Clintonville City Council round-up
By Bert Lehman
The Clintonville City Council approved a positive performance evaluation for City Administrator Sharon Eveland at its Sept. 12 meeting.
The evaluation was discussed in closed session by the council.
Prior to the vote in open session, Mayor Lois Bressette said the performance evaluation is not a public record, as it is a confidential personnel record.
Garbage containers
Some of the garbage haulers who had previously picked up garbage and recyclables in the city of Clintonville have still not picked up a number of containers from their former customers.
The city contracted with a single garbage hauler starting June 1.
Eveland told the council that residents who still have containers from a previous garbage hauler should call Clintonville City Hall.
“What we’re going to try to do is coordinate, once we know how many we have and where they’re located,” Eveland said. “And we’re going to look at getting our street department to come by and get the containers and either dispose of them ourselves, or we will make calls to the haulers to come and get them.”
Rec Center
Prior to voting to close the city’s Rec Center building for the winter, Justin McAuly, Parks & Recreation director, informed the council that the Clintonville Area Food Pantry no longer wants to stay in the Rec Center.
“I was told this week that the president of the food pantry said they are no longer interested in staying,” McAuly told the council.
He added that the cost of installing an electrical furnace, duct work and winterizing part of the Rec Center was around the same cost as a year’s rent at a new location.
Alderman Brad Rokus extended appreciation to the food pantry for the service it provides the community.
“It’s unfortunate that we’re unable to accommodate them at this time but I’m glad that we were able to have a relationship with them,” Rokus said.
Eveland informed the council that she told representatives of the Food Pantry that it could continue to use the Rec Center for cold storage.
“Even though they will not be able to operate out of there we are still thinking to allow them to store things there that will not freeze, in an attempt to help mitigate some of the impact on them with moving to a new location,” Eveland said.
The council approved suspending use of the Rec Center indefinitely until the city makes a decision about its future.
Swimming pool
The council approved scheduling the city’s consulting firm on the outdoor swimming pool project to present different options to the council.
It also directed the city’s Ad Hoc Pool Committee to develop a recommendation that is a hybrid of two different options discussed at the council meeting.
Fire contract
Eveland informed the council that the city of Clintonville is in the process of revising the fire protection contracts with neighboring municipalities.
“One of the things that was brought to my attention is there were concerns from other municipalities regarding the transparency of the fees that we were collecting, specifically in regard to rent,” Eveland said.
She added that the city is trying to be more transparent, and is also trying to build a small safety net to help with the cost of future repairs to the fire department’s facility.
“In essence what we’re going to do is rather than have the fire department make the repair costs mixed in with city hall, we’re going to separate them, as the police department has its own separate funds for that,” Eveland said. “So that the budget will actually be more clear and more transparent as to where the money is going.”
The amount the city is currently charging area municipalities isn’t sufficient for the city to set aside funds for fire department facility repairs, Eveland said.
Future well
The council approved designating $500,000 out of the Water Fund Balance to be put toward a future new well.
Rokus voted no. Aldermen Mark Doornink and Lance Bagstad were excused from the meeting.
There is roughly $1.5 million in the Water Fund Balance.
Prior to voting, Alderman Jim Supanich said the Utility Board is considering setting aside money in the coming years for a well so money won’t have to be borrowed in the future.
Also before the vote, Rokus stated a future well is important but he’d like to see the city designate funds for additional water towers in the north side of the city to help accommodate the city’s capacity.
City Hall remodel
The council approved, by a 7-1 vote, a one-time payment of $500 to city employee Todd Koelbl for the work that he did on the remodeling of city hall.
The project came in under budget. Rokus voted no.
“Todd’s one of our city employees who has come in often, working extra outside normal hours,” Eveland said. “This is something that’s not part of his normal tasks and duties.”