Jon Veltman the AUP should be complete by the middle of March. 

A contract between the town and the Keystone Chamber of Commerce was discussed at length. Leah Serrano and Lloyd Shelton, representing the interests of the chamber, expressed the desire of the chamber to be the marketing organization for the town.

An email dated Feb. 4 from Serrano to the town board members said, “The chamber wishes to work with the city and is willing to continue to serve as Keystone’s DMO (designated marketing organization) (with a contract for guaranteed funding and clearly defined expectations). A contract would allow the chamber to confidently hire a director.”

“We need a level of assurance of funding in order to hire a director,” said Shelton. Opposition for a contract came from trustee Kwinn Neff.

While Neff made clear his appreciation for all the hard work the chamber is doing he expressed concern over was going through the work and expense of a contract for funding that was already allocated for 2020.

He suggested an alternative to a contract, which might give more funding assurance. Town attorney Mitch Johnson, however, was in favor of a contract.

“You can put teeth into a contract and clear parameters would be set for current and future board members,” Johnson said.

Johnson suggested a contract term of three years. The board voted unanimously to request a contract proposal from the chamber. 

A fungal infection of the trees in the Keystone cemetery had caused a hazard to the public. 

Citizen Jim Dehaii has agreed to volunteer his expertise in cutting down many of the trees in the cemetery that have died. The board approved a motion to cover him under the town’s liability insurance during the work.

A proposal to plant new trees was discussed. The goal would be to choose disease resistant and hardy species. It was suggested that people could donate $50 which would go toward purchase of trees. The department of public works would care for the trees.

Public works superintendent Jerry Przybylski requested that the town wait on closing out the well and sewer project. Przybylski recently discovered that a non-working installed meter is not meant for wastewater applications.

The town has spent $33,000 on meters that have not yet been able to read. He would like to wait on closing out the project until that can be fixed.  Przybylski was directed to contact AE2S about the meters

Neff brought a proposal for the surveying needed to expand the paid parking lot in town. The state parking lot expansion would provide more parking spaces for the town to generate revenue from during the tourist season.

Discussion centered on how long the survey could be used for in addition to using parking revenue to pay for the survey. The board approved the $4,500 survey proposal, which will be valid in future years.

The board agreed to let KAHS borrow 10 tables and 20 chairs from the Keystone Community Center for the Carrie Ingalls 150th birthday festival. Discussion on vendor fees also took place. Normally the town charges $800 for a four-week license to transient merchants. However, the ordinance allows for a $25 vendor fee for Keystone sponsored events. The Ingalls’ festival qualifies for this reduced fee.

The town board agreed to donate $500 to the Hill City Pack 10 Cub Scouts. It chose to add an additional $25 in donations for the registration of the Keystone Public Works Department into the Pinewood Derby race to be held March 15.

Carl Doaty, pack master of the troop, gave a brief presentation to the board about the benefits of the troop including its charitable contributions to Keystone’s food pantry. 

The board voted to approve the convention liquor license for KBarS Lodge.

The board decided that ordinance committee meetings need to be advertised more before dates and times can be established. Town finance officer Cassandra Ott will be in charge of posting advertisements.

The next Keystone Town Board meeting takes place Feb 19 at 9 a.m.

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