Sidewalk to stay on plan

Medford council approves sidewalk for Musky Ct. over resident’s objections

Musky Court will get sidewalk, but a little shorter than what had been originally planned.

The Medford City Council on Monday voted 7-1 to follow city ordinance despite objections from residents and put sidewalk on the street and cul-de-sac as part of this summer’s road reconstruction project. The sidewalk will be about 20 feet shorter than originally planned. Council member Laura Holmes voted against the sidewalk plan.

Prior to the vote, council members heard from residents opposing the sidewalk plan. Mayor Mike Wellner asked residents to keep comments to new objections to not repeat the objections voiced two weeks ago and the committee of the whole meeting.

Resident Mark Albers said he had invited the council members to the area to see his concerns with water flow and proposed placement. “I had one alderman come up,” Albers said, noting the council member didn’t realize that the city was only rebuilding Musky Court and not Musky Lane.

Other council members indicated they had also visited the area since the last meeting.

Describing it as a sidewalk that goes nowhere, Albers voiced concerns about the lack of engineering done for water flow on Musky Lane, noting that in his opinion the entire street needs to be dropped at the intersection with Shattuck St. Albers also criticized the city’s work on bursting a water main in the area last summer. This is a process where

See MEDFORD on page 5 water pressure is used to forced a new line into the existing line without excavating the area. “That was a total waste of money,” Albers said, noting he felt they should have replaced the sewer mains at the same time.

Mayor Wellner halted Albers multiple times stating the discussion at the meeting was over the sidewalk not about the engineering on the project as a whole. “We are not engineers, that is why we hire people,” Wellner said. He said the question is if the city is going to follow the ordinance.

“I am looking at the whole picture and you are not,” Albers said.

City coordinator Joe Harris addressed the drainage issues that had been brought up by residents. He said that regardless of the decision on sidewalk, the city would be installing area drains to address water concerns. “The drains will go in if the sidewalk goes in or not,” Harris said.

Resident John Lemke also spoke against the sidewalk plan. He praised Harris for having the courtesy to come up and talk with them and asked how many others did except for Holmes.

Lemke then criticized council member Mike Bub for driving down but not getting out of his car. He said the city could eliminate a lot of the expense by not doing it. “I think we need a new mayor. I’m done,” Lemke said walking away from the podium.

Later in the meeting when the agenda item came up for action, Holmes spoke in favor of rethinking the rules in regard to cul-de-sacs. “It is truly a sidewalk that goes nowhere,” Holmes said.

She said that to her it does not make sense to put sidewalk on cul-de-sacs and called for a review of the ordinance requiring them and on dead-end roads such as Pine Street.

Wellner warned of opening the door to making exceptions. He said if the council makes an exception in this case, there will be people asking for exceptions for every project. “They will find an exception and we will have the same battle we had every other time,” Wellner said.

Wellner also noted that neighborhoods change with older people being replaced by younger people who want the sidewalk for their children to use to walk to bus stops or to push strollers on.

“This ordinance has been in place for 17 years and it has worked,” Wellner said, supporting staying with the plan to install sidewalk on the road. He cited examples from the past where he felt the city erred in not putting sidewalk and noted that opening the door on exceptions puts more pressure on council members because they may have to vote against their friends or neighbors.

“This sidewalk gives you access to the city. It is the key to the city for you,” said council member Christine Weix, objecting to the idea that it goes nowhere. She noted that it will connect to the sidewalk that leads to other parts of the city. She noted that people living there will have mobility issues in the future or children or grandchildren who will want to use the sidewalk.

Council member Dave Brandner made an amendment to remove 20 feet of proposed sidewalk from along Albers’ property to avoid needing to rip out an existing concrete pad. The amendment passed unanimously. The sidewalk will stop on the north side of his existing driveway.

In the end, the council voted 7-1 to approve the sidewalk installation with the changes and the addition of area drains.

In other business, council members:

• Approved enacting a supplement to the code of ordinances. This is a routine action to include any ordinances passed in the past year to be part of the code of ordinances in both the online and print versions.

• Approved a rezoning request to convert a former insurance office on Broadway Ave. into a residence.

• Approved a developers agreement wth J and J Strama for loan assistance to construct two duplexes, one on W. Conrad and the other on on N. 9th St. the city provides loan assistance to promote multi-family residential investment in the city. The estimate for both projects is $1,082,218, with the loan guidelines that have been approved by City Council, Strama applied for and was approved for a loan of $108,221.80 for ten years.

• Approved setting the base wages for the city summer help. The head lifeguard will be paid $15 per hour, the assistant head lifeguard will be paid $14.50, lifeguards will be paid $14, pool attendants will be paid $10 per hour. Pool staff will receive a half-day pay if the pool is closed. The public works help will be paid $11.75 per hour. In related pool action, the pool rates for the coming year were formally approved.

• Approved purchasing from Medford Motors a 2025 Ford Utility Police Interceptor as an additional vehicle to the fleet for the future K9 Unit at a cost of $44,147.

• Approved purchasing for the wastewater treatment plant a new 1/2-ton 4x4 extended cab truck from Medford Chrysler Center at a cost of $41,486.00. The current 2019 F250 with snow plow will be sold to Electric Utility for a price of $31,500 (which is the quoted trade-in price). The financial cost to the wastewater utility is $9,986 dollars from its vehicle replacement funds.

• Approved setting the rent for the RCU Pavilion on Whelen Ave. at $55 per day. The rental fee is waived for Chamber events and the Farmers Market. However, they would still be required to inform the City of the dates to avoid double booking with other organizations/individuals. The Farmers Market will be listed on every Tuesday from May to October from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.