City commits to shelter, park band stand

Council commits to getting projects done as fundraising continues

The city of Medford is taking a leadership role in two proposed community improvement projects.

Council members at Tuesday’s city council meeting approved spending up to $550,000 from county undesignated reserve funds to ensure a new bandshell is built in the city park and a new shelter with bathrooms will be built as part of the redevelopment of the Whelen Ave. parking lot area.

The big question for council member Laura Holmes was if the proposed stage was going to be big enough to hold concerts and events.

“It will be 36 feet by 40 feet,” replied city coordinator Joe Harris.

“That means nothing to me,” Holmes replied. Harris then compared it to being about the same size as the city hall council chambers which would allow for ample stage space. He noted the picture in their packet showing an artist rendering of a proposed design is not necessarily to scale.

The stage is planned to be angled to have the stage area open to the hill leading up to the park shelters. Council member Mike Bub questioned if there will be a rear wall to the band shell noting that there usually is as a way to improve acoustics.

Council member Ken Coyer said he has seen others including a performance stage in Duluth where it is open in the back and the speakers are directed to the front for the sound to come forward.

Holmes noted this is a preliminary design right now and said she would hope the final design would come before the council before being put out for bit.

Council member Dave Roiger also raised concerns about the roofline of the proposed Whelen Ave. shelter suggesting the overhang be built to allow people in the shelter to access the bathrooms to the rear of the shelter without needing to go out from under the shelter. He noted this would be a concern if it was raining during an event there.

“We are getting a little ahead of ourselves,” said mayor Mike Wellner, noting the action being taken at that meeting was to approve the funding for the project. The design specifications will come back to the council later this winter.

Wellner said the city’s pledge to support the projects and guarantee they will happen gives the committee the ability to make an additional push for donors to raise funds for the projects.

Coyer noted he has heard nothing but positive comments praising the city for making this investment in the community.

“It will be an exciting 2023 for the city of Medford,” Wellner said.

Aldermen unanimously approved the funding with council member Christine Weix absent.

City budget

City of Medford property taxes are expected to remain fairly flat compared to last year as the city council approved a budget calling for $5,045,732 in expenditures between the general, construction and debt service areas. This compares to total spending of $4,901,095 in the 2022 budget.

According to Harris the levy, the portion of the city’s budget paid by local property taxes, will be $1,841,437. This does not include the tax increment district amounts. The city is limited to levy increases based on the amount of net new construction in the community. There was about $3 million in new construction that came on the tax rolls in January 2022, an increase of .91%. According to Harris, the city portion of the property tax rate is projected to remain the same as last year.

“This is great news for taxpayers,” Bub said.

Capital project plan

Council members approved the 20232031 capital project schedule as follows: In 2023, the city is scheduled to Reconstruct Madison Ave. and do water main pipe bursting behind Medford Area Senior High School. In pipe bursting a new pipe is fed in as the existing pipe is broken apart reducing the amount of excavation that has to occur.

In 2024, the city is scheduled to resurface Wisconsin Ave. from Spruce St. to S. Park, Drill water main under the river at the intersection of Perkins St. and S. Wisconsin Ave. and participate with State on projects on Hwys 13 and 64.

In 2025, the city is scheduled to reconstruct N. Second Street from Broadway to Pine Street, a length of 1,520 feet.

In 2026, the city is scheduled to reconstruct S. Seventh St. from Ogden to Broadway and to resurface Billings Ave.

In 2027 the city is scheduled to resurface Ninth St. from Broadway to Eastview, do pipe burst water main on 700 feet of S. Whelen Ave. and reline the sewer line from Industrial Drive to the treatment plant.

In 2028, the city is scheduled to reconstruct N. Seventh from Allman St. to Taylor Street, replace the water main from Billings to 1055 W. Broadway and water main along the north side of Broadway Ave.

In 2029 the city is scheduled to do pipe burst water main for 700 feet on S. Whelen Ave and resurface N. Main St.

In 2030, the city is scheduled to reconstruct College St. from Bruce to Donald for it to be fully urbanized, resurface Eastview and paint water Tower No. 1in the industrial park.

In 2031, the city is scheduled to reconstruct E. Lincoln St. from N. Second to Taylor St. and resurface S. Washington.

In other business council members:

  Approved a new three-year contract with the police department union calling for 3% wage increase over each of the next three years. Under terms of the new contract, the city has dropped residency requirements for officers. Wellner noted that with the challenges of hiring people forcing them to live in the city made it more difficult to recruit for positions. The new contract also clarifies some language such as having officers work 9.1 hours per shift to allow for overlap. In the past officers were asked to be 10 to 15 minutes early for their shifts but were not paid for that time but were paid for additional time for weekend shifts, the change evens this out over the week. There were also changes to the vacation accrual schedule moving up when officers are eligible for additional vacation days.

  Approved beginning the process to fill a public works position vacant with the promotion of Jason Viergutz to streets/water superintendent. The goal is to have someone hired and trained before the winter season.

  Approved granting Freedom Vapors a tobacco license.