PRESCOTT – Prescott City Council members were eager Monday night to accept the concept plan for a new Ace Hardware where Churchill Market was formerly located at 1003 Campbell St.

Casey and Kayla Waltz, who own Ace Hardware in Ellsworth, plan to expand the building by 4,500-squarefeet on the back side of the building.

City staff had raised the concern that the site will have less than half of the parking required by city ordinance. However, store owners said people generally run in and out of a hardware store, and there isn’t need for the required 56 spaces. Plans show the store would have 21 spaces.

City Administrator Matt Wolf said the parking requirement will be looked at in a review of zoning codes in the next year, because most retail buildings in town don’t have the required parking, including newer developers like Kwik Trip, Dollar General, Ptacek’s IGA and Tractor Supply.

“It looks like there are a lot of places in town that don’t meet the requirement. I just wonder how realistic it is,” said Alderperson Maureen Otwell.

“I think our ordinance is a little heavy on parking places; 21 places for that business I believe will be sufficient,” said Alderperson Thomas Oss. “I do have concerns on Campbell Street. Period. I’ve had them before the Kwik Trip was approved. We have problems there with that stop light and backing up of traffic. I’m certainly not going to stand in the way of them putting a hardware store in town that we need.”

“It’s a well-needed asset for our city,” added Mayor Rob Daugherty.

The proposed Prescott Ace would be a full-service hardware store that will help keep local residents home when they’re in the midst of a home improvement project.

The concept plan was approved unanimously.

Bond issue The council passed a resolution to issue general obligation bonds in the amount of $4.73 million for the city’s 2023-24 street improvement program.

The city plans a rebuild of Locust, Elm and Washington streets. The city will use $400,000 in American Rescue Plan Act COVID relief funds for the project as well.

The bonds will be sold in January, and the city would lock in an interest rate projected at 4.75 percent. Bonds would be paid back over 20 years at about $355,000 annually, with the city’s water, sewer and stormwater utilities making part of the payment.

Bonds will be sold Jan. 23. The borrowing would put the city at 54 percent of its general obligation borrowing capacity, with $12 million remaining.

Locust Street work is planned for 2023, and a public information meeting on the project is scheduled for Jan. 4, 2023. Construction is slated to start in late April with final completion by mid-November.

As part of the plan, the council also passed a resolution stipulating that its general fund stay between 60-75 percent of annual expenses. It’s currently higher than that at $3.1 million. To be at 75 percent, the general fund should be in the $2 million range, said Wolf.

The policy states that if the balance is over 75 percent, those excess funds “may be used to fund onetime items or transferred to capital projects to fund additional projects or reduce future borrowings.”

Right now, that leaves $931,000 that can be used for other purposes. The city will use $800,000 of that money to pay down other debt before taking on this new borrowing.

That move brought Oss on board for the upcoming bond issue.

“Without this, my vote in the previous item would have been very different. I would have voted no without this inclusion. Thank you for thinking of this,” he said. “It’s going to force us to know the difference between wants and needs moving into the future.”

“I think it’s a great idea,” said Otwell.

Council committees

The council voted in November to reduce its committees down to four: finance, parks and public works, health and safety and personnel. Assignments for the coming year were reviewed. All council members serve on finance. Parks and public works will be chaired by Bailey Ruona with Pat Knox and John Peterson serving on it. Health and safety will be comprised of chair Dar Hintz, Oss and Otwell, while personnel will be chaired by Otwell, with Hintz and Ruona serving as well.

Public works will meet the third Monday of each month at 5 p.m. Health and safety will meet the second Monday every-other month starting in January, and Personnel will meet the first Wednesday quarterly, starting in February.