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Stacy City Council met May 13 for a regular meeting.  Mayor Mark Utecht was absent. Council member Dennis Thieling was acting Mayor.

In Open Forum, Sergeant Kyle Jones of the Chisago County Sheriff’s Office gave an update to the council.  Jones said there were 770 calls to Stacy during April.  Jones said there were 105 traffic stops, 23 citations issued and 10 medical emergencies.  Jones said the Sheriff’s office is investigating vandalism at the softball fields behind the firehouse.

Resident Brian Seekon then spoke to the council. He was there to talk about fireworks on May 3 at A1 Tire. Seekon said around 5pm his house was shaken from the flash bomb fireworks which he said happened around six or seven times.  He was told A1 had a permit.  Council agreed the early fireworks are disrespectful to residents and promised to look into the matter for future show time changes.

Attorney James Monge then told the council XPress Trucking was served notice of the cancellation of the purchase agreement on the additional lot they agreed upon a few years ago.  No money, nor communication has been sent to the city after multiple attempts to contact the company.

The council then was told there was $1,789 worth of damages after a Turkey Federation event at Lent Town Hall.  The toilets became clogged and flooded  causing the damages in the bathroom.

Council then heard from Tim Betts who resides along Lent Trail near the town hall.  Betts told the city he received a permit from the county to construct a pole barn.  He was to send pictures to the inspector as the project progressed.  Betts recently received a letter from the county stating the structure is 115 feet from the roadway centerline and county ordinance says a building needs to be 135 feet from centerline.  Betts told the council Lent (before they merged with Stacy) had a setback of 75 feet, which the council reminded him this has always been a county road.  

Council member Jeff Barrett told Betts the city will try to work with him but he may encounter a fine for being within the setback.  Council told Betts they would reach out to the county to see how to remedy the situation.

The council then had a lengthy discussion about combining Lent and Stacy ordinances regarding subdivisions.  The city has considered using inhouse staff to do so, but they were told staff would require too many hours for such a task and would also hinder them from doing their daily work.  The city did receive two bids for the subdivision work and ultimately decided on Bolton and Menk. Bolton and Menk’s bid was for $11,000-$14,000.  Acting Mayor Dennis Thieling then made a motion to put a moratorium on all subdivisions until the combination is completed.  The motion failed to get a second and died.

Council then discussed security cameras at Doyle Fields.  The Stacy Lions Club has offered to fully fund the camera system and were looking for the council’s permission.  Council agreed unanimously to allow the Lions to  install the camera system.

City engineer Dan Boyum told the council the city has received six bids for the 2025 Street Improvement project.  Boyum told the council the low bid was from North Valley Inc. out of Nowthen, MN.  The total bid for North Valley came to $429,373.  Council passed a motion to accept North Valley’s bid unanimously.

Council then approved a temporary liquor license to the Stacy Lions Club for Ribfest and Stacy Daze.

Council then approved the hiring of a temporary employee to scan files to transfer to microfiche not to exceed $15,000.

Maintenance Supervisor Troy Nelson told the council that since the city has ended its financial support with the Chisago Lakes compost site, six residents have used the new makeshift compost site at the Stacy Municipal Building his department has constructed.

Nelson then told the council he would like to purchase an agreement for an acoustic leak detection system for the city. Currently the city is losing a large amount of water somewhere in its system.  The software has an annual service amount of $3400.  Council passed the purchase of the software unanimously.

Council agreed to hire Midwest Fence for fence repair and replacement on the back and side of the Stacy Sports Bar in the amount of $7500.

Council then discussed the existing bathrooms in Lions Park. The bathrooms have not been used for quite some time due to the repeated vandalism inflicted on the building.  Nelson told the council he can clean the bathrooms up, but suggested new timed locking doors and brighter outside lights to deter vandalism.  

Council adjourned at 10:15pm.

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