Staples Council disagrees on overpass signs

Two Staples City Council members were in favor of having signs put up directing traffic from Hwy 210 to the Staples overpass, but were unable to convince four others to vote for it.

At the Nov. 8,  Staples City Council meeting, a letter from MnDOT stated that they would not install any signs, citing safety issues with pedestrians, school crossing, sight distances, speeding, road damage and road conditions.

Council members Kevin Jenkins and Doug Case both noted that it was a $10 million project so the public should be directed to use it.

Council member Ron Murray questioned the argument of federal money used for the overpass as a reason to direct traffic onto it. He pointed out the paperwork for the project specifically stated that the overpass was for local traffic and emergency vehicles.

Case said directing more traffic onto the overpass would bring them through the downtown area. 

Council member Mary Theurer and Mayor Chris Etzler were both in favor of more signs directing people to the airport and college from the overpass. But both felt the overpass should be for local traffic only.

A motion to put up signage failed with Theurer, Murray, Etzler and Roy Miles voting against it.

Nuisance enforcement

The council discussed finding a better way to enforce nuisance ordinance infractions.

Currently Staples Police are in charge of enforcing ordinances, but don’t have a lot of time to dedicate to the issue.

Case said that when he was a police officer he observed every property in the city and found it to be helpful in talking to people in the community.

Other ideas included hiring a separate person to be in charge of nuisance ordinance infractions.

The council couldn’t agree on a solution, so they asked Police Chief Melissa Birkholtz and City Administrator Jerel Nelsen to come up with a proposal.