News

City council to start 2026 budget process

Each summer the city council works on the next year’s budget in a process that involves several meetings and much preparation by City Manager Bob Elston. The council is required to submit a preliminary budget to Brown County in September. That budget can be revised downward before the final budget is submitted in December, but it cannot increase.

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Victim of house fire dies

On the evening of May 20, 2025, Sleepy Eye Police Department was contacted by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office and the department was informed that the adult victim, Katie Rehbein, had died as a result of her injuries that were sustained on May 8, 2025, in a residential fire that occurred in the City of Sleepy Eye.

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Sleepy Eye School Board denies teacher’s leave request

At the School District 84 board meeting on May 14 the board discussed a request for a two-year leave by Special Education Instructor Nichole Voigt. During discussion board members said they learned that Voigt had accepted a position at River Bend Education District in New Ulm (which also serves Sleepy Eye students). Voigt was in attendance and said she’d been told by school administration that she would have a new assignment for next year and then applied for the River Bend position. In reply to an emailed question prior to the meeting, Superintendent John Cselovszki told the Herald-Dispatch the leave request was for the purpose of retaining her position in case she wanted to return to the Sleepy Eye District in the future. Later during the action part of the agenda the school board denied the request for leave.

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