CHAMOIS — Chamois Mayor Michael Edwards and aldermen Sara Mengwasser and Lance Gerloff were sworn in at the board’s April meeting, and Jim Wright also accepted another two-year term as alderman.

Aldermen also accepted the resignation of Alderman Jeffrey Connors, which leaves one open seat on the board.

In closed session, the city hired Rusty McCoy as part-time help for the Utilities Supervisor. He will have a six-month probationary period and will be paid $12 per hour for 10 hours per week.

In other business, the water project has been delayed. The city was set to begin construction on Well #1, and none of the well-drillers were willing to drill anywhere near Well #1, citing too many complications.

“So, as of right now, that project is scratched, and we are going to proceed with Well #2,” Utilities Supervisor Justin Bathke said.

He scheduled a meeting with engineers to look at the location of Well #2 last Friday and asked aldermen and the mayor to attend. Bathke explained that the new location for Well #2 is at the existing water tower and planned to discuss how to direct the water coming from the existing Well #2.

“We are going to have to look at where we can direct the water because that is another big issue,” Bathke said. “We have an artesian well, which is free-flowing water that is pressured at all times.”

Wright said the water could be directed off the back side of the hill.

Bathke agreed that the excess water could be directed into a ravine on the back side of Well #2, but he is concerned that the water is not draining properly and is getting into people’s houses. A resident has registered three complaints noting the water was in their basement.

“For what I can tell, the casing is failing even more,” Bathke said. “I could be wrong. I’m new at this, and there ain’t anyone here to really help me or tell me what I need to do or what I need to look for. We have more water coming out because it is springtime. I have it subsided for now. We’ve got a lot of water issues with drainage.”

“It’s a flat town,” Wright said.

Bathke said that engineers do not know how they are going to cap the existing Well #2.

“I would say that we don’t cap it and let it run and take it down to the main storm drain,” Wright said. “That way, we have a backup well. We’ll save $1.5 million.”

“I agree, but we’re going to have to direct it,” Bathke said.

“Are both the sump pumps running?” Wright asked.

“They are burned up,” Gerloff said. “Danny (Kirsch, the former utilities supervisor) was saying that they burned up every three months, and they had to buy new ones.”

Bathke added that he was never told about the sump pumps.

“We might want to mention it to the engineers and see if it would be feasible to divert the water into a 6-inch or 12-inch pipe and take it to the storm drains,” Wright said. “I’m thinking we should get easements down through there and put a big pipe in that doesn’t need a pump.”

Bathke noted that they needed to get easements for where Well #2 would be drilled. Aldermen discussed what property was owned by the city at the existing water tower without coming to a conclusion.

“That should be something that should be done by the engineers because we gotta have a water system,” Wright said.

Bathke asked Wright to meet with him and the engineers.

“This is getting old,” Bathke said, referring to the problems with getting the water system construction underway.

“Don’t think anything of it,” Wright said to Bathke. “The last project took 10 to 12 years.”

Wright added that the city might have to purchase additional ground to drill Well #2.

Mengwasser and Bathke were appointed to be signers for the water project.

Bathke brought up the drainage issues again later in the meeting.

“In all honesty, I need someone to go with me and hit all these ditches and figure out where the ditches are and where the drains are because there are a lot of them just covered up with crap,” Bathke said. “There are a lot of things that need to be done.”

Gerloff offered to help Bathke when he is off work on Fridays. Bathke noted that his front yard gets all the runoff from the city shed and leaves his front yard “like a swimming pool.”

Edwards agreed there is a drainage issue in the city.

“It rains one and a half inches, and there’s water everywhere,” Edwards said.

“We’ve been fighting that for 20 years,” Wright said.

“Maybe if we start cleaning out the ditches, people will see that and start cleaning up their properties,” Gerloff said.

“If you don’t take pride in your town, what do you have?” Bathke asked. “Drug addicts want to move in. If we start taking a stand and start showing some pride in our city, maybe we can push some of the BS out.”

“The best way to fix the water is still to clean the ditches,” Wright said.

Bathke answered that he was in classes two days a week and didn’t have time to work on clearing the ditches.

“This is something that has been around awhile; it will wait for you,” Wright answered.

“But I’m the one getting the complaints,” Bathke said.

Wright told Bathke to direct the complaints to the Board of Aldermen.

“How many times do I have to direct them to the board?” Bathke asked.

“As many times as it takes,” Wright said.

“I keep directing them to the board, and they keep talking to me,” Bathke said.

“Because they know it bothers you,” Wright said. “We do need to clean the ditches out, and it is going to take manual labor. We may have to get more people to help. We don’t expect you to do all of it.”

Bathke said that he has trouble contacting Wright when he has problems.

“I get that you are a busy man, but I have nobody to go to, and your thing right now is just to tell me to do it,” Bathke said. “I’ve asked for your help to come walk with me, and you just give me some excuse.”

Wright admitted that he is not always around but that some things just have to be learned by doing them.

“I’m asking you to come out and work with me and show me so I don’t look like an idiot,” Bathke said. “It really pisses me off.”

Wright said he sometimes looks like an idiot when he is doing things. “I don’t know what is in the ground,” he added. “Most of the time, you can go from fire plug to fire plug and see where the pipes go. They don’t bend.”

He also instructed Bathke to consult the maps that Kirsch had used.

• Steve Nolte had contacted Mayor Edwards about a problem with the electricity at the RV park at Chamois City Park.

Bathke confirmed that someone who wanted to use the RV park told him the hookups were unsafe for his vehicle.

“I get complaints that the RV park is not feasible,” Bathke said. “We need an electrician down there. We get a lot of compliments on the park, and a lot of people love coming down there. I think it is best if we can get an electrician down there to keep it going.”

Wright noted that the fuse boxes also needed to be moved out of the floodplain.

Gerloff will contact an electrician and see if he can get something set up.

• City Clerk Meghan Birmingham has received a second complaint about trash blowing into another resident’s yard. The second complaint came after the city sent a letter asking the resident to clean up their trash and sending them the details on the recent spring clean up so they could utilize the service.

Wright noted that he had talked to the resident, and he thought they had started cleaning things up.

“There is always trash in my yard,” Gerloff said. “I just pick it up. I don’t know where it all comes from.”

“That’s all of us,” Wright added.

Edwards noted that a couple of months ago, there was an archery tournament at the school, and several properties people had to drive by were eyesores.

“Someone needs to look at the zoning and codes,” Bathke said. “We don’t have a marshal, but that would be more revenue going into the town, and we can start rebuilding our streets and sidewalks.”

Wright noted that the property owner is responsible for maintaining the sidewalks.

Bathke responded that if that were true, he would just take out the sidewalks in front of his house.

“No, you can’t do that,” Wright said. “They are required. It is the homeowner’s responsibility to keep them maintained.”

“That doesn’t seem right,” Bathke said.

“It doesn’t seem right, but that is the way it is,” Wright answered.

“Well, it doesn’t affect you; it affects me,” Bathke said.

“It affects everyone,” Wright answered.

He added that the city really needs to have sidewalks beside Hwy. 100 so that there can be a school bus stop.

• Edwards will plan on going to the bank and getting all the signatures changed over so he can sign checks for the city accounts.

• Aldermen tabled the Water Protection Program, which provides funds for capping existing wells until they can investigate the issue further.

• Wright would like to look at the ordinances that regulate livestock within the city limits over the next several meetings.

• Mengwasser asked when the city has had personal properties assessed.

“You’re asking the wrong people,” Wright said. “The county assessor’s office does that.”

“I’m looking at it as a revenue generator to help improve the city’s revenues,” Mengwasser said.

Wright suggested that she call the assessor’s office.

• Aldermen approved outstanding bills totaling $8,595.85.

• Chamois had the following ending balances in their accounts: cemetery fund ($10,437.77), general fund ($50,348.47), water fund ($185,084.67), sewer fund ($91,760.92), Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) in and out ($1,250), city park ($3,331.59), American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds ($77,213.68), city cemetery ($20,523.06), meter deposits ($22,481.94), and water repair ($28,996.35).

• The next meeting is May 17 at 7 p.m.