Tracy seeks funding for wheelchair lift at VMC

Tracy City Administrator Erik Hansen went before the Lyon County Board on Tuesday to request approved funding to construct a wheelchair lift in one of the city buildings he said will benefit the Tracy community.
The wheelchair lift would be installed in the Veterans Memorial Center. Eighth-grade students are currently utilizing the gym and second floor to social distance and are hopeful they can keep COVID-19 cases down. There are currently only stairs to the second floor, and transforming it to a wheelchair-accessible facility would be focusing on the economic development of the city, Hansen said.
“We don’t anticipate that eighth-graders are gonna be there forever of course, but we also see some kind of larger community benefits with this project," Hansen said. "We could sell a multi-purpose center to get that into private hands and reduce our costs as well as bring business into town. The circumstance is also an economic initiative because we can’t really use that second floor in any community type of way because of the accessibility part of it."
The second floor of the building has a kitchen that was installed for the National Guard to use but hasn’t been used in a couple decades. Hansen hopes they can move Lutheran Social Services up there for its Meals on Wheels program to use the kitchen and use it for additional meeting space.
To make this happen, full lift costs are close to $83,000. The building is built on a bomb shelter, so they have to hire an engineer which bumped the costs more than expected. Hansen requested $55,000 and is hopeful the City of Tracy will take care of the difference in costs.
"There’s a long-term benefit in terms of making it accessible to the general public," Hansen said.
Of the $55,000 request from Hansen, the board approved $40,000 as a grant and $15,000 funding for a loan that can be paid back over a five year timeframe at a zero percent interest rate, and that wasn’t the only split grant-loan approval they covered at the meeting.
The board also approved the funding of a $50,000 grant and a $20,000 loan payback over a five-year time frame with a zero percent interest rate to build a decontamination facility for the Ghent Fire Department.
The Fire Department currently doesn’t have any way to decontaminate after responding to a COVID-19 scene. The facility would give members an area so they can turn out, and wash and dry gear, wash face masks, shower, and wash their hands. Currently, they are utilizing an 8 x 10 space.

In other news, the board …
• Approved a two-year warranty on a motor grader for $13,651.
• Approved tobacco license renewals for Ag Plus Cooperative of Ghent and Minneota, Balaton One Stop, Brad’s Market, and the City of Balaton.
• Approved the liquor license renewals for Fedde’s Repair and Cottonwood Country Club.
• Approved a contracting quote of $60,002.50 for the county ditch repairs to be done this fall and have county staff on site.
• Approved the Conditional Use Permit for Big Wolf, LLC to construct a 1 megawatt solar photovoltaic energy generation facility.
• Approved the hire of Abby Vandelanotte for an Accountant II position in the Auditor/Treasurer’s office. The starting pay is $25.00 per hour. Vandelanotte is expected to start on or around Dec. 1, 2020.
• Approved the hire of Dominic Castellano for a Correctional Officer position. The starting pay is $20.01 per hour. Castellano is expected to start on or around Dec. 1, 2020.