City eyes return to July 4 for Independence Day fireworks

“If you have ever put on an event, you know how much volunteer labor it takes.”

— Sue Emmerich of the Medford Area Chamber of Commerce about the need to have a group to coordinate the 4th of July celebration in Medford.

Medford’s Independence Day fireworks will be coming back to July 4 in 2024.

At Monday’s committee of the whole meeting, council members recommended moving the fireworks display back to July 4 and are negotiating with Big Daddy’s Fireworks to put on the show. Three years ago, in order to secure a fireworks show, the city switched to having it on July 3 and signed a three-year contract at that time, the contract ended with this year’s show.

Sue Emmerich of the Medford Area Chamber of Commerce noted that the change to having it on July 3 brought with it complaints from area communities that had traditionally had their own events on July 3. The city’s move not only competed with those events for crowds, but also for workers. It was also noted that with July 3 being a work day this year, there was a challenge for organizations to have workers to be able to set up prior to the festivities.

This year’s celebration was also hampered by rain events on the evening of July 3 which raised questions of if the fireworks would occur and with passing storms on July 4 with delayed planned activities and reduced the crowds.

“I think we should go back to July 4,” said council member Mike Bub, noting there were bad feelings created by the city switching days and being perceived as taking away from other communities’ events. He noted at the time the city did not have a choice in order to have a fireworks show, but that now they do have a choice.

Council member Christine Weix said one of the advantages of having them on July 3 is that with the holiday on the fourth, people are able to sleep in. She said that after the city-sponsored fireworks there are many people who set off their own fireworks around the community into the early morning hours.

“Our residents are not considerate and they shoot fireworks all night,” Weix said, noting there are people who have to get up for work at two or three in the morning and who end up not being able to get any rest.

“It is sad. It is supposed to be quiet after 10 p.m., but the fireworks are an issue,” Weix said.

Bub noted that this year was particularly bad with people setting off their own fireworks around the community throughout the summer including the past weekend.

In general fireworks that shoot into the air are illegal to set off without a permit. However, the police department has not heavily enforced this rule. Mayor Mike Wellner suggested the city may need to step up the enforcement and have repercussions especially for those setting off fireworks late at night.

Emmerich reported that they polled both large and smaller employers with the feedback they received being that many felt the fireworks belonged on the fourth and noted that people who are responsible enough to have a job would be responsible to go home when they should be going home in order to go to work the next day.

Council member Clem Johnson also reminded the city council that Medford has many people who work second and third shift and that by having the fireworks on July 3 many are working that night and are unable to attend the show while they would on the night of July 4. “A lot of people would be working when they are going on,” he said.

Another option, noted Emmerich was to hold them on a completely different day. “We don’t hold Halloween on Halloween,” she said, of the city’s Harvest Days celebration and trick or treating. While there are communities who celebrate the Independence Day holiday on the nearby weekend, there was little support for that idea here, with the preference to bring the fireworks back to the 4th of July.

City coordinator Joe Harris suggested he could talk with Police Chief Chad Liske about having extra patrols around the 4th of July to do more enforcement of illegal fireworks displays.

Council member Ken Coyer also asked for the city to publicly announce whenever there are public or private (allowed with a city permit) scheduled so that people with pets can take precautions. “I have had a couple hunting dogs ruined by fireworks,” he said.

Emmerich also raised the concern of making sure there was an organization willing to oversee the running of the event. While service clubs such as Lions and Kiwanis are part of the festival every year, the city has worked with an organizing body in the past. In recent years Huey’s Hideaway has been the lead organizers for it. Emmerich noted that this year, after costs, Huey’s ended up making just $47 and expressed doubt that they would want to continue doing it in the future.

“If you have eever put on an event, you know how much volunteer labor it takes,” Emmerich said.

In the end, council members voted to recommend setting the fireworks display for July 4 and direct Harris and Wellner to continue to negotiate with Big Daddy’s Fireworks for a price. That will be brought to a future council meeting for approval.

Election change

The city is looking to make a change to help streamline the voting process and cut nearly in half the number of poll workers needed each election.

Council members voted in favor of spending $8,540 to purchase four “Badger Books” electronic poll books for use at elections.

Currently in elections voters go to a greeter table and then are divided up either by ward or alphabetically where they sign the poll book and get their ballots. There are two workers at each poll book. With the Badger Book, the system would allow people to go to any of the available computer stations to check in at the polling place with it scanning the bar code on their license, if the voter is not registered they can do so at that time rather than going to a separate table. Voters would electronically sign and receive a receipt for the particular ward or district ballot they will get from another station and then vote as usual.

According to city clerk Ashley Lemke, the biggest savings to the city is in labor with the city for a typical April election being able to cut from 19 workers to 9 to 11 workers. She estimated this would save about $1,000 to $1,375. She said it would also make it easier to implement split polling shifts on election day rather than having poll workers work 12+ hour shifts. Beyond this, Lemke said the system would feed directly into the reports she needed to file with the county, state and school district and reduce the post election work from taking a half day or more, to being done in under an hour.

From the consumer side, Lemke said there was benefit in speeding up the election process and reducing the length of time people are standing in line. She said some municipalities have been able to avoid having additional polling sites because they were able to streamline voting to reduce how long people were in line.

“I am not convinced you are going to save money,” Bub said, noting he supported it because it would streamline the process for voters and potentially improve overall accuracy.

The cost of the purchase will be split between what is remaining in the 2023 budget and what is planned for the 2024 budget for elections. It will be finalized at the August 21 city council meeting.

In other business council members:

  Recommended applying for the annual shared ride taxi grant. This is a routine application to receive funding to subsidize the taxi service.

  Recommended approving the purpose of the a new Digger Derrick - Terex Commander 4047 at a cost of $374,037 for the electric utility to replace either the 1999 or 2004 trucks currently in service. According to Spence Titera, the lead time for the trucks is currently 2.5 years from when they are ordered to when they arrive. The electric utility will budget the funds for the truck in the 2024 and 2025 budgets to build up the amount needed.

  Recommended approved of 2024 John Deere front end wheel loader from McCoy Construction Forestry out of Merrill for a cost of $349,280. The current 2013 John Deere 644K loader is almost 11 years old with 4,225 hours on it and streets/water superintendent Jason Viergutz said it is starting to show its age. As part of the purchase, the city will trade-in the current loader for a $140,000 savings bringing the net cost to $209,280, with funds to come from recycling and public works accounts.

  Recommended a rate increase of 52 cents per month for solid waste and recycling to pass along additional expenses charged to the city under its service contracts with Advanced Disposal and increases in city labor costs.