By Anne Thom

Stacy residents Ken and Barbara Cummings want to buy a corn burner to supplement their home heating capabilities. Ken Cummings told the council during the public comment portion of the March 28 Stacy City Council meeting that corn burners are environmentally friendly and emit little or no odor.

The Cummings were being proactive having heard recently that Rush City may be seeking to ban outdoor heating units.

Ken Cummings stated, ìWe donít want to find out after that fact that the city doesnít want us to do that.î

City inspector Jack Kramer endorsed their cause. He said as far as he knows there is nothing in the city ordinances that would prevent the installation of the unit.

Kramer said corn burners are becoming more and more popular and are much cleaner burning than wood. Cummings said ìIt would smell like popcorn on the stoveî drawing promises from citizens in attendance to follow their noses to the Cummings home in the hopes that is what they would find.

Councilmember John Walz told City Attorney Peter Grundhoefer to look into it adding, ìdo it before we have an ordinance.î

The Cummings will store the fuel in an outdoor trailer. Mayor Michael Carlson asked Kramer if the city needs to regulate the corn burners. Kramer said, ìFor what theyíve got, corn being the best fuel, I donít see a particular issue with it at this point.î

Kramer was actually at the meeting to discuss nuisance issues. Kramer made a request for a special public hearing for a zoning violation within the city. The complaint against the property is for nuisance violations, ìjunk car complaints and junk in general.î

Two letters have been sent to the property owner with no response. The date of the public hearing will be April 11.

Kramer wanted to know if he should be enforcing the sign ordinance because, ìit has a lot of flaws in it.î

The sign had been worked on extensively and rewritten a year ago. Councilmember Barbara Otterson said the sign ordinance is ambiguous. Kramer said the language is hard to understand. Mayor Michael Carlson suggested Kramer meet with the ordinance committee.

The water tower

The Council unanimously approved City Engineer Chuck Schwartzís recommendation for the site of a new city water tower to serve the west side of the city. Earlier in March, Schwartz recommended a site at the north end of the Stacy Ponds Business Park.

A group of 20 citizens from the Richland Meadows neighborhood were at the meeting. It took two minutes to make the decision final on the water tower, and as they had done at the earlier meeting in March, the residents cheered the councilís decision.

With a pool of citizens to possibly draw community involvement from, the Mayor and Council then made a marketing pitch for more citizen involvement in decisions.

Daher said, ìItís important that we get your input on every aspect of this city. Will there be another new building to go with the water tower, a new city hall? Councilmember John Daher said, ìWe are in dire need of a new city hall.î

The favorite site would be somewhere near the water tower. Daher said, ìWe need something more presentable than this.î He called for the council to start the planning.

In other business:

Stacy Wines and Spirits is up and running in its third week of business. Store Manager Brian Hachey said, ìThings are going well; to date we have done better than expected.î Hachey has seen business come from many county residents on their way home via the Stacy exit. A grand opening is planned for the weekend of April 6-8. He is happy to have a new neighbor at the Heading North, Heading South Mall as the coffee house Sacred Grounds has opened for business.

The Stacy Lions, represented by Russell DuVal and Jerry Schroeder presented the Lionís plan to add 32 feet to the north end of the Doyle Field building. The plan includes putting in two large bathrooms, approximately $18,000 to $20,000 in improvements. The council explained changes to the building and zoning codes since the original building was constructed. The Lions would like to start on construction now in order to have it completed by June for the Bike Run. The Lions asked for some city money to help fund the project. In turn the building is available for the city to rent.