The Wells City Council leaned that insurance will cover most of the cost of repairs to the Flame Theatre. Some of the damaged seats and carpet are shown at left.

It was a pretty positive evening for the Wells City Council when they met on Monday night, Nov. 25, for a work session and regular council meeting.

The first piece of good news came while council members were working on the proposed tax levy for the upcoming year.

When the council set the proposed preliminary levy back in September, the projected increase was 11.57 percent.

After studying and refining next year’s proposed budget, the council has been able to reduce the projected increase down to 7.24 percent.

“The changes, as they stand right now, show the General Fund increasing $252,480, or 31.45 percent,” city administrator Tiffany Schrader explained. “However, the capital levy is decreasing by $120,473 or 34.45 percent.”

Schrader broke down where many of the increases in the capital levy will occur.

“We have computers in both City Hall and the Police Department which need to be upgraded to Windows 11,” Schrader said. “We are scheduled to crack fill and seal coat about 250,000 square feet of our streets along with making some other road repairs.”

Schrader noted other items in the capital levy include new doors at the swimming pool and phase one of a shelter replacement project at Half Moon Park.

“The liquor store needs a new POS (Point of Sale) system,” Schrader added. “We may be able to use liquor store funds to cover that cost.”

The total debt levy is decreasing by $71,036, or 19.12 percent, according to Schrader.

“The decrease is due to the scheduled bond payments and the 2015 GO Equipment Certificate being paid off in 2024,” Schrader commented.

Final budget numbers and the proposed tax levy will be voted on at the Truth in Taxation meeting which will be held at 5 p.m., on Monday, Dec. 9. That meeting will be held at the Wells Community Center.

Another good piece of news discussed at the meeting was the reopening of the Flame Theatre.

“The theater is back up and running with the repairs being much more minimal than initially anticipated,” Schrader told the council. “There was no asbestos in the ceiling tiles and Service Master was able to dry everything, including removing the wet tiles and placing fans in the area in between the roof and the ceiling.”

In addition, Schrader mentioned that Service Master also cleaned all of the seats in the theater along with the carpet of each aisle.

“Some of the carpet squares had to be removed due to being wrecked, but we had extra squares on hand to replace those sections,” Schrader said. “Schwickert’s was also able to patch the section of the roof where the tear was.”

Fortunately, Schrader noted, the city’s insurance was going to cover the majority of the cost of the repairs.

“After speaking with our insurance adjuster from the League of Minnesota Cities, he has informed me that they will reimburse the city for the cost of the ceiling tile repairs, Service Master’s invoice, city employees’ labor, and the rental fee for a boom that was used,” Schrader remarked. “They will not reimburse the city for the cost to repair the roof as this was due to wear and tear and that is excluded from our coverage. The Street Department worked side by side with Service Master to get everything completed quickly so I would like to give a shout-out to them for all their efforts.”

The final piece of good news the council received at their meeting was that the low interest financing applications the city had applied for with the Minnesota Public Facilities Authority had been approved for both the drinking water and sewer water projects in the city.

“These bonds carry a 1.63 percent interest rate,” city engineer Ben Rosol said. “The drinking water bond is for $1,238,273 and the sewer bond is for $974,636.”

The approval of these bonds took longer than usual and the city was facing the possibility of having to arrange for some short-term financing.

“That would have been an expensive option,” Schrader commented. “I want to thank Ben for all the work he put in to get this done.”

Meanwhile, Rosol also credited Schrader for her efforts to secure the bonds.

Council members also took up the subject of the cannabis ordinance at the meeting and originally passed the proposed ordinance.

However, after studying the ordinance further, council member Nancy Kruger noticed the setback for a cannabis business from a school was only 500 feet.

“I have been doing some research and I believe most cities are setting that distance at 1,000 feet,” Kruger said.

City attorney Cristina Cruz-Jennings did some research and her preliminary findings seemed to indicate that it was legal to establish the setback as far as 1,000 feet from school property.

“I would like to study this further to make sure I am correct,” she commented. “I suggest you rescind your motion and table it until your next meeting.”

The council agreed with the suggestion by Cruz-Jennings and rescinded their prior motion to adopt the cannabis ordinance and then passed a motion to table it until the next meeting on Dec. 9.

In other business,

• The council approved paying pay estimate No. 4, in the amount of $816,943, to Holtmeier Construction Inc., for work on the 2024 Wells Street Project. The remaining balance is $356,570.

• Council members approved hiring Abdo to do the audit and the accounting services for 2025 with the intention of reevaluating things one year from now.

• Decided not to hold a second meeting in December.

• Approved the hiring of Amber Niebuhr and Aubrey Niebuhr as part-time clerks at the liquor store.