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Canton City to seek conflict resolution services from League of Minnesota Cities

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The Canton Common council resolved numerous delicate subjects at its conference on April 13, which caused a referral that the city make use of a dispute resolution solution supplied by the Organization of Minnesota Cities.

Staff Brock Bergey described that the city has actually been handling numerous concerns of worry recently and also those have actually developed a disharmony in between city personnel and also city board participants.

He kept in mind the Organization supplies these solutions at no charge to the city and also he really felt an agent from the Organization might aid the city pertained to terms in 3 locations. The very first, would certainly be for the therapist to aid the city progress after the negotiation of the previous city staff’s criminal situation, the restitution and also just how it affected the city.

The person might likewise assist with conference monitoring, aiding specify council participant functions, duties, readiness, plan and also treatments.

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Lastly, as the city has actually been talking about wage rises for staff members, upgrading worker task summaries and also the worker manual, there has actually been some effects to the social partnerships in between the council and also personnel. Bergey felt he or she might aid start fixing several of those partnerships.

“I feel we require to do that,” claimed Mayor Nick Prestby with the council participants enacting contract.

Bergey described the procedure would certainly start with a one-on-one evaluation with council participants and also personnel, which the person would likely perform via a phone meeting.

When those are finished, the city would certainly prepare to take the following action in the procedure.

Worker pay routine

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Complying with a current category and also settlement research study carried out by David Drown and also Associates (DDA), a brand-new pay routine was advised. The brand-new strategy would certainly establish worker incomes based upon “actions and also qualities,” which primarily implies thinking about task duties and also years of solution for routine wage rises.

The existing worker manual, which is readied to be upgraded in the coming months, has a pay routine that Bergey claimed had actually not been utilized because 2003. With the 4 existing staff members, just one had actually been worked with utilizing that pay routine.

The brand-new, advised routine would certainly consist of greater buck quantities related to each action and also quality. These quantities are based upon the current research study by DDA, that included wage contrasts of comparable settings in similarly-sized neighborhoods.

The existing worker manual states, “The Common council will be accountable for providing a uniform and also fair pay strategy that will include minimum and also optimum prices of pay. The pay strategy will show a fair connection amongst the task categories and also will be made after testimonial of similar worth factors and also the dominating wage price for similar operate in various other public and also exclusive services.”

Typically, all brand-new staff members are worked with at the minimal price of pay in the proper category unless their certifications or various other conditions require positioning at an innovative price of pay.

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Staff members, whose beginning wage goes to the minimum of the variety, will progress to the top of the variety at periods no more than the coming before routine, thinking they obtain an adequate workers examination.

The city board inevitably passed the advised pay routine, with a split ballot by the council participants. Cindy Shanks talked in support, keeping in mind that if Canton was not paying its staff members a reasonable wage, it might injure the city’s opportunity of obtaining give cash or federal government financing in the future. “Our pay (routine), task summaries and also worker manuals are long past due for upgrading,” she claimed.

Councilman Josh Nordsving concurred that the city required a brand-new routine, yet was worried regarding the influence it would certainly carry the city spending plan. The routine would certainly work quickly, with it being retroactive to January 1 of this year, and also would certainly need an added $5,700 for incomes. “I’m uncertain that large of an action is viable now,” he claimed. “I desire we might function in the direction of that in time. I don’t believe that large of a hit this year is something we can do.”

Randy Gossman, likewise a council participant, concurred with Nordsving’s beliefs. “I’d like to see us operate in a portion yearly.”

Bergey claimed he had actually evaluated the spending plan and also is positive the city can fit the additional wage expenses and also mentioned memoranda from both DDA and also the city lawyer, which laid out lawful and also sensible factors the city must wage taking on the brand-new routine.

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Despite issues articulated, the movement passed with only Gossman ballot versus the movement to take on the brand-new routine.

Various other organization

Bergey offered the 2021 audit record from Hawkins Ash Certified Public Accountants. It was a tidy audit. Complete invoices in 2021 to the basic fund were $314,152 with dispensations amounting to $258,850. Internet modification in the money fund equilibrium was a rise of $55,302. The start money equilibrium on January 1, 2021, was $384,949 with the finishing fund equilibrium of $440,251 on December 31, 2021. Bergey kept in mind the whole audit record can be discovered on the city site.

Throughout the general public discussion forum, Kristy Ziegler shared some worry relating to the variety of ash trees in Canton. The emerald ash borer is ending up being a lot more common in the location. Bergey kept in mind that he and also lately had a comparable discussion with the city Public Functions division. He included, several of the trees will certainly be gotten rid of via the approaching road and also energy job, yet if a homeowner has an ash tree on a whole lot, according to city statutes, the expenses for elimination does lay with the homeowner.

Mayor Prestby kept in mind that the First Southeast Financial institution and also its staff members have actually contributed funds to purchase a bench for the Canton Veterans Memorial. The Myriad is likewise spending for a bench, so 2 will certainly lie there. Memorial blocks will certainly be mounted quickly also.

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It was kept in mind that the very first restitution settlement from previous staff Lolly Melander had actually been gotten. Bergey described that, based upon the auditor’s suggestion, the funds will certainly be uniformly dispersed back to the basic fund, drain fund and also water fund. “It’s as easy a procedure as it can be for us,” he claimed. “It could not be where the funds were originally drawn from, yet makes one of the most feeling from an accounting viewpoint.” The restitution settlement will certainly have to do with $1,750 every 90 days for ten years. The city had actually likewise gotten the letter of apology she was guided to compose as component of her negotiation. That letter can be discovered on the city’s webiste or as component of this month’s conference package, likewise on the site.

On a relevant note, Bergey likewise kept in mind the city had actually been authorized a $10,000 insurance claim on the insurance policy bond the city continued Melander. “This is a favorable action in progressing,” he included.

Jon Nordsving raised the problem of inappropriate concrete and also waste disposal unit at the tree dump. He asked for setting up a gateway so the dump might be secured and also just open when an employee might check it. Bergey likewise mentioned that having a tree dump is not a solution a city is needed to offer. The city has actually gone over setting up cams and also various other actions to aid remove inappropriate disposal there. “Individuals remain to select to break the regulation,” he claimed. No activity was taken.

The city authorized the resignation of Tyler Newman from the fire division and also authorized looking for a substitute.

Vergene Kelly, that leads an elderly workout course at the city center existed to give thanks to the council for using the structure for this function. She likewise asked if an academic aspect might be contributed to the session, which would primarily expand the amount of time the course happens. The individuals have actually shared that the workouts have actually aided them with stamina and also equilibrium. The council authorized her demand.

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Minnesota

Local View: Klobuchar owes Minnesota seniors visible actions on health reforms

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Local View: Klobuchar owes Minnesota seniors visible actions on health reforms


Politicians projecting an image of themselves that’s not entirely accurate is nothing new. Try as she does with her always-on media presence, Minnesota U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar is apparently no different. This seems especially true when it comes to health care programs older Minnesotans rely on and reigning in large integrated corporations. This seems doubly evident when it comes to how President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act relates to the business practices of Minnesota-based UnitedHealth Group.

Sen. Klobuchar misses few opportunities to tout her support, if not ownership, of the federal spending bill’s changes to Medicare. She and other progressives in Washington, D.C., promised it would drive down consumer prices and lower drug costs for seniors in Medicare. Despite such statements, it hasn’t worked out that way.

Not at all, actually. A full year after the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act,

polling

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by the D.C. nonprofit

American Commitment

showed nearly 85% of older Americans said prices for goods and services had gone up, not down. Less than 11% said the costs of their prescription drugs had decreased. All told, nearly 80% viewed the costly legislation as a “failure.” Just ask older Minnesotans if their drug costs have gone up or down. Then ask the same about their Medicare premiums and out-of-pocket expenses. What they’re seeing with their own eyes does not comport with what Biden and Klobuchar are trying to sell us.

Klobuchar also fails to stress what few seniors probably know, that buried in the bill’s small print were provisions to immediately

divert more than $250 billion

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in projected Medicare drug savings to other spending measures. This included billions in large subsidies paid to big insurers, tax credits for electric-vehicle buyers, and other questionable handouts unrelated to the Medicare program — largely doled out before the ink was dry.

Big insurers will also benefit from new government price controls that lower the costs of medicines they have to cover. Meanwhile, most of the drug pricing “savings” provisions sold to seniors had delayed, years-long implementation schedules.

Making matters worse, since passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, older Americans in Medicare Advantage have been socked with skyrocketing premiums and out-of-pocket costs imposed by big insurers and their pharmacy benefit manager middlemen. Then add

recent drug shortages

and warnings of new potential patient access restrictions — and

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allegations of insurers overcharging Medicare billions

and

using AI to deny patients

care — and it seems clear our health care problems are likely getting worse.

Yet, even as these troubling issues and critical accountability measures have emerged, including bipartisan reforms to prevent big insurers and pharmacy benefit managers from pocketing massive drug-price rebates rather than passing them on to patients, Klobuchar has been largely AWOL. The same goes for conducting oversight on the handful of giant integrated health care conglomerates, including UHG, that control so much of the system. The latter is especially noteworthy considering she chairs the powerful Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee and is in a great position to do so.

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Nowhere has there been more consolidation than in the health care industry, a massive sector of our economy that impacts nearly every citizen and consumer, young and old. Through acquisitions and a little help from government entitlement programs like Medicare and Obamacare, UHG has grown to be one of the biggest corporations in the world. In addition to being the biggest provider of Medicare Advantage plans,

it also owns

some of America’s largest pharmacy benefit managers, pharmacies, surgical centers, physician practices, surgical centers, and large home health companies, earning it north of $370 billion last year.

Additionally, UHG maintains a financial partnership with the supposed seniors’ advocate AARP, one that has now paid the organization over

$8 billion

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in royalties and fees. The AARP, too, is notably quiet in calling for reforms for big insurers and pharmacy benefit managers.

Much of this came into play just a few weeks ago in Washington when Congress examined the far-reaching structure and practices of UHG in relation to the systemic cyberattack on health IT giant Change Healthcare. Even as Democrats, Republicans, the

U.S. Department of Justice

, and other agencies busily call out the potential threats such integrated health cartels pose, Klobuchar, along with the well-funded AARP, remain curiously inactive.

While some might not fault Klobuchar for having loyalty to the president or a large home-state employer, the glaring discrepancies between what she says, what she does, and what she seems to willfully ignore — when two of her supposedly signature reform issues collide — are cause for great concern. Older Minnesotans now expect visible action, and Sen. Klobuchar owes them no less.

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Bob Johnson of The Villages, Florida, is a retired Minnesota trade association executive and the former president of the

Insurance Federation of Minnesota

(insurancefederation.org). He serves as an advisor to

Commitment to Seniors

(commitmenttoseniors.org), a project of

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American Commitment

(americancommitment.org), a nonprofit in Washington, D.C., that’s critical of AARP.

Bob Johnson
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Flag Football Growing Women's Sports in Minnesota

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Flag Football Growing Women's Sports in Minnesota


The day’s local, regional and national news, detailed events and late-breaking stories are presented by the ABC 6 News Team, along with the latest sports, weather updates including the extended forecast.

(ABC 6 News) — Over the past few weeks 4 flag football teams in Southeastern Minnesota have been meeting to grow women’s sports. Pine Island, Kasson-Mantorville, La Crescent, and Rosemount have been rotating hosts for this unique opportunity.

Just a few weeks in and all the teams are receiving plenty of support from the community. Even to begin the sport the Minnesota Vikings have provided grants in order to cover equipment and official costs. Allowing anyone and everyone the opportunity to play.

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Diver drowns attempting to recover sunken machinery in northern Minnesota

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Diver drowns attempting to recover sunken machinery in northern Minnesota


WCCO digital update: Afternoon of June 30, 2024

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WCCO digital update: Afternoon of June 30, 2024

01:57

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CRANE LAKE, Minn. — An investigation is underway after a 50-year-old man died early Sunday afternoon while scuba diving in a northern Minnesota lake.

The St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office says the man had been assisting a group of people in recovering a piece of sunken machinery in approximately 70 feet of water at Crane Lake.

The diver had failed to resurface after spending a “period of time” underwater, authorities say. Those on the scene began rescue efforts before first responders arrived to help.

The man was pulled to the shore and pronounced dead, according to the sheriff’s office.

Authorities say the man had been trained as a scuba diver but was not affiliated with any recovery or salvage company.

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The victim’s name will be released at a later time.



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