City council approves upgrades from sidewalks to sidearms

The Rhinelander city council took up several items under new business at their last meeting on Sept. 8. The first was the upgrading of the Rhinelander Police Department’s service pistols, moving from .40 caliber weapons to 9 mm. The cost would be $28,855.50, which included the service pistols themselves, sights, holster and extra magazines. The cost also took into account the trade-in value of the current weapons as well as any unused .40 caliber ammunition. City administrator Patrick Reagan said the funds for this purchase would come from the biennial borrowing, which had previously been approved by the council. This purchase was approved.

Another item in front of the council was that of a mobile radar station to replace the current speed board, which is 20 years old. The new radar station would also keep track of data such as how fast cars are traveling past the sign and at what times there were more incidents of speeding. This would allow more focused patrols. The radar station was approved at a cost of $11,223.14.

Radar speed signs, which would be permanently fixed in different locations, were also on the agenda. These signs would come at a cost of $9,000. Mayor Kris Hanus asked whether the current signs seemed to be less effective over time, as people started to ignore them. He also asked how difficult it might be to move those signs from time to time, much like moving a patrol car radar monitoring from one place to another in the city.

“You can do it,” city administrator Patrick Reagan said. “It’s a bit of work. To pull them off isn’t that difficult. To put a new pole in isn’t that difficult. Most communities keep these where they’re at. They keep them in high traffic areas.” 

Reagan said he felt the signs were strategically positioned, and also that they were still being at least somewhat effective. 

After some discussion regarding moving radar speed signs around town, this purchase, too, was ultimately approved.

Next on the agenda was approving a pay request for the Messer Street project. The request came from Musson Bros., Inc. for $619,389.88. Mark Barden, of Town and Country Engineering, appeared before the council to further discuss the pay request as well as the budget for the project. He said, using a 5 percent contingency, additions could be made to the budget, as had happened many other times on other street projects, to take advantage of available funds. He projected the entire project would come in at $6.4 million, which would be $200,000 under budget, which included change orders that had already been processed as well as a cushion for change orders that were yet to come through. This payment was approved.

The matter of the purchase of an Eaton 53 BTX Duplex Strainer for the city’s wastewater treatment plant, as well as a Borger Macerator was also in front of the city council. The duplex strainer purchase would come in at $17,526.00 and the macerator at $25,200.23. 

A duplex strainer, Reagan said, is a filter for non-potable pumps that use recycled water. The macerator, he said, deals with the sludge in the wastewater treatment, and the vendor is the only one in the area that deals with this particular piece of equipment. Both of these purchases were also approved.

A wetland delineation for the Shepard and Coolidge Street project was also brought forward. Barden said there had been some discussion about widening that road, perhaps allowing a bike path and/or a sidewalk on one side. In order to have an accredited delineator, Star Environmental, Inc. to come in to show the city where those wetlands are, the cost would be $4,500. The council approved this contract.

The current Messer Street project, which is under budget, could be expanded to include adding a sidewalk to a block of Thayer Street where there is no sidewalk. This would not require any tree removal, and Barden was confident that it would also not cause issues for residents parking in their driveways. Mayor Hanus said he felt the only impact would be that those residents would now have to perform snow removal on their sidewalks. The council approved a suggested plan for the section of Thayer Street sidewalk.

Code enforcement

Mayor Hanus said the city had been without a code officer for some time but had hired an individual for this position. With that said, he wanted to review both the “snow and ice removal” ordinance as well as the “trees and shrubs” ordinance. He said he expected dialogue and any possible revision suggestions could continue for the next few meetings. One clerical correction was found in the “snow and ice” ordinance, which could simply be cleaned up, as long as it did not change the meaning of the ordinance, according to city attorney Steven Sorenson. 

Fire department chief Brian Tonnancour said he would also like to see a set amount of snow that would require removal by city residents. At this time, there is no language in the ordinance to that effect. Sorenson said he would rather see language simply keeping sidewalks clean, rather than using a specific, measurable, amount of snow.

In the matter of the trees and shrubs ordinance, Mayor Hanus said, it had been brought to him several times that trees are dead or dying that are public-facing or had to potential to negatively impact a neighboring property. City forester Tom Jerow said there were many problems in the city with dead or dying trees on private property. He said if a tree was not going to fall on any public infrastructure, the city usually let the private land owners deal with it between themselves. The city had, in the past, sent letters letting land owners know that the city could take the tree down at a specific cost, which usually solved the problem. 

In the end, with the one small grammatical change to the snow and ice removal ordinance, the council was satisfied with both ordinances as they sat.

The next Rhinelander city council meeting will be at 6 p.m. on Sept 22.

Beckie Gaskill may be reached via email at [email protected].