Montreal applies for funding for new city park

MONTREAL, Wis. - Mayor Kelly Traczyk said that the city of Montreal applied for the Neighborhood Investment Fund Grant to receive funding for a proposed park at the Montreal common council meeting on Nov. 9. Traczyk said it will be named Riverside Park, which is also the name of the community center on a 1938 map of the city.

The proposed park will be located on 22 acres of city property and will have a "mindfulness meditation walk," a dog park and community gardens. An old baseball field will be repurposed into an outdoor concert area that will double as a lighted ice-skating rink in the winter. It will also connect with regional trails and proposed trail systems.

The total projected budget for the project is about $4.2 million and will take an estimated three years to complete. Traczyk said that the Wisconsin Department of Administration can adjust the budget as they see fit.

Traczyk said that she based the cost estimates for the park on the budget for the new city square in downtown Ironwood, partly because of Ironwood's success in securing grants for the project. She said that she increased the cost for the initial site work because the space is about three times as large as Ironwood Downtown City Square.

According to the Neighborhood Investment Grant Program application, the project must address a need related to negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The area is at a disproportionality higher risk for negative COVID outcomes due to lack of resources to provide mental and physical health support," the city of Montreal's application says. "The project will leverage city property to create Riverside Park, a year-round outdoor community gathering space with physical and mental health resources for all to enjoy and bring people back together for safe social events to recover from COVID-19."

Council member Ashley Sorrels asked if there was anything more dire that they needed the ARPA funds for. Council member Bill Thomas said the city's roads, but Traczyk said that they could not spend it on roads because the money was earmarked for things such as community development and workforce development.

Traczyk said the city would get "bonus points" towards securing the grant if they committed matching funds and in-kind labor to the project. She suggested $10,000 of in-kind labor, but council member Ken Saari said that seemed low. Public Works Department Foreman Mark Haegar agreed, noting the short building season.

"The building season is four or five months by the time they put a shovel in the ground and by the time they're buttoning things up for winter and things like that. If you take the six to eight months out of that picture and you're left with that amount of time, that puts it more in perspective where those hours are. It's not a year-round project. It would be a fair-weather project," Haegar said.

Haegar said that their available time depends on whether the project gets a good start in the spring or is delayed into summer. He said that he would hate to bite off more than they could chew by committing to $15,000 to $20,000 of in-kind labor but not having enough time to get it in.

Traczyk said that the in-kind labor on the grant application is meant to be an estimate. She said that the in-kind labor is quantifiable, and the council will show that they are making an effort for it. The council agreed to contribute $30,000 of matching funds and $30,000 of in-kind labor costs to the project.

This money will come from the city's American Rescue Plan Act funds and will go back to the city if the grant is not approved, Traczyk said.

Traczyk said she had a team working with her on the grant application. The team included council member Maleah Cummings, Friends of the Gile Flowage President and UW-Extension Environmental Outreach Coordinator Cathy Techtmann, ICORE board of directors member Ian Shackleford and Iron County GIS Office Department Head Neil Martinko.

Water works

During the meeting, Haegar said he needed approval from the council to schedule a clay valve repair with an independent contractor. He explained that the clay valve is a very important piece of equipment that keeps everything from running down the well when it shuts off.

They recommend a rebuild on the clay valve every five years and Montreal is at the end of the five-year cycle. There is also a minor leak on one of the pilot controls of the clay valve.

"The pilot control is just a couple of O-rings, but they have to tear it apart a little bit to do it. That part of it is minor. That's only a few-minute job for them because they know what they're doing. But to get them up here to do it, you still have that gigantic trip cost. If they're going to come up here and fix that small leak that we have, we should make it worthwhile and do the five-year maintenance that they recommend on that valve," Haegar said.

Haegar said that the independent contractor is based in Madison, Wisconsin, which is more than 250 miles away from Montreal. He said that the trip cost will be $1,500. But if they can plan the visit while they have other work in the area, they will split the trip costs in half. Haegar said that he didn't know of anyone who has a similar clay valve in the immediate area, but the contractor mentioned they have work in the Hancock and Houghton areas.

Haegar added that the clay valve leak is not detrimental to the system and if it fails, the city has another well to rely on. The council approved a motion permitting Haegar to schedule the clay valve repair.

Traczyk said that she applied for Local Road Improvement Plan funds in the first week of November. She said that their five-year local road improvement plan is due to be revised and they also have to apply for 2021's supplemental funds for roads through the state of Wisconsin. The council agreed to schedule a street committee meeting at 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 30 to address these two issues.

The council also:

-Appropriated all receipts for the 2022 fiscal year as discussed in the Oct. 28 budget workshop.

-Adopted an ordinance that redistricts a two-block section of the city from Ward 2 to Ward 1. Traczyk said the city's district and ward lines were not in alignment and the ordinance moves them to be the same, which will make voting easier for people in that area. The districts are used for county board representation, while the wards are used by the city.

-Changed the travel reimbursement rate from 30 cents per mile to the state rate, which is 56 cents per mile.