The road closure signs for Highway 109 in Wells are in place and ready to go.

People entering or leaving the city of Wells via Highway 109 west of town will soon be forced to find an alternate route in and out of the city.

“The signs are up and Highway 109 is set to close on the west end of town on April 27,” city engineer Ben Rosol told the council. “That is when the crews are scheduled to begin work.”

The highway will not be the only thing affected.

“The normal city compost site will also be shut down at that time,” Public Works supervisor Adam Schroeder said. “We are considering setting up a temporary compost site at the rest area site across from Dulas Diesel and Repair on the east edge of town. It would be there for about two months and we may have to consider limiting the hours that it is open.”

Schroeder also informed the council that he had received three bids for the 2026 mill and overlay projects in the city.

“I am recommending we go with WW Blacktopping out of Mankato,” Schroeder stated. “I am also recommending we go with the two inch option.”

WW Blacktopping’s bid was $47,938 which was lower than Ulland Brothers bid of $50,420 and M.R. Paving and Excavating’s bid of $60,250.

The council unanimously accepted the bid from WW Blacktopping.

Continuing on the subject of streets, council member Brenda Weber expressed her concern with the refuse left over from the tree stumps that were chipped.

“The left over stuff has been running onto the streets and into the storm sewers,” she said. “I am just wondering who is responsible for cleaning up after the stump chipping and why hasn’t it been done?”

Rosol responded that he would look into the matter and make a couple of phone calls and see if the problem could be taken care of.

Faribault County commissioner Bill Groskreutz updated the council on what has been happening at the county level of government. He talked about the special election on April 14 on whether the county recorder position should be appointed or elected.

“Seventy five percent of the counties in Minnesota appoint their recorder,” Groskreutz commented. “If a person is elected to the position they cannot be managed. An elected recorder can only be removed for malfeasance (an intentional, unlawful, or wrongful act)or for nonfeasance (the failure to act when there is a legal duty to do so). And it is a long and complicated process to do so.”

Groskreutz also mentioned that Taylor Doering had resigned from the Public Works Department to take a job with Watonwan County.

“There are five box culvert bridge projects scheduled for 2026 at a cost of $1,977.468,” he said. “The city projects to be completed include Bricelyn and Kiester. County Road 19 from Highway 109 to County Road 16 will be regraded and resurfaced this summer at an estimated cost of $500,000 per mile.”

Police Chief Tim Brenegan was gone for training but he provided a report which centered on code enforcement within the city.

Brenegan said officer Mike Johnson has been placed in charge of working on code enforcement and that he has been doing an amazing job of getting issues corrected along with working with the homeowners.

In addition to the cleanup efforts, Brenegan also noted the three houses damaged by fire are being addressed with the help of the city attorney.

Brenegan concluded by saying the Wells Police Department will be hosting Minnesota Aging Pathways, which is a presentation on preventing fraud, on April 22.

Betsy Bushlack, the Wells Public Library librarian, reported she had attended the Public Library Association (PLA) Convention.

“I had received a scholarship from the PLA to attend and it covered the cost of my conference registration along with a stipend to cover the cost of travel, meals and hotel,” Bushlack commented. “While at the convention, I had the opportunity to attend many interesting sessions on such topics as why summer reading matters, library programming for older adults, building a joy-centric library along with many other worthwhile subjects.”

In other business, the council:

• Awarded the 2026 mowing contract to Schrader Enterprises.

• Adopted Resolution 2026-22 to delegate the signing authority to the city administrator for the State of Minnesota Grant Contract Agreement.

• Confirmed Monday, April 27 at 5 p.m. as the date and time for the next City Council meeting.