The Wells City Council spent some time at their recent meeting discussing the future of both the City Hall and the adjacent Flame Theatre. Both buildings have numerous issues that will need to be dealt with in the future.

The Wells City Council, at their meeting on April 27, ended their night with a discussion on the final version of the Wells Strategic Plan. The discussion ended with the council tabling any action on approving the final plan while also having a somewhat difficult talk about the future of the current City Hall building.

“People who come into City Hall and only see the front part of the offices don’t realize just how bad the building is,” one of the council members said.

And the cost of fixing a constantly leaking roof, updating the HVAC and other major problems is not cheap.

“I really don’t want to publicly say what the cost would be right now in case we end up negotiating for a different building,” Public Works supervisor Adam Schroeder said. “But it is expensive before we even begin to address the mold problem in the basement.”

It would also be expensive to take care of the issues with the Flame Theatre building, according to Schroeder, who questioned how much money the city wanted to continue spending on the venue.

“According to the records I could find, the number of people attending movies at the Flame topped out in 2014 at 14,000,” Schroeder commented. “Last year, only 6,000 people went to movies at the Flame.”

“A lot of that is due to the ability to stream movies online,” mayor David Braun stated. “A movie comes out and I am able to stream it a day or two later.”

The question was raised by the council, “Do we build a new City Hall, move the offices, and then demolish the old City Hall and Flame Theatre building?”

Schroeder expressed his concern that the Flame Theatre building is a constant drain on the city’s financial resources.

Wells EDA (Economic Development Authority) specialist Hallie Raimann expressed her thoughts to the council that it is important that they come up with a plan.

“We were recently denied a Blandin Grant partially due to us not having a plan,” Raimann stated. “The organizations who award grants want to see a concrete plan showing what we are going to do. Once we have that plan, there are a number of grants the city can apply for.”

Another item on the agenda was a discussion on golf cart and small motorized vehicle use in the city of Wells.

One Wells resident, Christine Tatge, spoke on her concerns about what is going on with side-by-sides, four-wheelers and golf carts in the city.

“They are taking over the Wells’ streets,” she said. “They are exceeding the 15 miles per hour speed limit and the younger people who are required to wear helmets and seat belts are not doing so.”

Tatge had a copy of the State statues concerning the use of the previously mentioned vehicles and pointed out that they cannot be legally driven on state highways or in bike lanes.

“They can cross State highways,” Tatge added. “But it is illegal for them to drive down those highways.”

She also expressed her concern with people operating those vehicles later at night than they are supposed to.

“It really scares me,” Tatge stated. “I will say this 500 times – it really scares me that someone is going to get hurt or killed.”

The thought was brought forth that without any kind of monetary penalty, things will not change.

Braun also expressed his concern with the use of the vehicles before directing city administrator Tiffany Schrader to find out how other cities are dealing with this issue. The council will then have a brainstorming issue on the problem at their next meeting on May 11.

“This problem is not unique to Wells,” Braun remarked.

The City Council also received an update on the Thompson Park Project fundraising efforts from Ashley Ignaszewski and Coryn Kluender.

“Fundraising efforts for the Thompson Park Project continue to gain momentum, with strong support from local businesses and community partners,” Ashley Ignaszewski told council members. “To date, approximately $560,000 has been raised through a combination of cash and in‒kind contributions from Bevcomm, Cemstone, Wells (aka Wells Concrete), and Stenzel Drainage.”

“In addition, the project has received encouraging verbal commitments of support from the Wells Lions Club and Johnson Seed,” Kluender shared. “While specific dollar amounts and in‒kind details are still being finalized, these early commitments reflect widespread community enthusiasm and confidence in the vision for Thompson Park. Organizers continue to follow up with supporters and look forward to building on this progress as fundraising efforts move ahead.”

In other business, the City Council:

• Approved a temporary liquor license for the Wells Area Chamber of Commerce for June 4 during the Sunset in the City event, which will take place in the city’s municipal parking lot next to the VFW.

• Approved a new liquor license application for Chanin Cloutier (DBA Maries) contingent on insurance being provided and payment of city fees. The application is for a regular on-sale and Sunday liquor license expiring Dec. 31, 2026. Cloutier will be opening a restaurant/bar and grill at 145 West Franklin which is the location of the former American Legion.

• Approved the temporary closure of the half block in front of the Wells Public Library from 8-11 a.m. on Saturday, June 6, for the Ninth Annual Fun Run/Walk event.

• Approved the purchase of a Point of Sale (POS) system from Elavon for the Wells Liquor Depot.

• Approved the Joint Powers Agreement (JPA) with the State of Minnesota for prosecuting attorney access.