Montreal city council ponders blight

By Zachary Marano

zmarano@yourdailyglobe.com

MONTREAL, Wis. — Mayor Erik Guenard told the Montreal City Council Tuesday evening there is a lot of construction and urban improvement happening in the city, but there is also a rise in blight in certain areas, including dilapidated buildings, unregistered vehicles and grass higher than 8 inches.

Blight violations are identified by a blight enforcement officer. If the owner of the blighted property does not address it, the city sends in lawn services. The cost of the services are added to the owner’s taxes, said a city official.

The city council discussed writing new, one-page notices to send to residents when blight is identified on their property. Guenard said the notices could give the owner five days to address the blight before the city sends in a professional to remove it at the owner’s expense.

Guenard said these notices would put “more bark on blight.”

The members said they would talk more about this at future meetings.

The council accepted a wastewater maintenance report from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Mark Haeger, the Public Works Department foreman, told the council that the annual report revealed higher-than-recommended levels of phosphorous in the city’s wastewater system when compared to the statewide average.

The high phosphorous levels are not caused by manmade factors or industrial pollution, Haegar said. He said that phosphorous levels tend to be higher in northeast Wisconsin, where the element is naturally occurring, and the phosphorous in the ground enters the water through runoff.

Haegar said that the department can treat the pH of the water before it is released into the river but that filtering systems are expensive, so the Wisconsin DNR monitors the level of phosphorous in the water and the city pays for the excess volume in the river.

The council agreed to meet with the public works committee on June 22 to discuss street, sewer, water, and utilities fees. They said that they will post a public notice to give the residents time to be involved.

The council unanimously approved the renewal of a contract with Kerber Rose, a public auditing firm based in Shawano. Kerber Rose will perform the annual audit of the municipal government required by the state. The council also renewed the two-year assessor contract with Steve Nordquist of Hayward, at a rate of $4,200 — a $200 increase from 2020.

The city council also approved the annual renewal of four combination class B beer and liquor licenses and two bartender-operator licenses in Gile. Their approval is contingent upon the bars’ payment of their license fees, delinquent taxes and water bills.