"Where Olmsted County News Comes First"

29

How will you keep your kids busy this summer vacation?

 Swimming lessons

 Park & Rec activities

 Summer camp

 Daycare


View Results

Comments

Dan Pries was recognized by the Byron city council for his 33 years of duty with the local Fire Department. Mayor Ann Diercks personally thanked Dan at the council meeting “on behalf of our city, and also the townships we would like to say thank you to Dan for his dedication, hard work and service over the years to this community.”

As of September 29, Byron has issued 29 new home permits for 2012. “The year 2006 is the last time we have reached this number so we feel very positive with this news,” announced Diercks. Progress involving the plans to build new swimming facilities also continue. “The pool committee has been well attended by all different types of parents and kids,” added Diercks. “Some have said that if they have any complaints about the current pool, they can be involved with ideas about what they would like in constructing a new one. There was a majority at the committee meeting that thought that an indoor pool would be a good idea, with the possibility of an indoor - outdoor pool. Here in the midwest we think that it would work out well and we are very excited about the project.”

During the new business portion of the council meeting, Bret Baumbach made a motion to approve the Bridgeford Rezone project located in the Somerby development. The motion passed quickly and unanimously; it allows the rezoned area to have single-family homes with landscaping that is maintained by an association. The prior zoning called for the building of townhomes at the location. Also approved was a request by Golden Tee Development LLC, to the city for a plat to the area known as Bridgeford that is located south of the Somerby Clubhouse. The developer will be required to install private road signs at the entrance to the subdivision.

Mayor Diercks sees a need for senior citizens and people in need of assisted living growing in the area.

“I think that we need to be more proactive for our seniors in Byron, not only just a senior center but housing. We are missing the boat here, life has proven that people are living longer and we need to have more options available. We still are looking at doing a senior survey to get things going and look at all the options. It would be great for those in need of care to be able to say here in Byron where they still want to be, instead of having to relocate. We just need to dig a little bit deeper and figure out how we can do this,” Diercks added. Senior citizens meetings are currently held on Tuesday and Friday of each week at the Byron Community Education Center.

Deputy rotation will take place for Byron on January 7. Deputy Wood will transition back to patrol duties in other locations. “I’m just thinking of the years that Deputy Wood has been here and his familiarity with people, and I just hate to see him go,” said councilman Jason Snow. Local business owner Randy Fogelson wanted to make his thoughts loud and clear, “I’m here because I want to personally thank Deputy Wood for his excellent work and dedication to all the people of this community. They really do a great job taking care of Byron, they are very attentive and I know we get our monies worth here in this community with the police force.”

Deputy Wood will surely be a tough act to follow in Byron. “They call me the ice cream cop because I hand out ice cream tickets to kids. I’ll hand them out to youngsters who are involved in doing good things here in this community. I also give the tickets to kids riding bikes with their helmets and proper gear on, they just love to get rewarded like that. I understand that there is is a rotation in place for us, I do wish that it was closer to a six-year turnover rather than four years though.”