The Owen Common Council held their first meeting of 2025 on Tuesday, January 14.
The council met with Krystal Hays of Municode via Team Meets. She went through the recodification process for the …
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The Owen Common Council held their first meeting of 2025 on Tuesday, January 14.
The council met with Krystal Hays of Municode via Team Meets. She went through the recodification process for the city ordinances and the cost. She said that Municode has been around for about 75 years and that they have been purchased by Civic Plus. They have over 10,000 customers in the United States and Canada. It is projected that the project should take about two years and the payments will be spread out over that time. The total cost is projected to be $20,950. After the ordinances are recodified, there will be an annual cost of $1,200. The city attorney will review the legal memorandum when complete to deal with any interpretation questions. The ordinances won’t update automatically for state statute changes, but the city attorney should let the council know when changes need to be made. The city and their attorney will still have to keep the ordinances up-to-date and either could be allowed to publish new ordinances online. For an additional fee, Municode can also do things like Employee Handbooks and make them internal only, rather than public. Once the ordinances are recodified, they will be published online and residents will be able to search them when they have questions. The council approved moving forward with using Municode to recodify the City of Owen ordinances with fees being paid as presented.
Health Officer Brittany Mews was present to talk about adopting the Clark County Hemp-Derived Cannabinoid Ordinance. She presented much of the same information that was presented to the village of Withee the night before. She said that city officers will be able to enforce the ordinance if adopted by the city. Mews said the vape shop next to the daycare on Central Avenue is grandfathered in. The ordinance will mean that sales can’t occur to anyone under 21. Something could be added to the city ordinance that if a business is sold, it would no longer be grandfathered in. The city doesn’t have a vaping license, only cigarette. The council agreed to work with the city attorney to get what they want in the ordinance and put it on the agenda in two weeks for approval. Mayor Scott Jalling asked Mews about the status of getting a pill disposal box at city hall. Mews said they are working on getting the grant. It will be put on the next council agenda to approve their support for the grant.
Membership for Clark County Economic Development in the amount of $1,374 was approved after discussion of whether it was budgeted for and what the city receives for their money.
Reimbursement to a resident for their taxes was approved. Both the resident and their bank had paid the taxes.
Condolences were expressed to the family of former mayor Al Gajewsky.
The 2023 audit is complete. The cost of the 2024 audit in the amount of $24,940 was approved. It should be done by the end of April.
Under the Public Works Report, DPW Chad Smith said they had problems with a low level alarm in the ground reservoir. The cost to fix the problem was about $2,400. He had to send out letters to people with lead or galvanized pipe. Only three letters were sent. Smith has been elected to be Vice Chair of the Waste Water Operators Association Northwest Region. Owen is not in that region, but Taylor County is and Smith feels that it will help to make better training available. He said it will only be three meetings per year. He participated in a video about the Grundfos Pump, one of which was purchased for Withee. The new pump will eat rags and can pump 1,300 gallons per minute. A leak in the standpipe was repaired. Smith is waiting on a quote to rebuild it. He is also working on getting quotes for a couple of check valves. They removed grease from the main sanitary sewer line coming from Withee. Matt Bottlemy passed his Advanced Test. The new sewer ordinance is done and in draft form. The owner of an adjacent property asked to purchase a city easement at the corner of 1st Street and Ash Street. The response was it can’t be sold as it is an easement. Smith is looking into the Innovation Grant to see if the city might qualify. They have been rebuilding shop floor grates and the broom on the 1445. They have also been replacing lights at the library with LED lights. They had to do some repairs at the Senior Center. Some ceiling tiles came down when they got wet due to a leak from the tub upstairs. Smith said when he went upstairs they found the shower wall gone and plastic being held in place with duct tape where it should have been. Smith also talked about a log jam on the Popple River that is changing the flow of the stream. He has reached out to Clark County, WI Dept. of Transportation and the DNR, hoping everyone could work together to fix the problem. The DNR said it wasn’t their problem, but gave rules that would need to be followed to fix it. Clark County can’t help because it isn’t a county road. He said that nothing can be done about the problem at this time.
Cindy Cardinal gave the Downtown Revitalization Committee (DRC) report under Other Reports. The resignation of Linda Barna was accepted and it was requested to put approval of Toby Wantlin as the new member on the next council agenda for approval. The DRC voted to reimburse the city for 25 percent of the total cost of replacing the depot roof once the work is done and the total cost is known.