Wet Woody’s inquires about buying vacant downtown lot

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

The Deer Creek City Council heard of potential interest to purchase a city-owned lot that is primarily used for parking and piling snow in the downtown area.

During its regularly scheduled meeting at the end of November, the Deer Creek City Council heard that the owners of Wet Woody’s in downtown Deer Creek would like to purchase the city lot and transform the gravel parking lot into outdoor space and a small parking lot for the bar/restaurant. The lot was donated to the city in 2022 and was once owned by George Lorentz. The vacant lot sits in-between Wet Woody’s and the Deer Creek Museum.

Since the lot was donated to the city, Deer Creek Mayor Troy Beiswinger and councilman Jayme George asked if the city could sell the lot to the owners of Wet Woody’s for $1, or whatever the city has put into the lot since it acquired it two years ago. 

City councilman Danny Hendershot said he would prefer to sell the lot closer to the taxable value of the property, as opposed to simply selling a city-owned property for a small amount. He said there may be people who are interested in that lot, or another city-owned lot in the community, and it is important to be fair across the board. 

The city council said it will discuss the request to purchase the lot, and for what value, at an upcoming city council meeting. 

In other news

• Discussed an insurance claim for the control panel for $4,637.66 of which $2,066.84 has been paid.

• Approved a motion for Bill Baker to provide snowplowing services for the City of Deer Creek.

• Discussed the Otter Tail County ordinance regarding the sale of cannabis within the city limits. No formal approval was made by the Deer Creek City Council as the final version of the county’s cannabis ordinance has yet to be adopted. 

• Heard new Christmas lights will be delivered to the City of Deer Creek as soon as last week. 

• Heard that the city has received a few complaints regarding chickens within the city limits. Deer Creek Clerk/Treasurer Miriam DeCock said she has heard complaints from the trailer park area and members of the city council acknowledged that one of the chickens may be a rooster. The city ordinance regarding chickens does not allow for roosters.

• Heard a handful of people have stated they paid their utility bill for the month of August, but the city does not have a record of the payments in their accounts. The city council said the issues stem for a transition in city staff and agreed to give credit to those who have records of paying their utility bill but have not been given credit to date. 

• Approved an audit agreement with Carlson SV to complete the city’s annual audit report as required by the state of Minnesota. The cost for the audit was estimated to be $13,500.

• Heard the first of a three stage project at the city’s well house has been completed. A representative from Bolten and Menk was on hand last week and informed the city council that the project should wrap up sometime in early 2025.