Ellsworth City Council member Tyler Renard is not peachy keen about the color of a city water tower near the city swimming pool.

Renard said he thought the tower, which is being repainted, was supposed to be white, but instead it looks peach-colored.

[After the meeting, officials learned the peach-colored paint was a base coat and the tower will be white once a final coat of paint is applied.]

In other business:

• A 25-cent-per-hour raise was approved for summer employees at the city pool.

• Ronnie Tenbrink, city recreation director, asked about opening the city gym for practice. The consensus of the council was to open it only for the schools and not the general public. Patrick Hoffman, city attorney, said the players will need to sign a sheet for contact tracing purposes.

In a related matter, the council approved by consensus opening city hall and the lobby of the city building to the public

• Jon Halbgewachs of Kirkham Michael & Associates of Ellsworth briefed the council on the progress of engineering services for city projects. He specifically spoke on the Eighth Street project.

Halbgewachs said work is being done to secure two temporary construction easements and he will be sending plans to utility companies for utility clearance.

In order to coordinate with the K-156 Highway project, bids will need to be opened as soon as possible. Halbgewachs proposed opening bids prior to the June 22 city council meeting. Bids will be due at 10 a.m. June 18. Construction would begin by the end of July and be completed by Thanksgiving.

• Approval was given to a statement of qualifications from Kirkham Michael & Associates for pre-construction design of the planned multi-use pathway to connect current and future residential development near Ellsworth’s Good Samaritan Village to downtown Ellsworth.

• Approval was given authorizing the sale and conveyance of certain property to Great Plains Manufacturing No. 3 LLC, and Great Plains Manufacturing, Inc. The specific property is an 18.53 acre parcel of land in the southwest quarter of Section 21-13-8 in Ellsworth County. Cost is $100.

• The council discussed proposed changes to city code 8.16.040, solid waste containers, but took no action other than to direct Hoffman to work on a few modifications to the code.

The brief discussion centered around how to solve complaints regarding blowing trash.

• Approval was given to purchase a new control panel for the splash pad not to exceed $1,700.

• Approval was given to purchase a camera system for the rec center at a cost of $2,500 from INA Alert.

• Approval was given to transfer $5,200 from the TIFF revenue fund to the project fund to pay for the installation of a water meter at the new car wash. Mayor Mark Kennedy said it would be a different situation if this involved a house. The car wash, however, is a business that is going to generate revenue.