The Prescott City Council approved the purchase and outfitting of a Ford Police Interceptor Utility Vehicle for $63,063 at the Aug. 12 regular meeting.  

“Unfortunately, police vehicles have become a lot more expensive very quickly far outpacing what we’ve seen with inflation even and especially this year,” City Administrator Matt Wolf began.

He explained that $40,000 was budgeted through the Capital Fund to use for the purchase but due to increased costs, the revised total cost is $63,063 which includes $44,836 for the cost of the vehicle, $17,077 to outfit the vehicle, and $1,150 for decals. Wolf said there is over $300,000 unallocated in the Capital Fund.

 “I do think that we should begin to look at the hybrids and the electrics for future purchases because eventually we will have to make a contribution to meeting those environmental,” said Alderperson Maureen Otwell.

With no discussion, the Prescott City Council approved four changes to the Employee Handbook. The first change regarding hours of work will now say, “The standard work week for most employees shall be defined by department heads or the city administrator with any hours of operations changes needing approval by the city council or the library board.”

The second change is made towards holidays as the city currently observes the following holidays: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day. Instead of stating that “all employees shall receive eight hours of holiday pay so long as any absences during the pay period are excused,” it would read, “All regular full-time or part-time employees shall receive their standard schedule work hours in the pay period in which any of the above holidays occur so long as any absences during the pay period are excused.” This is so that hourly employees are not required to use vacation or floating holiday pay, nor do they need to work extra hours to compensate for time off.

The third change would see the city contribute to employee health savings accounts every month on the first pay period of each month instead of quarterly. And the final change says, “If an exempt employee is away from the office for the entire day, they must use a full day of standard hours according to their regularly scheduled work week of sick, vacation or floating holiday regardless of how many hours they worked in the 80-hour period.”

The Prescott City Council also approved Prescott’s participation in the Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) for a Bike/Pedestrian Planning Study.

Wolf said, “Basically what this looks at is the connectivity from essentially the St. Croix Bluffs neighborhood into the ‘main part’ of Prescott. He added that the city is “trying to look at what the best option that would work with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and then gets passed through for the opportunity to plan and look into.”

Wolf said the city received the federal grant with the DOT and the council is now looking at what is the best option for working with the Wisconsin DOT to make that connection. Wolf added that by signing the contract, “We’re essentially saying that we will be allocating these funds in the future.”

In July, the city was notified that the application to the TAP program was approved for 80% of costs with the city responsible for the remaining 20%. The main part of this work would happen in 2025. Alderperson Mike Gerke questioned if it costs $252,000 for Cedar Corporation to do a study. Wolf answered that it could come in lower than that depending on the environmental studies and explained that the purpose of the study is to look at all three options.

“The whole purpose is to work with the DOT and get a plan that the DOT is going to approve as well so we could potentially keep moving this forward,” he said.

 Alderperson Adam Granquist commented, “It’s definitely needed to bridge that whole section of the city with the main part of the city … and Fairy Wonderland Park.”

Gerke spoke up, “I’m not arguing the point about having it. It just seems like an awful lot of money for a study.”

Otwell asked if other crossings could be included in the study. Wolf answered that they could enquire to look at crossings at other areas to see if those would be options. Wolf noted that the DOT is working to address the crosswalks.

“The reconstruction of the municipal agreement we signed with the DOT for the 2028-2029 project for Highway 10 does include the redoing of the crosswalks at the street,” Wolf said.

He added that the DOT is working to put in crosswalks there to connect with a trail to the business park.

Granquist asked if golf carts would be included in the study, adding that it would change the dimensions. Alderperson John Peterson asked if the funding through the TAP program for the planning study would be separate from the funding to complete the project.

“This would just be for the planning and then if we move forward with the DOT approved plan, then we’d have to go through another round of applications for the actual funding of the specific work,” Wolf confirmed. He added that funding for the actual project is not guaranteed. “So hypothetically, we could spend up to $48,000 as a city and have a plan in place but not have funding to actually do the project,” Peterson questioned.

“Correct,” said Wolf. “If we are relying specifically on a grant through the TAP to do it. There’s no guarantee we will continue to see TAP funding.” 

The council approved an agreement with Cedar Corporation for Conceptual Planning Services at a cost of $32,500. Wolf gave a brief introduction of the resolution for the council explaining that in January 2024, Cedar Corporation finalized a detailed Municipal Facilities Needs Assessment for the City of Prescott. This assessment reviewed the current state and future requirements of the Police, Fire, City Hall, EMS, and Library facilities and pinpointed various areas where improvements could be made to boost service delivery and operational efficiency. Wolf said that after looking at conditions, it was further discussed in June 2024 where together with Cedar Corporations they put together a proposal for the next step. Wolf made a point to mention that 75% of the proposed funding for the project will come out of the building impact fees that are collected on new development. The remaining 25% will come through capital funds.

Corey Scheidler, the Director of Architecture for Cedar Corporation, explained to the council that after completing the needs analysis for the Police Department, City Hall, Library, Fire Department, and EMS garage, the next step will be to evaluate what that means in terms of facilities. He presented two options which included completing a conceptual design for a new facility in the ball field site and the second option was at the site in the industrial park.

“That’ll be a little further down the road but hopefully spur some activity in your industrial park,” Scheidler said.

Scheidler hopes to begin in December of this year where recommendations will be revisited, and the priorities of each department will be reviewed. The proposed sites will be reviewed in September/October 2025 where the challenges and opportunities of each will be discussed. The conceptual design phase will begin in October/November where Scheidler explained, “As we get through that conceptual design phase, you’re going to have a kind of vision of what this might look like on a site.”

He added that from there any budgeting and cost estimating can be discussed. The existing timeline for any possible construction work suggests that it wouldn’t begin until 2029, with an expected completion date in 2030.

“That’s not very far away,” said Scheidler.

As Mayor Robert Daugherty asked what type of construction the building would be, Scheidler said, “Generally speaking what I like to propose on a public safety building is either a masonry construction or a pre-cast construction.” He added, “The goal is to provide the city with a building that’s going to take you through the next hundred years.”

Alderperson Maureen Otwell asked if green building aspects will be considered in the building plans.

“Green and sustainability is kind of the new standard in everything we do,” Scheidler answered.

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The council approved the use and line striping of St. Croix Bluffs Park for a practice field for the Prescott local youth football team from Aug. 13 – Oct. 12. Prescott area parents are putting together a youth football team made up of fifth and sixth grade Prescott students to take part in the Little Hastings Raiders football league run by the Hastings Youth Little Raiders Board of Directors. Games will be played in Hastings, but Prescott parents would like a place to practice in Prescott. The city has proposed using St. Croix Bluffs Park as their practice location and the team would stripe the field with lines for a partial football field. The city contacted the insurance company to confirm that there are no issues with the team using the park.

The council then entered into closed session. Upon coming out of closed session, the council approved staff to work with Ehlers to start the process of creation of TID #6.  They then approved staff to begin negotiations with Foley Company at 1750 Ryden Road on a development agreement as a result of a possible expansion of their business.