By Melissa Thorud

PRESCOTT – At the regular Prescott City Council meeting on Monday, Feb. 28, the council held a public hearing for a street vacation, approved funds for a grant application and approved a concept plan for Magee Park.

The meeting began with the public hearing in regard to a street vacation for a portion of Second Street and a portion of Front Street. This street vacation comes with the future Two Rivers deck expansion.

City Administrator Matt Wolf said, “Two Rivers came forward with the expansion of a two-story deck that they want to build. This came in front of council back in December; they need to get approval from the council to vacate a portion of the right of way, which is what is before you today. This has been run for three weeks and this is the final resolution.”

Some discussion was had regarding logistics and the map that was brought before the council. With the vacation of that street, there will need to be a sidewalk installed and Two Rivers will be responsible for maintaining that sidewalk.

Alderperson Bailey Ruona said, “With this we told them that if we vacated this, that they were responsible for putting in and maintaining that sidewalk and we would no longer have that responsibility any more, on the back side of the building.”

The sidewalk is not heavily used by the public and it is not in a very usable spot so it didn’t cause much concern.

“It doesn’t really need a sidewalk there, just throwing that out there, it is really a little ridiculous where it is at and no one really uses it,” Ruona said.

This was the only discussion and clarification made during the public hearing, and no other concerns were brought up. The resolution was approved and passed.

Magee Park

Next item on the agenda was the approval of a new Magee Park concept plan. Alderperson Ruona explained a bit of the concept plan and what the Coulee River Trails group has planned for this area.

“The Coulee River Trails group did a really nice outline of a proposed park layout, in that they included where the trail layout is,” Ruona said.

The outline included several aspects of the potential layout; there are plans for a public shelter area, public fire pit and a natural playground.

Administrator Wolf said, “I just really want to thank all the people working on this and getting the concept plan together, it looks really good.”

The council approved the concept plan. Greg Adams from Cedar Corporation then gave a brief description of a new grant opportunity that would be used for the Coulee River Trails and Riverfront projects. The grant comes from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation as part of the Transportation Alternatives Program.

“This is part of the federal bipartisan infrastructure law monies that came out mid-January, and one of the departments of the transportation funding agencies through a Transportation Alternatives Program, which is set up for this type of trail project,” Adams said. “The funding is 80% grant, 20% local so it's good funding. The application is pretty streamlined. We’re estimating $2,000 which would be a fixed cost and this is basically a summary of that.”

The $2,000 cost will be to apply for the grant and this will help with the overall Riverfront project, not only the trail systems but it will drive more people into the town.

“It meshes together to create a larger functionality for the community,” Adams said.

The council approved the $2,000 amount for Cedar Corp, which will be used to prepare the application for the grant; the money will come out of the Parks and Public Property general fund for the year.

Other business

The council approved two second readings of ordinance changes, one in relation to the sewer construction connections and the other concerning the implementation of a developer’s deposit. The council approved both and waived third readings.

During new business considerations, Alderperson Pat Knox brought up a concern during public comment about a speed limit sign in his neighborhood. He said the sign could be moved closer to the park where it may be more visible to drivers. Alderperson Maureen Otwell also agreed with that choice; it will be looked at and considered in the near future.

The council also approved the appointments of Heather Hove and Christopher Hove to the Cable Commission.

Mayor Dave Hovel said, “At the last meeting, I had said for consideration to the Cable Commission of Heather and Christopher Hove. I believe they are siblings. It is a committee of five, so they wouldn’t be able to take majority in that committee, so I would recommend approval unless there were any concerns from the council.”

The council approved the appointment of Heather and Christopher Hove to the Cable Commission.

During this time, Hovel took the time to thank local firefighters for the work they did saving a Prescott woman in a recent house fire in the 300 block of Gibbs Street on Friday, Feb. 25.

“There was a fire last Friday and there was a woman stuck in the basement,” Hovel said. “There was no egress window, so the fire department had the tools to cut through the concrete and get her out. She had a few burns I’m pretty sure, but she is okay, so thank you to the fire department and the volunteers that show up when they can and it sounds like they did their job very well.”