At the April 1 meeting, the Fountain City Council received an update from wastewater/water consultant Rick Whitney that the well house has been cleaned up. A fire was reported and extinguished at the well house behind city hall on March 26.
Estimates to replace two heaters and lights are being sought. For now, temporary heating and lights are in the well house. During daily rounds, Public Works are ensuring fluoride and chlorine levels remain at the recommended levels.
“I’ve been getting your process dialed in at the plant and doing a little cleaning and organizing,” said Whitney in regards to the wastewater plant. While March lab results are not back yet, Whitney discussed the February lab report. There was a Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) limit violation at the plant sometime last month. According to Whitney, the reading was 8, but the maximum is 7 and the average needs to be at 5. Nitrogen is currently around 3, ammonia is .05, and BODs are .02-.03.
“I put in the two sample periods that occurred on, and there’s also a chain of custody, so you guys could kind of see that,” said Whitney.
According to Whitney, on both sampling dates, there would have been violations, but they were averaged down. This does not affect the permitted level.
In other discussion, Councilor Tammy Danielson requested the city establish a new process for posting to the public. The currently established process includes posting notices of meetings on the door of city hall, at the bank, and at the post office. Danielson further suggested the city post notice of meetings or anything else mandatorily posted on the City of Fountain Facebook page. In the future, she suggested the council could talk about including postings in an announcement section of the city website. However, the website is not currently managed or updated by the city on a regular basis. There was no official council action needed for this topic.
The council did take action on official hours and a pay raise for Public Works employee Jordan Amunrud. The council unanimously approved Amunrud for seven hours per day for a total of 35 hours per week. Included in the approval was a pay increase. Amunrud will move up the next step as outlined by the city’s existing pay scale. Mayor Ron Reisner indicated Amunrud’s work performance will continue to be evaluated every six months. Amunrud has been employed by the city since spring 2024.
City Clerk Mary Tjepkes also indicated the council would need to soon talk about an alternating weekend schedule once everything is going well.
Two action items related to zoning/permitting were also discussed. First, the council unanimously approved renewing the Ostby permit issued over a year ago. The project wasn’t started and the new approval includes the same plan as previously permitted.
Secondly, the council discussed a permit previously approved and issued to Keith Raaen. According to Reisner, the permit was for construction of a building 16-feet long by 6-feet wide by 18-feet high. The city has received complaints about the building. Reisener, who also serves as the Zoning Administrator, measured the existing building at 16-feet by 6-feet by 24-feet. Options for the permit holder were to lower the building six feet or to pay a $500 fine.
“I will gladly pay the fine,” said Raaen, noting it would cost thousands to lower it.
Danielson questioned whether or not the complaints would go away with the fine being paid.
Tjepkes noted the complaints are on the building itself. “I showed them the permit application and said I would send Ron up there. I said, ‘Everything’s been done correctly. They filled out the permit. It was approved,’” she added.
Reisner added that the setbacks are within zoning regulations. The council unanimously accepted a fine payment.
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