City Council members’ pay to remain the same
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GLENWOOD CITY—Last month the City Council attempted to make a policy change that required a member of that board to be at meetings before they would be paid. However, that policy did not met the approval of the city attorney.
So at Monday nights meeting on a motion by member Jess Olson, the council moved to reconsider the action of the January meeting about payment to council members. Austin Sandow talked about a member that is out of town and not able to attend a meeting being penalized, but that member still interacts with the public over city matters.
At the end of discussion, the council was split over the members pay and a tie vote required Mayor Rob Unruh to cast the tie-breaking vote to leave the pay scale as it has been. Voting against the motion was council members Steve Lee, Jess Olson and Ben DeGross while Kent Klutscher, Sandow, and Bill Ross favoring the move back to the way it has been.
The council also discussed another hold over from last month and that was the street intersection of First Street and Oak Street in the city’s downtown. Police Chief Joe Klatt presented the council with several plans to change that intersection which he called “a very unsafe intersection.” But he noted that there have not been and problems with it. Both state highways 128 and 170 are located at that spot and the state had informed the city that a four way stop would be best at that spot.
A couple of ideas that Chief Klatt had was reducing the number of parking spots on East Oak Street to allow a better sight line, he also mentioned that having west bound traffic on East Oak stop at First Street. But, Klatt said, “I like the four way stop best.” Council member Steve Lee brought up the idea of stoplights at that intersection, but DeGross quickly and loudly voiced disapproval of that idea saying, “We don’t want to be like Boyceville.”
In her report, City Librarian, Rochel Karlson noted that the Dolly Pardon program for youngsters has 64 children enrolled in it and that they have 15 that have graduated. She pointed out that they will be having a Dr. Seuss Birthday party on March 8 and a Adult Book Tasting Party on March 21.
Karlson informed the council that the library had received a $100 donation towards local history and the Friends received $1,500 from the St. Croix Electric for large print and non-fiction material.
During the public comment time at the meeting the council heard from Nancy Graese, who stated she wanted to talk about two things, the city logo and the property taxes.
She noted that her single bathroom home on Pine Street is over a hundred years old and she pays $4,200 in property taxes. “I might have to go back to work,” she told the council. This property tax increase came about after the reassessment a couple of years back. When talking about the taxes, she asked the council, “be a good steward of my money.”
Todd Danielson appeared before the council to question the reason that the city inspector showed up at his business on West Oak Street telling him that the city had received a complaint that he was living in his business. “My resident is at 116 Pine Street and not on Oak Street.” He wondered who made the complaint and if the council knew about it. The police chief said he received the complaint and invited Danielson to come to his office during the day and would go through the process with him.
