Group seeks ways to make connections

Leadership Medford class connects community with ongoing event series

Connecting people with businesses, clubs and activities in a low pressure fun environment was at the heart of the 20222023 Leadership Medford class project.

Members of this year’s class were at the Medford City Council meeting Tuesday night to talk about Business Social Sip, their class project. As class member Adam Rodman explained, the intention was to build off of work done by previous Leadership Medford groups which identified specific community needs.

One need was to build connections between people that don’t necessarily rely on going to a bar or event. There was also a desire to help people become more educated about the service clubs and organizations in the community without the pressure of attending a meeting and being asked to join.

The idea was generated to ask business locations to serve as host sites and bring different clubs and organizations on the fourth Thursday of each month to visit and learn about both the business and the group.

They started in March with the snowmobile clubs and last month had the Kiwanis Club at Century 21. On May 25, they will be at 64 North with the Humane Society. Class member Rob Holcomb of Aspirus is holding the June event at his bison ranch near Rib Lake with the ATV club riding in and taking part.

The Business Social Sip events are open to the public and Rodman explained that even though the class meets formally for the last time this week, they have a schedule out until January 2024 to hold the Business Social Sip events.

Rodman said he was surprised to learn about what the Kiwanis Club does and its focus entirely on serving the children of the world and said it was great to learn more about the organization without having the pressure to commit to joining.

“No one likes to be pressured into See CITY on page 4 something,” Holcomb said.

Class member Tanya Rausch agreed, and said she hoped attendance at the events would continue to grow. She reported on the ways they are promoting the events and working to encourage people to attend including putting information in the welcome packets the Chamber of Commerce gives to new teachers and others who come to town.

Council member Ken Coyer suggested the city could also add a link to the city website.

Class members also spoke about what their favorite tours and experiences in the class were. The Leadership Medford program begins in September, ending in the spring, and is for new and emerging leaders in the community to learn more about how the communities, business and groups in Medford and Taylor County work.

The next leadership Medford Class is scheduled to begin in September.

In other business, council members:

  Approved amending the city ordinance to allow the city to take a vote on a permit request rather than have a formal resolution to approve allowing open intoxicants on public sidewalks and streets in the downtown and business district for special events such as street dances.

  Approved rezoning lots owned by Holy Rosary from residential to institutional use. This will provide greater flexibility for the church to develop those lots to meet its needs. The planning commission had previously given its blessing to the zoning change.

  Approved purchasing an additional Express Vote electronic voting machine for the city at a cost of $3,950. With the machine there will be an ongoing cost of about $180 per year for hardware and firmware upgrades. This amount will be added to the election budget line item. The city currently has $9,606.15 in the non lapsing election account and city clerk Ashley Lemke recommended using the money for the new machine. Lemke noted that after the committee of the whole meeting last week, the state election commission announced grant funding of $750 for the purchase of additional machines. She said she would look into it as a way to reduce the city’s cost.

  Approved a temporary beer license for Medford City Baseball to run concessions at the baseball fields in the Medford city park.

  Approved hiring Huotari Construction to build a $33,000 addition to the east side of the pool building to create a separate boiler room for the pool heater. The addition will measure 12 feet by 14 feet. Work on it will take place this fall after the pool season is closed. The goal will be to house a new pool boiler in the room away from chemicals that are stored at the pool. Funds for the project will come from the federal ARPA grant the city received.

  Received a report that the brush collection went well. Council member Peggy Kraschnewski said she has received numerous comments from people about how valuable it was and how much they appreciated the city doing it. The one-time brush collection took place May 10-11 and was in response to the severe ice storm which downed a lot of branches and trees around the city.

  Approved replacing the red concrete boulevards along Hwy 13 with asphalt. At $70 per ton and the city crew doing the work, the asphalt is much cheaper than the concrete and is expected to stand up to the road salt used on the highway better.

  Prior to the start of the council meeting, the city called to order its board of review meeting electing Mike Wellner to serve as chairman and Ashley Lemke to be vice chairman. It was then announced that assessment role for the city was not ready and the meeting was adjourned until August 15 from 6 to 8 p.m.