RIVER FALLS — A pair of grant process agenda items were passed during the Aug. 27 River Falls City Council meeting.
The city adopted a resolution allowing staff to submit a grant …
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RIVER FALLS — A pair of grant process agenda items were passed during the Aug. 27 River Falls City Council meeting.
The city adopted a resolution allowing staff to submit a grant application to the Federal Highway Administration’s Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Program to install for-fee, publicly accessible electric vehicle charging stations in River Falls.
Alderperson Scott Morrissette said while community members have questioned the city’s commitment to conservation, he hopes items like this one passing show they are still committed.
“We’ve heard what you have said, but I hope you hear what we’re doing, putting some meat behind what we say,” Morrissette said.
While Morrissette was in favor of the application, he also expressed concern about the application not yet having a set amount requested from the grant or cost to the city. This information will come at a later step in the process.
“As Councilmember Morrissette’s indicated, we’re providing you more transparency earlier in the process,” City Administrator Scot Simpson said. “We wanted to give the council, frankly, an opportunity for a stop sign. So, this is more of a stop sign moment than a green light.”
Simpson said the agenda item was to get the go-ahead from council to apply, and the acceptance of the grant would be another process. Council would have the power to not accept a grant if it is awarded.
Alderperson Jeff Bjork was the lone vote against the item, raising a question to Simpson about the comparison between gas vehicles funding the upkeep of the roads through the gas tax versus the fees raised from the charging stations.
The council also approved the application of a cost share grant with the Wisconsin DNR for managing aquatic invasive species unanimously. Simpson said this is on a further step than the previously discussed grant item. The grant comes after the DNR contacted the city about a population of non-native phragmites.
Public comment
Benjamin Fochs thanked city staff for their quick response to storm damage the morning of the meeting. Western Wisconsin faced major storms overnight on the day prior to the meeting, but Fochs said trees were removed from the streets before people could even notice they were there.
“It’s kind of fun or interesting to watch how effectively, by funding and having good equipment, how fast you can recover,” Fox said. “It’s amazing how fast these big trees disappear before the rest of the world even kind of wakes up.”
Sustainability was once again a major topic of discussion during the public comment phase of the meeting.
“Developing a climate change policy is more important than a monetary return on the investment,” Patricia La Rue said. “As a community, we are holding great hopes on the development of Mann Valley, a perfect spot to give incentives to businesses who agree to invest in charging stations.”
La Rue said encouraging the charging stations will encourage employees that work in Mann Valley to purchase electric vehicles, as there will be a convenient charging station for them at work.
“Is installing charging stations more expensive than not? Sure,” La Rue said. “But so are seat belts, so are smoke detectors, so is painting stripes on the highway to keep drivers on their own side of the lane.”
Kevyn Juneau, a city resident and associate professor of conservation and environmental science at UWRF, shared concerns about trees in the city with the council. Juneau gave three points of focus, the first of which being the overall health of the trees. Juneau said some of the city’s trees have signs of disease, stress and invasive species, including the Emerald Ash Borer.
“The storm last night resulted in a number of these old and unhealthy trees to fall down,” Juneau said. “A dedicated urban forester could and should be proactive at recognizing these unhealthy trees and remove and replace boulevard and park trees before they damage property.”
Lance Hovland spoke about the development of a climate action plan, which has been mentioned frequently during public comment period in recent months. Hovland said UWRF is working on one of these plans, and it provides the city an opportunity to work with them along the way.
Alison Page, a state assembly candidate, spoke on a willingness to meet with the council regarding any of the city’s issues as election season approaches.
Carol Ackley, a member of the community, returned to the council to speak on the departure of Mike Noreen from the sustainability coordinator position.
“It has been more than four months since the shocking loss of Mike Noreen and its enormous impact on our community,” Ackley said. “Hopefully we can find someone with his passion, work ethic and community connections.”
Ackley asked for transparency, a positive update and for the community to be heard during the hiring process.
Noreen also spoke on transparency from the city, this time regarding a $500,000 grant from the Department of Energy for weatherization and beneficial electrification of low to moderate income homes. Noreen asked the council for a status update on the grant.
Resident Dana Linscott continued the conversations on the city yard waste site issue discussed in previous meetings.
Linscott claimed waste runoff from the yard waste site drains into a spring-fed pond, then drains into the Kinnickinnic River. Linscott said City Administrator Scot Simpson’s rebuttal at the previous meeting was a “carefully crafted” comment that was “technically truthful and extremely misleading.”
Simpson’s response to public comment on the yard waste site during the July 23 meeting was as follows:
“I want to be careful about rebutting public comments, but I think we’ve seen repeated inaccurate statements from at least one member of the public,” Simpson said. “The compost site is licensed. It’s inspected by the state. We’ve recently had two inspections, and no violations were noted. That site does have stormwater management active on the site. It’s not true that the water goes directly to the Kinni.”
Linscott said the final sentence about the water not going directly to the Kinni was chosen carefully because it ignores the spring-fed pond Linscott claims it runs into before entering the Kinni. Linscott also mentioned Simpson did not acknowledge the claim that the site poses a health hazard to nearby residents.
“I would be happy to prove my claims if you will simply give me 15 minutes of your time,” Linscott said. “Come to the yard waste site, I’ll show you what I’m talking about. I would be equally happy to provide an overview of the solutions other communities use to avoid these problems if you will allow me to do so at the next council meeting.”
Linscott closed by mentioning a housing presentation during the July 23 meeting that showcased the need for housing in the city. Linscott said to solve the need there needs to be community involvement, and with that comes transparency and directness from the city.
The final public comment came from William Hansen, who congratulated the city for their stewardship of the Junction Falls Dam and Hydro and Lake George.
“Our local production of over one million kilowatt hours of renewable electricity by our Junction Falls Dam and Hydro continues, by far, to be our largest local source of renewable energy,” Hansen said.
Purchasing Policy Updates
The mayor chose to table a resolution updating purchasing policies. The reasons Mayor Dan Toland gave for tabling were to get a more detailed outline of what a budget manager’s role would entail and which staff would sign off on real estate contracts.
Other Business
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