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Stacy City Council met February 13 for a regular meeting, all members were present. 

In open forum, Chisago County Commissioner Ben Montzka gave a briefing of happenings at the county level. 

Montzka told the council the levy increased by 3.3 percent.  Montzka pointed out the county is working hard to try and take the tax burden off of homeowners and replace those taxes via business and industry. 

When Montzka asked what is pressing in Stacy, Mayor Mark Utecht reiterated the County Road 19 freeway bridge.  Montzka said he is working hard to get funding for a new safer bridge and told the council it was a top priority.

The council then discussed a water tower maintenance contract with Corrpro. City attorney James Monge told the council he has no issues with the contract.  The council then unanimously approved the contract  for $650 per year.

The council then had a discussion about the town hall custodian. Currently, Lent contracted a local resident to clean the hall after each paid event.  That resident is also present during all paid events to be available if needed.  The discussion was if the resident was considered an employee or not.  After discussion it was deemed he was an employee and the city would need to get him on the pay matrix.

The council then approved a motion to grant a liquor license to The Hideout pending the sale of the old Fort building.   

The council then discussed and passed a social media policy.  The city had one from a while back but never made it official. The policy would allow posting from employees (an example is the liquor store was recently shoplifted from and posted it on Facebook) but would not allow comments on posts.  This would keep the city from any defamation suits and still allow the community to help or comment by contacting the city via phone.

The council set a Board of Review date for April 25.

The council then heard from Michelle Hayes on the subject of water meter replacement.  Hayes told the council the city had 47 no reads on meters this month. That means the current reader called a Hot Rod is failing on those and more are expected to fail in the near future.  Hayes submitted a bid from Mueller who installed the last set of meters and Hot Rods.  Some meters have been replaced and will need only a new transmitter.  Cost for replacements, lead service pipe inspection and meter inspection would come to $35,700.  If every meter and every radio would require replacement costs would escalate to $124,670. If the city chooses to install a data collector that would digitally collect and input the water usage into a program, costs would rise to $220,000. That would include a transponder on the city’s water tower.

Right now, the city spends around 2-3 hours a month driving around collecting water usage.  Council member Tim Sawatzky said two to three hours a month compared to $220,000 seems like a no brainer to me.” Hayes added that it is the council’s choice but to keep in mind that more and more meters will fail in the near future. The council agreed to have Hayes get more bids to get an accurate feel for the cost.

The council then approved the design and printing of door hangers to be used by the maintenance department to leave on resident homes when trying to contact them.

The council then was shown a photo by maintenance worker Troy Nelson.  It was a cord for a mixer in the water tower that was melted.  Nelson told the council he guessed the mixer has been out of operation for close to five years.  A mixer is used to keep a water tower from freezing and chemicals from settling.  Nelson said the maintenance department has been cycling water every day dropping levels down and then refilling, thus keeping water moving on a daily basis.  Nelson said the department believes there is no reason to fix the mixer since the cycling is doing the job.  Nelson also said he spoke with KLM (water tower experts) and they said there is no danger in leaving the mixer in the tower unused.

The council then officially offered the maintenance supervisor to Nelson who accepted on the spot.  Both Utecht and Sawatzky were complimentary of Nelson.

Council then passed a motion to change website providers to Civic Plus with yearly costs that average around $3,800.

Lastly, the council discussed a potential candidate forum prior to the spring council election.  Mayor Utecht said he would be all for one, but someone other than a candidate would need to organize the event.

Council adjourned at 9:26 p.m.

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