City of Abbotsford residents voice Red Arrow Park concerns

By Neal Hogden

Residents of Abbotsford attended the Abbotsford City Council meeting on December 20 to voice concerns over use of the park and how it is affecting nearby residents. One of the attendees said she lives near the park and from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., there are people going to the bathroom in the woods across the street from the basketball courts.

“Something needs to be done,” the resident said.

Alderman Jeremiah Zeiset said he would entertain the idea of talking to the owner of the woods and suggesting signs be put up discouraging people from publicly going to the bathroom. He also said a porta potty could be a good asset if no permanent solution is on the horizon. The resident agreed that the city could make it a requirement that if there are a certain number of people using the park, they would be required to bring in a porta potty of some sort.

“They’re all packing up and going home. We’re still utilizing that area as part of our community. Let the temperature go to 70 degrees and live there. It’s not pleasant.”

City Administrator Josh Soyk said this wasn’t the first time this complaint has been brought to the city and they’ve had discussions on what to do with the issue.

“We’ve discussed this before and it was decided that the city should provide a porta potty because it’s a city park until we can build a restroom or pavilion,” Soyk said.

Soyk said the council wouldn’t need to approve the installation of a porta potty at the grounds as it is under the $5,000 threshold.

“By next summer, you’ll have a porta potty there,” Soyk said. Later in the meeting, Soyk noted that next year’s budget wouldn’t allow for a permanent building to be placed. However, he said the city should begin saving for some sort of permanent bathroom facility.

One of the residents in attendance said she was concerned about the installation of a permanent restroom due to the fact that some suspicious activity has occurred at the park in the past and could potentially occur again with a private space to use. She said the suspicious activity has been much less prevalent since the city put cameras in at the park but would hate to see it revert to the ways of old.

Soyk said the police department can patrol the area more often as it has a drug dog that could discourage the behavior.

Later in the meeting, residents brought up other concerns about the Red Arrow Park basketball court. A resident in attendance asked that the fence around the basketball court be replaced as it is falling apart. The

See RED ARROW PARK/ Page 6

RED ARROW PARK ISSUES - The fencing, restroom and soliciting situations at the Red Arrow basketball courts were topics of discussion at the Abbotsford City Council meeting on December 20.

STAFF PHOTO/KRIS O’LEARY Red Arrow Park

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resident said the fence could cause someone to get hurt if they were to run into it. Another resident noticed that the fence was being used to sit on so they suggested if there were benches at the basketball courts, maybe the fence wouldn’t be used to sit on.

Public Works Director Craig Stuttgen said the city had some extra small bleachers that they could install by the basketball court. Alderman Mason Rachu said the city could get some quotes on what a new fence might cost and bring a proposal to the council at a future meeting. Zeiset said there are still overlying issues with the usage of the basketball courts that have neighbors concerned. He said there is still garbage left over after weekends during the summer and there are constantly vehicles parking at the basketball court that he said looked “suspicious” at times. He said he didn’t want to see the park go away but noted that the issues seem to persist regardless of what is done at the city level.

“Red Arrow Park is not going away and our [only] option is to make it better,” Stuttgen said, to which Zeiset agreed.

Another issue the residents noted was the parking situation. Stuttgen noted that he thought a brand new basketball court in the Schilling Park area would have attracted more people to host tournaments there but he has noticed that tournaments are still held at the Red Arrow court. The new court was built last year and now features a small parking lot.

The residents in attendance said on any given weekend where there is a basketball tournament, 50-70 vehicles line the streets around the Red Arrow Park courts. The residents said they’ve had to go out and ask attendees not to park in front of the residents’ mailboxes because their mail will not be delivered if there are vehicles in front of the mailbox.

The council heard the residents’ complaints and decided there were some easy fixes to issues that they could work on but said the permanent bathroom issue and security concerns would need to be worked on over time.

Increasing security deposit

Later in the meeting, the council also approved an increase in the security deposit for all park rentals to $400. This was due to the fact that in the contract, people renting Red Arrow Park, Shortner Park and the city hall are required to pick up after themselves, and at the parks, are required to have no loud music or other disruptive issues. The council was hoping the increase in security deposit would discourage the behavior by ensuring renters would not get to keep their security deposit if they had broken the rules of the rental agreement.

Zeiset said the issue of live bands and DJs at the park has been on ongoing one and he said he might bring a proposal to the council in the future that would require renters to acquire a special permit to have a band at a city park.

“If we still have issues after increasing [the security deposit] to $400, then something else has to be done,” Soyk said. “Either our police department has to enforce the $1,000 fine or we just not allow music at all in the park.”

Soyk said nine out of 10 people who rent the park do a good job of cleaning up. He said it’s one or two instances a year where the city has issues with the park being a mess after an event.

Other business

n The City of Abbotsford received Local Roads Improvement Program funds from the state in the amount of $326,113 which will go towards paying off the Linden Street project loan payment.

n A representative from Klinner Insurance attended the meeting to explain an increase in the city’s insurance premiums for 2024. He said due to an annual 8% increase due to inflation, the city would see a jump in insurance premiums even if it didn’t make any city property improvements over the course of 2023. He said last year, the city insured $38 million in property while this year, the city is insuring $42 million in property.

In total, the city will be paying a premium of $73,681 for property, commercial auto, general liability, equipment, umbrella, worker’s compensation and other miscellaneous insurance policies in 2024. That is about a 10% increase from the premium of $65,711 in 2023. The city also received a quote from another company but the representative was unable to attend the meeting. The council ultimately went with the cheaper option in Klinner Insurance.

n A new lawn and landscaping proposal with Town and Country Lawn and Landscape in Stratford was approved. The new contract has Town and Country doing major areas such as Red Arrow Park and the Abbotsford Cemetery as well as any seasonal work that needs to be done. Stuttgen said he would like to have his public works employees attempt to take on more responsibility for mowing more of the public parks and other areas in an effort to save money.

n The city received quotes from multiple entities for a new city website. Soyk said the current website is outdated and is not user-friendly.

“There is one specific laptop you have to use to edit anything on [the website],” Soyk said.

Two of the bids for creating a website were deemed too expensive for the city while two other bids seemed to be more in the city’s price range. The two companies were Northwoods Web Designs out of Rhinelander and Munibit out of Missouri.

Soyk said Northwoods Web Designs was referred to the city by the city’s current information technology specialist. He said the biggest difference between the two companies is Northwoods would do all of the design, setup and editing to the website for a substantial initial fee but would include a cheaper annual fee than Munibit. Munibit hosts the website and would give the city the ability to edit the pieces of the website which Soyk said the clerk’s office and his position would have time to do. For that reason, he suggested the city go with the Munibit quote for $89/month for a new city website.

Alderman Mason Rachu said he was on board with the proposal because there is no commitment and the city would own its domain which would allow it to take the website to a different company if it wasn’t satisfied.

n The council made a decision to rework a contract with NAI Pfefferle which is the commercial real estate firm tasked with marketing the city’s vacant lots in the city’s industrial parks and TIF Districts. Soyk said he has an issue with the city’s contract with the company because if a local party comes to the city and wants to build, NAI Pfefferle still makes commission on the lots that are sold.

Soyk said in that instance, NAI Pfefferle would have nothing to do with the selling of the lot and they ran into that issue last year. He said he has no problem paying NAI Pfefferle if they bring in a big company from out of state to build in Abbotsford but said he would like to see local referrals not be included in the marketing contract. The current contract says NAI Pfefferle makes 5% of the assessed value of a building that is built on one of the lots that it is marketing.

Soyk said he will contact his agent at NAI Pfefferle to discuss how to rework the contract.