OSMOND — The Osmond City
Council met Monday, July 14, with a wide variety of items on the agenda.
Stealth Broadband Plans
Mike Storjohann, CEO with Stealth Broadband, provided an update on the Osmond Fiber to Home project. He stated that plans have changed after discussion with the power company and it will no longer be 75% aerial but rather 100% underground. They hope to have the project now start around Aug. 18 and finish up around Sept. 30. He stated that any existing wireless customers will be the first to transition to fiber and that businesses and other residential properties will have access to their service.
2026 Truck Show Plans Shared Some of the members from the Chrome and Smoke truck show com mittee came before council to inform them of the dates that next year's truck show will be and the plans they have made so far.
Kris Schramm stated they will be planning the truck show for the fourth weekend in June and having it Friday through Sunday again. They hope to work together with the Com munity HOME Team and Ganseboom to make it a great alumni/Summerfest weekend.
Mayor Dennis Kuhl asked committee members if it is just a party for themselves or how it benefits the community. The committee stated they had heard that the mini mart and bars had a good weekend but they didn't have any reports to show council at this time.
Schramm mentioned that they have the event open to the public and have even added a few kids' events at this year's show with hopes to be able to
provide more event options for the kids next year. They stated that while Plan B wasn't used this year, they hope to still have that option in the future if needed, along with utilizing north of the softball field. Treasurer Brittney Tim merman spoke up and asked council moving forward if the peddler's fees could be waived since it is a com - munity event since they were waived during past Summerfest weekends. Council all agreed to waive the fees. It was also asked if, for future events, they could bring some of the aluminum picnic tables down from the park to use. Mayor Kuhl stated renting picnic tables will be discussed later in the meeting and council would let them know after that discussion what is de cided. Council thanked the committee for all they have done with the event.
Street Plan Discussed
Baylor Bestgen, street superinten- dent with JEO, provided council with the current One- and Six-Year Street plans. After reviewing them, council agreed that more streets would need to be added.
The question was asked of when engineering is required on a street project. Mr. Bestgen stated that the simple answer would be when it's for the safety of the public but advised them to reach out to the city attorney to know for sure if a project would need to be engineered.
He went on to say that if the project is more than $30,000 it has to be let for bid. He also stated that if it’s a normal patching, mill and fill, or if it has existing curb and gutters, it doesn't require engineering. However, if there’s any draining issues that need to be addressed, that would require engineering. Council thanked Mr.
Bestgen for the information and will get back to him on any streets that need to be added to the plan for next year.
Picnic Table Rental
Treasurer Timmerman brought up the subject of renting out picnic tables since, in the past, 12 tables could be rented out, but recently she’s been told that no tables are to be rented out.
She wanted to get council's input so everyone is on the same page moving forward. Timmerman provided council with the old picnic table use policy and after some discussion it was decided that 10 tables could be rented out (five from the north shelter and five from the south shelter) and they would allow them to be rented out of town.
However, council mentioned that whoever is renting them must un - derstand that if a table were to fall off a trailer or vehicle while being transported, they would be required to replace the picnic table with a new one. The council set the per table rent
at $20 with a $100 damage deposit check, allowing 10 tables to be rented.
CDL Licenses To Be Covered Council once again discussed employees obtaining their CDL if they didn’t have it prior to hiring. After a lengthy discussion on what was done in the past for the water, sewer and mosquito license and what was on the advertisement at time of hiring, they all agreed that the city will pay for obtaining the required licenses; however, if the employee doesn't work for the city for one year following completion of the course, they will have wages withheld from their final paycheck to cover the expense.
Council voted to have the city pay for all necessary licenses for new full- time maintenance employees and have those employees obtain all necessary licenses within one year after their probation period and work for the city for one year after obtaining, or risk having wages withheld on their last paycheck to cover the cost of the courses.
Council agreed to leave it up to maintenance employee Bert Wattier if he wanted to be reimbursed for the CDL course he is currently taking. Treasurer Timmerman asked council who was paying for the drug
test invoice she had received since it was decided last month the city wasn't paying for the course. Council agreed the city will cover the cost and approved Timmerman to cut a check for the invoice.
Vacant Properties Discussed Moving on to the update on vacant properties, Mayor Kuhl stated that there has been progress and future plans for one of the lots on Logan Street along with Maple Street.
The owner of one property located outside of city limits but within the city's jurisdiction had asked the fire department to burn down the current house to allow for a new house to be put in its place. However, due to the location of the house and surrounding structures the fire department denied the request, so now a demolishing crew will remove the structure. The Highway 20 property that has been discussed will be discussed at its owner's next meeting to decide what will happen with the structure. An update will be provided for next council meeting.
A few properties along State Street will be demolished by the end of the month. Discussion was had about a property up by the school that had a portion of the sidewalk missing and it was decided that the maintenance crew would have the sidewalk poured by the time school starts for the safety of kids walking to school.
Other Agenda Items Discussed Council reviewed the quarterly report from Pierce County Economic Development and Clerk Timmerman informed council that PCED had a meeting scheduled for Thursday, July 17, at noon in the conference room if any other council member wanted to attend, since Mayor Kuhl planned to attend.
Mayor Kuhl announced he hired Jason Erickson on June 16th and stated CITY COUNCIL DISCUSSES VARIETY OF ISSUES the requirements would be visited after probation is up. Council set Erickson’s wage at $20 per hour during the 90-day probation period.
The last maintenance discussion was on the hours for maintenance employees. Currently, a few employees have been coming in prior to 8 a.m. And, after some discussion, the employees agreed that the workday would start at 8 a.m.
Mayor Kuhl reported that the LENRD approved paying half of the electrical work by the ballfield and that their decision didn’t change on the amount. Kuhl asked council if they would consider that offer. Three out of the four members agreed to accepting reimbursement on half of the cost.
Councilman Schmit had a request from a residence in South Osmond to put a street light closer to Market Street as that corner can be hard to see in the dark. After some discussion it was decided to see if the power company could move one of the street lights up the road to the other side and closer to Market Street.
After reviewing the results of the sonar sludge testing done on the three lagoon ponds, Maintenance Supervisor Caleb Eckstrom mentioned a new live bacteria product from Team Labs. Other local communities have seen fast results, like five feet of sludge in a 30-foot circle go down to nothing in just two months. He stated that the cost of this product is around $6,500 and after three years of using it, they will retest the sludge depth to determine the benefits it has on the ponds.
Clerk Timmerman stated that since Summit Contracting is no longer a business in town a replacement has been found for their park bench advertising. The new business asked if they could take the existing sign and have their own guy in a neighboring community make their sign for the advertisement. Council agreed to allow them to do that.
Next, Clerk Timmerman informed council that she had checked into the proper way to receive new bids on the municipal building/equipment insurance and they are not required to advertise for three consecutive weeks before opening the sealed proposals. She asked council if they wanted to open proposals at the August meeting and make a decision at the September meeting or complete everything at the August meeting since renewal is Oct. 1. Request for proposals will be sent to three insurance companies with sealed proposals needing to be to the office by 5 p.m. on Aug. 11.
Mayor Kuhl proposed to increase all wages 4% excluding the following employees who he proposed at the following wage increases: Caleb Eckstrom, $3.00 increase; Bert Wattier, $2.00 increase; Brittney Timmerman, $3.00 increase and off-street help, $5 increase. After all the discussion that was had about wage and salary increases this year, approved an increase in all wages effective as of the Oct. 1 payroll. The list of wages will be printed in the city council minutes.
Treasurer Timmerman reviewed the Profit & Loss for FY 2024-25 with council and asked for any other items that needed to be budgeted for in FY 2024-25. Several budget items were discussed, including a street project and, at the end of the discussion, Timmerman reminded them that, due to the large dollar amount for additional budget items, it may require them to attend the joint public hearing with the county if it requires a property tax levy increase.
Treasurer Timmerman informed council that the available dates for the budget workshop are Aug. 18 or 19. After a brief discussion, it was decided that Aug. 18 at 6:30 p.m. would be the workshop, which is not open to the public. A budget hearing for the public will be held in September.
Treasurer Timmerman reported the credit card check was cut last week in order to make the due date and she has contacted the company to change the due date to later in the month to allow extra time for the check to be sent out. She also mentioned that the TextmyGov check had been cut in time for the meeting and that the initial text to get the city’s program going live would be on Wednesday, July 16. Timmerman mentioned it has been a time-consuming project but is excited to see this feature go live for the residents.
Clerk Timmerman presented three building permits: One permit from Josh Brummels on moving a house in town to a different lot and adding onto it; Bill and Margaret Ryan, building a new house, and Heather Berg, putting up a privacy fence.
Police Chief Tyler Wells presented a report on recent activity within the city, including one vehicle inspection, one event notification, one vehicle unlock referred to the county and one security question for the truck show, to name a few. Wells also reported there were no issues during either weekend for the truck show and 4th of July.
Mayor Kuhl reported he had spoken with the city attorney and stated that, on the reclaiming of cemetery plots, due to the large quantity he will need to hire an abstract company to assist in helping finalize the process. Kuhl stated City Attorney Dennis Collins estimated this may add another few thousand dollars to his bill by the time the project is complete. Council agreed this needs to keep moving forward.
In other business, the council: — approved the hiring of the following with the following pool sub wages: Brianna Sporleder, $16.25 and Addie Hodson, $13.50.
— approved Main Street Alley special designated liquor license application for a wedding on Sept. 6 and 13, 2025.
— heard Mayor Kuhl state city sales tax for April 2025 was a total of $17,237.16 (of that amount $3,284.87 is from motor vehicle tax).
— heard three correspondences read, each of them complementing the city park and camping grounds.
