Wells council talks City Hall options
Makes decision to consider relocating to the former Lamperts building

The Wells City Council is studying the possibility of relocating their City Hall to the former Lamperts building which is located on the north end of Broadway Avenue. Council members noted that the front part of the building already has many offices, a bathroom and a kitchen/break room. The larger area in back could be utilized by the Wells Police Department. The council voted to hire the engineering firm of ISG to inspect the building and offer some possible design options.
Could the former Lamperts building in Wells become the town’s new City Hall?
It is a possibility the Wells City Council decided to pursue when they met on Monday, Aug. 26.
The engineering firm of ISG of Mankato has been working on an assessment of the city’s facility needs. The options of doing an extensive remodeling to the current City Hall or starting from scratch with a new building were both being considered.
Now, it appears there may be a better, and probably less costly, option.
“The front part of the building would house the City Hall offices,” city administrator Tiffany Schrader said. “The space would need very little attention because there are already offices in the building.”
She shared the back part of the building could be used by the Wells Police.
“Tim (police chief Tim Brenegan) was very excited at how much space would be available for the department to utilize,” Schrader added.
ISG has submitted a proposal to inspect the former Lamperts building and come up with a design plan at a cost of $2,000.
“Having ISG go through that process is a necessary step since we are a government entity,” council member Crystal Dulas said.
The council unanimously passed a motion to hire ISG to do the inspection and design for the facility.
“If we decide to pursue this option, there are two other things we will need to consider,” Schrader told the council members. “We will need to come up with a plan for the old building. Second, the area where the Lamperts building is located is zoned for industrial use. I have spoken with our city attorney and she has assured me there is a way that a government building could be located in an industrial zone.”
As far as what to do with the old building, mayor David Braun said the first thing he thought of was expanding the Flame Theatre’s lobby.
“It gets very crowded and tight in there,” he commented. “I think it would be nice to open up that area some.”
According to the council members, the current asking price for the Lamperts building is $400,000.
“Our facilities committee feels the possibility of moving into the former Lamperts building would be the most financially feasible option,” Dulas concluded.
Moving on to the next item on the agenda, the council decided to table signing an agreement for kennel space with New Chances Humane Society.
While council members expressed their satisfaction with the work that New Chances Humane Society has been doing, they decided they wanted some more data to see how much the city has had to utilize the kennel space in the past.
Next, council members turned their attention to problems the Wells Street Department has been having with their John Deere Gator.
“Since the beginning of May the Gator has been taken in for repairs on five separate occasions,” Schrader explained. “The current total for these repairs is $2,756. On Aug. 21, I was informed that the gator was once again not working and needs to be repaired. I instructed our street foreman to hold off on taking the gator in for repairs until I could discuss the situation with the council.”
Schrader offered three different options for the council to consider.
“We could take the Gator in to get repaired again but consider using a different repair business,” Schrader said. “The second option would be to replace the current Gator with a new one and the third option would be to do nothing and see if the Street Department can get by without a Gator.”
While inspecting the various repair bills, council members questioned why members of the Street Department had not performed some of the repairs themselves. Tasks like changing spark plugs and checking battery connections and other maintenance items listed were things the council members believed could have been performed by the Street Department staff.
Following the discussion the council directed Schrader to let the Gator sit unless the needed repairs could be performed under warranty at no cost.
During her report, Schrader shared work in the basement of the City Hall building has been completed.
“The floor of the basement was ground down to make it smooth and it was sealed. That work was covered by insurance,” Schrader commented. “I will be meeting with someone from FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) to discuss damage costs from the weather/rain events we had this summer.”
After the regular council meeting was adjourned, members of the council held a work session on the 2025 budget with the intent to lower the city’s projected levy.
A number of items have been removed for consideration for next year’s budget including building a new shop facility, replacing a 1989 International Pumper truck in the Wells Fire Department, repairing the roof at the Wells pool and some mill and overlay work.
The city must pass a preliminary levy by the end of September.