Wells mayor David Braun, right, accepts a check for $800 to the city of Wells from Bill Groskreutz, representing the Wells Lions Club, for a donation to be used in planting trees around the city.

The Wells City Council finally received some good news regarding the status of the baby pool at the Wells Municipal Swimming Pool.

The council, at their meeting on May 13, was about to discuss Resolution 2024-23 to officially approve TMI Coatings’ proposal to repair disbanded areas west of the drain in the baby pool, limited to 60 percent of the entire square footage.

“I had gone to the pool along with another employee and we removed the rest of the bigger, loose chunks,” Public Works director Mike Pyzick told the council. “The TMI crew showed up earlier today. It was a different crew than was here last year. They decided to remove 100 percent of the coating and take the surface down to the concrete and then recoat the whole pool. They were doing a good job and had removed the old coatings and had gotten down to the aggregate.”

Having heard the update on the pool, the council proceeded to approve Resolution 2024-23.

In another pool related matter, payroll clerk Sam Seipp informed council members that the city was struggling to find lifeguards to work at the swimming pool.

“As of now we may not have enough guards to open the pool or have swimming lessons,” Seipp said. “This concern was discussed at the Park Board meeting on May 7. The members of that board directed me to see what other cities are paying their pool staff, and then bring the information to the council.”

What Seipp found was that the city of Wells was lagging behind in wages paid to their swimming pool workers when compared to the people who worked at the swimming pools in Bricelyn, Winnebago and Blue Earth.

After reviewing the information Seipp had presented to the council, members voted to increase the wages paid by the Wells City Pool to match those paid at Bricelyn. New lifeguards will start at $13.25 per hour, returning lifeguards will receive 14.25 per hour and the head lifeguard will receive $14.75 per hour. Those who also teach Water Safety Instruction will have a slight increase in their hourly pay.

“I realize this is not in our budget,” council member Crystal Dulas said. “But if we can’t hire workers we won’t be able to open our pool.”

Unfortunately for the city of Wells, city administrator Tiffany Schrader also reported they had some other water issues to deal with.

“Over the weekend of April 26, the sewer lift pump at City Hall malfunctioned which caused standing water in the basement on the west side of the building,” Schrader reported. “During the same weekend the sump pump was unable to keep up with the excessive amount of rain that we received so there was water leaking into the basement at the east end of the building.”

Schrader shared that once the problem was discovered, Pyzick contacted Service Master to come and remove the water and sanitize the basement. Pyzick also had the lift pump and the sump pump repaired.

Schrader continued her report by saying that water had gotten under the tiles in the former dance studio and also in the basement hallway which necessitated the removal of the tiles.

After presenting the council with some various options to deal with the situation, the council favored grinding the concrete floor to remove old glue and leave a smoother surface.

“I just can’t see putting any new flooring in the basement at this time,” Schrader said. “I think we could have similar problems again.

Jessica Green with Northland Securities attended the meeting to review the process for the issuance of $1,245,000 General Obligation Bonds Series 2024A.

“The proceeds from these bonds will be used to finance the city’s 2024 street and utility improvement projects and to pay the costs of issuance of the bonds,” Green said. “We assumed a 20-year term which would be consistent with the city’s other bonds.”

Green said the city could also look at going to a 15-year term.

“Going to a 15-year term would increase your yearly payments by $20,000,” she commented. “You would also save approximately $170,000 in interest compared to a 20-year bond.”

Because of an upcoming combined city/county project, the council decided to delay issuing the bonds until later this summer when more of the costs from the city/county project are known.

In other business, the council:

• Accepted an $800 gift presented by Wells Lions president Bill Groskreutz to the city of Wells to be used for planting trees around the city.

• Approved hiring Abdo Financial Solutions to assist staff with the 2025 budget process.

• Received an update on lighting options to Highway 109 and Highway 22 but took no action at this time.

• Awarded Exterior Designs of Alexandria the bid for the turf rehabilitation at the Wells Municipal Airport. Exterior Design had the lowest bid in the amount of $58,450, which was less than the engineer’s estimate of $86,500. The total cost of the project, including engineering fees is $76,950 but a State Grant will cover 95 percent of the cost leaving the city of Wells to pay a total of $3,847.

• Was told the slide at Half Moon Park had been repaired and that the VFW has donated funds to purchase new volleyball nets for the courts at the park.

• Granted the request of the Wells Library Foundation to close the block in front of the library from 8-11 a.m. on Saturday, June 1, for the seventh annual Fun Run/Walk event.

• Learned the electrical panel for the lights at Thompson Field will arrive on June 11 and will take about one week to install.