WELCOME — The Welcome City Council met on Tuesday evening and there were several representatives present from Martin County West (MCW) School District and Fox Lake Area Sports Complex (FLASC) to discuss the ball fields.

The city presented concerns about ruts made in the grass parts when cars and other vehicles should be on the parking lot and gravel only. They were not advised early enough to ready the fields for some games, some of which were due to weather delays or rescheduling. Paul Henning, who is doing maintenance of the ball fields for the city, said that earlier communication about game times and days would be appreciated. Some of the confusion was due to not advising the right person.

A discussion was also held about the history of the fields and about having one person to call about the fields. Online communication is not available to Paul Henning. They all discussed having one person at each entity, school, city and FLASC, to advise on maintenance issues, delays or times and days to use the fields. The city asked about the school purchasing the fields and maintaining them.

MCW Superintendent Cori Reynolds explained that the district is stretched with the new school expenses and could not afford to hire a maintenance person right now. They did leave the proposal open for now. The FLASC representatives reiterated that they support youth and have volunteered at the fields with fundraising, spraying weeds, pounding fence posts, pumping water and adding lime.

The city has been in the red for the last few years concerning the fields since they have added several loads of gravel, have a maintenance person and have tiled the north part to get rid of standing water. They all agreed that communication was the key. They plan to have a meeting of the concerned parties in August or September to plan out maintenance and evaluate the fields and the goals of each entity for plans for the next spring/summer. The old football field purchase fell through for now since there was no clear title for the property yet.

The majority of the rest of the meeting was centered around the water issue for the three buildings on Main Street. The owners were present and Travis Winter, engineer, along with some former city council members and a public works employee. The drainage to tiles in the rear was discussed and the city asked that the sump pumps not be drained to the sidewalk in front.

Sump pumps should be drained to the storm sewer and the floor drains to the sanitary sewer. Some of the sewer consists of pipes from about 1910. There have been repairs and street projects since then, with the latest in 2019. Dugan Street is scheduled for extensive work in the next few years and hopefully, when dug up, the answer will be found.

Winter proposed three things to do. One way was to dig a hole and use a camera and jetter to determine a blockage or leak. Two was to plug all the drains in the three buildings (where would the water go). Three was to pump it to the sanitary sewer until the Dugan Street project uncovers where the water is coming from and where it is going when it goes down.

The city asked the owners if the problem is found to be the owner’s problem, would they reimburse the city for all the expenses. The owners said they would have to if it was their problem, but if it was the city’s problem, would the city pay the expenses. It was decided to go with the number one proposal to dig and use a camera again and jetter but to dig a small hole, not the whole street and curb, etc., to determine where it is coming from and where it is going, and if there is a blockage or leak. The owners pledged to pump water to the back and if nothing found, they would go to plan two and plug their pipes. The council approved this action with one dissenting vote.

In other news:

— Sherburn/Welcome Police Department Chief Trevor Yochim reported that there were no children at the Welcome Bike Rodeo in June. It was suggested that the date should be when school is in session and the police department could coordinate with the school.

— Clerk Jodi Hemann said there is a Rails to Trails proposal beginning for the area to make a Bike Trail from old railroad property. More information to come.

— The council accepted with thanks a $100 donation for the Cemetery from Barb and Donna Lohse.

— The council approved an off-site gambling raffle permit for the Fox Lake Conservation League.

— The council approved declaring the springing animals removed from Keck Park excess property and putting them up for sale.

— The council decided to use a silent auction type way to sell them and to make the deadline for bids July 31 at noon at City Hall.

— The mayor said he had installed a whiteboard for the public employees so that requests for things to be done could be written for them by council members and they could get jobs done quicker than bringing them up at council meetings.

The Welcome City Council will meet at 6 p.m. on July 21 at City Hall.