Water Matters: Trimont's $62 Million Infrastructure Challenge

Transcript

Introduction to Trimont City Clerk Kelly

Speaker 1 0:00

Okay , all right .

Speaker 2 0:01

Hey , here we go .

Speaker 1 0:02

This is episode . I mean season two , episode 10 . I know , by the way . First of all , welcome to the show everybody . This is the Mark Kennedy Stars Newsmakers Podcast . I'm Mike , and with me today is Kelly Harder . She's a city clerk and you're kind of the one that runs the city in essence .

Speaker 2 0:24

I don't run the city , but I sure make sure that it keeps on . You know what I mean , though . Right , yes , okay .

Speaker 1 0:29

Yeah , she doesn't run the city , but you're the face behind what goes on . Sure , we have lots to talk about today .

Speaker 2 0:35

We do .

Speaker 1 0:36

But first I want to start with something . Let's breeze through the paper real fast .

Speaker 2 0:41

Okay , okay , yes , and .

Speaker 1 0:42

I can get your take on different things . Okay , we're going to blow off this first story for a minute because we're going to come back to it , okay . Okay , but the robotics competition for Martin County West Did you see that in the paper ?

Speaker 2 0:54

I haven't seen it yet . Got yours yet . Okay , I got it this morning . You got it Okay ?

Speaker 1 0:58

Okay . Well , they're having a big competition in Fairmont this weekend , and this is for the third , fourth , fifth and sixth graders . No , sorry , third and fourth graders , and you're invited to attend .

Speaker 2 1:10

Everybody is Everybody . That's great , but I'm not going to be able to come this weekend .

Speaker 1 1:13

You know I know , but everybody's invited to attend though , family and friends , it's free . You can go there Watch this . It'll be at the let me see where , where , where , where Five Lakes Gym . So it's a high school , a high school gym , and that'll be on .

Speaker 2 1:30

Saturday from 9am to noon Very awesome . It's so great to see stuff like that with the kids and them .

Speaker 1 1:35

Look at this picture . Here I'm looking folks at the . There's three pictures together on the front page and this one here . You tell me that little girl doesn't have attitude .

Speaker 2 1:44

Just a little bit , I think she's got some attitude .

Speaker 1 1:49

I liked it . She has confidence . Confidence .

Speaker 2 1:52

Yeah , confidence that she has the best robot . I'm sure she thinks so .

Speaker 1 1:58

That's the way to be . That's the way to be . I wish they would have had that when I was in school , but Jiminy Robot was , let me think . You probably don't remember this show . It was called Lost in Space , no Okay , and it was a show back in my time and they had a great big robot on wheels . Anyway , that was our robots .

Speaker 2 2:17

Nice yeah , yeah .

Speaker 1 2:19

Front page Sherburn to change water usage billing . What they've been doing is they take a quarter at a time . They averaged it and I was talking to Sarah Kramer , who's on the council there , and she says it was stupid , it was she said it was so unfair ?

Speaker 2 2:34

Yeah , I tried to help them , give them some ideas with what we did , because we used to be an average user during the winter months is how our billing used to be .

Speaker 1 2:48

Okay .

Speaker 2 2:49

So I gave them how much money more we had made in our sewer fund when they were talking about doing this , because they thought it was unfair .

Speaker 1 2:59

Good , good for them , good for them . I like it when towns say you know what ? This is just not fair to our citizenship . Right , let's straighten it out .

Speaker 2 3:06

It's not fair to their sewer fund either , and to their sewer fund Well , yeah , both ways .

Speaker 1 3:10

It does go both ways .

Speaker 2 3:12

Yep .

Speaker 1 3:12

I was looking over here . Oh here we go . Let's stop , let's talk about it . City of Trimont has a new website .

Trimont's New Website Launch

Speaker 2 3:30

We do . You're pretty proud of this . I am . I'm so excited for it . It is going to be really , really exciting because it has much more features than what our old one does , so that part is going to be great for our citizens to be able to stay in contact about what is going on in Trimont .

Speaker 1 3:40

What's the address ?

Speaker 2 3:41

It is wwwtrimontmncom .

Speaker 1 3:46

Okay , got that . I've already signed up . Did you ? I did ? I've already signed up . Nothing's happened yet , but I'm waiting .

Speaker 2 3:53

Nothing has happened yet . No , but it has an alert system on it ?

Speaker 1 3:57

Yeah , I was going to ask , so a water main break ?

Speaker 2 4:00

Water main break , snow emergencies , things like that we'll put on there , things that are definitely something to interest the citizens that something's happening .

Speaker 1 4:11

What if trash is going to be picked up a day late ? Will that be on there , or is that up to them ?

Speaker 2 4:16

If I'm notified of it , I would certainly put that on there .

Speaker 1 4:19

Schools if they're going to close , will that be on ?

Speaker 2 4:22

I'm not doing the schools , no , the schools have their own system , all right , so yeah , when John has set up a radar trap Is that . Well , yeah , we should put that on there .

Speaker 1 4:33

Boy , it'll be down here resting both of us , right , anyway , okay so that's exciting . It is , yeah , free of charge , it Free of charge .

Speaker 2 4:41

It is free of charge , and actually it's free to the city also . So we used to do what we called click send . It was our notification system that would send off a text message or give you a phone call , whichever you had signed up for . Well , it cost the city money all the time using that , no matter whether I was sending text messages or voicemail . It cost money . Plus , I have to pay a monthly fee for the usage of the phone number .

Speaker 1 5:07

So they always came from the same phone number .

Speaker 2 5:09

Okay , so it was costing the city almost $100 last year for that notification system . It's not terrible .

Speaker 1 5:16

No .

Speaker 2 5:17

But we only have 100 people that are signed up for it , or just under 100 people .

Speaker 1 5:21

Oh , that's a dollar a person .

Speaker 2 5:22

Yeah , just under 100 people . Oh , that's a dollar a person , yeah . So when we were researching , trying to find a different website , this one had the notification system on it and it's part of our cost already , so we went with that .

Speaker 1 5:37

Yeah , I noticed here . You told me yesterday I think it was the day before , whatever that it was $2,000 per year . The old site .

Speaker 2 5:45

The old site if we went with the ADA-compliant old site was going to be $2,000 . To have the website the way it is right now is going to be $900 a year .

Speaker 1 5:57

I'm sorry , a year , yeah , and the new one , didn't you tell me , is $737 a year , $737 a year , and this is with municipal rural water impact .

Speaker 2 6:07

Yes , it is .

Speaker 1 6:08

I got it right . Yes , okay .

Speaker 2 6:10

So we're a member of Minnesota Rural Water , so this is a side company from them also .

Speaker 1 6:16

They do the websites through it .

Speaker 2 6:18

So we got a better rate because we are members .

Speaker 1 6:20

Now I know I'm online . I signed up already , but officially we go on when .

Speaker 2 6:25

Monday our members .

Speaker 1 6:26

Now I know I'm on , I'm online , I signed up already , but officially we go on when Monday the 14th .

Speaker 2 6:28

The only reason I picked that day is because Working the kinks out . Well , I have to put out the utility bills , and so I wanted to make sure that we had at least the current year's information on it and uh but you can go on it right now .

Speaker 1 6:42

Your utility bill will be on there .

Speaker 2 6:44

No , no , okay , no , I was just saying that I put those notes on the back of everybody's utility bill .

Speaker 1 6:50

Oh , I see what you're saying .

Speaker 2 6:51

Okay , and so I was going to put it on there , sure , that's why I picked that thing Okay , but it's up and running . It is up and running now . Yes , All right .

Speaker 1 6:59

Good back then , since we're already on talking about water and water-related activities , okay , okay , so I have a front-page story here . I got this notice from Marge Fogelman yes , our congresswoman .

Speaker 2 7:12

Yes .

Speaker 1 7:13

And it says excuse me , this week the House Capital Investment Committee heard two of

Water System Funding and Infrastructure

Speaker 1 7:19

my bills that would provide building proceeds , bonding proceeds for local construction projects . The first would provide $16- . Bonding proceeds for local construction projects . The first would provide $16-plus million Yowch , how did that ? Let me go on for the City of Triumf , for our water system . Now , how did that come about ?

Speaker 2 7:36

So first our Councilman , Brad Flores , had reached out to her and stuff like that . He's been in contact with her and trying to figure something else out . So he contacted her and kind of got that started . And then we had Brian Crumweedy and Kevin Keel go up to the Capitol and did a day at the Capitol and talked to more senators and all of that kind of stuff is when we got in contact with Senator Weber . And so then they all got together and did a proposal of this bill for us . So yeah , we're asking for $16.2 million .

Speaker 1 8:14

Well , first of all , hats off to our mayor and two of our council members . That's great . Yes , it is . It's great to have people that want to do more for our city , absolutely , and then hats off also to our Congressman and our Senator , bill Weber , and anyway , so it looks like it's going before the Capital Investment Committee . I read in the article itself what she wrote , that this is something that will come up next month .

Speaker 2 8:38

Yes , it will . It will be decided yes .

Speaker 1 8:40

So $16 million . You gave me that list and it's going to be in this week's paper , but I don't know if you need it or not . But $16 million is going to go probably towards building the pond , and the pond you had in that list from Bolton and Mink was around $20-plus million , $20.2 . Yeah , yeah , okay , yeah , boy , you're sharp as a tack .

Speaker 2 9:01

That coffee isn't it , it is the coffee it's . That coffee isn't it , it is the coffee it's really good .

Speaker 1 9:04

Anyway , we bribe her with coffee , folks . Yes , with lots of creamer . I'll make coffee , I'll cream you on , yes , yes , so that would take care of the pond .

Speaker 2 9:14

Well , about , About yeah .

Speaker 1 9:16

Yeah , close , close , close , yep and so , but we're still . You told me it's around $68 million for this whole project $62 million .

Speaker 2 9:25

$62 million for the whole project . Yes , Holy . I don't have that much . We don't either . That's why we're asking for money .

Speaker 1 9:32

Okay , all right . Where are we asking next ?

Speaker 2 9:34

Well , it's also at the USDA , so we had an application that we put in with them back in September of 2023 .

Speaker 1 9:44

So it's been a year and a half .

Speaker 2 9:52

It has been , and that was another reason why our councilman had reached out to somebody else trying to get money for it , to keep the project going , trying to get more money , anything that we can do to get this going , because we need money for it , and so USDA is not doing anything , because why ? A lot of it probably stems because there hasn't been a farm bill that's been passed .

Speaker 1 10:13

They don't have any money .

Speaker 2 10:14

They don't have any money .

Speaker 1 10:16

Yeah , join the club .

Speaker 2 10:17

Yeah , so last I had heard there's several applications there . So last I had heard there's several applications there and I think there's 14 of them that he had told me he had on his desk .

Speaker 1 10:29

That's not too terrible .

Speaker 2 10:30

It's not terrible .

Speaker 1 10:31

So that's the USDA Minnesota USDA right , Correct ?

Speaker 2 10:34

Yes , Yep , yep . So we're working with him trying to get some money for that . So we need a farm bill passed that things could move forward a little bit quicker . It's not that they can't move forward with it , it's just that they don't have any money .

Speaker 1 10:47

Yeah , yeah , they're not gonna do without money , right , all right . So I guess that's where we stand , isn't it ?

Speaker 2 10:53

yeah , we , we asked for the moon . That's why it's 62 million dollars , uh , but you know it includes everything from infrastructure replacing the streets that we have to rip up because of putting new infrastructure in . That infrastructure would include getting rid of all cast iron and everything would be PVC . So if it's not PVC right now , we would be replacing it .

Speaker 2 11:20

We also have to make some of the lines bigger , so that's in there too . We've also proposed a new water tower , our water tower . I found out last week when we were doing the House of Representatives presentation that our water tower was built in 1915 . So it's 110 years old . Wow so yeah , the Tin man style is not something that you see every day now so it would be great to get that updated .

Speaker 2 11:50

It would also include an ro system , and the ro system is going to be a reverse osmosis for our water okay , and what that would do is is gonna help to eliminate water softeners needed within the city . Wow , which would also reduce our I&I that we get down at the wastewater plant because water softeners produce a lot of yep , and so then we are cleaning clean water on top of it , so yeah , it's going to be great . It would be awesome .

Speaker 1 12:22

It's going to be great , yeah , when it's all done . Yeah , we're looking . All done , yeah , we're looking at . Even if the bill were passed tomorrow , which it's not , but if it were , we're still talking a couple , three years , aren't we for construction and replacement and all that .

Speaker 2 12:32

All I know is the ponds take two years to build . They do Okay .

Speaker 1 12:37

Okay .

Speaker 2 12:51

Can they build ? Can they start start changing the infrastructure while the ponds are being built , or is that ? Yes , okay , yeah , they could , it's , it's gonna . Some of that can overlap , it can . Yep , we were hoping to do two phases right on the first year , which would be phase one , and phase two , which , uh , the infrastructure in the southeast corner would be phase two . Phase one is the ponds being built . Okay so hopefully we could do those all at the same time . Okay , but it really depends on money .

Speaker 2 13:10

It always does it , does it always does it , does yes so .

Speaker 1 13:14

I went to the post office . I don't know the last big rainstorm .

Speaker 2 13:17

Yeah .

Speaker 1 13:18

Went to the post office and I noticed there's a lot of water out there on the streets .

Speaker 2 13:22

Oh yes .

Speaker 1 13:25

Yeah , there's a lot of water out there on the streets . Oh , yes , yeah . What's going on with that ? What happened ?

Speaker 2 13:28

Why ? Where are we at there ? So obviously we did the Highway 4 project this last year , making the sidewalks bigger and redoing the streets and all of that . So they

Eye on Water Monitoring System

Speaker 2 13:38

had called me and said that they were going to do the hydro spray and lay grass seed down and hydro spray .

Speaker 2 13:45

Yep , and so everybody had seen that we had the bright green along all of the boulevards . And anyway we had asked them about the orange mats that are over the storm sewers on Highway 4 . On Highway 4 . And they said that no , we are going to be leaving those until there is three-fourths of the grass grown in the boulevard . So once there's three-fourths of the grass has grown back along the boulevard , the state will remove that . The city cannot do anything with it because it is state . That's a state road , not the city .

Speaker 1 14:22

Okay , so those mats are just like a stopper in your drain plug .

Speaker 2 14:27

They are . They're trying to avoid debris going down in them and all that , and they know there's going to be wash off because of the dirt and all of that . Okay , so we're always going to have this flooding until .

Speaker 1 14:41

Until maybe mid-August . Yeah , could be , no idea , I don't either , I don't , either , I do not get to control how fast grass grows ?

Speaker 2 14:49

if you did you would , I would put out there right away , because it's it's an inconvenience it is an inconvenience .

Speaker 1 14:55

It is and you know , okay , you're the water queen today , apparently , because that's really about all we've talked about here . We're going to talk about one other thing the Eye on Water .

Speaker 2 15:06

Yes , okay .

Speaker 1 15:07

So first of all let me explain . All right , so it is Eye on Water E-Y-E-O-N-W-A-T-E-R and it's on an app you can download that . So tell me a little bit about it .

Speaker 2 15:21

Okay , well , it's a great service that is free to all of our residents . What it does is you get to see what I get to see as far as what your is going on with your water , your usage , uh , you can check it on a monthly , daily , weekly , business , um day , anyway , um , it'll take a reading every 15 minutes . That's what all of the meters do , because it has some cell phone technology within the new meters . So everybody in town has one of these meters . They were ones that we updated a little over a year ago , back in 2023 , we really started hitting it hard and everybody was done by the end of the year there . So they're great technology . If you go on there , you can see how much usage you've had on a daily basis , on a weekly , everything down to 15 minutes and you can see how , even what , the temperature is where your meter is at .

Speaker 1 16:20

You'll even know . In the summer , when you tell your son to go out and water the lawn and he says , oh sure , dad , I took care of it , but it's all dead , you can tell . You can look and say what time was that , uh-huh , but why wasn't there any water used ? Yes , unless he's got a you know rain barrel , but we can't help that . Okay , so that sounds great , it is .

Speaker 2 16:39

It's a great feature . It's free and it will alert you if you have a potential leak . A potential leak is something that you can set up parameters at on this application , but a lot of times what it does for me is I have it set up for if there's continual usage over a 24-hour period .

Speaker 1 16:58

Now , it doesn't send you your water bill , you don't pay on there or anything like that .

Speaker 2 17:03

Send you your water bill you don't pay on there , or ?

Speaker 1 17:04

anything like that .

Speaker 2 17:05

No , this has nothing to do with your water bill . It is just monitoring of your water usage and potential leaks .

Speaker 1 17:09

Great . Yes , I mean , that's terrific .

Speaker 2 17:12

I know it's a great feature that is offered to our citizens .

Speaker 1 17:16

Absolutely .

Speaker 2 17:17

They have it in Wellcome also , do they , they do .

Speaker 1 17:22

Oh , this reminds me . I'm glad you said that here on page hold on folks , Let me grab it real quickly . Welcome has been yes or no on chickens .

Speaker 2 17:32

Yes , you know , for some time they did pass it .

Speaker 1 17:34

They did . I know , look at my little . I got to show you that picture . Hold on , I'm sorry I make a lot of noise here . I like it , thank you Chickens are welcome and welcome . Yes ,

Community Updates and Activities

Speaker 1 17:49

Now are we that . Are we welcome ? I mean , are we chicken-friendly ? Here in Tremont we're chicken-friendly here ? Yeah , how many can a person have in Tremont ?

Speaker 2 17:56

Here you can have five , five , no roosters .

Speaker 1 17:59

No , no roosters .

Speaker 2 18:00

Welcome , they can have up to 10 .

Speaker 1 18:01

Yes , yeah , the mayor , dan , he told me he's a buddy and he told me he said you buy them in groups of 10 .

Speaker 2 18:09

So that's why we did that .

Speaker 1 18:10

Yes , yeah . I guess that's so the cat can kill two and you still have eight , maybe .

Speaker 2 18:15

I don't know , could be .

Speaker 1 18:16

I did chickens one year with the boys . Yeah Chicks , yeah chicks . They lasted about three days , oh , and the cats were grabbing them and taking them . Well , good night yeah . You know , that was my , I'm done .

Speaker 2 18:28

Yep , but anyway . Yeah , chickens are not for me , but yeah .

Speaker 1 18:32

But if somebody Like doing it , hey , more power to them . Exactly With the cost of eggs .

Speaker 2 18:38

They're priceless these days .

Speaker 1 18:40

They may make a lot of money . Yes , they might , Anyway . So chickens are welcome in Welcome . Chickens are welcome in Trimont and in Sherbourne .

Speaker 2 18:49

Yes , yeah , you can certainly go on our website and get the form for an application for a chicken permit and drop that off .

Speaker 1 18:59

What does that cost ?

Speaker 2 19:00

Zero , really . Oh , welcome it's $20 . Yeah , we don't have a fee on ours ? No , we just need everybody to just apply for it .

Speaker 1 19:09

Yeah , yeah Now . Did the police here go out and monitor it ? Did they check it out a couple times a year to make sure it's all up to standard ?

Speaker 2 19:15

They sure can . Oh , okay , well , I know in Wellcome they do . Yes , I think it was twice a year . Yeah , that was part of their ordinance . Yeah , right , right , A couple times a year , yeah .

Speaker 1 19:25

Okay , so anything new coming on in ? Where are we at Trimont ? We need to know about Any festivals coming up . Oh , we've , We've got Fun .

Speaker 2 19:34

Fest coming . It's a little ways down the road . It is down the road .

Speaker 1 19:38

Sins is having a tri-monthly chamber . It's having a pancake feed .

Speaker 2 19:42

Sunday , very nice .

Speaker 1 19:44

Palm .

Speaker 2 19:44

Sunday , very nice .

Speaker 1 19:45

They're raising money , I think , for the chamber itself .

Speaker 2 19:47

It's so good to have stuff like that going on in our city . I know it is .

Speaker 1 19:51

It's exciting to see a lot of activities .

Speaker 2 19:53

Yes .

Speaker 1 19:54

You know the new park ? I see kids out there playing already . Yeah , I drove by and I thought well , shoot , I know .

Speaker 2 19:59

There they are . It makes me smile every time . I see the kids down there having a good time .

Speaker 1 20:02

My favorite part is still the musical instruments .

Speaker 2 20:04

Yeah , mine too .

Speaker 1 20:06

If I lived there I'd be okay . Just somebody tinking on those the music , maybe not midnight , but you know , yeah , I bet the neighbors would . Yeah , probably , so we have to take the little bell dings off . Yeah right , All right , Anything else new ? Oh yeah , the tool cat .

Speaker 2 20:24

Oh yes , Our tool cat hopefully will be in by the end of the month . I don't know . They haven't called me yet to say when they need some money . They will . The guys are super excited for that . It's going to be a great asset for our city . You guys are super excited for that . It's going to be a great asset for our city . The broom that we're putting on it will help , even with the street sweeping and trying to get closer to the curves and things like that .

Speaker 2 20:47

All that trying to get the rocks away from down at Crystal Valley and also pushing the snow away from our fire department and stuff . It's very difficult trying to get that big loader in and maneuvered around on that small driveway there .

Speaker 1 21:04

Things that we don't think about .

Speaker 2 21:05

I know , yeah , we are so blessed to have these two guys that can operate that loader the way they do . It is definitely a task .

Speaker 1 21:16

It is a task , and I saw them out or flushing some hydrants yes , the guys have been busy flushing hydrants .

Speaker 2 21:23

I already had calls about , uh , discolored water and all of that that normal that is normal , yeah , so a lot of times the reason why we flush the um fire hydrants is that it knocks a lot of things loose . So those fire hydrants sit stagnant , you know , for quite some time and anyway , so sometimes it causes some discoloration . Just run your faucets for , you know , 5 , 10 minutes and it should be okay .

Speaker 1 21:47

Clear back up . Yeah , they mix , stir stuff up . I'm guessing probably in the system .

Speaker 2 21:52

Yeah , so we do put antifreeze down the fire hydrants because they're up high you , you know for the winter and stuff , so getting that cleaned out yeah , I need that cleaned out . Yeah , okay and we got ryan out on the street sweeper yet this today again .

Speaker 1 22:08

So if it's a busy time , that's something I always thought looks fascinating .

Speaker 2 22:12

Now oh , all I can think of is it hurt my back just saying they're hanging out the window all day .

Speaker 1 22:16

That's why he's a younger guy he likes it .

Speaker 2 22:19

Jason gave him the option which would you like to do ? Flush hydrants or street sweep ?

Speaker 1 22:23

he goes street sweeper he likes it , so good for him it's great to have the guys that they're willing to do all that . That is true . Uh , the , the , uh leaf dump is open . Uh , I don't know what to call that , but the compost , compost yeah yeah , and the brush site out there .

Speaker 2 22:39

Yeah , so anything that you're cutting down four inches or more , you can take to the brush site .

Speaker 1 22:45

Four inches or less right .

Speaker 2 22:47

Yes , you're right , I said that incorrectly .

Speaker 1 22:49

Yeah , I was going to say you would be in trouble . Yeah , the guys would be mad at me . Yeah , they will be . Well , I've .

Speaker 2 22:54

Nope , no , it was four inches or less and you can take it down there . And then the compost . We did actually put out some signs out there that we have free compost dirt .

Speaker 1 23:06

Yeah , I've seen those signs .

Speaker 2 23:08

Yep , so go ahead and take that stuff and get some good dirt in your garden and all that stuff .

Speaker 1 23:16

Yeah , Candy's starting to work on that , or she wants to .

Speaker 2 23:19

Yeah , we have sent out letters to some residents about trees . So the trees it's time to get them all trimmed back up . We have a city ordinance about getting them at least 12 foot or more off of the street .

Speaker 1 23:33

Yeah , we got one of those .

Speaker 2 23:35

Yeah , you're welcome . I make lots of friends when I send that stuff out . I bet you do Snyder Logging , maybe one of those . Yeah , you're welcome .

Speaker 1 23:39

I already had yeah , I make lots of friends when I send that stuff out . Yeah , Snyder Logging , maybe one Right yeah . I already had Alec out and he's like , okay , this one here , that one , you know . Yes , I tell you he's a sharp guy .

Speaker 2 23:49

That's great to have people like that , that know that stuff .

Speaker 1 23:52

That's why it's good to call your local people , trying to get them to do some business for you Well you know , yeah , not only that , but like he was telling me he goes , mike , some of these are a little bit dead . We're going to have to trim them back and take them out , maybe even at some point you know , but he knows what he's doing . I always just say do what you have to do and just let me know what it is , because he takes care of us .

Speaker 2 24:15

That's great , he takes care . He's such a great guy , he takes care of us .

Speaker 1 24:18

That's good . Anyway , that's Snyder Logging . Yeah , he's just a friend . He didn't pay for anything here . I just you know , okay . So other than that , summer's on its way .

Speaker 2 24:31

Summer's on its way and it's going to be a lot going on this summer . There is a lot going on this summer . Yep , we've got a fun fest that is definitely always on the back of our minds .

Speaker 1 24:40

That's mid-June or July .

Speaker 2 24:41

The second weekend in July , july , okay .

Speaker 1 24:44

Yours and Welcome's are like a week apart , I believe yeah . I think , they're right there . Yes , yep .

Speaker 2 24:51

And then in September , the town center is going to be celebrating 10 years .

Speaker 1 24:55

I can't even believe that .

Speaker 2 24:57

I know .

Speaker 1 24:57

I cannot even believe that .

Speaker 2 24:59

It's fascinating . It's so awesome to see this business in our town and how they plan things and have community get-togethers and all of that stuff .

Speaker 1 25:11

I had just taken the church in Sherbourne

Newspaper and Town Center Reflections

Speaker 1 25:14

and I got a call from Tom Kramer and he goes Mike , you have a death in your church , which I'd literally been there two or three weeks . I didn't even know who they were because they'd been in a nursing home .

Speaker 2 25:24

Okay .

Speaker 1 25:24

And her name was Jane Quoddy Uh-huh , and I said , okay , so he goes , come out here and meet with the family and such . And so I did . And I came into town and I stopped to get a Pepsi , and I stopped at the town center and I walked in , I go what ? And they had just opened . They had just opened , I don't know how , but I mean within a few weeks .

Speaker 2 25:46

And I said man , that's a nice store . My point is I can't believe it's been 10 years . Oh no , time flies when you come .

Speaker 1 25:53

Fun Gretchen's doing a great job . Yeah she is . You know the store was for a while , was just new , you know , and everybody's a little bit confused what's going on . And she's got her , I think , I think , straightened out .

Speaker 2 26:04

Yeah .

Speaker 1 26:05

She's doing a good job and the store looks great and it's so nice to have it .

Speaker 2 26:09

Yeah , it takes a while to get all that stuff just organized the way .

Speaker 1 26:13

It does . And have a good flow , and well , you know it's like the same with us here at the paper . Our first month or so we didn't even have phones that worked and we couldn't get them transferred over Long story , anyway , we did , but two months literally it was mid-July before we got our phones . We bought it May 1st .

Speaker 2 26:36

Oh , wow .

Speaker 1 26:37

And then , you know , I knew nothing about what's going on . The computers weren't working . Our first paper came out was I don't know how we did it Smoke signals or something . We barely got it together and at first I remember oh my gosh , I just wanted to pull my hair out . I was , I was just nervous as a wreck . And things are just oh my gosh . Now we're into a system and we have it pretty much down to okay , this is working , you know , and it's just one of those things Folks bear with us you know , yes , people have .

Speaker 1 27:10

They've been very kind , because I know I've made lots and lots and lots of mistakes , but they've been kind mostly , and you know we're starting to work it out now yeah we're kind of finding our stride and it's always tough . I know mine . I'm very different . I have a radio background , so I was very different , uh , as a newspaper person , than maybe some others . Yeah , I don't look at it the same way . I'm more of a radio guy and so everything to me is hey promotion .

Speaker 1 27:38

Yes , yes , but I've hit my stride and I've figured it out for myself , and so , going forward , I think we're on the track that was in relation to Town Center . Yeah , that's the way it works . Yes , it's a new mayor . I know Kevin's new , but he's also old , he's been here before and everything Not age-wise but experience-wise . He's done this a long time but you come back in after some years off and it takes a little while to figure out okay , okay , Personalities and all this , yeah .

Speaker 1 28:09

Well , and times have changed too , and times have changed , laws have changed and all that stuff . Laws have changed . Yeah , yeah , you were right .

Speaker 2 28:15

It is all different and he has said that he has .

Speaker 1 28:20

And I had the opportunity to sit with him at a funeral the other day . We had lunch together and I had never met Kevin before . Okay , I didn't know him at all . Yeah , you know , and he tells lots of dad jokes . I don't know if you do that or not . He tells lots of dad jokes , okay , and I sit there going holy smokes , Terrible jokes , but after about eight you start to giggle because you realize these are actually kind of funny , oh goodness .

Speaker 1 28:46

Yeah it was , but we had a nice , enjoyable time and I got to meet him a little bit Good .

Speaker 2 28:50

It's been a little time , yeah , and that was good and you know Well , we're glad that the newspaper moved here to Trimont . I'm glad to be here .

Speaker 1 28:58

Yeah , we're making strides , we're going forward and we're not trying to toot anybody's horn at all , but we're hanging in there and people are responding positively . That's great .

Speaker 2 29:10

Which is what we want . Yeah , kelly , yes , thank you . Thank you for letting me talk about our website .

Speaker 1 29:15

We're coming right up on 30 minutes . How about that ?

Speaker 2 29:18

We are awesome . We love to talk together . We do ?

Speaker 1 29:20

We have a lot of fun . I love having you here , Kelly .

Speaker 2 29:23

She's always so full of information .

Speaker 1 29:26

I've reached out to some of the others . I've got your counterpart in Danelle .

Speaker 2 29:31

Okay , melinda .

Speaker 1 29:36

She's going to be coming on one day . We're going to come in and update us , yeah .

Speaker 2 29:40

So that's coming also , but anyway , everybody goes in and takes advantage of our . Ion Water and our new website .

Speaker 1 29:48

Which is tribotmncom , right Yep .

Speaker 2 29:52

Yep . Sign up for the alerts so that you stay informed .

Speaker 1 29:56

Good deal , good deal , all righty .

Speaker 2 29:58

Thank you , thank you .

Speaker 1 29:59

Thank you . Yeah , you're welcome . Have a happy Easter .

Speaker 2 30:01

Well , thank you , I appreciate that yeah .

Speaker 1 30:03

Yeah , you're welcome , everybody else also .

Speaker 2 30:05

Yes .

Speaker 1 30:06

All righty folks Thank you .

Speaker 2 30:06

Bye , bye-bye .