Jared Schmeltzer
Reporter
As part of its regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, Dec.10 the city’s Common Council passed an ordinance reserving the rights of the Merrill Ice Drags (MID) to host their scheduled events on Lake Alexander, with no public interruption.
As City Adinistrator Dave Johnson explains, the ordinance was brought directly to the council by Mayor Derek Woellner.
“The Mayor decided to take it to the Common Council for action, after becoming frustrated that it was not being addressed to his satisfaction by the Lincoln County Board, of which he is a member.”
According to the ordinance, as drafted by local attorney Randy Frokjer and presented to the council; MID would be given exclusive rights during their annual event on the portion of Lake Alexander formerly known as Ullman’s Bay. Being the city of Merrill owns a portion of land on Lake Alexander, by law Merrill Police Department has authority to enforce the ordinance, despite it being outside of their regular jurisdiction.
However, for the ordinance to be legally binding, MID must have the same ordinance passed by all municipalities touching the lake, including the Town of Merrill, Town of Harding, Town of Rock Falls, Town of Scott, and the city of Merrill.
According to MID President Cindy Opichka, MID already has the support of the surrounding municipalities, however they wanted the city of Merrill to be on-board first.
“We are not on the other municipalities’ agenda as of right now, but they said they would do whatever the city does,” said Opichka. “They have no problem with supporting this ordinance, but they just don’t have any law enforcement to enforce it. So they are waiting on the city’s judgement.”
“Within the last two years we have been threatened,” added Opichka. “We have been threatened to be pushed out of there and that’s why we need this protection. We have been protected for the past 55 years and we need to have continued protection or we will have to leave and we don’t want to do that. We want to be here for this community, as we have for so long.”
During public comment, Ullman’s Bay resident Richard Schmidt voiced his support.
“I have been a part of this community for many years and I have heard over and over how we need to promote the City of Merrill and as previously stated, this is a huge part of promoting our city,” said Schmidt. “People come from all over the place to see the Merrill Ice Drags. The only problem that we have, is with a small number of people who don’t support the Ice Drags and want to make things hard for them. The Ice Drags are a great thing for this community and it is a very small task that we are asking of the city. We ask that you stand up and support this ordinance, so that the Ice Drags can continue to be a positive influence on this community.”
Merrill Police Chief Corey Bennett questioned the legalities of the ordinance, as drafted and presented last Tuesday evening.
“In this ordinance, if you were to take out the section regarding the Merrill Police Department, it would be more of a gesture than anything,” Bennett commented. “The City of Merrill is the only municipality that could possibly enforce this ordinance and unfortunately I don’t think it’s lawful. I think it’s written under a creative interpretation of state statue and a pretty creative use of it, but I don’t think it’s proper.”
Council President Rob Norton motioned to reject the ordinance, but due to lack of a second; the motion failed.
A second motion was made from 8th District Alderman Steve Sabatke to amend the ordinance; deleting “the authorized law enforcement party is the City of Merrill Police Department.” from the ordinance, and amending the amount of insurance coverage provided from the Ice Drags to be changed from $1 million to $5 million. In addition, Sabatke’s amendment called for a section to be added to the ordinance, including a “Sunset Clause” stating the ordinance will only be in effect until Dec. 31 2020.
Mayor Derek Woellner stepped down from his chair temporarily, to second the motion to approve the amended ordinance. The ordinance as amended, passed by a 6-2 vote; 6th district alderman Mike Rick and council president Rob Norton dissenting.
“Both our Police Chief and City Attorney question the applicability of the statute cited to grant exclusive possession rights for specific areas of Lake Alexander,” Johnson said, following the meeting.
“The ordinance is meant to keep any party from obstructing the Ice Drags, by giving the city the ability to remove such obstructions.”
“As City Administrator I wholeheartedly support the Merrill Ice Drags. This event has been taking place on Lake Alexander for 55 years and is a plus for our community. What bothers me is that one single property owner on Lake Alexander, wants to prevent the Merrill Ice Drags from continuing their 55 year tradition of participation and entertainment. I do not feel that it is the city’s responsibility to pass ordinances for any area that is outside of our boundaries, as Lake Alexander obviously is. This action was taken by the Common Council as a short term measure to allow the Merrill Ice Drags to occur this season, without interference”