BRAINERD — Monty Jensen is this month’s Brainerd Community Member of the Month, recognized for his home building efforts in the city.Council member Gabe Johnson recognized Jensen, who owns Level Contracting, Monday, July 18, for his contributions to the Brainerd Oaks housing development.

“If you were around in 2016, you remember that we had some tax-forfeited lots in the city, and they were not moving anywhere. Nothing was happening with them,” Johnson said. “We as a council entered into an agreement, a development agreement, to get the lots off of the tax forfeit list onto the tax rolls, and it’s been successful over the last five building seasons.”

Jensen and his team at Level Contracting, Johnson said, have done a fantastic job with the project.

Jensen accepted the award Monday but made it clear he couldn’t have done any of the work alone.

“I can’t build all those homes myself, so there’s a team behind me and our internal staff and employees, subcontractors from the community, suppliers and all that, that are really bringing this together,” Jensen said. “So they’re really a part of this too.”

Jensen also praised the city and its staff for being so helpful and easy to work with through the project, specifically mentioning City Administrator Jennifer Bergman, Community Development Director James Kramvik, for City Engineer Paul Sandy and Building Official Darrin Deseth.

“The culture here is definitely good to work with,” Jensen said, noting Brainerd is top of the list out of the six or seven cities in Minnesota and Wisconsin with which he works on a regular basis.

In other business Monday, the council:

Authorized staff to apply for $630,000 for a Clean Water Fund money for fiscal year 2023 for a gully remediation project.

Accepted the retirement of Gary Thompson street maintenance III/sewer lead worker, effective Oct. 15. The council authorized severance pay for Thompson and for staff to replace the position.

Allotted up to $2,000 for meals for the election judges during this year’s primary and general elections. Judges will be provided with pizza and subs for lunch and dinner during both elections.

THERESA BOURKE may be reached at theresa.bourke@brainerddispatch.com or 218-855-5860. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/DispatchTheresa .