Site on west side of 345th could see ‘project’ by local energy firm

The details have yet to be worked out in full, but acting at the Monday October 18 Council meeting the Stanley Common Council moved to sell between 10 to 12 acres of land on the west side of 345th at a price of $5,500 an acre to Chippewa Valley Electric, with an additional $250 per acre per year in lieu of taxes, all to facilitate what Chippewa Valley Electric President and CEO Dean Ortmann called a “project.” Further concrete details were not available, although

speculations have included that the project involve solar panels, something the city clerk, could not confirm.

“I’m not sure we can tell you that yet,” Nicole Thiel said of plans for the site in Stanley’s west industrial park.

Also touched on at Monday’s Council meeting was the formality of accepting county redistricting boundaries on the city’s part, which city alderman Jacob Huff appeared to have resigned himself too.

“It’s kind of a formality,” he said of the result from the once in 10 decennial census for redistricting. “We don’t really have a choice.”

With that being said, city wards in Chippewa County will now be numbered one through six, while those in Clark will be deemed seven and eight. Clark County was previously home to city wards five and eight, with the numbers rather than corresponding boundaries the sole thing changed.

Other action items at Monday’s Council meeting included an offer of insurance buyout at $2,000 per year for city employees, which would be paid out biweekly, while necessary action “not to exceed $10,000” on Sawmill Road and $2,000 for a study related to possible work on Second Avenue, were also approved.

The council approved the hiring of Kristin Davison as assistant city clerk following the former assistant’s resignation, with Davison’s start date being October 25. It also approved the hire of Dan Demske with a start date of November 1 for the water department.

Shifting into department reports then, Water Operator Don Goettl reported as of October 14 that the past two weeks had been taken up with normal plant operation and maintenance, as well as compliance testing. Thrown into the mix was that Charter had ran the phone the phone and internet “down to the Central Plant,” while Ozone Pump NO. 2 had been cleaned along with the sludge tanks at the NW treatment plant, Diggers Hotline locates also being done.

Of note in the report of public works operator in charge John Hoel, meanwhile, was assisting the Village of Cadott with sewer jetting, along with tree training, replaced sidewalks and

Photo by Joseph Back. curb and gutter on the service leak areas from earlier in the year. Within the next 60 days as of October 15 Hoel reported that he and Jake Leukes would be attending the Excavating Competent Person training at WRWA on October 19th in Plover, while parts were still awaited from Macqueen Equipment to fix the “Vactor” on the jetter truck.

Reporting for the police end of things, Police Chief Lance Weiland reported getting an email from the Boyd Village Clerk about a meeting in regard to the possible merging of departments going forward, as local agencies have seen issues with recruitment and retention.

“It is my understanding that this same invitation has been made to the Village of Cadott as well as the Chippewa County Sheriff’s Department,” Weiland wrote the Council. With the