Proposal will be sent to CDBG for Superior town offices

Superior Volunteer Fire Chief John Woodland reported he received advice to submit a proposal to the Community Development Block Grant program with regards to creating town offices in the fire hall.

At the regular meeting of the Superior Town Council on Dec. 10, Chief Woodland said that he calculated the proposed town offices and seven parking spots would amount to the utilization of seven percent of the fire hall which works out to $14,000.

“The proposal would be that the town would pay the fire hall the $14,000 as program income and the funds would be expended for the fire hall, completing the flooring, possibly paving the driveways etcetera,” Chief Woodland said. “Before the town can move forward with the town offices project the proposal would have to be approved by the CDBG.”

Councilor Angelo Ververis made a motion to approve submitting a proposal to the CDBG which passed unanimously.

In other council business, Councilor Nolan Webber said the Mineral County Chamber of Commerce received a bill for the permit fee for the Superior town sign.

“The state recognizes the chamber of commerce as the owner of the permit,” the official town council minutes read. “The Chamber of Commerce may request that the town pay for the permit fee.”

After discussion on the matter, a consensus was reached by the councilors that the chamber of commerce is responsible for the permit fee.

Superior Town Clerk Brenda Schneider reported to the council more utility customers are asking to pay using a credit card, which traditionally comes with a bank charge of three to five percent per transaction.

Schneider researched alternatives to using a bank for the transactions and found Paygov, which provides necessary training and equipment and assesses an optional fee that the town would not have to collect from utility users.

Councilor Ververis made a motion to approve letting Schneider set up a Paygov account for obtaining credit card payments which was passed unanimously.

Public Works Supervisor Roger Wasley reported to the council that they are adding water to the town swimming pool in order to keep the water levels up, which prevents buckling as the ground freezes.

Superior Mayor Michael Wood read the Nov. report from the Superior Volunteer Fire Department, including details of two calls responded to.

“On Nov. 1 at approximately 6:45 a.m., we responded to a report of a fire at the Eureka Pellet Mill,” Mayor Wood read. “On arrival, we were informed by mill employees that the fire was just smoldering sawdust where they had been welding and cutting the day before.”

The report continues, stating that the mill employees “had the situation under control” and the SVFD stood down without any suppression efforts.

On Nov. 18, the SVFD received a call for a vehicle fire on Interstate 90. A Sheriff’s Deputy was first to arrive at the scene and communicated the incident was a burst radiator hose. The SVFD stood down and according to the report seven volunteers responded and “there were may have been more who heard the stand down before arriving at the building.”

The SVFD officially moved into the new fire hall on Nov. 10 with all of the equipment and gear set up and ready to be utilized.

“Assistant Chief Miller put in a tremendous amount of time getting all the rest of our equipment and supplies moved over and stowed away as well as connecting up the compressors, air and electric drops for the trucks,” Mayor Wood read. “The job would have been much more difficult without him.”

The report also mentioned the efforts of a number of volunteers who worked to complete the painting of the fire hall.

“In addition to a well attended ‘painting party’ on Nov. 3, Ken Quitt and Dan Arnsen returned on several other occasions to finish things up,” Mayor Wood read.

The next meeting of the Superior Town Council is on Jan. 14.