The water system has been challenging.”

Jon Strand, CBS Squared

“The water system has been challenging,” began Jon Strand of CBS Squared Inc. as he addressed the City Council members at the November 4th meeting at city hall. “The equipment has lived out it’s useful life and you’ve gotten your money’s worth out of it. But it is now at a point where replacement of various components is necessary,” he explained. Strand pointed out that the primary issue lied mainly with the original ozone equipment at the northwest plant and the outdated control system that was installed when the plant was first built.
“It’s beyond its age,” he said. He also mentioned that there are some challenges at the Central plant with the “rather dated” equipment there that has components dating back to the 1970s.
He also provided an update on the two new operators, one at the northwest plant and one at the central plant, who are not licensed but are still in training.
“They are doing very well but there’s a lot of things they will need to learn and go through. It’s not a very simple operation at all,” Strand said. To help address staffing issues, he proposed that an additional person be brought in to assist in Stanley for three nights a week over the next six-months. This individual would help alleviate some of the overnight calls as there is currently not enough staff to answer all those calls. As the new operators gain experience, the additional staff member’s hours would gradually be reduced.
“It starts out heavy and towards the end of the six months it gets lighter.” He also highlighted the need for a comprehensive maintenance plan, as the city currently lacks one. Strand explained that much of the plant’s operation isn’t documented, and while an operational plan existed when the plant was first built, it could not be found in the current records.
“We are recreating it in these checklists of what operators should do and when,” said Strand. Strand said these checklists will be essential for day-to-day operations and training new operators.
Strand acknowledged that the proposed plan is a significant financial commitment but noted that it was designed with cost efficiency in mind. “We looked at how we could be most cost efficient but still provide the staffing that’s necessary to keep the water system in operation,” he said.
Henke prompted Strand to provide an update on Well #5 and #7. Strand shared that Well #7 was “fine” after recent maintenance but a hole was discovered in the casing of Well #5. To address the issue, they sought approval from the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to install a liner that would extend from the top to the bottom of the well, as DNR regulations typically only permit a liner within five feet of a hole and the company performing the work expressed concerns that fixing it that way wouldn’t be in the best interest of the City.
The DNR agreed that installing a stainless-steel liner to cover the entire casing would be a more effective approach. However, they needed to navigate how to make this solution compatible with their existing code. Well #5 is currently offline until the necessary repairs are made.
Alderperson Jason Meyer then asked Strand if the documentation for the training plan and task lists for training operators will be provided in electronic format.
“That’s one of the current challenges is there’s very few electronic documents that were kept of the plant,” Strand answered. “It has to do with the skill sets of the people running the plant at the time. Paper and pencil made the most sense and we’re bringing all of the operators up to a certain level here so records can be kept electronically on a City Server.”
He explained, “We want to make sure that we set in the building blocks so that going forward when you ever hire a new operator, we have these basic tools that they start with and then the regular operators will be using the more enhanced data collection software to enter data.”
“It sounds like a good plan,” said Meyer.
“They’re trying to get them to work smarter not harder,” commented City Administrator Nicole Pilgrim.
“We need stuff centralized too. Who knows where everything is? It sounds good to me,” stated Alderperson Jacob Huff.
The City Council unanimously approved the supplemental agreement for professional services from CBS Squared Inc., totaling $158,516.00

In other news
The City Council approved the 2025-2026 Stanley Police Association Contract. During the meeting, Police Chief Lance Weiland informed the Council that the Police Department’s server had crashed earlier in the week, and the IT provider had taken it for repairs.
“It sounds like it’s going to be able to restore what was lost but it’s going to take time,” Weiland explained, adding that “it’s definitely going to be an expense.” Referring to the department’s servers and computer systems, which are in need of upgrades to maintain efficient operations, Weiland remarked, “We definitely need to make an investment.”
Chief Weiland also reported that the department’s old police squad car, which was up for auction, sold for $8,000—far exceeding its starting bid of $3,300 on the final day.
The Council also approved the proposals for replacing the overhead doors in the Main Shop and County Building.
“This would be for replacing both doors in the County Shop building,” remarked Henke.
Pilgrim informed the Council that Public Works employees have requested the new overhead doors to improve security for the equipment that will be stored in the facility.
With proposals from Garage Doors Unlimited and Chippewa Valley Door, Henke mentioned that Garage Doors Unlimited is the lower estimate on both door projects, so the Council approved the proposal from Garage Doors Unlimited for the County building not to exceed $15,708.00 and Main City Shop not to exceed $28,399.