Moffatt appointed District 1 Rice Lake City Council representative

Keith Moffatt is the Rice Lake City Council’s new representative from District 1, a position he had held until deciding not to run for reelection in 2023.

Moffatt and Al Arnold both came before the City Council at its regular meeting on Tuesday with local government experience under their belts, seeking to take over the seat vacated by Stephen Brown upon his resignation.

Arnold was politically active in Rice Lake politics in the 1980s and 1990s, serving as mayor from 1984-1988 and 1998-2000, and later as a member of many committees. He told the council he had been on the interview committee for the city planner and in the 1980s was involved in the interview process for hiring a city administrator.

“I can’t think of anything that you’ll be facing in the next 10 months that I haven’t experienced myself or observed from a distance,” Arnold said.

The candidate then vowed that he would not seek reelection in April.

Moffatt said Arnold had more government experience than he did but believed that his more recent work on the council would help him get up to speed more quickly.

Council Members Todd Larson and Gina Sookiayak, who had worked on the Personnel and Negotiations Committee with Moffatt in the past, agreed.

Larson said he had valued Moffatt’s insights on the committee and involvement in negotiations with the Police and Fire unions, which are coming up again in the fall, and Sookiayak said Moffatt could “slide back in” to the committee position.

Although the City Council had the choice to vote by signed, written ballots, it instead took a roll call vote. The seven seated members voted unanimously for Moffatt, and he will serve until April, when the District 1 seat is regularly up for election.

In other business, the council:

• Accepted a bid of $24,235 for the Veterans Memorial Park tennis court fencing project from HS Fence Co.

• Awarded the City Wide Traffic Emergency Vehicle Pre-emption Improvements project to Traffic Control Corp. of Woodridge, Illinois, for $336,500. The bid includes video connections and a 10-year subscription service for each intersection, including all emitters. The equipment will allow emergency vehicles to turn traffic signals green to allow them safer and quicker passage through intersections.

• Allowed the fire chief to sign mutual aid agreements for ambulance services with Marshfield Medical Center, Mayo Ambulance (Barron), Chetek Ambulance Service, Cumberland Ambulance Service and Birchwood Ambulance Service once approved by city attorney Lindsey Kohls and directed the fire chief to submit a modification to the ambulance operational plan.