Fire department gets new members

By Sara QuamThe Luverne City Council approved new fire department members at its Tuesday meeting.They are David Riphagen, Mike Buss, Travis Franken, Craig Shelton and Allan Pilaczynski. The Council also accepted the resignation of firefighter David Cook, who wrote that he left the position because he is often out of town and unable to respond to most calls.Councilman Pat Baustian said one of the newly appointed firefighters will replace Tom Nelson, who has indicated he will leave.Baustian said, "I would like to thank Tom for his 20 years of service." In other business Tuesday, the Council:>
Approved the addition of another handicapped parking space in downtown Luverne as a response to an individual request.He asked for the parking space because of difficulty finding a spot close enough to his apartment building.The space will be on the east side of Spring Street. It isn’t a reserved space for the individual; it is just a handicapped parking space available to properly marked handicapped vehicles.
Approved the appointment of Karen Radisewitz to the Pool Commission.
Approved the advertising for bids for pickups in the Public Works and Electric Utility departments.
Approved the purchase of a hydraulic truck attachment, mostly for use in blacktopping. Northern Truck Equipment was the low bid at $6,424.
Approved the Luvenre Flowers bid for care of flower planters at $4,957.
Learned that compliance with dog licensing is improving. The city has more than 230 licensed dogs now, compared to about 70 a while ago. The Council recently confirmed that dogs must be licensed, or pay impound fees if they are caught away from their owners.