Nevis seeks the community's help to design city logo

Nevis Mayor Jarod Senger swore in council members Jeanne Thompson and Susan Gray at the regular city council meeting on Monday.

After approving the agenda, Senger questioned moving forward with plans regarding the painting of the water tower and if any progress had been made.

Public Works Supervisor Don Umthun informed the council that he had spoken with Maguire Iron, Inc. who were contracted to clean, inspect and paint the water tower within the year 2017.

Earlier in 2016, the council had tabled approving the bid to paint the water tower until they made a decision on the design of a new logo.

According to Umthun, the contractor has the Nevis water tower on his schedule.

"I think what you as a council need to decide is if we are going to change the color scheme or if we're going to do some kind of a logo," he said.

Umthun was informed by the contractor that if the council moved forward with adding a logo to the water tower, it should not contain too much detail, on a surface of that size details would be lost.

Umthun further explained that the painting of the tower cannot be completed until the weather is warm, which will likely push the completion of the project to mid-summer.

"The water tower will have to be shut off, there won't be any water in it. So for fire protection I'll have to talk to the chief but what we end up doing is putting a pressure relief on a hydrant and the wells just have to run," he said. "But until the paint is dried you can't have cold water going in or the paint won't stick."

Looking to City Clerk Dawn Veit, Senger asked, "We don't currently have a Nevis logo do we?"

Veit informed the council members that Nevis City does not have a logo.

"I think we should pursue a logo," Senger said.

"I like the idea, absolutely," council member Rich Johnson agreed.

"Once we pick something, I'll email it," Umthun said, adding he'll have a discussion with the contractor as to what may or may not work with the potential design. "I think whatever is picked we'll adjust a little bit and that's what we'll do."

When the council tabled the bid, there was then a discussion to contact the school in order to have students design a logo. Council Member Jeanne Thompson questioned if opening it up to the entire community to participate would be a better choice.

"I think it would be great for a community event, if there's someone that's interested why not open it up to the entire community and see what comes up," Johnson responded. "We can certainly let the art teacher at the school know what's happening and they can submit as well. I think it'd be cool."

The council members asked that those interested in designing a new Nevis logo submit a rough drawing to Nevis City Hall by the next council meeting, which is Monday, March 1.

Public Works

Umthun informed the council that he had completed the year end irrigation report and sent it to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. He explained that there were no problems, overages or violations.

"I did get an email that we met all of our standards from the MPCA for the year 2016," he said.

Umthun said that they had one or two residents that were still running their water due to freezing concerns but with the mild weather he did not see that as an issue any longer, having checked the water temperature which read 40 degrees.

"Generally we don't have any problems until I see 36 (degrees) or colder," he said. "So right now I'm probably not going to ask anyone else to run, if it comes up the first part of March I'll probably start telling people they can start shutting the water off. With this mild weather I don't foresee anything freezing up."

Liquor Store

The council approved Liquor Store Manager Kiley Weaver's request to be open during the Nevis Sites 'N Bites and the Nevis Pig Races this coming summer, which both fall on a Sunday.

"I think it'd be good for us to be involved," Weaver said.

Weaver informed the board that Nevis Muskie Days will be run differently this year. She explained that Nevis Civic & Commerce has talked about scaling back on the music due to expenses and would instead prefer to give each individual business the opportunity to bring in their own music.

"Our dilemma was to pay $1,500 for the use of the stage that they typically set up or to have it in front of the Muni like things used to be," she said. "I guess what I'm going to recommend is that we keep it more central to the Muni, which will mean less staff and less work."

"I feel like $1,500 is quite a bit of money and if we're going to have to pay for our own music on top of that, it just seems a little steep to me," Weaver added. "I'm hoping this year we'll go with the bands in front of our place to lessen our costs."

The council questioned if this were the first time organizers had asked the city to pick up a portion of their overhead.

According to Council Member Kelly Poole, the Civic & Commerce came to the city a few years ago asking for a contribution to put toward the event.

"Last year they had a $7,000 loss and it's not that they don't want to do it but they are trying to make up for that loss," Poole said about the changes. "The way I look at it is that if everyone was taking advantage of it, why can't we all put into a pool and still have them organize it; all the businesses in the city benefit off of it. Then it wouldn't be a whole lump sum for just one person."

"But that's not the offer on the table," Johnson responded. "The offer on the table is for us to pay $1,500 or roughly half of what they were talking about. We are certainly willing to entertain another offer."

"I'd like to reach out to them, because that's an important event for the whole community," Senger said in regards to holding off on a decision.

"There are some pieces that we may need to look at more in depth as part of that," Thompson said, in addition to considering entertainment there is a need to have proper licensure and fees and liability in place for food vendors and other aspects of the event.

Thompson suggested a member from the council attend the meetings during the planning process.

"It's not that I'm unwilling to work with them. We definitely profit but so does every other business in town," Weaver said. "I don't want to see Muskie Days go downhill, but at the end of the day it's not just our responsibility to cover the costs."

Weaver asked the council for permission to move forward with the planning stages of booking bands to be hosted in front of the municipal.

"I like the idea of you proceeding with your planning and then they could write a proposal to join us," Senger said.

The council approved Weaver move forward with planning and present the council with numbers at a special meeting that was scheduled for Monday, Feb. 27 at 6 p.m. to further discuss the matter.