At the June 3 meeting, the Fountain Council heard from area resident Denise Pagel, a volunteer with Fillmore County Relay for Life. The event is a well-known Cancer Awareness Fundraiser now in its 11th year. Pagel cited a breakdown in communication with this year’s team, which inadvertantly left organizers without a location. Ideally, she noted organizers envision a permanent site for the event and would like to use the Fillmore County Fairgrounds in Preston, as many other counties do with their respective fairgrounds.
“The biggest challenge with this is all the stuff that comes with it,” said Pagel.
The group requested the possible use of the Fountain Community Center and offered up potential dates of August 29 or September 19, from 4-9 pm. Hosting it would require the use of the building, tables and chairs, and a closed section of the city streets. Pagel proposed the section of First Street between First State Bank of Fountain and the Village Square restaurant.
Councilor Tammy Danielson, who helped chair the event two years ago noted while there is some work involved, it’s a really good function to have. She suggested someone from Fountain be on the organizing team, if there isn’t someone already. She also noted that including City Clerk Mary Tjepkes and possibly Public Works’ Jordan Amunrud in planning discussions may be helpful.
Typically, it includes included events such as a silent auction, survivor’s tea, and luminaries lining the walking area of the relay. Pagel indicated some of those events may not happen this year, due to the timeline of planning. The council unanimously approved donation of the center for the event.
During mayoral updates, Mayor Ron Reisner informed the council that due to protocol, anything that needs to be done in the city needs to go to the city clerk first.
“Somebody calls here and wants something done, gotta report to Mary,” he added. “She can bring it out at that point. We cannot uh, just be doing things haphazardly.”
Danielson asked whether there was something that the council was not aware of. Reisner responded that there have been incidences that have not gone to Tjepkes.
“Doesn’t it have to go to council first?” asked Jordan Kearns.
Reisner maintained that items needed to go to the clerk first and Tjepkes added that it was needed to get items on the agenda. Kearns clarified that items could be brought from council members to Tjepkes for council discussion.
During Public Works discussion, wastewater consultant Rick Whitney described recent events with a slow bathroom drain at a local business which led to the discovery of a secondary septic tank. This tank was reportedly two to three feet down and had never been pumped. Within five days of having it pumped and issues appearing to be corrected, Whitney stated he was called again and made improved corrections on the secondary tank including adding risers to make it flush with grade, sealing it down, and putting a cleanout on the outside of the building. He proposed locating and inspecting all secondary tanks in the city this fall when tanks are pumped.
“From what I understand, every business in town has two tanks,” said Tjepkes. We are going to have to, when it’s time to empty them, to see if those second tanks at the businesses have ever been pumped.”
In other news, following on the heels of several other Fillmore County communities, the city of Fountain has unanimously passed a resolution regarding the election process for write-in votes. The resolution requires a write-in candidate to file a written request for their votes to be individually tallied, filed with the appropriate filing office no less than 19 days before the election.
Lastly, Reisner and Tjepkes also briefly touched on an issue with a shed on skids, owned by Kearns, that is in a city easement in an alley. Kearns asked for details regarding the measurements of the easement so he’d know where the shed can and cannot be.
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