Cannon Falls City to Prorate Refunds for Liquor Licenses

Cannon Falls Mayor John Althoff joined KDHL live during the Cannon Falls News Wednesday.  Althoff said the City Council Tuesday night agreed to provide establishments with on-sale liquor licenses three months refund.

Althoff says, "The majority of the restaurants will see about a $738 dollar refund. Most cities are doing this and I thought it was the least we could do to keep our restaurants open down the road."

The Cannon Falls City Council also approved a resolution accepting a $30,000 dollar grant from the Minnesota Department of Health for the purchase of supplies and reimbursement of wages due to the COVID-19 pandemic for the City Ambulance Department.

Althoff added, "Our EMS Chief Tom Malchow has also applied for a larger grant to provide ventilators and refurbish our present ventilators.  He's also requesting more masks and really important, more testing equipment."

"I think that's the key to this whole thing," Althoff said, "that we all get tested."

The Economic Development Report announced the tanks at the former Cannon Ball Truck Stop site have been removed. "The canopy is coming down this week and the building will be (demolished) in the next week or two.  Asbestos needs to be removed first but pretty soon that building will be down."

Althoff says public works will be meeting next week to decide when or if the pool will be opening.  They will also discuss if the city should have a referendum on the construction of a new pool.

With the Department of Motor Vehicles Office closed at Cannon Falls City Hall and the refund of liquor licenses the city is seeing some hits to revenues.  "We've got less water and sewer usage with the bars and restaurants closed. We could possibly decide to close the pool next week resulting in more revenues lost.  This will result in some tough budget talks again this fall."