Heated words exchanged about Turkey Days dance night

By Robert Williams

Editor

The Minnesota Department of Revenue’s preliminary maximum property tax levy notifications had some Frazee residents perplexed at what was reported as nearly a 25 percent increase in city tax from last year. The actual tax levy will be less than 10 percent.

“We were looking at close to 20,” City Administrator Stephanie Poegel said.

Council member Jim Rader noted some sticker shock when he saw his statement and the dramatic increase. Poegel reported that the preliminary numbers had Frazee ranked highest among small towns in the region.

“We were the highest,” Poegel said. “Not anymore.”

The current levy is at 9.9 percent, rather than in the 20s.

The preliminary amounts are used by counties to compute parcel-specific property tax estimates for 2024, which are mailed to property owners in November in the form of Truth-in-Taxation notices. 

Cities and schools will typically set the preliminary levy at a higher amount than needed because once it is set it cannot be raised, but it can be lowered, as Mayor Mark Flemmer explained.

“I think that’s the biggest thing; a lot of people see that and they kind of panic, but the reality is we’ve got to do that a little bit higher because we can’t go any higher when we set it,” said Flemmer. “It’s just a matter of we know it’s going to be high, but we always try to whittle it down as best we could and we worked pretty hard on that one.”

The council will pass a resolution on the final numbers at the Truth-In-Taxation meeting on Monday, Dec. 11.

The notices residents received list Truth-in-Taxation meeting times and locations. These meetings provide an opportunity for Minnesotans to provide input to local leaders on their levies and on how they are proposing to spend tax dollars. These meetings are required for cities with populations over 500, counties, school districts, regional library authorities, and metropolitan taxing districts.  

After input from citizens, local governments must set their final 2024 property tax levies by December 28, 2023. The final levies can be set lower, but not higher, than preliminary levies. The department will release final property tax levy information in February. 

According to the Minnesota Department of Revenue, 2024 preliminary property taxes statewide will increase by a maximum of $882.1 million, a 7.3 percent increase. Last year, the final levy increase was 0.6 percent lower than the preliminary levies. The 2024 preliminary property tax levies for cities will total approximately $3.462 billion compared with a final levy of $3.194 billion in 2023, an 8.4 percent increase.

Turkey Days Dance Off

Conflicting band bookings on the Saturday night of Turkey Days has ruffled a few feathers at the VFW and on the city council.

Frazee-Vergas VFW Post 7702 Commander Bob Clarey addressed the issue during the council’s Open Forum.

“The community club, two years ago, wanted to get out of running entertainment for Turkey Days,” Clarey said. “They wanted the VFW to take over entertainment, specifically, the Saturday night street dance. We accepted that risk and the responsibility. We ran it last year by ourselves. We assumed that we had that street dance annually every year. What happened, in the meantime, the other establishment in town, the liquor store, Third Crossing decided to have a street dance on Saturday without notifying anybody. We didn’t hear a thing about it. We didn’t get word from the city council, the community club, Third Crossing, so we were blindsided. Now we’re trying to resolve it and get our street dance or is the city council going to take that from the VFW?”

Clarey’s main concern is that the VFW’s street dance is the top fundraiser for the club’s veteran and scholarship programs.

“The whole purpose of the VFW doing the street dance is to raise money for veteran programs and scholarship programs; that’s our moneymaker of the year,” he said. “If you’re going to take that street dance away from us that kind of cuts our throat of what we’re trying to do with our veterans organization and as a community club.”

The council addressed the issue during the member comments portion of the meeting with Mark Kemper initiating a testy exchange with the mayor.

“We had a bit of a conflict here starting a couple weeks ago,” said Kemper.

The band for Saturday night of the town’s annual celebration was booked by new Liquor Store Manager Amanda Young.

“She was approached by the mayor and my understanding was she was told she cannot have it because that belonged to the VFW,” said Kemper. “My take on this is she was hired as the manager of the liquor store to make money for the liquor store­—slash—the city of Frazee. She took the initiative because nothing was booked. Now she’s taking heat because she booked it and the VFW didn’t have anything booked until this was already talked to with the chairman of Turkey Days. As far as the VFW, they knew there was already a dance scheduled for Saturday night. They have the opportunity to have it on Friday night, which there have been multiple dances for years on Friday night.”

Kemper continued with his opinion on Mayor Flemmer’s involvement in the situation.

“The other part of it is, I don’t feel that our mayor should have went down in the first place after two weeks on the job and confronted our manager over something like this,” he said. “It’s unethical and not even closely called for and I’m beyond anybody that would even do that. She was told, ‘You need to make money for the city. That’s your job’ and then when she does her job she’s basically bullied into changing her mind on what she decided to do. And she was told a few other things too that were definitely uncalled for.”

“Are you done?” asked Flemmer.

“For now,” Kemper responded.

The mayor took his turn in depicting the situation.

“Number one, in my defense, I was elected mayor of the entire community,” he said. “Number two, you (Kemper) weren’t elected; you were appointed here. Number three, I did go down to see Amanda because I hadn’t seen her yet and I just wanted to welcome her. I did get a call from the VFW questioning about having the street dance and that they had gone through the Turkey Day chair like they were supposed to. Amanda, being new, did not know about the Turkey Day chair stuff or how it works. All that I asked her was, is there any chance at getting it moved? That’s all I did. She decided to keep it for Saturday night and we decided to have two street dances. It’s not my call for what happens with the community club stuff. It’s not my call for the events in town, that’s up to the Turkey Days chair. Based upon that, I felt that it was okay to go down and visit with her (Young) just to let her know, kind of being new to town, how that Turkey Days stuff works and I’m sorry if you don’t like it.”

Kemper continued to argue with the mayor bringing up his affiliation with the VFW incorrectly as being a board member, along with other accusations of his relationship with the club and siding with the VFW during past legal issues with the state. 

Flemmer is a listed trustee of the club and assures the club’s money is accounted for.

Flemmer did his best to calm the situation and end the discussion.

“The bottom line here is there are going to be two street dances and hopefully, it’s going to be a good night for both groups; that’s all that I can say,” said Flemmer.

Kemper continued claiming Young was upset about the interaction when Kemper spoke to her.

Flemmer apologized to Young, explaining that there is a Turkey Day chair, he had been a past chair and he informed her that the events had to be coordinated. He also stated she was not mandated to change the booking.

“I don’t think she knew there was a Turkey Day chair that we have to keep in the loop,” Flemmer said. “All that I said is that should have probably been talked about between the Turkey Day chair, the VFW and the liquor store.”

According to Kemper, Turkey Days Chair Tabiatha Branden had reached out to both clubs in August. Former liquor store manager Tanya Mastin declined to book anything as she was transitioning out of the position. 

“Amanda talked to her (Branden) and told her she was having a dance and she said that was perfectly fine,” said Kemper.

Council member Andrea Froeber wanted to discuss an appropriate response to Clarey and the VFW.

“What I heard is, “we have dibs on this night.’ They seem to feel they have some contract year after year for the rest of their lives to have that street dance on Saturday, like we should all just know that,” Froeber said. “I don’t know that that’s a fair assessment, that they get that.”

The VFW has held the Saturday night street dance the past seven years, according to Flemmer.

“That’s all really good and it’s important that we have Turkey Days and that it be successful,” Froeber said. “That’s the goal and it is a community event. We are trying to grow our liquor store. We’re trying to get our liquor store to be a money maker and a place that people want to go.”

Froeber clarified she wanted to create a response to the VFW.

“So it is clear to them, we’re sorry for the duplication; we don’t even have to bring up the Friday night thing,” she said. “We have to let them know that they can’t assume. They’re just like everyone else in town. You sign up every year. They don’t have a corner on that event. They may have been asked because the Community Club didn’t want to do it anymore but nothing stays the same.”

Froeber continued on how the event is not a city event, the council should not be involved, and that there is a process and the VFW is on their own and the event is open to whoever gets there first with the chair.

The discussion concluded with an agreed upon stance that there is a lack of communication, brought up by Public Works Superintendent Larry Stephenson.

Event Center Manager Jolene Tappe, a former Turkey Days chair, and Kemper commended Branden for reaching out to both clubs early.