The City encountered another community center roadblock recently — this one underground — and says it has dealt with the issue.
Tracy City Administrator Je Carpenter told the city council Tuesday that contaminated soil was discovered during while crews were digging in front of the building for sewer and water line installation.
“I would assume it was gas, oil — something to that eect," Carpenter said. "D&G Excavating discovered it, called Minnesota Pollution Control, and put the contaminated dirt onto the tar." Carpenter said somewhere during or after that process, someone called OSHA, which, Carpenter said, deemed that the City was not in violation because of the depth of the hole. However, another red flag was raised when it came to Carpenter's attention that a resident had collected a sample of the dirt.
"An employee from D&G Excavating witnessed an unauthorized individual enter the site, get on the pile and remove two buckets of fill o of the pile," Carpenter said. "This is contaminated dirt; there were a couple of buckets taken." Carpenter stressed the need to get the contaminated dirt back. He said there will be no questions asked, no charges filed. He just wants to know where the dirt is.
"We can't for sure bring it back to where the hole was at because we've already cleaned it up," he said. "I gotta know where the dirt is at. It can’t be dumped anywhere; this was a contaminated site. I want this person to give me a call. I will bring it out to the landfill myself. I need this dirt. I don’t care who it is … someone has to tell me where it’s at.”
In other news from Tuesday … • Wheels are in motion to replace the tornado monument that was hit by a car and knocked over this past November. Sue Ann Moyars, representing Sunburst Memorials, told the council that costs have gone up since the insurance company of the driver who hit the memorial last year approved the purchase of a new memorial.
Moyars said the gap between the insurance payment and final cost of a new memorial is $2,823, and a funding source will need to be found. Finding some money in an alreadytight City budget to make up that difference likely won’t be an option.
There were parts of the memorial that were unscathed and can be reused, Moyars said.
When asked Moyars if a less-expensive stone that would be within budget could be used. She said a different color can be used, but the current stone that was used for the monument has the photo of the twister lasered into it, and “any company will tell you that it has to be on black granite,” she said. “That is jetblack granite that comes from China. If you want to redesign the entire memorial … but that picture of the tornado would be gone if you take it off of the black.”
• The City voted to set the assessment cap for the Phase E project at $7,900, up from $7,500 that has been used for past projects. Councilmember Seth Schmidt made the motion to approve the increase, and it was seconded by council member George Landuyt. An improvement hearing and assessment hearing for the public will take place at 6 p.m. on Monday, June 1.
“I’m not in favor of raising it, but I’m not in favor of raising sewer and water, either,” Landuyt said. “But at some point, we’ve gotta pay for this; it’s painful, but it possibly has to be done.”
• The council voted to officially declare June 23, 2026, the “Day of the Amiret Busy Bees.” The 4-H club is celebrating 100 years this year.
