Alderman Kent Barby’s ire was raised during the Stanley Common Council meeting last Monday at the Stanley Fire Hall.

“This makes me upset,” Barby shared of budget number confusion as it related to the police addition to the present City Hall.

“If we had $400,000 two weeks ago, we should have $400,000 now,” he said of funding which had been set aside for the police addition, while Chief Lance Weiland appeared to take the Council’s confusion Monday with frustrated but resigned silence. Two department officers, Andrew Holty and Tyler Lewien, were also on hand to witness the vote as well, with Barby saying that

Photo by Joseph Back. he had told the Chief there would be an up or down vote that night—but it was not to be, not that night at least. Barby, a businessman in his day job, called for a review of the city’s books to clear up just what had gone wrong, and where.

“We need an audit,” he said of the City finances. With a motion later made and seconded to table any action on the police addition pending a clarification of the numbers, it was reported at the August 3 meeting that $48,000 had been paid out so far on the police addition budgeted at $400,000, while a bid by Cecil Builders had come in at just under $400,000, so that the total project was set to cost the City of Stanley $467,000 when said and done, something few if any at the meeting seemed to realize or account for. Meanwhile, Barby had his own analysis of the mishap: either the numbers from two weeks before had been wrong, or the numbers presented at the August 3 meeting were wrong—there just wasn’t any other way around it. Meanwhile, other council members voiced their opinions on what to do regarding the police addition, with mixed results.

“Any unpaid taxes?” Kevin Hendrickson asked outgoing Administrator-Clerk-Treasurer Cynthianna Bergman, who replied that the City would receive its allotment from the County as details were still getting worked out. Another council member had thoughts of her own on the project.

“Their safety is more important,” Alderwoman Laurie Foster said of the project’s urgency, gesturing several times toward the officers on hand and watching council proceedings. The $100,000 cobbled together to meet building requirements before the night’s budget confusion had come out of street fund outlays, in which case everything depended on getting the numbers right. Meanwhile, Mark Fitzsimmons had some input, followed up with a question.

“If something is worth doing, it’s worth doing right,” he said, sharing that while he didn’t have a problem with the project he also didn’t think it was presently affordable. “With this bridge project coming up, when we go overbudget on that where are the funds coming from?” Fitzsimmons said he would be more comfortable with waiting on the police building until winter, while Alderman Jacob Huff had his own input to offer as well.

“I’ve been on the Council almost five years,” he said. “It’s always this (the police building) that gets kicked down the road.” If the police building wasn’t done this year, it might never be. Regarding the CDBG for partial funding, Scheidler said he could ask for an extension, but didn’t promise anything. As time continued on and contractors were swamped with work, prices would continue to rise. Having a crystal ball to know spring bidding conditions to hold off until then would be nice, but wasn’t available. In Scheidler’s professional opinion, the best time to build was at present, though the building remained in limbo as of Monday, pending a meeting to clear up the numbers.

“Right now it’s moot without the numbers,” Barby said, with Mayor Al Hass breaking the tension somewhat.

“Well,” he said. “Next item.” And on the agenda went.