Loyal council approves projects in cooperation with school, fluoride question for ballot

The Loyal Common Council took action at its last meeting to allow the Loyal School District to move forward with several projects involving city property including updating lighting, adding handicap parking, and repairing the softball field.

First, the council discussed moving a light pole in the student parking lot 15 feet to the east. With the concession stand complete, that area is being used as the main entrance for the football field. School district officials wanted more lighting by the concession stand, as they anticipated more people parking in the parking lot across the street. Right now, the light is lighting up the street corner and school district officials felt it would be more beneficial if it was moved further in.

The city owns the light pole. “We thought we rented it, but we own it. It’s getting rotten on the top and Xcel said it needed to be replaced,” said city council member Tim Froeba.

Xcel Energy provided the city with a quote of $4,359 to replace the pole and lights and move it to the desired location. The school district was asking the city to pay half of that, or $2,179.50.

“We don’t have the money for it. It wasn’t budgeted for and we’re short already. So my thought was the school can do it this year and we will just reimburse for our part next year. Then we can budget for it,” said Froeba.

He also noted that, as of the meeting, there were only two varsity football games at Loyal left, so the project probably wouldn’t be done in time to affect those, anyway. The other sport people would likely park there for would be baseball. Some might park there for basketball games as well.

“Xcel will bill us everything and then we recoup from the school, so maybe the school should pay us first,” said Froeba.

Some council members asked if there was any way the city could squeeze the money out of its budget, just to get it done.

“The only thing would be if we take it out of the street budget. But then we’ll have to crack-seal less next year,” said city clerk Shannon Toufar. “Also, it’s only September. Things can still happen between now and the end of the year and the budget is tight as it is. If we are over in one spot, we have to take from another spot to balance the budget.”

Given that information, council member Tom Bobrofsky made a motion to allow the school district to replace and relocate the light pole at its own cost, and the city will reimburse for 50%, not to exceed $2,179.50, after the first of the year. All voted aye.

Handicap parking The council also discussed putting in four handicap parking spots on West Central Street by the new concession stand.

“Mr. [Chris] Lindner [district administrator] would like all four on the north side. There would be two on each side of the sidewalk. We can try it that way and see how it goes,” said council member Matt Kubista, who is also the police chief.

He also suggested making the south side of the street “no parking” so the area does not get more congested.

“It’s very tight there. It gets busy,” said Mayor Carmen Englebretson.

The council was concerned about people with a handicap having to walk or use their wheelchair in the street because there is no sidewalk running parallel to the street. However, they did not see a way to avoid that until someday down the road if they put in more sidewalk. Toufar said likely some of the elderly or handicapped people would continue parking in the side lot adjacent to the baseball field anyway, even if it meant they had to walk a little farther, because they wouldn’t want to walk in the road.

In the end, the council decided just to try it and see how it goes.

“We can let them try it, if they want to temporarily put up some white lines,” said Kubista.

“Signs are pretty cheap and we have money in our sign budget,” added Toufar.

Themotiontoaddthefourhandicapspotswasapproved unanimously.

Softball field upgrade The school district also wanted to add infield mix dirt to the softball field in the West Side Park at a cost of $12,000, which the district would pay.

“It’s what everyone tends to use. It drains easier and is supposed to make it easier to play on, things like that. It’s a much better product than what’s there now,” said Greg Brock, council member and Loyal-Greenwood softball coach.

The school district had also expressed interest in possibly adding drain tile and dirt in the outfield where there’s a low spot, which the school district would pay for as well. There would be no cost for the city other than a day or two of labor for the city workers.

“It’s our park; they’re paying for the upgrades other than labor. I think it’s a win for us,” said Froeba.

The council unanimously passed a motion for the school district to upgrade the park using its money to pay for materials and the city’s labor.

Fluoride referendum question The council also passed a resolution formalizing the city’s intent to go to referendum to ask city residents if they wanted fluoride in their water or not. The referendum will be held April 7 during the spring election and the results will be binding, meaning the city will be obligated to follow whatever the people decide.

The resolution reads, in part, “Whereas, differences of opinion have been expressed on the benefits and/or health concerns of water fluoridation by the City of Loyal; and whereas, the City Council deems it best in the view of the diverging opinions on the matter of fluoridation of city water to have the citizens of the City of Loyal vote on the subject through a binding referendum so that the majority opinion of the voters decide [sic] this issue.”

A “yes” vote will indicate the person wants to keep fluoride in the water; a “no” vote will indicate they wish to stop fluoridation of the city water.

If the city of Loyal decided to stop water fluoridation, it would join a growing number of municipalities in the state that have chosen to do so. As of February, 78 public water systems in Wisconsin had stopped adding fluoride to their water, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Locally, as recently as Sept. 2, the Abbotsford Common Council discussed discontinuing fluoridation of the city’s water supply. The issue was tabled and the council agreed to have a yes-or-no questionnaire mailed to residents in the next round of water bills to get an idea of what the populace thinks before making a decision.