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Stacy City Council met October 13 for a regular meeting. All members were present.

In public comment resident Terri Peterson complimented the council on their hard work.  Peterson also added she was happy they were addressing the subject of a new fire truck.

Harris Mayor Randy Carlson also spoke to the council about fire trucks.  Carlson said he heard the Stacy Lent Fire Department may be getting rid of a fire truck in the future.  Carlson jokingly reminded the council that Harris does not have the funding that many other cities may have.  Mayor Mark Utecht told Carlson there will be a truck available in the future and that he would love to see it stay local.  The two agreed to stay in touch.

City attorney James Monge  gave his opinion of the ARMER radio contract agreement.  Firefighter Scott Koehn told the council the current radios Stacy FD uses are fine and can be used for five years.  Monge reminded the council the agreement is for a subscription to ARMER and if and when the fire department may need new radios, the agreement would allow for purchase or lease.  Council passed a motion to accept the ARMER radio agreement unanimously.

Monge next explained how a moratorium would work if the city would like to enact one halting data centers.  Monge explained the moratorium would be for one year and the  city would have to conduct a study of land use.  “If you are planning a study, you can enact a moratorium” Monge said.  

If a city annexes land in and requires a land use study the city can enact a moratorium.  Mayor Utech said he would be in favor of a moratorium and most of the council agreed with him.   Council agreed to have Monge pursue the motorium as the city needs to do a land use plan after annexing Lent. 

Council needs to pick a date for a public hearing.

In the engineer’s report, Dan Boyum told council televising the second half of the city sewer system will begin in November.  Boyum told council the completion of the televising would mean the city would not need to televise again for five to seven years.

Boyum next presented a quote for painting the water tower both inside and out.  Boyum told council the exterior painting of the tower would run around $372,000.  Inside painting of the tower will run around $382,000.  Maintenance supervisor Troy Nelson told council his opinion was the inside does not need to be painted and the city recently had the tower videotaped by divers.  Council agreed to send the quote for the outside to be reviewed by the finance committee.

Boyum and the council discussed the proposed final assessment roll and timing for  the 2027 street improvements assessment hearing. The streets affected would be: Floral Ave, Erie Lane, 340th, 353nd Street as well as Fenway and Finch Avenues and Fenway and Finch Courts. Estimated costs for the street projects is $493,768.  

Mayor Utech re-iterated he would like to see the decision made after the election thus pushing any assessments off until 2028 as a service to homeowners.  

Council agreed to hold a public hearing for the assessments at their November 10 meeting at 6pm.  Council did agree the terms of the assessments would be payoff in five years and six percent interest or not higher than the city’s rate.

Council next approved a payment of $11,871 for the replacement of the city’s wing plow.

Council then approved payments using the Burn Tower Fund for instructor fees, books and sweatshirts for the Stacy Fire Department.  Council asked in the future for a breakdown of hours spent for instructor classes.

Keeping on the fire department, council next heard from firefighter Scott Olson.  Olson asked the council for a bump in the PERA retirement fund for Stacy FD.  Currently the department has $2,700 per year served after vesting for five years.  Olson was requesting $3,700 to match surrounding communities of similar size.  The council all agreed they support the firefighters but agreed to raise PERA to $3,500 and to look into it more  at a later date.

Council then discussed a request from a resident looking to hold weddings at their residence in city limits.  Mayor Utecht said he did not support the events mainly because the city was told there would be no alcohol on the premises and there was no way to know or enforce the condition.  Council was told the last wedding held at the residence drew complaints from neighbors.  

Council adjourned at 9:35pm.

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