Walker reelected to lead Frazee Fire Department

By Robert Williams

Editor

The Frazee City Council agreed for the city to be the applicant of a possible Lakes Region Arts Council grant to help complete the downtown mural planned for the former Seip space. The Frazee Area Community Club has already raised $7,000 in donations for the project. 

Included in the application is funding for three bike racks to be placed around town at Lions Park, the downtown gazebo and Wannigan Regional Park, according to Community Club Vice President Karen Pifher.

The grant total, if approved, would be $12,500.

“We feel like $15-20,000 is right in line with what other communities have paid for a very high quality mural of this kind and size,” said Pifher.

Turkey Days

Pifher announced some changes to this year’s Turkey Days week.

Grand Marshal submissions in two separate categories will be sought. The criteria will consider young people who are seen volunteering in the community and the other is for people that have made a significant contribution to Frazee’s history.

“We want to honor that both of those are valuable,” said Pifher.

The launch of Turkey Days will move to Wednesday this year in hopes of attracting more people to the celebration with live music.

Main Street will host an alien spaceship building competition with legos for kids and Becker County recycling will deliver cardboard boxes for teams of teens and adults. Kaotic Robotics is assisting with a robotics category also.

The spaceship building competition will replace the Shipman Memorial Car Show on Saturday and a new group will be hosting a car, bike and tractor show on Sunday.

Bubba Samuelson’s Mid Summer Extravaganza will change dates to not coincide with Turkey Days.

“We’re supporting them to move their event to a different weekend so we can make it a bigger, more successful thing and so we’re pulling people downtown for Turkey Days,” said Pifher.

The community club is working with the Minnesota Department of Transportation to advertise Turkey Days with a fabricated crashed alien spaceship on U.S. Highway 10, located on private property.

Artists on Main

An already approved grant of $10,000 will jump start the Artists on Main program with training scheduled to begin Wednesday, Jan. 29. 

“We’ll be working with local artists this summer to do arts on Main and that will be a whole process that we’ll be able to share more information about,” Pifher said.

Donations

The council approved a $200 donation to the Frazee Fire Department from Dave and Kathy Carter.

Fire

Fire Chief Adam Walker reported the department responded to 83 total calls in 2024. December and January had five calls.

With the new year, the department elected officers with Walker remaining Chief. Jason Kropuenske was elected as Assistant Chief and Joe Nelson Deputy Chief.

The department will hold testing in February with hopes to add 2-3 new firefighters.

The annual township meeting will be held Monday, Feb. 3 at the fire hall at 6 p.m. A meal is provided.

Rescue

Frazee Rescue President Matthew Johnson reported 264 calls in 2024 with 190 responded to—a 72 percent rate. There were 58 days with multiple calls.

The City of Frazee had the majority of calls with 120. Burlington Township had 57; Erie Township 44.

Police

Issued five new ordinance violations, all parking issues. Three parking tickets issued for parking on Main Ave. West. All vehicles were moved by the time the city crew got to Main Ave. at 3:30 a.m. last Monday morning, according to Police Chief Tyler Trieglaff.

From Dec. 18-Jan. 15, four motor vehicle crashes occurred in town. A couple of fender benders, hit and run and one due to speed.

Suppressors are ordered for our patrol rifles. This will greatly decrease the sound coming from the rifles, with far less chance of officers suffering from hearing damage.

The police department has tentatively scheduled a bike rodeo for kids for Saturday, May 3. More information will be announced as the date nears.

Admin

Incorrect parcel information of the former Sanders property and OK Lumber property have been rectified and should be corrected at the county level soon, according to City Administrator Stephanie Poegel’s report.

The sale of Eagle Lake Park continues to be at a standstill. The most recent report was that the sale needed court approval to be completed. The Becker County Board of Commissioners questioned the status at their meeting and mentioned an interest in pursuing the property from the Eagle Lake Association in the future after the sale is finalized. City Attorney Thomas Winters will report the next status update.

Fifty rental inspections have been conducted with all needing corrections; corrections for 31 units (two landlords) have been completed; seven (two landlords) have ownership issues to correct, one of which is currently working with Becker County; two units (two landlords) are in need of complete renovation; one unit (one landlord) has been removed from park; one unit (one landlord) was filled with recently evicted tenants belongings; one unit (one landlord) will be removed from registration; one unit (one landlord) is having communication issues; six units (one landlord) are still being worked on.

Event Center

The furnace at the Event Center needed an $800 repair, according to Manager Jolene Tappe.

Tappe and the council continued discussions on rate increases for renting the Event Center and/or the kitchen. 

Tappe mentioned an incentive of a $500 discount to rentals to residents of the City of Frazee.

Council member Andrea Poegel reported current rates at relevant area spaces around the region by way of comparison. 

The kitchen rental will increase to $75 from $50 per hour. Meetings will increase from $100 to $125 per hour. Events will increase from $500 to $550 Sunday through Thursday; $1,600 for Friday or Saturday, up from $1,500; and $2,600, up from $2,500 for the entire weekend (Friday and Saturday together). A rental for a four-hour day Friday (after noon) and all day Saturday will run $2,100.

Main Street 

A Main Street Concept Plan Committee has been formed. A meeting schedule has yet to be set. The committee consists of:

Andrea Froeber, Frazee City Council 

Jim Rader, Frazee City Council

Mary Safgren, MnDOT 

Jim Olson, Becker County

Chris Thorson, Ulteig Engineers 

Patrick Hollister, PartnerSHIP4 Health

David Jopp, Main Street Business Owner 

Tabiatha Branden, Main Street Resident

Larry Stephenson, City of Frazee 

Stephanie Poegel, City of Frazee