PRESCOTT – The City of Prescott approved a lease agreement between BNSF Railway and the City of Prescott to lease a cubicle of office space for the resource protection officer within the Prescott Police Department at the regular bimonthly council meeting Feb. 26.

Per the one-year lease agreement that begins on March 1, BNSF Railway will lease a 39 square-foot cubicle of office space within the station with access to other common areas within the department along with key card access. The lease amount is $780 per month or $9,360 per year for 2024-2025 with options for a two-year lease extension with a 3% rent escalator.

“More for curiosity than anything else, where were their offices before this? Or is this new to Prescott?” questioned Alderperson Maureen Otwell.

“Next to Carbone’s,” interjected Alderperson Bailey Ruona.

“Right in between Carbone’s and the motel,” Police Chief Eric Michaels confirmed.

Otwell asked what kind of weapons the resource protection officers have.

“Yeah, they have the same thing we do,” Michaels stated. “We have no interaction or interchangeability with weapons. Their stuff is their stuff and ours is ours. There won’t be any kind of intermingling with anything, other than space. We won’t have access to their stuff, they won’t have access to ours, such as the weapons and that kind of thing. They’ll have their own lockers that they keep that kind of stuff in.”

“How often do they use an office space, I’m just really curious,” Otwell questioned further.

Michaels answered, “They used to be here quite a bit but now they’re doing a lot of remote stuff from home. So, he comes in when he has to do field work in St. Paul, because he runs from St. Paul down to La Crosse, I think. They have two or three different agents that run this area.”

Water tower

The city council voted to enter into a 10-year agreement with KLM Engineering for water tower tank inspection services. The City of Prescott currently works with KLM Engineering, but the contract doesn’t include an Annual Sanitary Survey that “is required by the DNR to inspect all areas of egress and ingress for leaks or holes to ensure no contaminates are entering the water towers.”

The funding for this project will annually come from the Water Fund. Per the new service agreement, KLM Engineering states the first evaluation will be completed during the 2024 construction season.

“Previously the city was having a local individual or company access the tower but that is no longer an option,” stated City Administrator Matt Wolf.

He informed the council that options for both water towers is about $1,250 per tower to do this annual inspection.

Looking at the memo, Otwell asked Wolf, “Someplace in here I read that they would do an inspection based on ground level, no rigging. Is that unusual? How often would you need rigging?”

“Do we have a vertical lifeline on our water towers for climbing?” Ruona asked.

Wolf stated that he did not know.

Ruona asked to add that to the public works meeting agenda.

“Because then we can get them to maybe climb to inspect up top.”

“That’s what I was wondering,” Otwell agreed.

Wolf stated that he would ask KLM Engineering questions regarding this specific area. The council discussed the company’s possible use of drones, cranes, or other testing.

Recycling receptacles

Magee Park’s recycling receptacles will soon have a new home! The City of Prescott has discussed the need to relocate three large roll-off recycle receptacles at Magee Park that have been a source of problems with littering and illegal dumping.

Since the Magee Park Improvements Project, the city has tried finding a new home for the three receptacles owned and managed by Pierce County Solid Waste and Recycling, but has been met with intense opposition from residents at each possible location. At the Feb. 19 Parks Committee Meeting, the recommendation was made to relocate the recycle receptacles to Ryden Road. At the Monday meeting, the council voted to relocate the three receptacles to Ryden Road per the Parks Committee’s recommendation.

Alarm system

The city council voted to update the alarm system with a LTE fire-rated communicator at the Great Rivers Road Visitor Center at 200 Monroe St. in Freedom Park after being notified by the Friends of Freedom Park that the current system is not reliable. The cost for the project comes in at $2,100 and the upgrade will also see a $30 monthly service charge increase with funding for the project coming from the 2024 Parks Budget.