By Anne Thom

The "suits" came out for hockey in Stacy, Aug. 28. North Branch Hockey Association President Jeff Henderson looked very Gentleman's Quarterly for the council meeting, in attire that suggested he was there to impress.

Accompanied by Craig Moline, Mite director, the two wanted to talk about pursuing the building of a hockey arena near the new Stacy water tower. The two had met also with City Engineer Chuck Schwartz prior to this evening to look over the site.

Schwartz explained a 600-800-seat arena would need approximately 200 parking spaces and that he felt that parking lots make good neighbors to water towers. If an additional practice sheet is included, Schwartz thought an additional 200 spaces would be needed. Sizing up the potential, Moline thought "it's tight but..." it could be workable.

The NBHA is asking the city to donate the land and the water/sewer hookup, as well as their bond rating in order to obtain the funds for construction. Moline said the city would not be obligated to the bond, the association would be and no taxpayer dollars would be used for construction of the building. After it is constructed the city might help out with maintenance though it was suggested fees collected through use would fund some of this.

Councilor Mel Aslakson asked, "Is the Hockey Association slightly interested or very interested?"

To which Mayor John Daher added, "Let me paraphrase, you want a hockey arena and don't much care where it is."

The representative agreed that would be true. They have explored sites in North Branch and Harris as well. They just want to "git-r-done." Henderson acknowledged the first choice had originally been an arena near North Branch High School. Nothing has materialized and the association is in danger of losing membership without a home place to practice.

Mayor Daher asked the rest of the council what they thought. Councilor Barbara Avalos responded she is absolutely in favor of the plan. Hearing no objections, Daher said, "How soon would you folks like to meet?" in order to work out the details. "Tomorrow?" Moline asked, drawing some chuckles. Though Daher prefers to work quickly, the next discussion will take place at a council work session on Sept. 6.

Open with permission

Someone on the Stacy Council does not want his or her business to be seen by city hall. Attorney Pete Grundhoefer noted that one of the councilors has asked for a policy on who opens city mail. Grundhoefer explained that statutorily, a city clerk has authority to open any mail addressed to the city. Mayor Daher said, "Any mail I get here is city business. If not, it should be stamped personal and confidential." A motion was passed to allow councilors to opt out of allowing Payne to open mail addressed to them by notifying the city clerk in writing.

Payne has been busy meanwhile with other mail. A Request for Proposals (RFP) was issued for the services of City Engineer, City Attorney and City Building and Code Inspector. Payne said she received 10 responses regarding the engineer's position, one of those being from Chuck Schwartz of Bonestroo and Associates who currently perform those services. Two responses were received regarding the attorney's position; one was from current City Attorney Grundhoefer. Four responses have been received regarding serving as city building and code inspector. It was not stated whether one of those was from the man who currently handles that job, Jack Kramer. Councilor Aslakson asked his colleagues how they would like to go about screening the applications. Mayor Daher said he didn't feel like he wanted to spend much time on this and brought up again that no one on the council had yet given him any explanation as to why the city should be interested in replacing the current personnel. He reminded Aslakson that all he had heard from him was a cryptic reason of the city keeping its options open. Aslakson merely said that he thought, "from time to time, cities should change." Daher pressed again for a time commitment to go through the proposals, reminding the council the budget process is underway and it has already been explained to them that making a change to any of these areas of responsibility could result in significant dollars being spent in order to make the transition.

Preliminary figures on the 2008 budget were presented. This is the first draft. The budget will not be finalized until December. The preliminary figure represents a total city budget of $638,155. This is an increase of approximately 33% over the 2007 budget of $477,576. The council will be working to reduce the preliminary figure over the next three months.

In other news:

Pursuant to an emergency meeting that took place on Aug. 24, a bar employee is filing a harassment claim against the city stemming from recent allegations of liquor operations staff misconduct made by some council members. Both Grundhoefer and city human resource consultant David Clark, also an attorney, have recommended the city hire outside legal counsel to investigate the claim. Councilor Wilson made a motion that the complainant be required to reimburse the city for the cost of an attorney should the complaint be unsubstantiated or unfounded. It was agreed between the council and Grundhoefer that this legally can't be done. The motion to hire outside counsel at a cap of $1000 passed. Once an attorney has been hired an investigation will be done and the employee's allegations will be responded to by the city in writing.

Fenway Court resident Lynette Nadeau was back at the council regarding issues with My Ex's Stuff Thrift store on Stacy Trail. Nadeau was told the thrift storeowner is getting rid of the dumpster and posting "No Dumping" signs at the rear of the building. In addition, the light that shines over the parking lot will be replaced as City Inspector Jack Kramer has documented it far exceeds allowable limits for brightness. "That's great. Happily ever after." Nadeau said, marveling at how quickly the city had resolved that issue.