Conditional use permit is approved

Tuesday, June 10, 2008 1:01 PM CDT

The Watertown Finance Committee Monday authorized Ruekert/Mielke Inc. of Waukesha to perform rate studies on the city's storm water utility.

The contract with Ruekert/Mielke will cost the city $3,500.

“We just feel now that the storm water utility has been operating for a couple of years we need a restudy of the rates to make sure that the utility is paying for itself,” Watertown Mayor Ron Krueger said.

Funds for the storm water utility are assessed through a formula that is based on the amount of area on each property causing runoff, which includes garages, roofs, outbuildings, driveways, sidewalks and anything else that prevents storm water from penetrating the ground.

The majority of these funds is used to educate the public about storm water pollutants and for the planning, maintenance and construction of storm water facilities.

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The need for the utility is the result of an overall directive from the state Department of Natural Resources and the federal Environmental Protection Agency to minimize the amount of storm water runoff and to improve the condition of the runoff that does occur.

Finance Committee members also authorized the street department to purchase a snow blower from Bruce Municipal Equipment in Butler for approximately $94,000.

Krueger said the street department's current snow blower, which is obsolete, broke down during the previous winter season. After the blower broke down street department employees picked up the downtown snow with end loaders, he added.

Committee members recommended approval for a one-year tornado siren maintenance contract with Hill Electric for $3,920.

Krueger said Hill Electric will be required to perform routine maintenance on the city's 10 tornado sirens.

As a condition of the contract, the city has to provide a 60-foot bucket truck for the work. The city would be charged extra if it did not provide the bucket truck, Krueger said.

Finance Committee members also approved a $5,012 contract with HS Specialty Services in Cross Plains to repair the tornado siren at Douglas Elementary School.

A request from Maranatha Baptist Bible College to have an Emergency Medical Services vehicle at home football games was approved by the finance committee.

Krueger said the fire department already provides an EMS vehicle at the Watertown High School home football games and the same thing is being proposed by Maranatha.

“We felt that if a player gets injured we would have to respond anyway, and the firefighters can respond from the game to any emergency in the city if they need to,” Krueger said.

Finance committee members approved an update on the job description for auxiliary firefighters.

City code requires the city to have a job description for each position and it was noticed by Watertown fire Chief Henry Butts that the description for auxiliary firefighters was not up-to-date.

Committee members also chose Sue Roe, records clerk for the Watertown Police Department, to be the city participant in the Leadership Watertown program. The cost to the city is $750.