New councilmembers took the oath of office at last week’s city council meeting. Pictured – Craig Vreeman takes the oath. In the background is Kevin Caspersen who would be sworn in after Vreeman.

Article by Jill Fennema –

Last week’s city council meeting was the annual organizational meeting for the year. In addition to the new business of swearing in officials, the council also tied up some loose ends from the last meeting of 2020.

One of those items was to officially approve the budget for 2021 and approve the 2021 fee schedule. While the council passed the levy in December, they did not approve the budget for the new year. The total budget for the year 2021 is $1,435,411.

The fee schedule remained mostly the same, with the most changes coming in the water and sewer fees which were raised 15 percent.

Edgerton’s new mayor, Kirk Bleyenburg, was at the helm for the meeting. He took his oath of office followed by Craig Vreeman and Kevin Caspersen who were elected in November. Bleyenburg’s former seat on the council was left vacant when he became mayor. The first item for the council to vote on in 2021 was to approve the mayor’s appointment to that seat.

Bleyenburg asked former councilman Del Hulstein, who had received the next highest number of votes in the election, to serve out the remaining two years of the term. Hulstein agreed and the council approved. Hulstein was on hand to take the oath and immediately took his place at the table.

Kirk Van Hulzen, the treasurer for the Edgerton Volunteer Fire Department, asked the council for approval to raise their retirement benefits. The department’s retirement benefits are paid from the Relief Association funds, which come from investments that the association has made.

The current retirement benefit was $1,200 per year for those firemen who are fully vested after 20 years of service. Van Hulzen requested that they be allowed to raise the retirement benefit to $1,400. The retirement account has enough funds to fund the retirement of its 24-member crew at 200 percent. No city funds are used for this, but the city council needed to give its approval, which they did. Councilman Craig Vreeman abstained from the vote because he is an active fireman in the association.

Jason Brands came as a representative of the Edgerton Ambulance Association, requesting the stipends that are paid to the volunteer EMTs be increased.  Currently, the city gives each EMT a year-end bonus of $1,000 for their service for the year. Volunteer drivers receive $500.

The association requested that the city raise the rate to $1,500 for EMTs and $750 for drivers. Brands noted how hard it is to find volunteer EMTs because of the time commitment. Each member volunteers over 800 hours per year, and commits to continuing education and serving on holidays and weekends.

“We are finding it hard to find new members,” Brands said. “We are always looking, but we are always hovering at the minimum number to run.”

The council approved the request.