Fountain Council Renews Contract with Rick Whitney

At their July 1 regular meeting the Fountain City Council heard a report from Rick Whitney of Environmental Water Services, LLC on his recent work for the city. The full council, which included Mayor Ron Reisner, Cory Spratte, Jordan Kerns, Tammy Danielson, Dave Stockton and City Clerk Mary Tjepkes, was present to hear the report.

Rick shared that at the West Side Lane lift station neither of the pumps had been working correctly.  Al Larson & Sons came out and found that the pumps were running, but nothing was coming out. They found a flashlight lodged in one of the pumps and metal banding caught in the impeller of the other pump. According to Rick, they also ended up cleaning out two five-gallon buckets of debris from the pump area which had accumulated due to poor maintenance. New pumps were installed.

Some new street lights with plastic globes have been received. The former heavy glass globes were held in place with three set screws which had broken some of the glass on the old globes. According to Mayor Ron Reisner, recently someone had decided to climb a light pole and take a globe down. They had found the globe to be too heavy and dropped it to the ground. The lighter plastic globes will last better on the lights.

Reporting on the wellhouse, Rick noted that all new steel trusses and a steel roof will be replaced. The main steel doors will also be replaced and the line around the building will be touched up. New fluoridation equipment will kick on when the well starts and off when the well stops so fluoride will not be over fed into the water system.

Rick reported on the MPCA (Minnesota Pollution Control Agency) findings. The city has completed timely submissions of the annual notice of compliance. From October 2024 to September 2025 there were 14 affluent liquid exceedances. There have been no violations whatsoever since Rick took over the water and sewer care.

Tammy Danielson reported that there has been a direct effect on the “bug costs.” While Fountain paid $43,000 in bug costs last year to treat sludge, from January 2026 to June 2026 the city has only had $1,100 in such expenses. This was a 97% decrease since Rick started. Staffing costs have also decreased during that time. Danielson pointed out that repairs and maintenance are being done completely in house. Danielson suggested that the city do a cost comparison at the end of the year to find exactly how much the city saved by  hiring Whitney’s Environmental Water Services.

The council approved the new service agreement with Whitney.

An agreement with MiEnergy for a 30-foot easement that had been tabled at the June meeting was discussed. The easement would allow MiEnergy right-of -way access so they can get in with boom trucks to trim trees. City Clerk Tjepkes will check to see if there is anything else addressed in the easement. This easement could be used by the city as well to access private properties when needed.

Mayor Reisner brought up a request from a resident to build a 12 foot by 16 foot addition to his house. The request had already gone through zoning and was recommended for approval. The addition will be built in the same location of a former deck and is not over the septic tank. The council approved the request unanimously.

Reisner informed the council they would need to begin the procedure for a zoning change on another property. The property would be changed from industrial to residential; this will require a public hearing and letters to the neighbors.

Reisner shared that he’d been approached about yet another parcel which has not been zoned previously. This is a church which may be repurposed either for storage units or townhouses.

The council discussed selling an old city truck either through sealed bids or by putting it on the open market. Jordan Kerns expressed his concern that they might need it as a backup truck; he fel the city should keep the old truck. The council decided to table the issue until they found out its value. They will revisit the issue at their August 5 meeting.

As their last action item of the evening, the council approved the issuance of a temporary liquor license to the Fountain Fire Department for an upcoming gun raffle in October.