A replacement light controller for the traffic light at the intersection of 13th and Elk streets in Franklin has been ordered and should arrive in about a month, Franklin city manager Jim Wetzel said at Monday’s city council meeting.
The controller stopped working in late December and has been on an all-way flashing red light since then.
“The estimate on the new controller is just shy of $20,000,” Wetzel said.
Sip & Shop was made possible through a limited exemption to the city’s open container law, and the ordinance allowing it expired in December.
TrAils to Ales owner Dave Ballard had come to the December council meeting to ask council to re-approve the program for 2024, and asked if the panel would also consider some expansions.
The changes Ballard had suggested included identifying a geographic area rather than streets in which Sip & Shop would be allowed, to make it easier to enforce and understand; extending the days it could take place, and ending it at 5 p.m. rather than 4 p.m.; and being able to have Sip & Shop on days when there is a festival or downtown event planned, as long as the event began after Sip & Shop would be over (such as Light-Up Night).
Wetzel said Monday he had talked to city staff and they had “no problems” with re-approving and extending the program.
City solicitor Brian Spaid said he could draft an ordinance re-enacting and extending Sip & Shop as long as he had guidance on what council wanted.
Council member Christian Marshall said he was in support and would “like to see the geographical area as opposed to the streets.”
“It seems to work OK, so maybe we could just expand it a little bit, do Fridays,” said Mayor Doug Baker.
Spaid said he would draft something on Sip & Shop to present at next month’s council meeting.
Later in the meeting, Spaid told council that telecom service provider APC Towers gave the city notice last Friday it was finally going to start construction on a cell phone tower on Bully Hill, which council had approved as a conditional use in 2017.
Former city manager Tracy Jamieson told council in October, when construction plans were submitted to the city for the tower, that it had taken the company “many years to review it and determine whether it was a workable spot.”
In another matter at the meeting, deputy mayor Donna Fletcher congratulated Franklin police chief Kevin Anundson on the fact Franklin now has a full complement of police officers.
“He did a good job on recruiting,” Fletcher said.
In other business:
Dianne Hall, Daniel Weiland and Charles Gibbons were re-appointed to the Historical and Architectural Review Board for three more years, Travis Hicks to the Planning & Zoning Commission for four years, and Jason Peterson and Jeffrey Romanowski to the Zoning Hearing Board for three years.
Additionally, Donna Fletcher was appointed to take former councilman Ryan Rudegeair’s place on the fire and police department pension boards.
Vacancies currently exist on the Redevelopment Authority and Planning & Zoning Commission.
Wetzel told council that engineers have certified that the Miller Park stormwater project has been completed, and the city will need to take $148,000 from its general fund and reimburse the Franklin General Authority’s water fund for the city’s portion of the project.
The Franklin street department bucket truck is no longer working and won’t pass inspection, so Wetzel said the city is “exploring some options.”
Council member Christian Marshall said public feedback hasn’t been positive on the window signs in the new vape store Emporium Haven.
“I know it’s too late for us to do anything about it now, but…hopefully in the future we can avoid that happening again,” Marshall said.
Spaid said after the meeting that while the store’s main sign, which is not currently lit, had been approved by council, the bright signs in the windows had not been subject to council’s approval as they are not considered permanent fixtures.
Council member Sam Lyons said the city was “being hammered” about its doubled garbage bill this year, but he added that the city had taken the lowest bid and the prices are “the way the world is right now.”
Wetzel said one of the new backboards at Miller-Sibley Park had been broken in mid-December when a boy threw a rock at it, but that the boy told his mother and restitution has since been made.
Council expressed support for a request the street department had received for someone to place a memorial bench at the Third Street boat launch.
