The Owen Common Council held their regular meeting on Tuesday, August 12. Under Public Comment, Rick Nelson asked why the proposed chicken ordinance had been dropped. He said his neighbors got a letter. Mayor Scott Jalling said that the ordinance that has been in place for years doesn’t allow chickens, they got flak for trying to change it so decided that they would just enforce the current ordinance. Alderperson Ken Martine also mentioned the risk to the egg producers in the area if a chicken got sick. Nelson felt that didn’t make sense as townships have no rules about chickens.
An operator license was approved for Susan Young. She is planning on working at L.A.S.T. Ace.
Under the Fire District Update, Alderperson Jason Thornton said the fire district would like to buy the entire property on the edge of town. The city found an old map with a road and parcels laid out. Thornton suggested a joint meeting between the fire district and the city council. He said the fire district did vote to have the property and the Owen fire hall appraised. The total parcel on the edge of town is approximately 34 acres. DPW Chad Smith said that water could be tied into the lots on 10th Street creating a loop. He said the map showed where the wetlands were located and the area was divided into five parcels. Alderperson Bob Wilczek said he didn’t feel the fire districted needed more than 10 acres. They would still be able to teach classes at the new building. Martine wondered what the city would do with the land if they held onto it. Alderperson Ray Kilty suggested a possible solar field. DPW Smith said he would rather it stay as farmland. Martine said that would leave it available if it were needed in the future. Wilczek felt a joint meeting was a good idea. Kilty said they need to look at how a different location for the road might affect a potential swap of the current fire hall for the land. Thornton had talked to Fire District Chairperson Dan Goessl, who was willing to hold a joint meeting, either as a special meeting or before the next council meeting. Smith felt they needed to have a Planning meeting first. It was also felt a special meeting would be better if it could be arranged. They could also meet at the fire hall before the next city council meeting and then hold the city council meeting there. The dates proposed for the meeting were either Monday, August 25 or Tuesday, August 26.
There was nothing new from the city attorney on the police agreement. In regard to the nuisance property, the attorney has the information he needs and is working on it. Both items will be on the next agenda.
The council approved doing an application for a playground grant. It is due by October with delivery of equipment after the first of the year. If the grant is over $75,000, it will be funded at 100 percent. The grant is for equipment only, not the base under the equipment. The company they are looking at did the school playground.
The renewal with Spectrum Insurance was approved. It is up about $3,000 primarily due to an increase in police liability now that there are three full-time officers.
A draft of a mutual assistance agreement from the state was looked at. DPW Smith thinks it is a good idea. He said that realistically, the agreement will probably be statewide. The council voted to show support for the idea and revisit it when the agreement is more established.
Alderperson Pam Jaffke reported on the Finance Committee meeting. She said they spent a lot of time talking about the library. They also looked at DPW Smith’s information for public works. They need to come up with a plan to replace the library roof. Smith said there is a little bit of curling on the shingles. Jaffke said that meetings are scheduled to work on the 2026 budget.
DPW Chad Smith gave the Public Works report. For Water, he said they are working on the PSC Report. They are not supposed to be doing monthly billing. Next year, everyone will be quarterly. They can still make a monthly payment if they choose to. Large meeting testing is done. There are seven water meters and four at the Wastewater Treatment Plant. For Sewer, there was a Sewer Commission meeting prior to the council meeting. Staab Construction will replace the top of the standpipe for $58,300. The new pipe will be stainless steel. Staab will build it in-house and then lift it up with a crane. Smith said at the Sewer meeting that he had sent a letter to the DNR with a drawing and they are fine with it as nothing is being changed with the process, they are only repairing it. The valve will remain underground after the work is done. A vent that wasn’t put back when the standpipe was last repaired in 2011 will be added. It would cost $66,000 to bypass the sewer while the standpipe is being worked on. Smith said they are going to try having Decker haul the sewage instead. It would take two trucks an hour during the day at a cost of $155 per truck. He felt they could do one truck at night, if there are no heavy rains, at a cost of $75 per truck and Smith would run the truck. The lift station will pump into a frac tank and it will be pumped into the trucks from there. The plan is that the repair to the standpipe will take two days, but he figured a cost for three days. It would cost approximately $22,000 to haul sewage by truck as opposed to doing the bypass. They do have a back-up plan with another hauler that could fill in. Worst case scenario, they can still do the bypass. Kerry Ingredients will hold what they can for two days. The repairs probably won’t happen until November. They will look at doing something with the ladder on the standpipe at a later date. The wet test is done for the sewer. They had to take samples to Superior three times. Minnows are put in the water and they had a 100 percent survival rate. The computer at Lift Station 3 was hit by lightning. Until they got someone in to fix it, they had to manually turn the pumps on every 15 minutes. They used the sewer vac at the lift station and jetted sewer mains. They held Wastewater Operators Association (WWOA) training in Owen, with 15 operators from other towns present. They spent time on lift station maintenance and how to tear apart a fire hydrant. Under Streets, they finished painting curbs and crosswalks and mowed the grass in the ditches. The rain gutters at city hall were cleaned. They did repair work on 30 feet of sidewalk and replaced 28 feet of curb that needed repair due to water main leaks. They also got the blacktop pulverized on 2nd Street, repaired two storm drains, and repaired 290 feet of curb. Under Parks, they painted and carpeted the bandstand and washed the pavilion floors. They prepped the pulling track for the horse pull and mowed the grass along the Mill Pond. They fixed the fascia and soffit on the log picnic table shelter and Dennis Lulloff sanded and varnished the table.
Under the Mayor’s Report, Mayor Scott Jalling reminded everyone of the upcoming Lumberjack Show and Car Show. He has gotten complaints about the tree laying behind Pike Office Supply. DPW Smith said that Earl Martin paid for the city to remove it. Jalling also mentioned the Centennial Quilt made and donated to the city by the Curtiss Corners Quilt Club.
Under Other Reports, Cindy Cardinal reported that the Farmers Market is going well with 6-10 vendors each week. Alderperson Martine reported that John Heil had looked at the manual for the electric train and it has the wrong batteries. The Downtown Revitalization Committee has ordered new batteries. Alderperson Kilty reported on the United Communities of Clark County meeting. He said that Abbotsford and Dorchester are concerned about library funding. He said that Dorchester won’t last five years without any payment for Marathon County circulation. Abbotsford and Colby will not be far behind. He also mentioned that Colby and Abbotsford seem to have a better working agreement for police and a different attitude about the shared service than Owen and Withee. Officer Jake Haugstad said that with all the planned events for the weekend, Chief Fehlman will be working early in the day, and Haugstad and a Loyal officer will be working later in the day. This is a labor trade agreement with Haugstad scheduled to help with Loyal Corn Fest. This will mean there won’t be overtime for the weekend.
Under the Treasurer’s Report, Wilczek asked a question about the CDBG Housing Account. The response was that a loan has been made. Before bills were paid, a question was asked about the lighting strike at the lift station in Withee. It has been turned in to the insurance.