WESTBROOK, Minnesota (STPNS) --     WESTBROOK —  For years Westbrook cell phone users have suffered with very poor cell phone reception. It has been a litany of dropped calls, searching for signal,  and no service messages in the community. That all may be coming to an end after city council members heard a proposal from Rural Cellular Corporation of Minnesota at a special meeting last week.

    The company has done extensive preliminary work getting required permits to install a 250 to 295 foot tower on property owned by the city located on the south edge of town.



    The tower would probably be located on the northwest corner of the property just east of County Road Seven.

    The company does not provide cell phone service, but they lease space on the tower to cell phone providers. So all that is needed now is to dot the i’s and cross the t’s. When it’s all said and done the Westbrook area should have much improved cell phone reception.

    The council discussed putting in bio-hazard boxes in the community center bathrooms for disposal of diabetic syringes. They contacted Gordy Kopperud at Sanford Westbrook Health Center. He told them Sanford would provide the boxes and disposal of the liners. It was also discussed to put them in the bathrooms at the park, but then it was decided to put them at the swimming pool for security reasons.

    Mayor Kolar told the council, Street Supervisor  Dan Joel is reinforcing the red dump truck box. It has become pretty beat up from hauling snow. It will also receive a eighth inch steel liner.

    Kolar also commented he had done some preliminary figuring on costs to mill and resurface all of the streets in Westbrook. He measured the streets and figured the approximate cost of milling and asphalt. According to his figures it would cost about 1.4 million to do all of the streets in town. The feeling is with the recession, road contractors are a little hungrier, so it may be the best time to pursue a project like this. He noted that in spite of work done over the past few years there are a lot of streets that are at the end of their useful life. The council will probably decide whether or not to pursue a project at the next meeting.

    Kolar gave the council a copy of an article from the St. Paul Pioneer Press. The article is about a filtering system used in some St. Paul swimming pools. The system uses Sphagnum Moss to filter the water. It reduces the need for high levels of chlorine, reducing eye discomfort of swimmers. The Westbrook Pool uses about $3,400 worth of chlorine and other chemicals during the swimming season. The moss system could reduce the cost of chemicals by about 50 percent.

    Police Chief Alan Wahl asked if the city had an ordinance about pushing snow on other peoples property or on city streets. The council will check the state ordinance and review it at next month’s meeting.

February Police Report

    One accident. Four open doors. Four ambulance assists. Two county assists. Ten tickets issued.