The City of Wagner held their monthly city council meeting on Wednesday, September 4th at 6 p.m. at the Wagner Armory. Some of the bigger topics discussed at that meeting were Nathan Kafka’s request to amend the ETJ boundary to exclude 80 acres that once was Fischer Farms, East River Horizons request to place the Buffalo statuaries at Wagner Lake, request to purchase portable swim lane bulkheads for the city pool, and updates to McCormick Ball Park fence.

One of the bigger and most anticipated items of the evening was Nathan Kafka’s request to exclude the 80acre property that once was Fischer Farms southeast of Wagner. The property has sat unused for a number of years now and Kafka was interested in purchasing the property to use it for the purpose that it was first established for, a feedlot. He and his family are planning to live on the prop-erty in addition to rebuilding/ repairing the feedlot. Kafka has stated at several prior city council meetings as well as the recent ETJ and Planning and Zoning Board meeting what this feedlot could potentially do for Wagner economically. It would bring in more trucks to the area which in turn could boost food, beverage and gas sales just to name a few possibilities, not to mention the supplies that would be bought locally that are needed to fix up the feedlot. Questions from council members included whether or not the property was grandfathered in.

District III Planning and Development Advisor, Brian McGinnis, reported that if the property had been active when the ETJ was first put into place then there would be no problem in transferring of ownership and it being grandfathered in, but since the property has remained unused it cannot obtain a grandfathered status. During the discussion of whether or not to approve this amending of the ETJ boundary, Councilman Dan Cimpl brought up the point of he would rather have someone local to Wagner that cares about the community at the acreage than an out of state business person or entity.

The Wagner City Council voted in favor of removing the 80-acre property from the ETJ thus allowing Kafka to move forward with the purchasing of the property.

Another topic of discussion before the board was the request by East River Horizons to place the buffalo statuaries at Wagner Lake. The buffalo statues are owned by the East River Horizons organization and they were wanting to donate the buffalo to the City of Wagner. In addition to that generous donation, they also wanted to donate a concrete platform and plaques for each buffalo. They were wanting the placement to be on the North side of the lake between the North bridge and the scout house so that it would be visible from the road. East River Horizons is hoping that the buffalo will draw more people to visit and enjoy Wagner Lake. This is an unconditional donation to the city and if one day Wagner decides that they no longer wish to house the buffalo then East River Horizons could have a reversionary interest of taking the buffalo back should that ever be the case. Representatives from the East River Horizon’s organization did say that if for some reason there is any vandalism to the buffalo, the East River Horizon organization would be responsible for the fixing and costs of any repairs needed.

Buying portable swim lane bulkheads for the city pool was also a topic of discussion. The topic being brought up because as the city pool sits now, the swim team is not able to hold any swim meets because the lanes are too long per their regulations. In order to be able to hold swim meets the quickest fix to that issue that could currently be done would be to purchase five of the portable swim lane bulkheads. In order to put on the bulkheads, the slide would need to be moved. As there is still money in the pool’s budget for 2024, the approximate $12,756.25 cost for the five bulkheads would come out of that. The swim lane bulkheads were approved and will be ordered this fall.

Approval was requested to fix the fence around the McCormick ball field as it has started to curl up and is a potential safety hazard. Mike Kazena as the city’s Sewer and Water Department Operator, gave the board a quoted price for what it would cost to replace the existing fence with a commercial grade fence. As of right now the fence is more of a residential fence which is why the bottom of it is curling. Kazena priced the materials needed for the project at $17,448 with the labor being done by city employees. The council approved this request.