Solar panels are coming to the side of High – way 29 soon, after the Stanley City Council moved at its March 7 meeting to approve the purchase by Chippewa Valley Electric Cooperative of 12.04 acres along Highway 29, with 10 used by the company and the excess so as to not leave the city with an oddly shaped parcel The agreement, which would see Chippewa Valley Electric pay the city $250 per year per acre in lieu of taxes for 25 years, with the city having the option to buy back the would also see the city given first option to buy back the property at the price paid by Chippewa Valley Electric for the first 10 years, and then at fair market value following the initial ten-year period.

The solar panels meanwhile, would gener- ate 1.5 Megawatts of electricity, or enough to power roughly 1,000 homes. Chippewa Valley Electric would take care of the driveway to the site, while the City has access through a 66– foot right-of-way coming from Janicki Road, in the City’s Industrial park.

Dean Ortmann (left) and Nic Alberson showed up from Chippewa Valley Electric Cooperative to the March 7 Council meeting, where they gave more detail for a 12 acre parcel to contain solar panels along Highway 29. Ortmann is the president and CEO for the company while Alberson is an operations manager. Photo by Joseph Back.

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Solar panels weren't all the Council heard about Monday, however, as local resident Ruby Ann Birt appeared before the Council to seek what they wanted after being issued $1,200 in fines for transgressing the city's junk ordinanc es.

Birt, who lost her home on Second Avenue in a fire back in February 2021, cares for an au tistic grandson alone, as well as running several businesses. With many responsibilities, she said she felt singled out by the Council, asking what needed to be done to make the City happy.

“I want to know what I can do for the City Council to make you happy,” Birt said, saying additionally that among the only help she had received in the tornado cleanup was to get rid of a black walnut tree in front of her house, the wood being deemed valuable. A religious group of volunteers had helped as well.

For its part, the Council contested that it was singling Birt out with regard to the City’s junk ordinance, with Stanley police chief Lance Weiland and Birt reportedly agreeing to have the junk issue addressed “by Thanksgiving.”

That hadn’t happened, at least in the City’s estimation, though Birt said she had moved some of those items deemed problematic. At the center of the issue from the City’s standpoint, were trailers off First Avenue near where Birt had purchased the old Yellowstone Garage, which the city wanted moved as Birt did not have a license to sell, while Birt contested the move.

“As soon as I can, I’m selling out,” she said of the area. Until then, she wanted to know what the City would accept.