Speaking on the Second Avenue Street project at the council meeting on April 15th, outgoing Mayor Al Haas told the council that the city had the sewer televised and the main sewer lines were all PVC. “Back in the seventies when they put that new PVC pipe in, they did not do the laterals going to the house, so we got clay.”
Incoming Mayor Mike Henke remarked that they don’t know if it’s old or new clay.
“As long as the road is open, we need to get this done,” Haas stated and added that the money for that part of the project will come from sewer reserves.
“That’s if the grant doesn’t cover,” Henke said.
“But we just need to do it,” Haas reiterated.
“Now’s the time,” Alderperson Josh Seidl agreed.
With Seidl abstaining and Alderperson Jacob Huff absent, the Council unanimously voted to approve the 2nd Avenue project change order with Haas & Sons to replace the clay sanitary service with PVC on approximately fifteen services at a cost not to exceed $30,000.
Henke announced changes that going forward he wants City Administrator Nicole Pilgrim to plan to reduce costs of the community building expenses. He wants city departments to have more of a work plan of what they are going to do and bring it to Pilgrim who will report it to the council.
Alderperson Mark Fitzsimmons agreed, “There has to be a structure to it where projects are brought forward by department heads with bids and planning and brought to her before being brought to council.
“I guess I’ve preached this forever. We need to buy more local. We shouldn’t be buying stuff outside of town,” continued Henke. Touching on the cost of time and gas for an employee to travel to purchase items, Henke stated that even if it costs more employees should be purchasing local if it can be found in town and not at Walmart, Menards, Auto Value, etc. “If they’re not able to follow that then we need to add more stringent rules on that.”
Henke added that every employee needs to punch in and out for lunch. “Sometimes we don’t do that.” He added that employees can’t take the city vehicles home for lunch but instead use their own personal vehicles. He also stated that employees should only go for training that is needed and not just extra training.
“Money is going to get tight. We’re headed down that trail already,” Henke said.
Four seasonal employees were hired for the Parks, Streets, and Ground Department for the 2024 season by the city of Stanley. The Council unanimously approved to hire Roy Fredrickson, Richard Fredrickson, Landen Hoel, and Patricia Fitzsimmons who applied for the position of campground fee collector.
“How do we handle John’s son?” Henke questioned referring to the application from Landen Hoel, son of Public Works Operator in Charge John Hoel.
Hoel reminded the council that he worked for the city of Stanley last year but didn’t report directly to Hoel. “He took direction at that time from Jake and from Greg but not from me.”
Henke asked, “You will be signing his timecard?”
Hoel replied that he can, or he can have another city employee do it.
“It’s kind of hard to avoid in small communities to some degree,” Fitzsimmons said and asked if the council wanted double signage for his timecard.
Pilgrim stated that all employees submit their time punches to her so she’s “technically reviewing it a second time when I do payroll.”
“I don’t have a problem with it,” Alderman Jason Meyer spoke up mentioning that there seem to be checks and balances in place to verify.
Hoel also mentioned that Landen joined the United States Navy and will be shipping off for basic training on July 17th so it will cut down on cost for the budget. “For the two months that he will be here, it will be a big help to have him.”
Kitchell asked if these were the only applicants, Pilgrim mentioned that there were a couple others, but they were “pushed out for other reasons.”
“They live further away,” Henke commented.
City Shop Repair Projects
Council members voted to approve the bid from Pember Companies, Inc. for $9,950.00 for City Curb and Gutter.
Fitzsimmons informed the council that he reached out to the subcontractor that is completing the curb and gutter for the Second Avenue Street project because when the reed beds got put in it ate up some of the Public Works parking lot. He said that the goal is to pull water to the east and the west to stop it from encroaching into the reed beds and to clean up the facility.
Fitzsimmons said, “If we can complete the project and be done with it in a complete fashion, we shouldn’t have to look at it again. If we clean it up, we shouldn’t have to look at this for twenty years or more.”
Haas mentioned that the money for this project will come from the Shop and Curb outlay fund.
Fitzsimmons stated that this project is to be completed in conjunction with the Second Avenue project in an effort to reduce cost.
As discussions turned to the shop roof, Hoel told the council that the current city shop roof is a spray foam roof. “There’s very few companies around that do them.” He stated that they can fix the section of the roof that needs to be fixed without replacing the entire roof.
“It’s pretty simple work. They do it all the time,” he explained.
Haas added that the roof wouldn’t be fixed until the wall is replaced.
Fitzsimmons made a motion to accept the bid from North Central Insulation for $9,858 from the shop outlay fund and the council quickly voted in agreement.
Fitzsimmons gave the council an update on the replacement of the City Shop Wall on 100 State Street. He explained that the City had received bids from Slowiak Masonry and Scenic Ridge Concrete to fix the city shop wall.
Meyer asked if the replacement proposal from Scenic Ridge Concrete will fix the issue that caused the initial problem with the shop wall.
“The initial problem was water years ago and pushed through,” explained Fitzsimmons.
“So, from what we know the damage was caused by water leaking into the wall?” asked Meyer.
Henke mentioned that the water caused issue was there when the wall was built in the mid ‘90s and the city has been dealing with the issues from it for the past twenty years.
He said, “Might as well bite the bullet, take the wall out, put a new wall in then you know you’re done.”
“We have funding available to get it accomplished in the budget. We may not have that for another twenty years,” Fitzsimmons said.
The Council voted to approve the bid from Scenic Ridge Concrete for $58,670 and voted to disapprove the previously approved bid for the wall repair from Slowiak in the amount of $96,250.00.
As outgoing Mayor Al Haas finished his last meeting as mayor, Henke motioned to adjourn in honor of Haas and Kitchell while thanking them for their years of service.
“I appreciate doing this for the last four years. It’s been a ride,” Haas said while adjourning his last meeting as Mayor of Stanley.
In other news
Outgoing Alderperson Holly Kitchell was approved to purchase the Acer Chromebook 315 that was issued to her in 2020 when she began as alderperson on the city council. She requested to purchase the computer so the city doesn’t have to pay to get rid of it as “it has served its purpose” and has some damage on it.
The Stanley City Council entered into closed session immediately after starting the 6 pm Committee as a Whole meeting on April 15th. After the council reconvened in open session, the council voted to recommend going forward with what was discussed during the closed session. Later at the regular council meeting, the Council voted to approve “any motions brought forward from closed session as recommended by Committee of the Whole.” At press time, the City Administrator did not respond to the requests for information on what was voted on by the Council during closed session.
