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Lowest bid more than double tourism info center addition budget

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Outdoor pool rates to decrease at Wacouta Aquatic Park in hopes of spurring more attendance

By Correne Martin

With the lowest bid coming in more than double the budget of building an addition to Prairie du Chien’s tourism information center, the Prairie du Chien Common Council has voted to reject all bids for the project and release its designated funds back to the city’s cash reserve account.

Public Works Chairman Kyle Kozelka informed the council during its regular meeting Tuesday night that the budget for the project was $50,000 but the lowest bid was $106,439.

“A lot of people we expected to bid were just busy for other work, which is good, though not necessarily for us,” Kozelka said. “Don’t be surprised if this comes back in the fall for a bid.”

City Administrator Aaron Kramer will meet with the chamber board to decide the next course of action. He said he also expects the project to come back before the council in the fall, when contractors aren’t as busy.

Outdoor pool rates decreasing
During his council report, Kramer announced that, after meeting with Parks and Rec Director Mike Ulrich, they have decided to reduce the rates at the Wacouta Aquatic Park for the summer of 2015.

“This will be on a one-year trial basis to see if there’s a spur in attendance,” he stated. “Last year, we tried more promotions, and they were well received. But attendance has declined every year for the last five years. We’ve tried decreasing expenses slightly as well, but the taxpayers still picked up about $68,000 last year.”

Among the reductions, Kramer explained, will be the nightly and weekend swim passes. Also, a one-day family pass will be instituted in hopes of bringing in more customers.

“We are not unique. This is happening all over,” Kramer added.

Rice Street likely vacated
A resolution was approved, 6-3, to vacate the portion of Rice Street that lies adjacent to Wisconsin and Southern Railroad property along the Highway 18 Bypass. The street has never been platted. But, as the plan commission advised to the council, it is hoped that this action will alleviate some of the traffic problems of trucks going in and out of the property there.  According to Kozelka, this option also requires the least amount of work for city staff.

Following the council’s decision, in which Aldermen Ron Leys, Sharon Boylen and Ken Fleshner  voted no, a public hearing was set for Tuesday, May 5. Kramer said notices will be sent out to those affected. If approved by a two-thirds vote after the public hearing, the street will be vacated.

Leys also opposed vacating the street as a member of the plan commission. “Fracking companies in west Texas are going out of business. The price per oil barrel is going down,” he said. “Because this situation is very fragile at this time, I don’t think we should be vacating city property.”

Flag/motto contest planned
A city flag and motto have never existed in Prairie du Chien, or at least there is no record of such, until now. Following construction of the roundabouts this past summer, the American and Wisconsin flags were selected to fly above the Iowa and Wisconsin Street roundabouts, respectively. However, when it came time to choose the flag to fly above Blackhawk Avenue, the answer wasn’t clear, according to Kramer. The Bird City flag was selected for the time being, with plans that a contest could be held in the future determining a city flag and motto. Then that flag would be placed on that flag pole.

Mayor Dave Hemmer proposed the contest through which designs for a new city logo, flag and motto  would be created by anyone from the public who was interested. A committee will form to review submissions and the goal is for four final designs to be picked and then presented to either the council or the public for a vote. The winner would receive a $250 savings bond or $250 in Chamber dollars. More information will be given as the contest approaches. Kramer thought the contest might be held this summer.

Ohio Street reconstruction
Gehrke Excavating, of Tomah, was awarded the bid for the North Ohio Street reconstruction project for $904,258.90.

“There will be extra work regarding the spur that runs through Washington Street,” Kozelka explained, “and that will come back to the council at a later date.”

Kramer also noted that the city borrowed $1.08 million for the project, so he was pleased with the bid being well below that.

City government chain of command
A continuity of government ordinance was approved Tuesday night, establishing a chain of command for city government if a catastrophe were to leave top city officials incapacitated or otherwise unable to perform their duties. Currently, after the mayor and council president, there is no chain of command. With approval of this ordinance, the order now becomes: mayor, council president, and then down the line by the alderman with the longest consecutive tenure. If there would happen to be a tie of tenure length, the tie would go to the alderman who received the most votes in the most recent election.

In addition, as part of this ordinance, the mayor will come back to the council within 60 days with a determination on which officials would be considered second in command for positions such as city administrator, city clerk, police chief, etc.

Other business
The council approved resolutions terminating two tax increment districts, including TIDs 1 (Bennett Hardwoods district) and 7 (Bloyer business district). Kramer said both will have surpluses upon closure, of which the city would receive 30 percent, and the remainder would go to entities such as the school, technical college district, county, etc. He said those properties will go back on the tax rolls, thus benefitting taxpayers. Later this year, the council will hear a recommendation for closure of a third TID within the city.

The council appointed a new health insurance committee, which will report to the personnel committee, on possible modifications to the city’s current health insurance plan, including alternative options. The members of the health insurance committee will be Administrator Kramer, City Clerk-Treasurer Barb Elvert, Deputy Clerk Joni Clausen, Personnel Committee Chairperson Karen Solomon, Sergeant Kyle Teynor and Nick Gilberts.

The council approved bidding out the remaining parts of the North Gateway Business Park project plan, but decided to remove the business park signage until said bids are approved. This is being done to keep the project within budget limits.

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