Attention residents of the City of Ortonville!!  On May 15 and May 16, the City of Ortonville will conduct the First Annual Cleanup Ortonville Day!  The City will provide several large dumpsters in which you may bring many of those things you have been wanting to get rid of but just didn’t know where to take them.  The dumpsters will be located behind the city shop on Highway 75.   Proof of residency will be required at time of drop off.   A copy of utility bill with Ortonville address are an example of such proof.  Items that will be accepted will include mattresses, old furniture, other wood items, metal toys, bicycles and other metal items as well as appliances such as stoves, water heaters, dryers, washing machines.  A maximum of 4 auto tires per household will also be accepted.

Items that will NOT be accepted will be refrigerators, freezers, microwaves, construction material, electronics, paint, solvents, garbage, and tree limbs, branches, and other vegetative waste.  Please note, tree branches and yard wastes can be disposed of at the city tree dump on scheduled days.  The City tree dump is open every Saturday during the Month of May.  Please call the City office for times.

If you have items for the Ortonville Cleanup, you must provide following information below to the city offices at 315 Madison Ave by Friday May 1st,2020. ADVANCE REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED.   Drop- off may be done on Friday May 15 between 10 AM and 2 PM and Saturday May 16^th  between 9:30 AM and 3 PM.

Anyone willing to volunteer your time to help load/unload items at the drop off-site, please call 320-839-3862 no later than May 8th.  We want our city to be a place we can all be proud of and show our many visitors that come here for fishing, hunting, festivals, class reunions, etc. that our citizens take pride in the beautiful part of the world that we call home.  We hope to make this an annual event so please consider volunteering!!

Please note that in addition to Ortonville’s clean-up effort, Big Stone County, as in past years, will be having a cleanup collection on May 8th for hazardous waste and May 29th for appliances and electronics.  Please follow instructions on the postcard which will be mailed to all county residents.

Application process is closed.

March 23, 2020

The City of Ortonville will be closing the City Office, City Shop, Community Center and Public Rest Room to the PUBLIC effective at 8:00 A.M. March 24, 2020 until further notice.  City staff will remain working and can be contacted by calling 320-839-3428.  Utility bills will be collected at the local banks and at the City’s drive-up box.

Thank you to the Ortonville Kiwanis for agreeing to represent Ortonville as the Complete Count Committee (CCC)!  If you have questions, the core Kiwanis group assigned to this effort consists of Wanda Berry, John Thomas, and Vanessa Lhotka Meyer.  Vicki Oakes of the Ortonville EDA has been appointed as the liaison (point person connecting the CCC and the Census connection.)

Obtaining an accurate count – counting everyone! – is very important to our community!

The United States began conducting a census of population and housing in 1790.  The U. S. Constitution, Article 1, Section 2, mandates the apportionment of representatives among the states for the House of Representatives every 10 years.

Why is it important to count everyone?

• Population counts determine how the 435 U.S. House of Representatives seats are divided between the 50 states
• the distribution of federal funding to our states is determined by this population count – items such as
  • the SNAP program
  • public housing
  • WIC
  • Adoption Assistance
  • Link to Counting for Dollars 2020 Minnesota List

Privacy – The Census is Confidential and Required by Law!
Individual records from the decennial censuses are by law confidential for 72 years.
In addition, all Census Bureau employees swear a lifetime oath to protect respondent data.  It is a felony for any Census Bureau employee to disclose any confidential census information during or after employment, and the penalty for wrongful disclosure is up to 5 years imprisonment and/or a fine of $250,000.

Ways to Respond

LINK:  https://2020census.gov/en/ways-to-respond.html

• Online
• By phone
• By mail

Completing the Census takes about 10 minutes.

In mid-March, households will begin receiving official Census Bureau mail with detailed information on how to respond to the 2020 Census.

Great link for complete info:  Who to Count (LINK)

United States Census 2020 Website Link

The City of Ortonville water department is looking for volunteers to have their home water tested for lead and copper.  We need about 10-15 homes.  The criteria are that it has to be from a hard water faucet that gets used regularly/daily.  It has to have copper pipes and cannot be PVC or plastic.  Please contact the city office at 320-839-3428 if you would be willing to do this.

Road Construction. Utility bill payments can be dropped off at the City Office (there is two-way traffic on Third Street in front of the Police Department now) or you can drop them at Cenbank or Minnwest Bank.

A list of resource links as we make it through this winter season.

Big Stone County Emergency Management
Their Facebook pages keeps us current on in-coming weather related notices and alerts.

1350 AM KDIO Radio
Listen in on KDIO for all weather-related announcements and they also posts updates on their Facebook Page.

Ortonville Police Department
Posts all their emergency related announcements and notifications on their Facebook Page.

Ortonville School
Their Facebook Page posts latest updates
School Website covers urgent announcements & calendar

Artie’s Bait & Tackle
They post ice condition updates (along with fishing updates!)

…and although not weather-related, Ortonville Area Health Services posts very helpful & informative information on both their Website- OAHS.US & their Facebook Page!