Royalton City Newsletter

Transcription

1 March / April 2014 Royalton City Newsletter Special points of interest: March 17 St. Patrick s Day March 1 Museum is open from 10-1 March 20 Spring Begins!!! April 14 Passover begins April 20 Easter April 30 Dog Lic. Due Inside this issue: Dog Licenses Due by April 30 Senior Appreciation Dinner Old High School Gym still used Poetry Month 8 City looking for summer help City Wide Cleanup Day April 26 City Wide Garage Sale Sign up This institution is an equal opportunity provider Please Prevent Your Water Line from Freezing There have been a number of houses in town that have had their water line freeze up. The main cause for this is lack of water usage. These water lines are buried several feet down. Because of the extreme winter we have had, the frost is quite deep in many places. The frost line at the depth of the water line combined with minimal water usage causes the water lines to freeze. Because, the water Rescue Squad Member Applications Being Accepted The Royalton Rescue Squad is accepting applications to join the volunteer department. Applicants must be citizens of the United States, at least 18 years old, and a resident of line freezes somewhere between the house and the main water line under the street, it is next to impossible to thaw out until the frost in comes out in the spring. To prevent this from happening to your home, keep a steady flow of water running in one faucet in your house. Be sure the water flow is at least the thickness of a pencil. Homes with more than 2 family members will more than likely not have this Royalton or his or her residence is within 2 miles of the fire hall. Applications can be found online or at City Hall. If you have any questions, you can contact Karen Dub- problem just because of their higher water usage. If you have any questions concerning your water usage or water lines freezing, please call City Hall at (320) Please contact City Hall if you are running your water to prevent your line from freezing. bin at If you cannot make it in during regular business hours, put the application in the bill drop box outside City Hall.

2 Page 2 From the Mayor This winter has been a tough one for residents and the City! Our Public Works department has moved more snow this year than in several past years combined and it keeps on coming! To make matters worse we have several residents who are dealing with frozen water lines. If your water line does freeze up, please call City Hall at If you live alone or use very little water, we encourage you to run your water at a low flow to keep the water lines open. If you do this, please contact City Hall. We have several projects planned for this spring and summer. Our new well and water treatment plant project is scheduled for this spring and as part of the project we will be sealing Well #1 located along Hwy 10. We received a grant from the MN Department of Health to seal the old well. At the Council s planning meeting in February we decided to move ahead with infrastructure to the industrial park. The decision to choose a plan design and to install water and sewer to the industrial park makes it easier for the city to get businesses into the park. Plumbing, cement work, and landscaping will be done at the Splash Park this spring and everyone is looking forward to a grand opening. The Sheerwind project, an innovative wind generation system, is moving forward and as progress is made, we will keep residents informed of our progress. The site for the tower will be near the industrial park along the Highway 10 corridor. Our citywide clean up day is scheduled for April 26 th. Hopefully the snow will be gone by then! Carol and Michelle will have more information on the citywide clean up day coming soon. Cities in Morrison County continue to meet on a monthly basis and share ideas. It is a great way to learn from one another and look for opportunities to work together. Stay warm and think spring! Everyone is looking forward to a Splash Park Grand Opening this Spring.

3 Page 3 Dog Licenses Due by Wednesday, April 30th All dog owners in the city limits of Royalton are required to have their dog licensed by April 30th every year. A current proof of rabies vaccination is needed in order for the City to issue a license and dog tag. The cost of dog licenses are $10.00 if the dog is spayed or neutered, and $15.00 if they are not. When the City issues the dog tag, they will put the dog s name, address, and the owner s phone number on the back. This effort has greatly reduced the impounds per year. According to City Ordinance, the Royalton Police Department can, and has, issued tickets in the amount of $30.00 plus the cost of impound fees of $ You will also be charged double for the License Fee plus $10.00 per day for boarding. One lost, unlicensed dog can easily cost an owner $ Please get your dog licensed. City Wide Garage Sale May 10th The deadline to submit an ad is Noon, Wednesday, April 23rd at City Hall. Royalton s City-Wide Garage Sale is set for May 10th at 8 am. Ad for residents are free; they need to be submitted to City Hall by noon on Wednesday, April 23rd. Non-residents are more than welcome to advertise their garage sales for a cost of $8.00. The map and 12- word ads will be in the May 3rd edition of the Royalton Newsletter that is inserted into the Morrison County Record and delivered to 1280 households. See page 12 for the ad info. Pay Your City Utility Bill Online! RoyaltonMN.com

4 Page 4 Senior Citizen Appreciation Dinner on Palm Sunday The Royalton Lions Club will be hosting their 20th annual Senior Citizen Appreciation Dinner on April 13th at the Royalton American Legion. Social Hour begins at 11 am with free beverages and a chance to visit or play cards. The meal will be served at 12:00 noon. Anyone in the Royalton area who would enjoy a meal f u r n i s h e d a n d served by the Royalton Lions is more than welcome. The Lions Club will be more than willing to provide transportation if needed, as well as offer home deliveries. Jerry Goedderz will help you out or answer any questions you may have. He can be reached at The annual Senior Citizen Appreciation Dinner is Palm Sunday - April 13th Ham Bingo After Appreciation Dinner Ham Bingo is at 2:00 pm after the Senior Appreciation Dinner on Palm Sun- day at the American Legion. The proceeds of the bingo go to the Royalton Program. Athletics Bingo is at 2:00 after the Dinner

5 Calling All Artists Page 5 You are invited to show or sell your artwork. There may be snow on the ground now, but we want local artists to begin thinking spring! T h e R o y a l t o n Woman s Study Club is sponsoring the second annual Art in the Park on Saturday, June 14th from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Memorial Park. Whether your art is flower arranging, beading, ceramics or other media, you are invited to show or sell your art. There is no fee to set up a booth to display your art. Please contact Carol Cassman at for more information or to reserve a space. Rain Gardens! The Morrison County Soil & Water Conservation District will be doing an informational meeting about rain gardens this spring. A rain garden is a planted depression that allows rainwater runoff from driveways, and compacted lawn areas to be absorbed allowing storm water to soak into the ground. If you are interested in knowing more about rain gardens, or if you are interested in planting a rain garden, please contact City Hall. There may be grant money available The Winner is The Hidden Object for the March/April Newsletter is: Betty Brezinka s name was drawn out of the many people who found the Valentine Sweet Heart. Find the hidden object in this newsletter, and have a chance to win a bag of prizes. Just call, , or drop a note at City Hall of what page the object is on in this newsletter. Be sure to include your name and phone number; and you will be put into the drawing clerk@royaltonmn.com

6 Page 6 The Old High School Gym By Barb Gangl It was not until 1935 t h a t R o y a l t o n Schools had a gymn a s i u m. Up to that time they used the old Catholic church to play basketball and had graduations and Photo of the newly built gym in s c h o o l Courtesy of the MN Historical Society. dances at This is the same gym the elementary The Palace Thea- students still use today. ter in down town Royalton. In the spring of 1935 men working for the WPA program began digging on the north side of the school, now the elementary school, to build the gym as we know it today. Well, not quite as we know it today. There are a few of us old timers who remember all the windows that were on both sides of the walls way up under those maroon and gold panels that are there today. Oh, how the sun would shine through those windows! In May of 1939 our gym along with the Bowlus Village Hall w e r e s e l e c t e d among outstanding construction jobs in Minnesota by WPA. In 1964 they had to make more room for all the kids and added on the south end of the school. It included a library, high school classrooms, school offices, kitchen and a cafeteria. Those rooms are now used by the first grade classes. In May of 1969 a vote was held and of 461 votes cast, 422 voted yes to a $1,400,000 bond issue for a new school. By then the student population had grown to 560 and the old high school, which was built in the 1890's, was in so much need of repair that it was taken down when the new high school was completed in This year RHS will see its 110 th graduation.

7 Royalton Public Library News Page 7 By Linda Mueller Pages of Music will be at the Royalton Library Thursday, March 6, at 3:30 pm. Andrea Stern will be at the Library on Monday, March 10 Our long Minnesota winter continues. We received several more inches of snow today. Library patrons have been taking advantage of our extensive collection of DVDs to help pass the time when the temperatures have been too cold to venture outdoors. The DVDs can be checked out for seven days at no cost. The GRRL system has a vast collection of movies including drama, fantasy, comedy, western, musical, children, and action. Recently a patron requested an obscure 1972 film starring Charles Bronson. Our system did not own the film but I was able to find a copy at the International Falls Public Library. I was happy to request the film for the patron. The Royalton Library participated in The Big Read. The Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts designed to revitalize the role of literary reading in American popular culture. Participants read Harper Lee s To Kill a Mockingbird and then gathered at the library for a lively discussion of this rare American novel on Thursday, February 6. Ideas, thoughts and refreshments were shared in the cozy library on a cold winter s evening. A Pages of Music concert will take place at the library on Thursday, March 6 at 3:30pm. Pages of Music is composed of the classical duo of Carrie Vecchione, oboe and Rolf Erdahl, bass. This awardwinning chamber group will share their repertoire of evocative music. On Monday, March 10 harpist Andrea Stern will return to the library to share the lovely sounds that are unique to the harp. Andrea has become a favorite Legacy performer at Royalton. She connects with the audience on a personal level. Andrea Stern has been a performing artist for over two decades. She has performed with symphonies throughout the world as well as playing for the Minnesota Opera. The music will start at 3:00pm and will last for two hours. Students ages 6-18 are invited to attend F ig u r e D r a w i n g : Manga Style with Continued on Pate

8 Page 8 Library News Continued Shayann Hoffer on Thursday, March 13 f r o m 3 : 0 0 p m - 4:30pm. This workshop will go through the fundamentals of figure drawing. These will include line quality, composition, space, color, scale, and more. Manga and other popular cartoons will be explored. The library will kick off April-Poetry Month with a poetry reading by Little Falls resident Laura Hansen on Wednesday, April 2 from 7:00 to 8:00pm. Laura will be reading selections from the anthologies Fog and Woodsmoke, The Heart of All That Is, and County Lines as well as from her self -published Poetry chapbooks. Laura Hansen lives in Little Falls where the Mississippi River is her muse. The library will host two Spring Story Times on Thursday, April 3 and Thursday, April 10. The story times are for children ages 3 to 6 years old. The story times will begin at 4:00pm and last for 30 minutes. Teens ages 12 to 18 are invited to the library for another fun Teen Game Night on Monday, April 7 from 3:45 to 5:00pm. A variety of board games will be available as well as snacks. You may bring your favorite game if you wish. To celebrate April- Poetry Month I offer to you this beloved poem by Mary Oliver. Wild Geese By Mary Oliver You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Tell me about your despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on. Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers. Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, Are heading home again. Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting over and over announcing your place in the family of things.

9 Summer Job with Public Works Dept The Royalton Public Works Department is looking for someone to work on average 20 hours a week during the summer months starting mid May. The position will be paid $10.00 an hour and the person must Firearms Safety Classes - April 26th be at least 18 years old. This position would assist the Public Works Department in lawn mowing, fire hydrant maintenance, etc. Applications can be picked up at City Hall or you can tation night on March 24, 2014 at the Royalton Community Center and the Field & Range day on April 26th. This class is being offered to Royalton area residents only, you must be at least 11 years old by the 24th of March. You print one off the City s website, RoyaltonMn.com Applications must be turned in by noon on Thursday, April 17th. For more details, please call City Hall will need to bring a copy of your birth certificate to the orientation night. You must be p re - registered for this class. For more information or to register for this class call Scarlett or Tim Feiler at Page 9 Pick up an application at City Hall or go online to to apply for the summer job Firearm Safety Class This Spring ATV Safety Classes this Spring & Fall T h e R o y a l t o n Sportsmen's Club will be offering ATV Safety Classes this year in the spring and fall, dates to be R o y a l t o n A r e a Sportsmen's Club will be offering Firearms Safety Classes this year on April 26th. This will be the One - day All Day Field & Range Day at the park. The student along with a parent must be able to attend the oriendetermined. You must be at least 11 years old prior to the first day of the class and you must pre-register for the class. If you are interested in this class call Tim or Scarlett Feiler at

10 City Wide Clean Up Set for Saturday, April 26 Page 10 The City has set Saturday, April 26th as the City Wide Clean Up Day. It will go from 8:00am till 11:00am. Citizens of Royalton will be able to bring their unwanted leaves, furniture, metal, and w h i t e g o o d s (appliances) to the compost site for disposal. The Compost site is located on South Birch Street past Newman s Industries on the South side of the sewer ponds. There is no cost for metal, however other items may have varying costs depending on what it is. Details will be mailed to city residents in the Cleanup Day Newsletter. If you have extra garbage, you can purchase large Waste Management bags at Royalton Discount Center or City Hall for $1.56 each. Computers, TV's and other electronics will be accepted this year at the City Wide Clean up. RV refrigerators will NOT be accepted this year, however they may be taken to the Morrison County Landfill. This cleanup day is for residents who live in the City of Royalton s corporate limits. Non-residents can take their unwanted items to the Morrison County or Benton County landfills. Each township also has a cleanup day. Bellevue s Cleanup Day is usually the first Saturday in June. Langola residents use the City of Rice s Cleanup Day. The Royalton Lions hosted their 2nd Ice Rink Event this winter. They served free hotdogs, hot cocoa Spring Sale at the Community Center The Royalton Community Center invites everyone to its Spring Sale on April 5 th from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Come and shop for that perfect Easter or Mother s Day gift. Many direct selling vendors (Avon, Pampered Chef to name a couple!) will be there as well as opportunities to purchase handmade jewelry and other craft items. Drawings for door prizes will take place during the day. The Center is also having a bake sale the same day so stop and shop! The Community Center Spring Sale is April 5th from 10 2

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