Walz to fill vacant Stacy Council seat

Posted 9/19/01

Walz to fill vacant Stacy Council seat

By Jason Sileo

The Stacy City Council was joined by its newest member at the councilís Sept. 11 meeting, where John Walz was sworn in to fill the last remaining open seat there. Walz, his wife Dawn and two children have lived in Stacy for six years.
Mayor Kathi Lawrence said Walz, selected by the sitting council members, is a good fit for the council at this time and will bring new perspective to the boardroom table. Walz was one of three applicants who showed interest in the open position, left vacant by the death of Councilwoman Cindy Frich. Walz will serve the remaining year and a half of Frichís elected term.
With the recent addition of Connie Donahue, former city clerk, who filled the seat vacated by Mike Haehnelís resignation, the council is now back to full strength.
Following a prayer for the nation, victims and their families in the wake of Tuesdayís terrorist attack, the council held talks regarding the cityís joint powers fire agreement, and proposed budget figures for 2002.
Stacy Fire Hall Steering Committee representative Mel Aslakson approached the board with the results of the committeeís fire hall report formulated at the committeeís last meeting, held Aug. 29.
The report listed several possible options for the city with regard to providing fire coverage within its borders.
The council authorized a preliminary levy figure, to be certified in December, of $265,275 for 2002, up from last yearís figure of $227,750. The proposed property tax levy rests at about $82,000, up about $8,000 over last yearís figure. About $22,000 in CD investments were also cited.
Mayor Lawrence said she thought the preliminary budget hearings came out positively. She said increased budget allotments for police protection and capital equipment funds were a few of the positive changes in the works for 2002.
Of the additional police protection, Lawrence said ìitís nice to get that protection ñ thatís what the people wanted.î
The council voted to deny variance and rezoning requests from Dan and Elizabeth Vierling from R3 (multiple and family residential) to GB (general business) for the purpose of establishing an antique auto dealership inside the city limits. The requests were denied primarily on the basis of presumed hardship on neighboring property owners.
The council received favorable results from a compliance monitoring survey conducted by officials at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) Aug. 14. The report indicates the cityís waste water treatment facility (WWTF) ìis in good condition,î and lends praise to Tom Archibald, head of city maintenance, for his efforts relating to the cityís WWTF. The facility is averaging a 66,000 gallons per day flow, or about 44 percent of its 150,000 gpd capacity, the report notes.
The report did call for the removal of some overgrowth in one of the facilityís waste water storage ponds, calibration of some recording devices, and the submission of a formal facility plan by Dec. 31 in connection with phosphorous removal at the site.
Archibald also reported that maintenance staff would begin chlorinating the municipal water system as part of the systemís regular maintenance schedule.