City of Townsend Council Meeting

MINUTES 10/21/2025

Call to Order:  Mayor Rauser called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m.  The Pledge of Allegiance was recited by all. 

Public Comment: 

Minutes:   Vivian made a motion to approve the minutes from 10/7/2025.  JB seconded the motion.  All in favor, motion carried.

Guests/Correspondence

• Jan Hubber:  Spoke to the council about potential locations for a park to name after Pat Plantenberg.  Mayor Rauser stated that all of the City parks are already named.  She suggested working with the county parks and recreation board.  JB suggested that a portion of Holloway Park could possibly have a garden spot with picnic tables named after Pat Plantenberg.  Eric stated that he doesn’t think that Holloway Park would work because there’s also soccer teams that use that space.  Eric stated that there’s another idea of placing a memorial place in front of or next to the gazebo on Broadway.  Other ideas were discussed, but no firm choice or decision was made. 
• Letter from Angie Paulson:   The Municipal Election has been cancelled since there is only one person running for each open council position. 
• MMIA Cyber Security Support Changes:  Mayor Rauser stated this is in the packets for your information only.  JB asked if any of our secure information can be accessed  online by the public.  Kari stated no, so it was determined that this does not pertain to us. 
• Website ADA Access:  Mayor Rauser stated that by 2027, our website will need to be ADA accessible.  JB asked if we can ask our current web maintenance person, Jessica Crusch, if she could bring our website to include ADA accessibility. 

Current

• Events Ordinance:  Mayor Rauser went through the document and asked if there were any questions from the council as she went page by page.  No comments or questions on the Events Ordinance.  JB stated that the only significant changes to this are on page 6.  The last pages are ordinance enforced by an ordinance, but their purpose is for the event host to be compliant with animals.  JB made a motion to accept the Events Ordinance for preliminary approval and move forward with a public hearing.  Vivian seconded the motion.  All in favor, motion carried. 
• Massa Park-Draft Agreement has been tabled.

Pending Business

• No updates for any of the pending items of Fireworks, Ordinance Review, or Garbage Cans on Broadway.  .  Mayor Rauser is in the process of reading the Telecommunications Franchise Committee/Ordinance, and Mayor Rauser stated that our city attorney would also like to read that prior to approval. 

Round Table

Public Comment:  Shawn Simon stated that he has not received a copy of the rural fire document that states their assessment of the sharing of equipment and property with the city fire.   Mayor Rauser asked JB to please provide Shawn a copy of the document.  Todd Rolfs asked what size of park is it that Jan Hubber is wanting. 

Clerk:  Kari stated that she had the opportunity to  attend the League of Cities and Towns Conference and went to the Annual Financial Report Preparation class and received some good information. 

Public Works:  –

Mayor & Council:  Vivian asked about the new employee.  Mayor Rauser stated that our new maintenance worker is Mike Guthrie.  He came aboard with a CDL.  Welcome Mike!

Mayor Rauser stated that she also took in several classes at the League of Cities and Towns Conference.  She sat in on a Human Resources class as well as a Security course for protecting one’s self at the workplace.

JB asked about who owns the storm drains on North Pine and Cedar.  Access to the storm drains may be the answer to a cost-effective solution. 

Adjournment:  Nate made a motion to adjourn the meeting.  JB seconded the motion.  All in favor, motion carried.