By Anne Thom

The city of Stacyís investment in roads continues.

City Maintenance Supervisor Tom Archibald met with the council Sept. 12, and the council chose Bergman Companies out of Eau Claire, Wisc., to perform some needed road repair. Bergman was the sole bidder at $3,900. Prior to accepting the bid, the council talked about the state of Stacyís residential streets and how they should be maintained.

This was prompted by Councilman John Daherís question about road maintenance. Daher noted that he has seen cities spread gravel on roads and asked about the benefit of doing that, and if there is a benefit, how often should that be done.

Both Archibald and City Engineer Chuck Schwartz agreed it should be done at least every year. ìHave we ever done it?î asked Daher. Schwartz and Archibald said no, but both agreed it is a process that extends the life of the road.

As the cityís proposed budget and levy were also on the eveningís agenda, cost was then called into question by Daher.

Schwartz, who works for the city as a contractor and whose hours are also limited by that budget, has kept a spreadsheet of city improvement projects and their projected cost that he felt the city could be budgeting for, but nothing formal.

Daher said, ìI would like to see a schedule of any big buck items we need to do, water, sewer, etc.î

Schwartz said in his opinion, the roads should be the most important expenditure worked on.

City Financial Advisor Todd Hagen of Ehlers and Associates was in the audience and at that point asked if he could address the council.

Hagen said, ìI suggest we coordinate this with a financial management plan going seven years out.î

He said roads are a routine capital outlay and can then be budgeted and levied for appropriately.

Schwartz and Archibald then will need to figure out how much road surface the city needs to cover and what that would cost.

Roads and transportation will become a more critical issue in the future as the council also passed a resolution and sent it to the Chisago County Board to actively seek federal funding for an expansion of the Hwy. 19 (Stacy Trail) interchange.

Hagenís true mission to the council meeting on Tuesday was a bond sale to finance the new water tower and what is known as the Stacy Ponds Business Park Improvement Project.

Bonds will be sold in the amount of $2,215,000 to finance both projects at the Sept. 26 council meeting.

Hagen will handle the bond sale and then attend the city council meeting that evening to deliver the news on the rate, which he is hoping comes in around 4.18 percent on 20-year bonds.

After going through numerous formulas and configurations the bottom line for Stacy taxpayers on the new water tower is it will be paid for 80 percent by the city and 20 percent by user assessment in what should amount to a $2 per month or $25 per year assessment to the average city water and sewer bill.

The water tower portion of the bonds amounts to $805,000.

The city has talked about a new water tower for years and everyone on the council seemed pleased that it will finally be constructed this year and at a cost they feel is reasonable.

Some issues were raised though about the improvement portion to the business park. For that portion of the bonding, $1,410,000, Daher said he had heard some concerns about bonding for park development and not having any businesses there.

A cart-before-the-horse discussion followed as Hagen continued his optimistic presentation.

The councilís concern also was that the city owns the business park. If businesses coming into the park ask for some sort of assistance in paying on the assessments, the city would be paying on the bonds.

Hagen recommended against establishing a large tax increment financing (TIF) district within the park as TIF generally includes a deal to the business on the assessments to the property.

Daher said this was going to be discussed at and upcoming Economic Development Authority (EDA) meeting.

Resolutions were brought forward then for the bond sale, with Aslakson voting no on holding a public hearing to discuss the matters with citizens.

Daher wanted to make sure he was understanding that Aslakson was in fact voting no on requesting a public hearing on the bonding measures. Aslakson affirmed that and said later he felt the bonding issues should go to a referendum.