WELLMAN

Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Inauguration Day– neither kept the Wellman City Council from meeting on Monday, although some council members were eager to get back to celebrating the return of President Trump. The most pressing agenda item was approval of the bond purchase agreement for the sale of GO bonds that will finance engineering for the reconstruction of the 9th Avenue/Ginkgo bridge on the south side of town, a resolution the council quickly passed.

The $600,000 bond locked in a 4.64% interest rate; for the owner of a $100,000 home, for example, the tax rate of 89¢ per $1,000 valuation will result in a $43 increase per year.

In mid-February the city will present an application for Municipal Grant funds to the Washington County Riverboat Foundation (WCRF). The council discussed what projects they hope to fund with the grant monies this year; in 2024 Municipal Grant funds paid for the new splash pad in North Park, and the city set aside some funds for downtown improvements to be made in the future. In 2025 the city intends to continue saving for the downtown project; they would also like to put WCRF money into a new veterans/first responders memorial.

The council concluded their Jan. 20 meeting with a 30-minute work session on the FY25-26 budget. Most budget items are fairly standard year to year, City Administrator Kelly Litwiller said; line items that change are those for salaries, major projects, and capital improvements.

In terms of salaries, Mayor Ryan Miller noted that Washington County is considering a 2.5% pay increase for employees; Litwiller said that other cities, such as Riverside and Kalona, are considering pay raises of 3-5% to keep up with inflation. Council member Shannon McCain suggested a 3% across the board increase for Wellman’s employees.

The city has several large projects underway at present, including water main replacement, bridge replacement, and a new veterans/first responders memorial; there is disinclination to add much more to the FY25-26 budget, although smaller projects such as resurfacing for pickleball courts at North Park and spot improvements to the city’s worst sidewalks are possibilities.

The council remains forward-looking and discussed what they would like to see in future years, chief among them a paved walkway to the high school. While determining a viable route from downtown across Highway 22 to the school is a challenge, especially in terms of safety, there is a need: “There are more high school kids now than I’ve ever seen. You would be surprised at how many kids walk,” Litwiller said, also noting how cross country runners train on the city streets and highway shoulders.

“It’s something we need to keep an eye on for the future,” council member Nathan Klostermann said.

Campground spots at South Park are something the council has discussed in the past, and the idea resurfaced during the work session.

“I think it should be explored,” McCain said. “I know it’s expensive if we go the full route, but I bet that we would get people using it, even if we just had a place for [campers] to park, some gravel with railroad ties around it.”

Klostermann agreed that just three spots for campers and a space for a few tents would be worth testing out, and that the cost to put down some gravel would be low.

“Then we could start incorporating a campfire night down there, or something for people to do,” McCain said.

Discussion of the veterans/first responders memorial, to be constructed at the vacant lot at the corner of Highway 22 and 8th Avenue, also came up. Mayor Miller reminded the council of Wednesday night’s soup supper fundraiser at Parkview Activities Center (5-7 p.m.; free will donation), and he mentioned that architects were working on design ideas.

Miller noted that the memorial would have state and country flags flying, and that it would be nice to have a city flag flying as well. Whether Wellman has ever had a city flag is an open question; he plans to check with the Wellman Historical Society to find out. Even if the city did have a flag, it’s possible a new design could be created, possibly with public participation in its selection.

“It has to be something other than just a tree,” Litwiller said, not sure how a city with the motto “The town that cares” has a tree as its graphic signifier.

The council had some fun throwing out new emblem ideas, the most amusing of which was “a dude pumping a well” to represent Well + Man.

“There we go, done,” McCain joked.

As these ideas were floated in a work session, no official action was taken.

The Wellman City Council will next meet on Monday, Feb. 3 at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall.