As the Oct. 9 regular Prescott City Council meeting began, Alderperson Pat Knox asked for an update on the construction at the storage facility site next to the New Adventures Daycare.

City Administrator Matt Wolf explained that they changed vendor suppliers for the materials which caused a significant delay. He also added they were waiting on permits and state approval which they recently received. Wolf said they’re tentatively planning to begin construction on the buildings that aren’t climate controlled with the hopes that the climate-controlled facility would be finished in Spring 2024.

Mayor Rob Daugherty moved on to discuss the site plan review for commercial expansion at 1415 North Acres Road. The site, which houses River City Stitch contains a 2,200-square-foot building on 1.1 acres.

“They are looking to expand that by about 4,450 square feet,” Wolf said.

He explained there are no issues with the current zoning use, and it meets all setbacks including parking. He further stated that the building meets all recently updated architectural and landscaping standards.

“The site is actually reducing the impervious surface on site so there was no need for storm water management review since it was a reduction,” Wolf said.

Alderperson Dar Hintz quickly motioned for the site plan review to be approved. The motion was seconded but before the council was able to vote, Knox interjected. He it may be none of his business, but he asked the applicants what their plans were with the expansion. Alderperson Maureen Otwell said, “I was curious too.”

Kim French, owner of River City Stitch, approached the podium and explained.

“With this expansion we’re looking to double, basically, what we have now. We’re pretty tight in there now,” French said. “We got some new equipment and we’re basically busting so we need some more space for our machines.”

She wants to increase their retail space and they may add more machines in the future and offer more to the cities around them.

“We just don’t have the space to store stuff, clothing right now. So, if we have more space, we’ll be able to produce more,” she said.

With the exception of Alderperson John Peterson who was excused, the council unanimously approved the motion.

City sign purchases

Wolf said at the Sept. 18 meeting, the Parks and Public Works Committee discussed the purchase of three signs, including one entry sign along Highway 10 coming into town, one directional parking sign at the Cherry Street parking lot, and changing the Public Square Park sign to a totem sign.

Wolf reminded council of the community feedback regarding paid parking where residents felt the city needed to better indicate where the Cherry Street parking lot is and that it contains public parking.

“The first entry sign would be coming out of the Capital Improvement Fund; this would be coming out of reserves,” Wolf said. “The directional sign would be coming out of TID 4 as we did for our other signs that we paid for downtown and then the final sign would be coming out of the allocated funds that we put forward in this year’s budget for the Public Square Park improvements.”

He said they are under budget as they had budgeted $138, 919 but were only at $101,780.

“What are we going to do with the old wood sign?” Alderperson Bailey Ruona, asked referring to the “big one” by Kasco. She said the Historical Society may want it since it is a solid wood sign. “I don’t know if anybody would be interested in it or not. I mean it is kind of cool looking. If not, I guess it’s bonfire.”

The council approved the purchase and installation of the signs from Graphic House, Inc. for $32,001. 

Police Department

“Within the Capital Improvement Plan that we approved last year for 2023 through 2030, we had $42,000 allocated in 2025 for the purchase of a Police Chief vehicle,” Wolf said.

Police Chief Eric Michaels currently drives his personal vehicle and since the department isn’t large, if there is an emergency, he responds within his own vehicle.

“One of the things we had looked at within that CIP was making sure, just as we do with our investigator and our K9 unit, that he gets a take home car that he can respond directly with that,” he said.

The purchase was planned for 2025, but due to unforeseen circumstances, the Police Department budget is expected to be approximately $100,000 short due to a lack of applicants for position openings. Therefore, they decided to move the potential vehicle purchase to 2023 instead of 2025. Michaels received vehicle quotes averaging $46,691 to include the vehicle purchase, outfitting the vehicle through EATI and for communication within the vehicle.

The council approved the vehicle purchases unanimously.