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Stacy City Council met November 12 for a regular meeting.  All members were  present.

The meeting began with Sheriff’s Deputy Kyle Jones updating the council on October activity in Stacy.  Jones said the department had 78 traffic stops resulting in 67 warnings and six citations and three arrests and 14 medical calls.  Jones informed the council Officer Andrew Haider will be assuming the Stacy patrol beginning in January.

Sheriff Brandon Thyen along with Flock Camera representative Lilly Holt gave a presentation on Flock Traffic Cameras.  Holt told the council over 6,000 communities in the United States currently use the cameras which scan and record license plates of all vehicles.  The information is filtered through databases including the FBI and flagged if the vehicle is associated with any criminal activity.  Holt and Thyen assured the council the cameras are not used for regular traffic stops including expired tabs.  Thyen said the cameras have helped find over 100 missing children  since its inception. Thyen gave a recent example of the cameras’ success.  There was a domestic in Rush City where the suspect stole a vehicle and fled the scene.  A few days later that person was caught on camera coming back to the scene and was quickly apprehended.   

Thyen told council Rush City has seven cameras, Wyoming four, Chisago and Lindstrom will be installing soon.

The cost of the cameras run around $3,000 each. Service of the software and the hardware will all be covered by Flock.  

Mayor Utecht said he was in favor of the cameras but the council needs to take some time to see how many and where to place them.  Thyen assured the council there was no rush and they may choose to not install cameras, “It just makes our jobs more efficient” he added.  

Council then heard from Nic Kirvida who presented a plan for a building in Stacy Ponds three months ago.  Kirvida is asking the council for another 120 days to complete his due diligence and compile bids and speak to engineers.  Kirvida does not have a purchase agreement on the property which originally had been spoken for by XPress Trucking. XPress never followed through on paperwork or correspondence with the city.  Council agreed to grant Kirvida a 120 day extension.

The council then unanimously agreed to approve a final plat for a property at 35091 Grand Avenue. John and Anne Goserud would like to split their property into three lots. The largest will be 7.89 acres with another at 7.82 acres and the smallest being 3.82 acres.  Council agreed to the split unanimously.

Council then adopted a contract with ParMar Security. ParMar will install new security in Stacy Wine and Spirits.  Mayor Utecht said the current system is outdated and the upgrade is needed.

In the engineer’s report, Dan Boyum told the council the quote for televising the sewer and water lines would come to around $24,000.  Mayor Utecht said the city would save money by televising because it would point out any potential problems in the lines and would eliminate a search and find if a pipe would break.  Council agreed to hire Pipe Services for televising which would come out of the storm sewer fund.

The council then approved $2,500 to Stantec for a feasibility study for paving the streets of 320th, 315th, Gable, Genesis and 314th.

Maintenance supervisor Troy Nelson  told the council he had a company out to do sound checks on the water pipes.  The city has lost over 1 million gallons of water  and would like to fix the leak wherever it may be.  Nelson said he would like to sound each curb stop in the heavy usage parts of the city to either find the issue or rule them out.  The cost of sound detection is $185 per hour.  Nelson said the company works “pretty fast” and can do a substantial area per day.  Nelson pointed out, if the leak is determined to be between the curb stop and the meter it would fall on property owners insurance.  Council approved the leak detection up to $10,000.  

Council then discussed and agreed upon changing driveway code for new builds as follows:  for driveways on city roads that have curb and gutter, a five foot apron will be required, for no curb and gutter but municipal services are on the property, an apron of two feet would be required and driveways along a road with no services, gravel to the road edge will be permitted.

Council next accepted a donation from the Stacy Lions for $1,200. 

Council finished the meeting with more discussion about potentially extending the mayor’s term to four years.  Council member Jeff Barrett added he would be in favor of keeping it two years because it would allow the public to make a change if they see fit.  Council member  Mike Hoppe said he is in favor of a change to four years because it takes a long time to learn all of the nuances of city government.  Council member Tim Sawatzky said the choice should go as a question to the public on the next ballot.  Council decided to table and discuss at a later date.

Council adjourned at 9:53pm 

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