Wells council gives Schrader positive review
Votes to upgrade ventilation system at the Flame Theatre

Included on the agenda for the January 27 Wells City Council meeting was a closed session for the job evaluation of four city employees.
After the closed session, city administrator Tiffany Schrader provided a summary of the councils’ findings.
“I received positive feedback from the council members,” Schrader said. “I was urged to continue to become more familiar with the city’s budget and finances and they encouraged me to take advantage of any training opportunities offered by the League of Minnesota Cities or other organizations.”
City staff members Sarah Yokiel, Samantha Seipp and Sarah Bushlack also received positive reviews.
“I had told the council during the regular meeting that the roles of these three employees is changing,” Schrader commented. “The council directed me to compose job descriptions for each one of them in their new roles and to have those available for review by the next council meeting.”
The regular meeting was not very long and there was not much business to conduct.
“Over the last couple of weeks there have been a couple of incidents regarding Brakebush,” Schrader told the council during her report. “Between the Street Department and the Wells Public Utilities, it sounds like everything has been taken care of and handled properly.”
Schrader reported that Street foreman Mike Pyzick would like to set up a meeting between him, myself and utilities superintendent Craig Anderson and a Brakebush representative to get everyone up to date and on the same page.
Schrader shared she will be meeting with a representative of Schwickert’s, of Mankato, to review a proposed, updated two-year contract with the city.
“I have sent the contract to our attorney for her to review,” Schrader added.
Upgrades to the City Hall computers is in the works, according to Schrader.
“I am currently working with Bevcomm to get the computers ordered,” Schrader commented. “These were in the budget and are necessary because our old computers are unable to be updated to the newer operating system.”
Schrader concluded her report by telling the council she had been able to sit down with Troy Walsh from the League of Minnesota Cities and was able to obtain a lot of valuable information about the League’s available services.
“One of the things I will be working on is applying for more grants which are available through the League,” she said.
One business item which came up for a vote was a repair to the ventilation system at the City Hall/Flame Theatre building.
“We have had some instances where people have complained about how hot it gets in the theater,” Schrader said.
One bid was for a ‘band-aid’ fix which would provide a short-term solution to the problem. The second bid, though more expensive, was for a long-term solution to the problem.
After discussing the bids, the council voted unanimously to approve the bid for the long-term solution at a cost of $6,995 from Schwickert’s. The temporary fix would have cost just under $700.
Council members also took time to have a short discussion on the City Hall building and will plan on studying options regarding possible changes in the future.
The council also received informational documents on the Highways 22 and 109 project concerning temporary easements but did not take any action on the matter at this time.
A review of non-union and part-time wages was conducted by council members and some minor changes were made to equalize the wages for similar jobs.
Finally, the council passed a resolution to accept donations in the amount of $1,168 which were used to sponsor a free movie during the Christmas holiday.