Menomonie City Council meeting for March 24, 2025

CITY OF MENOMONIE
COUNCIL MEETING
CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS
7:00 PM
Monday – March 24, 2025
AGENDA
Pledge of Allegiance

1. Roll Call

2. Approval of Minutes

Motion to approve minutes from last week passes.

3. Public Comments

No public comment is made by anyone.

4. New Business

a. Fire Department Staffing Study Presentation – discussion only (no action).

Tim and Jim as well as Corey- an architect for Cedar Corp, come forward to present the findings. They say the study evaluated where the Fire Department staffing was at, what it has been at, and where the needs are. Current personnel for the fire station are 28 career members, and 17 on-call members. There are three engines, two ambulances and one ladder truck.

The study found that before 1997 EMS calls were under 400 per year, but by now there are nearly 4000 of each fire and EMS calls per year. The law no longer requires employees to live in the area they serve, fewer on-call members exist, and substantial overtime demand means recruitment and retainment of employees is going down.

The study also assed where the demand was coming from- industrial buildings sometimes produce false alarms, an aging population means more medical emergencies will occur, and those and structure fires require a lot of staff to handle.

Unfortunately smaller employee numbers means there is a time crunch, and training suffers, as it falls on lieutenants rather than designated curriculum designers to create training. The representatives say that there are safety concerns that do not meet state standards- there have been incidents, according to the representatives, where a single man responds to a call in cases where the state says four should go. With current staffing each man needs to take a fire apparatus (a term that refers to general fire fighting equipment) just to have the right number for a structure fire, and possibly even more are needed to properly operate everything, say the representatives.

The study recommends increasing people per shift from 9 to 14. The study also recommends adding chief, fire safety inspection, and training officers, to allow up to two employees to be on vacation at a time (to help with recruitment and retention), and to have standby crews available in case of IDLH (immediately dangerous to life and health) situations.

The representatives stress that the current staff have been putting in plenty of overtime and responding to calls even on days off. They also recommend implementing response protocols to reduce forced overtime, and expand paid on call training. Fire station 1 is also recommended to be renovated, which was built, for example, when fire crews were all male. The last recommendation is to give the fire department purchasing power for apparatus.

A council member asks if it would make sense to have some staff with only paramedic training, given the higher amount of paramedic-specific calls. The representatives respond that it is more efficient to have cross-trained employees. Firefighters get overtime over 50 hrs, but paramedics get overtime after 40 hrs, making them more expensive. Fire-specific calls also last longer and require more personnel.

The mayor asked if a dollar analysis on the changes has been made, but none had. City Administrator Eric Atkinson, from zoom, says for personnel the estimate would be 1.8 million dollars, without considering the station 1 renovations.

b. Library Annual Report Presentation – discussion (no action).

Representing the library, Jolene comes forward to give a presentation containing information on library finances. They took in just over one million dollars in the last year, most of which was spent on staffing. Use of websites and library cards are up as well. The presentation identified upcoming projects as roof replacement and outdoor space development.

The mayor asked about ‘the goats,’ which were paid for with gift funds. Jolene says the goats were a very cheap and efficient lawn mowing alternative that helped mitigate buckthorn.

c. Award Urban Forestry Tree Contract – discussion and possible action.

Megan Hines from the Urban Forestry board comes forward to explain that the DNR issued a grant to Menomonie for the purchase of two inch caliper or larger trees, one shipment in the spring and one in the fall, which has to be done in 2025 to comply with the grant. The city is now looking at making use of these funds. The board wants 10 different types of trees to help with diversity. In response to a question, Megan says the trees would be planted in boulevards and other public areas. Motion to award this contract passes.

d. Proposed Lease with Thrive Psychological and Counseling Services, LLC for office space at

City Hall – discussion and possible action.

The motion passes to lease the space.

e. Proposed Lease with United Way St. Croix and Red Cedar Valleys, Inc. for office space at City Hall – discussion and possible action.

The motion to award the 1-year lease passes

f. Approve MS4 Annual Report – discussion and possible action.

Megan from Urban Forestry comes forward again to explain the report. It is required by the DNR to show what the city is doing to maintain water quality, educate the public, inspect developments for erosion and illicit discharges, inspect public and private stormwater ponds. The motion to approve the report passes.

g. Approve Well #9 Site Selection – discussion and possible action.

Mr. Scofield says that Wakanda park is the selected site for well 9 over Phelan park. Water quality tests were done and both sites are comparable. There will need to be a water treatment facility for iron and manganese either way. The Wakanda park recharge area (the land where a well draws water from) is also deeper in the city’s jurisdiction, so if any future situations come up, the city can act more comfortably. There is a spot west of the game park that the city can trade protections to to allow the location in Wakanda park to receive the well. The motion to approve the site passes.

h. Approve Phillips-Medisize Proposed Certified Survey Map on Technology Drive East – discussion and possible action.

The reason this came before the council, says Mr. Scofield, is because of easement lines that exist, and would exist within the new prospective building, that would need to be released by the city. A council member asks why the easements existed, but Mr Scofield says he has no worries about releasing them. The motion passes.

i. Approve First Amendment to May 20, 2024 Development Agreement with Menomonie

Holdings 1, LLC – discussion and possible action.

The developers possibly wish to expand a building rather than build a standalone, and request the same incentives to build that they would have received for a standalone building. A council member asks what the building is used for, and Mr Scofield says there is a collectible toy and red bull distributor in the building, and the additional space would be more warehouse space. This motion passes.

j. Approve 2025-2026 Menomonie Police Department Lieutenant Contact – discussion and

possible action

This motion passes.

k. Proposed resolution providing for the issuance and sale of $2,820,000 general obligation

promissory notes, series 2025A, of the City of Menomonie, Wisconsin – discussion and

possible resolution adoption.

Shawn comes forward to give this presentation. He goes over the “capital projects” for the 2025-26 year. The majority, he says, are general city improvements, such as the largest one: Pine Avenue. He explains the report is broken down by levy 5, 10, and 20 years, so that useful life of assets is taken into account for paying back the purchases. Shawn says that now all payments have been compiled into a category called “promissory notes,” which can be paid all at once. He says the city is at an A+ rating, but it would be nice to get to -AA, which would reduce interest rates and save money. Going forward the plan is to have a competitive bid to sell the notes which would happen April 21st. This would cause the debt levy to go up, and if the town does not go up in value (a very conservative estimate, according to Shawn), then the tax would increase to 1.39, up from 1.14 dollars per 1000 dollars of value per property. A council member mentions that population is projected to decline, but the Mayor says that new business will offset that, and economic growth should still increase.

The motion passes.

l. Mayoral Appointments to Boards and Commissions – discussion and possible action.

i. Sherry Gibbs, Recreation Advisory Board (renewal)

ii. Carla Kieffer, Recreation Advisory Board (renewal)

iii. Dick Martinson, Board of Appeals (renewal)

iv. Randy Eide, Board of Appeals – Alternate (new)

The motion to appoint these people passes.

5. Budget Transfers

No budget transfers occur

6. Mayor’s Report

The mayor mentions that two roundabouts could be coming to Menomonie proper. The city applied for a hyssop grant and was awarded funds to build the two roundabouts, but they are scheduled for a 2031 construction.

7. Communications and Miscellaneous Business

April 1st is city elections, says the city clerk. Mr Scofield says Pine Avenue will begin construction on the 31st. He also mentions the following three meetings:

a. Regular Council Meeting on Monday April 7 at 7pm

b. Organizational Council Meeting (with new councilmembers) on Tuesday April 15 at 7pm

c. Regular Council Meeting (with new councilmembers) on Monday April 21 at 7pm

Jayme Schindler, city treasurer, talks about a new service for mail processing, called lockbox, being provided by Bremer Bank. Before, Jayme’s staff had to process mail by hand, which is not as efficient and poses a risk to lose payments. A question is asked about what this costs the city, and Jayme says they only charge as they process the checks. The savings in labor costs is expected to be greater than the processing charge that bremer asks. The questioner asks about lay-offs due to this new service, and the mayor says that there have been conversations about lay-offs or movements of staff.

8. Claims

Motion to pay the revised claims list passes.

9. Licenses

a. Normal license list – discussion and possible action.

Motion to approve the revised license list passes.

10. Adjourn

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