Menomonie City Council approves finding waterpark leak, holding Community Cookout

I apologize for the audio quality on tonight's meeting. We recorded the city video stream as we have in the past, but the audio in the recording is inconsistent. There is now a separate audio player of the sound from the meeting.

CITY OF MENOMONIE COUNCIL MEETING AGENDA
Menomonie City Hall
800 Wilson Avenue
1st Floor, City Council Chambers
7:00pm
Monday – August 18, 2025

Pledge of Allegiance
1. Roll Call
2. Approval of Minutes
3. Public Comments (agenda items only).
4. New Business
   a) Proposed Affordable Housing Development Request for Statement of
Qualifications – discussion and possible approval.

The housing committee is considering developing a 41 acre parcel owned by the city near the industrial park. 

The property is not suitable to industry due to wetlands and slopes. The map is in the meeting packet. The city is working on a request for qualifications from developers for the development of housing on that land. They would like the properties to be owner-occupied. The request is in the meeeting packet and will probably come back to the council on Oct. 20.

Housing should be affordable, community-oriented, and sustainable. 

The request was approved by voice vote.

   b) Special Event Request for Downtown Menomonie Great Community Cookout, 6th Avenue East, 2 nd Street East and Lot 6, Thursday September 11, 2025 – discussion and possible action

The rules were waived to allow Becca Schoenborn to speak about the event. There will be ten food trucks and a beer tent. there will also be community organization booths. This will be very much like this event has run in the past. It will be 4-8 PM on Oct. 11. 

The permit was approved contingent on proof of insurance.

5. Budget Transfers

A transfer is requested to have an internal manual for internal controls. This will be contracted to WIPFLI. There currently is no manual of financial procedures. This project should take twelve weeks.

The second transfer is $8500 for building repairs to find the leak in the water park.

Both transfers were approved unanimously.

6. Mayor’s Report

The road construction at Wakanda Park has been completed. The Pickleball courts will be closed soon for a while to be resurfaced.

7. Communications and Miscellaneous Business

Eric. Anderson discussed the annexation and data center. The city will be issuing a FAQ and will publish several statements within the next week.

UW-Stout starts next week.

The menus on the city website will be updated to increase ADA compliance and make it easier to find content on the site.

Ryland Erdman mentioned that a constituent had brought up the possibility of a re-vote. Corporate council stataes that the ordinances went into effect the day after they were published. The vote could be reconsidered, but would require passing a new ordinance detaching the property. He also mentioned the draft rental inspection ordinance from GROWW, and the housing committee is already considering it.

8. Claims

The revised claims list was approved unanimously by roll-call vote. 

9. Licenses
   a) Normal license list – discussion and possible action

The licenses in the packet were approved by voice vote. 

10.Adjourn

The meeting was adjourned at 7:30 PM

Additional narrative by Sara Caldwell

1. Roll Call

All present

2. Approval of Minutes

Approved

3. Public Comments (agenda items only).

Rebecca Schoenborn – At the meeting representing Downtown Menomonie in case the Council has any questions regarding the Great Community Cookout.

4. New Business
   1. Proposed Affordable Housing Development Request for Statement of Qualifications – discussion and possible approval.

The City Manager opened the discussion and turned it over to Dave Schofield. The City owns a 41-acre parcel bounded by Nicolas Drive, Kothlow Avenue and Lookout Road near the Stout Technology Park. The land was originally considered for commercial development. Because of the wetlands in the parcel, it may be better used as residential property as the wetlands limit the number of acres available for a business. The Ad-Hoc Housing Committee reviewed the proposed Request for Statement of Qualifications (RSQ). The goal is to create an affordable housing development that will appeal to those making no more than 30% of median household income for Dunn County which is $71,785. To keep the project sustainable another goal will be to keep the housing in this range and not see the costs increase dramatically when owners sell. Plan to put a notice in the Colfax paper as well as send the RSQ to developers the city is aware of that may have the expertise to develop this property. Statements of Qualifications will be due on October 3rd, and the matter will be brought before the Council at the October 20 meeting. Sydney Brennan made a motion to approve. Abby Pickard seconded it. All Council members voted aye.

2. Special Event Request for Downtown Menomonie Great Community Cookout, 6th Avenue East, 2nd Street East and Lot 6, Thursday September

11, 2025 – discussion and possible action

Becca Schoenborn spoke about this annual event that will be held in public parking lot 6 on September 11th from 4 to 8 pm. There will be 10 food trucks, a beer tent and activities for children including fire and police vehicles to view. Between 1 and 2,000 people are expected to attend. Sydney Brennan made a motion to approve. Mary Solberg seconded the motion. All Council members voted aye.

5. Budget Transfers – two of them:
6. Procure Consulting Services to create policy and procedural manual to enhance staff proficiency in financial and operational best practices. The City Administrator stated this will reduce audit costs in the future. Currently do not have financial accounting manual. This will be the first. Matt Crowe asks if this will help with credit rating? This will help as per City Administrator. Gretchen Yonko asked if this amount is only for the initial creation? The Mayor said yes but preventing one mistake is worth more than this contract. Ryland Erdman stated he was surprised there wasn’t a manual already and wondered if the city can build on manuals from other cities. The mayor states the city has a new software system and it may not be the same as other cities have. The City Manager stated that other cities do have manuals, but each city has different departments, and some may not have the best practices. Wipfli has been the city auditor for a long time. They are familiar with the city’s software and books. No other firm has been working with the city like they have. They will do the best job for the city.
7. Transfer from various accounts in order pay to fix a leak at the water park. It is complicated only because the transfer is from three different accounts.

 

Both transfers were considered in the same motion made by Jeff Luther. Cody Gentz seconded it. Roll call vote. All voted aye

6. Mayor’s Report – Wakanda park road construction complete. Pickleball courts will be resurfaced after Labor Day. People will need to use the courts at Boyceville. The Mayor said they are nice courts.
7. Communications and Miscellaneous Business

Website will have FAQs on the Data Center issue within a week.

Move in at Stout is this weekend.

There is a Football game Thursday night.

The website will be updated to be more user friendly, and photos of all the council members are being added.

Ryland Erdman asked if the council could revisit the vote on the rezone/annexation issue. The attorney said the rezone/annexation result was published in the paper on August 13 and became effective the following day. The documents have already been filled with the Register of Deeds Office. A change would require an updated ordinance expanding on the issue and may not be easy to do.

8. Claims

There was a revised list of Claims. Mary Solberg motioned for approval. Matt Crowe seconded it. Roll call vote. All approved.

9. Licenses
   1. Normal license list – discussion and possible action

Ryland Erdman motioned to approve. Randy Sommerfeld seconded it. All approved.

10. Adjourn

Cody Gentz moved to adjourn.