The Owen Common Council held their regular meeting on Tuesday, March 10.
Feral cats was again on the agenda for discussion. Mayor Scott Jalling said that Jen LaRock had spoken to him and is in favor of getting rid of the cats. She told Jalling that Tom Swiggum and Socwell, Schindler and Associates were also in favor. They were willing to have live traps put on their property. Alderperson Pam Jaffke also spoke with LaRock. In addition, Tim Swiggum is willing to allow traps in the old theater building. Jaffke said that nobody is doing the cats a favor by feeding them, that there are issues with them killing birds and disease. She called the city of Neillsville but the person who had run the program to remove feral cats there has moved. Jaffke also talked to the Clark County Humane Society. They told her that trap, neuter, release doesn’t work. They do have a Feral to Farm program and will spay and neuter the cats for free if they know where they are going. She said it is always going to be a problem if people continue feeding them. She said the feed mill has their own rodent control, adding that “the city doesn’t have a rat problem, they have a feral cat problem.” Alderperson Bob Wilczek said that people on both sides have been talking to him. He spoke with a couple of vet clinics. They have county run resources that Clark County doesn’t have. He said they need to start enforcing the ordinance about feeding animals. Alderperson Jason Thornton said the police need to talk to the people feeding them. Wilczek said the city has an ordinance against live trapping so property owners can’t do it, but the city can. Alderperson John Mauel said they would have to give some time if they trapped a cat for the owner to reclaim it. Alderperson Ken Martine suggested putting out the information not to feed the cats and that after a certain point the ordinance will be enforced. Jalling asked about having a permit for property owners in town to live trap cats on their property. Jaffke said the feral cats are also a problem with house cats because cats are territorial. Wilczek felt the first step was a public service announcement in the water bills and newspaper. Jaffke said she would work with city clerk Tracy Rau on that. The city will then follow up with enforcing the ordinance.
The council decided to revisit moving some of the city’s savings accounts to the LGIP (Local Government Investment Pool). Prevail Bank had just made a big donation to the city and LGIP interest rates are going down. Mauel asked if Prevail could do better. Wilczek said maybe they could just move half the money. Clerk Rau will see what Prevail can offer in terms of interest on a CD.
Under the Mayor’s Report, Jalling said he attended the court hearing for the nuisance property on 2nd Street. The city was awarded $10,000 and an abatement order. It will be put on the next agenda and the city’s attorney will be available for the meeting to discuss next steps. The judge gave the property owner two weeks to clean it up on her own, but she declined. If Owen’s public works department does the clean-up, they would need to wear body cams. Jalling felt that the city should still do their Clean Sweep on May 2 even though the county is doing one in August. He said he had the clerk make up forms for committee adjustments and he would like them back before appointments are made at the Organizational Meeting. He would like to move some people around and asked them to say which committees were most important to them. Martine said that maybe there could be a rotating committee member on the Finance Committee.
Under Other Reports, Martine reported that the DRC would like to make some changes with the billboard sign by Curtiss. They would like to promote local businesses. A piece of plywood could be added with vinyl signs that would be changed periodically and could be leased to area businesses. The city could also use half the space if they wanted to advertise their lots. Wilczek said he would rather put businesses on the billboard sign and put up signs by the property that the city has available as previously discussed.
Jaffke reported on the Police meeting. She talked about them moving money to a CD and K9 Jimi’s dental issue. She said they talked about the rental agreement and who would be responsible for maintenance issues. This will be put on a city agenda for discussion. Jaffke said they also talked about the possible new RMS (Records Management System) that they might acquire in partnership with the county.
Under the Treasurer’s Report, a question was asked about a bank account now nicknamed Drilling for Water. Clerk Rau said she did that on the report when she began investigating what each of the savings/reserve accounts were for.