The council discussed many things at the May 6 meeting, with the following a summary.

Wastewater
The Council discussed the contract for the wastewater treatment reed bed planting to be completed for the third time.
Alderperson Mark Fitzsimmons asked, “Did we get any kind of guarantee on this planting, unlike last time?”
City Clerk-Treasurer Nicole Pilgrim answered that she didn’t see one. Mayor Mike Henke mentioned that the contract states that the company will return for inspections and plants will be available to be purchased to replace any plants that die but adds that it doesn’t say who will pay for the replacements.
“So, we will still end up paying for it, probably,” Alderperson Laurie Foster commented.
Alderperson Jason Meyer added, “It looks like the only thing they offer is if they (the plants) die, they will offer to sell us more.”
Fitzsimmons said he wondered if the company had some type of guarantee for the plants and Alderperson Jacob Huff stated that they could reach out to the company and ask for clarification to see if they offered any type of guarantee. The council voted to approve the agreement with CBS Squared Inc., for professional services regarding reed bed planting for the city of Stanley wastewater treatment plant at a cost not to exceed $9,500. They also approved the agreement with Season’s Harvest Greenhouse and the City of Stanley regarding the reed bed planting for the City of Stanley Wastewater Treatment at a cost of $50,250.

Finance
The Stanley City Council amended the 2024 General Fund Budget. Henke stated that the amendments are to keep up with the changes that were made after the auditors had finished their report, including increased revenue from machinery sales.
The council also amended Stanley code 2-3-3 and 2-3-16 to remove the bond requirement to align with 3-1-9. Pilgrim explained that it was discovered when bonding was discussed at a training conference. “We have actually covered all the employee bonding, so we don’t have to have additional.” She said that when she was looking to repeal the ordinances stating that the City has it, she noticed that the city had already put in that they eliminated the duplicate bonds so she corrected the other ones from that one. “So that should save money on bonding as well,” Pilgrim said.
Deputy Clerk-Treasurer Shauntia Hale, Pilgrim, and Henke were designated by the council as signers of all checks as the council also designated the following financial institutions as public depositories: Marine Credit Union, Local Government Investment Pool, and Forward Financial Bank.

Public Works
The Council continued the meeting to accept the proposal from Dorner for the replacement Dam Gate Actuator for $11,245. Public Works Operator in Charge John Hoel told the Council that they discovered the problem when spring maintenance was being performed on the dam. “We turned the middle gate on and as soon as we hit the button to operate the gate, it went dead.” Hoel said that after explaining the issues to Dorner they believe that there is a problem with the motherboard. “We do have a DNR Dam inspection this year. Unfortunately, it’s going to have to be fixed.” He added that there is money in the budget to cover it.
Fitzsimmons commented that the DNR will want it operational.
Hoel told the Council that the one gate has never worked so it is run on hand and not on automatic.
Foster motioned to move forward with the proposal from Dorner and it was unanimously passed.

Building Permits
The city of Stanley will now create and print building permit applications and building permits at city hall.
“It will save money and it’s really not that hard,” said Pilgrim.
The council updated building permit applications by requiring residents add an estimated completion date to building permit applications with a $10 renewal fee after a year.

Fire Department
As the regular council meeting continued, Meyer presented a question asking if Stanley Fire Chief Korey Hagenson would be the one who would inspect that houses have visible house numbers and request that homeowners mark their homes appropriately. Pilgrim and Henke said that in the past the Fire Chief did it, but it hasn’t been done for fifteen years.
“Let’s address that and see if we can get people to do that,” Henke stated.
“Have there been any problems with getting people to show up to medical calls,” Meyer asked Hagenson who was present at the meeting.
“No, but lately with what was said, a lot of guys don’t even want to show up because they are hurt over what has happened.” Hagenson said referring to the recent changes approved by the city council to various city departments. He explained that most medicals only last an hour and in the past if a volunteer came down to the station and responded to an emergency call then they were paid.
“How do we choose the first four before they get there?” asked Hagenson in regard to the recent requirement that there be no more than four responders to EMS calls.
“That needs to be defined a little bit more because the first four for what kind of call?” He explained that certain calls require more than four volunteers to respond.
Meyer asked, “I know recently there have been some changes because of budget concerns. Would you go over the impact or just what you’ve experienced since we’ve gone over the budget issue and any changes that might have been ordered or taken place.” Hagenson replied that the fire department must complete the state required work first and shared that required reports and department trainings are important and take time but due to the new ten hour per week limit on, those things are difficult. He added that some department trainings aren’t required for the Fire Department but are good for responders to know.
“So that’s a big impact on us. We are always looking to train. Yeah, ten hours a week isn’t enough,” he said. Meyer then asked when responders begin to get paid if there is a medical call. “You get paid from the time of the call to the time that we leave,” Hagenson said and continued to explain the reports that are required to be completed for the emergency calls.

Denzine Surveying
Rick Denzine of Denzine Surveying explained to the council that he divided up the railroad right of way land that Monte Shilts purchased into two different out lots, a single built lot with the southern portion of Fourth Avenue to be dedicated to the public.
“It went well,” said Denzine of the work he drafted.
“There’s a lot of work involved in that,” Foster declared.
“There’s quite a bit and dealing with the railroad,” Denzine agreed.
The council unanimously approved the CSM of Out-Lot 1 of CSM #5863 drafted by Denzine for Shilts.

Outdoor Recreation Plan
The council amended the City of Stanley’s Outdoor Recreation Plan by adding the Stanley Community Association, changing the amount to one million dollars, and adding the future splash pad.