The City Council for Rush City continued its work on the compliance checks at local businesses as part of its Monday, Feb. 26, meeting.
The council reviewed the letter it sent to Dollar General regarding the compliance check failure in December for the sale of tobacco to a minor.
Mayor Alan Johnson said that someone from corporate for Dollar General had contacted the city and said that there would be some action. The store has until March 18 to submit a letter detailing its plan for training the rest of their employees on how to properly check IDs.
The $250 fee has already been paid.
To read about the previous compliance meeting, go to https://tinyurl.com/3fb8t93d.
The Rush City VFW also failed its compliance check for sale of alcohol to a minor and has already paid its $500 fine.
Rush City code also requires that the VFW’s alcohol license be suspended for at least one day; alcohol sales will be suspended on Sunday, March 18.
Johnson said that he suspected that the VFW would be closed on that day.
Building update
Johnson updated council on progress on the field next to Dollar General.
NAPA bought the field and is ready to move forward, but the company would like to talk to the council about help with funds for the roads.
“They are planning on building their new NAPA store, which will be large like a distribution center,” he explained.
NAPA bought the whole parcel and plans to have corporate lots available for four or five businesses.
During council comments, council member Michael Louzek asked the city administrator – Sue Hochstader served as acting city administrator in place of City Administrator Amy Mell, who was not in attendance – to contact the school, which officially owns the city hall property to repair or replace the sidewalk.
“It’s a hazard.” Louzek said.
And Johnson said that there will be a meeting with the Rush City Bakery on Friday, March 1, “to ignite its project” and begin paperwork.
The idea is to move the bakery to a lot nearer the freeway and to expand the bakery.
Fire safety update
Craig Saari, a citizen from Rock Creek, attended the meeting and spoke during citizen comments.
He said he has been going to meetings trying to resolve the fire department mutual aid disagreement with Pine City. He said that this breakdown in communication and long-standing mutual aid agreements has been a source of anxiety for him and his family.
The mutual aid agreement was set to expire between Pine City and Rush City on Thursday, Feb. 29.
Saari said he had gotten Pine City to agree to another month of the contract and added, “I will keeping pressing on them until we figure something out. … I would like to have whatever conversations we can have to mend things before they become a brick wall.”
Mutual aid agreements say that local fire departments will help each other out at no cost.
Grantsburg has also canceled its mutual aid agreement with Rush City, saying that any help would incur fees.
Johnson, who served on the Rush City Fire Department, said: “The firemen don’t like this. They just want to fight fires. They don’t want to get involved in politics. …
“If Sauser’s catches on fire, we can be there in 15 minutes with our ladder truck. It could be the difference about whether the rest of the block goes.”
It is likely that this will be a difficult fire season: There were already two grass fires the weekend prior to the council meeting, and while the meeting was going on, the fire department was at a structure fire.
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