Colby shrinks buffer zone for fireworks dealers
By Nathaniel Underwood
An amendment to an ordinance governing the sale of fireworks within the city of Colby was adopted at the city council’s most recent meeting, shortening the distance necessary between the storage of fireworks and personal dwellings and gas stations.
The ordinance previously stated that fireworks stored by wholesalers or dealers could not be within 500 feet of a home, place of public assembly or gas station. The revisions will greatly shrink the distance requirements, allowing storage to occur as close as 50 feet from these entities.
The change comes after a request from BoomTown Fireworks, an entity intending to sell fireworks within the city limits. Jim Weideman, who represented the company at the council meeting on Tuesday, said he would like to sell fireworks on a lot on Hodd Drive but would not be able to under the prior version of the ordinance, as it would be within 500 feet of the Shell gas station.
According to notes from the city planning meeting held on May 13, Weideman said the city of Abbotsford has a much less restrictive policy when it comes to the storage and sale of fireworks, noting that he would be allowed to sell fireworks within 500 feet of gas pumps along Highway 13.
“We reviewed the fireworks ordinance, which we as the city planning committee feel is more restrictive than it should be,” council member Todd Schmidt said at last Tuesday’s regular council meeting. He also stated that Wisconsin state law uses the 50-foot restricted area that was proposed at the meeting, and changing the ordinance would bring the city more in line with state regulations.
The council voted unanimously to pass the ordinance changes.
There was some initial concern over whether or not BoomTown Fireworks could utilize storage containers for the sale of the fireworks; however, this issue was resolved at the city planning meeting in May.
Upon review of the ordinance, because the containers would be temporary, through July 15, they would be allowed under the current storage container ordinance.
“We’ll be mobile, where we can pull (the containers) in or out within a day,” Weideman explained.
Library update
Library director Vicky Calmes gave her annual library report to the council during the Tuesday meeting.
Comparing raw numbers from 2023 to 2024, the Colby Community Library saw a slight uptick in usage in 2024. The library saw 67,472 circulations in 2024, with 62,494 physical items lent out to users and 4,978 digital items lent. In 2023, there were 66,873 circulations. Digital items saw a significant increase in borrowing, with 3,962 items lent out in 2023.
Other numbers indicated an uptick in library visits, going from 9,983 in 2023 to 10,050 in 2024, and an increase in registered borrowers, from 1,930 in 2023 to 2,054 in 2024.
The library also increased the materials it has available for potential borrowers, adding over 3,000 physical books and 30,000 eBooks to its catalog in 2024.
The Colby Community Library remained the top lender in Clark County, accounting for 27 percent of all the items circulated in the county. By comparison, the library with the next highest number of circulations, Neillsville, had around 35,000.
However, Calmes expressed concerns about recent discussions by the Clark County Board regarding the funding of libraries, which would result in the county cutting aid to libraries on the border of Clark and Marathon counties.
Distribution of county funds for libraries is done based on circulations, and Clark County has long covered circulations from residents of Marathon County under an agreement between the two counties. However, current members of the county board proposed last year to cut funding for Marathon County circulations, and while the proposal was dropped for the 2025 budget, the county is once again examining the issue.
This would largely affect the Colby, Abbotsford, and Dorchester libraries. Colby had 24,780 circulations from Marathon County residents in 2024, compared to 19,814 from Clark County, while Abbotsford had a 6,016to-4,380 ratio and Dorchester saw 2,896-to-958 ratio. By comparison, the next closest library was Granton, which had just 338 Marathon County circulations to 7,851 Clark County circulations. Greenwood had just 38 Marathon County circulations, compared to 13,890 items lent to Clark County residents, and Neillsville had a 215-to-19,380 ratio.
“They have been in the past paying the 70 percent of Marathon County circulations,” Calmes said. “The state statute said that they only have to pay 70 percent and they’ve been doing that. But now they’ve decided they don’t want to do that, and that really puts the three border cities in a hard spot.”
“It’s just a lot of work, frustration and doubt,” she added, “because we won’t know until November, when the budget is already made for the city, and our budgets are already made, what they are going to dish out.”
REVVING UP - Diesel smoke will once again fill the air this weekend, as Dorchester Days offers tractor, truck, pedal and ATV pulls. TP ARCHIVE PHOTO
