The city council of Staples last week accepted a gift from the Staples Fire Relief Association - a donation of a brush fire allterrain vehicle.

Fire Chief Scott Braith provided a history of how the fire relief association acquired the J-5 machine, a self-propelled tracked vehicle capable of traveling through shallow water or over rough terrain.

Local firemen have eyed such a machine over the years of fighting grass fires, mostly in the spring and fall. The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has used them for years. Fireman Mike Fitcher, one of the assistant chiefs, learned that the DNR occasionally has used ones available. He signed up on a waiting list and waited. About a year ago Fitcher got the call that a 1975 J-5 was available at Hill City. His employer, Staples 3M, agreed to send a truck to pick up the machine, which had been idle for years and was not in running order.

“They brought it back and we’ve had it sitting in the fire hall over the past winter,” Braith said.

Volunteer firefighters have spent roughly 250 to 300 man-hours over the winter on their bright red J-5. “It’s needed a lot of work. They worked on the engine and the (water) tanks needed some work, too. They put on new tracks as well and repainted the whole machine,” Braith told the city council at their April 13 session.

The cost of the machine was right. The DNR wanted $3,000, but allowed the Staples department a $2,000 ‘grant’ against the cost.

The volunteer fire department members also went to an on-line auction site to find a trailer to haul the J-5. The trailer was purchased and brought to Staples, where they re-painted it and fixed the trailer’s brakes, Braith said.

The department members have provided all the labor, but relief association funds paid for the new tracks, for the paint and other parts. “I suppose we have about $7,500 of Relief Association funds in the machine,” Braith said. He added that money comes from their annual calendar sales and from their annual fireman’s dance held in February.

They have also recently acquired a used DNR pickup truck and are refurbishing that vehicle to use to pull the J-5 trailer. There is some major work to do on the truck that is keeping the guys busy in their evening hours now.

“They should all be ready in time for the parade this summer,” Braith said.

He added that as time goes by, they will find more uses for the J-5, such as going in to the woods to find injured hunters or injured snowmobilers.

The local relief association by law cannot own property so Braith was appearing before the council to officially present the J-5 and trailer to the city, a gift that was gratefully accepted.

The city council was informed that there were 17 people applying for the vacant public works director position and that City Administrator Nate Mathews had narrowed the list down to five candidates to bring in for interviews. Mathews and three council and Public Works Commission members Stan Carlson, Don Flaten and Roy Miles, were set to interview the five on Tuesday, April 20.

The council also learned the Public Works Commission was recommending that the city turn a pilot street light reduction program into a city wide energy savings plan. Street lights in a section of northeast Staples have been turned off for the past five months. A handful of residents in that area have requested lights to be turned back on and the city has done so in their vicinity. The same would be true if a city wide reduction is okayed.

In other matters, the city council:

o OKAYED a request from Bob Lee and Bruce Lee to approve a division of lots in Block 10, Vetsch’s Addition, that will add 30 feet to a lot owned by Bob and Betty Lee.

O WAS INFORMED by City Administrator Mathews that the police department would be doing public nuisance inspections, beginning with complaint areas. It was suggested that the city and county provide a dumpster in Staples for people to use to deposit their junk. Local residents were urged by the council members to clean up their yards before being cited by the city.

o LEARNED that the bids for the old Highway 10 turnback project will be opened May 18 by the Todd County Board. Mathews expects the successful bidder to be starting work on or before June 1.