Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
City Manager Richard Brackney addresses the Wakefield City Council regarding fee increases for various city services at the meeting on Monday night.
By ISABELLE KLEINSCHMIDT
Wakefield - Wakefield City Manager Richard Brackney asked the city council to consider increasing several fees at its meeting Monday.
Brackney suggested the disconnection fee for city services be raised from $30 to $100 for the summer and $200 during the winter months as a means of offsetting the costs to disconnect services.
According to Brackney, about 200 Notices to Disconnect were sent out this month, and he would like for the increase to "get people's attention."
After discussion, Councilman John Granato made a motion to instead charge a $150 reconnection fee to delinquent customers. The motion was supported by Bob Blaskowski and passed in a 4-0 vote by the council.
The council also voted to raise the zoning change application fee for home occupation, conditional use or variance to $100 per request. This fee will be used to cover the costs of administering and publishing the notice in the paper and notifying the public as required by law.
Meter deposit fees were raised from $65 to $100, and new account charges for city services were raised from $15 to $25.
The council held a public hearing for Robert Delich to discuss his request for a variance to construct an addition to the garage on his property. After discussion, and input from the public, the council decided to approve a motion made by Granato to accept the variance with the condition that the request is "in compliance with the rules and regulations of the city of Wakefield." A separate public hearing will be held to discuss the additional variances needed for the construction.
Following public comment from Tom Olson from Fabick CAT of Marquette, Granato made a motion to purchase the John Deere 772D grader from Nortrax of Ashland. The motion gained support by Kay Wiita and passed in a 4-0 vote. The grader was bought for $130,000. Along with the purchase, the city will be trading in its non-operational John Deere grader.
The city heard from Rod Ritter regarding the progress of the timber sales which are being conducted for the proposed non-motorized trail system. According to Ritter, "It's going pretty well." Ritter said he is "optimistic" that they're going to achieve the estimated 200 cords of timber, possibly even more. Funds from the project will be put towards development and maintenance of the trails. The council approved the lease of a 20-foot portion of the former railroad grade to the DNR for the development of the multi-use trail.
Two architectural firms have been contacted to review and provide information on the city buildings in preparation for the proposed new library location. John Larson and U.P. Engineers and Architects will review the current situation and provide information on the estimated costs to do an evaluation.
The next Planning Commission meeting will be Monday, Oct. 3, at 5:15 p.m.
The next City Council meeting is Monday, Oct. 10, at 5:30 p.m.
