Checking in for the New Year

A familiar slate of business greeted the Hartley City Council on Monday during its first meeting of 2024.

Annual reports and appointments topped the short agenda. Up first were library board members Carolyn Rubsam and Kathy Wacker, who reported 8,761 books and 1,569 movies were checked out last year. The duo also noted the director and adult programming director positions have been filled.

Next up was ambulance team member Darla Meyer, who reported the team responded to 289 calls in 2023. That tally was down slightly from more than 300 the previous year.

"Which was crazy," she said. "We're typically at 120-150, so we're still double."

Meyer guessed COVID-related calls were the culprit behind the uptick in calls in recent years. She also reported the team has two students taking EMT training courses right now – Kensey Lira and Abigail Nelson.

"There's only 11 students in the whole class, so when we have two in there from Hartley, that's good," she said.

Overall, Hartley's ambulance team is comprised of the two students, two drivers and seven EMTs.

"We only have 11 people on the team right now, which is pretty low to cover 24/7/365," she said.

Meyer said the team is planning to fundraise for a new defibrillator this year, which will cost around $20,000-$30,000. The team's current one is more than 10 years old.

Fire Chief Brad Meendering was next. The local department was called out 33 times in 2023, down from 37 the previous year. The roster is sitting at 21 firemen and two juniors. Meendering said four firemen moved during the past year.

Five new sets of bunker gear were purchased last year as well as new pagers, boots and gloves. The department is next planning to raise money for a new system to fill air packs.

"It's not going to be cheap," Meendering said.

Other standard New Year business included annual appointments.

Roxann Swanson was appointed city clerk/administrator, Sheri Tewes was appointed deputy city clerk and city treasurer, Joe Hengeveld was appointed police chief, and Phil Sweeney was appointed zoning officer.

The Hartley Sentinel-The Everly/Royal News was named official city newspaper, and Savings Bank and United Community Bank were named the official city depositories. Brandon Krikke was appointed city attorney with Nathan Rockman as assistant city attorney.