During last night’s meeting of the Prairie du Chien Common Council, the city attorney delivered his opinion about who has the ultimate authority over day-to-day operations at City Hall, and council sent a recommendation about penalties from the city streetscape project back to the Public Works Committee for review.

City Attorney Tom Peterson said he had reviewed state statutes and city records and found it was clear that the common council was the final authority. He said the state statute talks in terms of the mayor being the CEO of the city, but the council has, through ordinance, authorized the city administrator to make the day-to-day decisions of operating the city of Prairie du Chien. The mayor, he said, has oversight authority as far as making sure that the rules and regulations of the city are being followed.

Council had asked Peterson to make the determination following an earlier disagreement over who had the authority to hire extra snow removal help.

Council entered into a lengthy discussion regarding fines assessed to McHugh Excavating over delays in completion of the downtown streetscape project.

The contractor had actually exceeded the project due date by a total of 16 days, but Garth Frable, city planning consultant, said after examining all the change orders and other factors which caused delays, the committee determined that McHugh was five days over the due date. The penalty, as written in the company’s contract with the city, is $2,500 per day, so the total penalty would have been $12,500.

Frable said the contractor countered with a suggestion of $500, and the committee compromised with the recommendation that a $5,000 penalty be assessed. Several council members, however, objected to the compromise.

Frank Pintz said he disagreed with a penalty for only five days. "There were days they could have worked and they weren’t there," he said. "I don’t see why we have these penalty clauses if we don’t enforce them," he added.

Joe Ruskey also objected, saying he thought the city had more than compromised. He suggested the contractors may have ignored the deadline to work on other projects because they knew the city never enforced penalty clauses.

City Administrator Jim Gitz said council should consider that the company has a good reputation and that they completed an expensive, complicated project. He said the Public Works committee had made its recommendation after meeting with both the consulting engineers and the contractor. He cautioned they should weigh the risks of getting a reputation as a city with which it is hard to deal. He suggested tabling the discussion and talking to the contractor before making a decision.

Council ultimately referred the issue back to the Public Works Committee for reconsideration, but approved withholding $15,000 of payment to McHugh until some minor projects are completed this spring, and deduction of $2,500 for some concrete flaw which could not be fixed during the winter.

In other business:

‘Bio-bullet’ could help control Asian carp

They’re here. But, scientists believe there may be a viable way to make them go away.

Asian carp such as the notorious silver, bighead and grass carp have all been confirmed in Pools 8, 9, and 10 of the Mississippi River, despite attempts by wildlife agencies to keep them confined to areas much further downstream.

Scientists are now working on a possible way to feed these fish toxins, however, which has the potential to kill off Asian carp without harming other species. Mark Gaikowski, the acting branch manager at the Upper Midwest Environmental Science Center in La Crosse, said that he and others are working on developing a "micro-matrix," which is a mixture of compounds that form granules of varying sizes. The idea is for Asian carp to ingest these granules, which then would release toxins into the fish, thus killing them.

"I’m very excited to do the research," said Gaikowski. "It looks like one of the better opportunities in a number of years to try and control these fish."

Gaikowski said that these types of "bio-bullets" have been very effective in the past on other filter feeders such as Zebra Mussels, in some areas having a mortality rate of 60-70 percent, while having no mortality on native species.

Silver and bighead carp roam about in a body of water filtering large amounts of plankton through their gaping maws. When present in big numbers, these large fish eat vast amounts of vegetation. Asian carp have the potential to denude vast areas of the river. In turn, fish that also eat vegetation, such as the Gizzard Shad, can’t compete and die off.

When the Gizzard Shad and baitfish populations are greatly reduced, it also adversely affects game fish such as northern pike, walleyes, largemouth and smallmouth bass and many others.

"They (Asian carp) are in direct competition at the base of the food web," said DNR Fisheries Biologist Patrick Short recently. "It cascades up the food web and affects all species of fish."

Another problem is that Asian carp have no natural predators and tend to reproduce prolifically. Silver carp, for example, grow out of predation in one year. They simply become too big for predator fish to take on. Silver carp can weigh up to 60 pounds and bighead carp can tip the scales at 100 pounds.

There is no evidence to show that silver and bighead carp are in Pools 9 and 10 in large numbers, or that they can reproduce well in this environment. However, they have reproduced extremely well and have thrived in other northern climates, such as the Illinois River, where they now make up 90 percent of the biomass.

Gaikowski said that in their native waters, Asian carp reproduce well as far north as Siberia. He said that factors for reproduction also include calcium and magnesium content (water hardness).

Scientists are working on ways to deliver very small granules to silver and bighead carp, said Gaikowski. It is hoped that these small granules, if accidentally swallowed by other species, will be too small and will simply flow on through their gills without making contact. Even if some granules should be digested by native species, Gaikowski is hopeful that the amounts will be so low as to be insignificant and thus render no harm.

In addition, Gaikowski said that Asian carp have large amounts of mucus in and around their mouths that the granules can easily adhere to. Native game fish don’t have such large amounts of mucus, he said.

In order to further increase the selectivity of these toxic granules, Gaikowski said that pheromones may be able to be delivered into the water so as to draw only Asian carp into confined areas where the granules would be concentrated. It may also be possible to utilize low level electric currents that would repel native species from an area, while at the same time allow Asian carp in. Research is also being conducted regarding ph factors and enzymes so as to enhance selectivity, said Gaikowski.

"We would not be trying to treat the entire river," said Gaikowski. "We would be very focused, limited and targeted in our treatments."

Gaikowski said that he was at a conference last summer in Montana where he saw a presentation by a Maryland biotech company called Advanced BioNutrition regarding the use of an encapsulation technology called MicroMatrix in order to vaccinate salmon.

The process allows the vaccine to be incorporated into a matrix that is designed to pass through to the small intestine where it is released.

Gaikowski then thought that the same technology could be used to pass toxins, such as rotenone and antimycin, into Asian carp without harming other species.

"This is still a theory. It has not been tested yet," said Gaikowski. "But, it does have promise."

Gaikowski said that rotenone has already by registered by the Environmental Protection Agency, but getting the whole process refined, tested and finally approved by the EPA could take several years. The study would be partnership between the government and Advanced BioNutrition.

It has been estimated that it will cost $2.5 million to $3 million just to get the project started and roughly the same each year it continues.It could be a 10-year effort or more. Among the many factors to be studied would be mammalian toxicology and residue profiles, which would help to determine human food and safety risks.

By the time the study is completed and EPA approval granted, silver and bighead carp have the potential to reproduce at an alarming rate.

Besides defoliating vast areas, the silver carp, also known as the head-butting carp, are a hazard to anyone in an open boat. These large fish can jump high out of the water and have been known to cause injuries to boaters. Large schools of these carp become excited by the sound and vibration of boat motors, which cause numerous fish to jump out of the water at the same time.

The Wisconsin DNR continues to caution boaters to drain and clean their boats and to never move fish from one body of water to another. Anyone who finds a silver or bighead carp should report it to the DNR or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Boaters are urged to please take these steps:

•Inspect your boat, trailer and equipment and remove visible aquatic plants, animals and mud.

•Drain water from your boat, motor, bilge, live wells and bait containers.

•Do not move live fish from one water to another.

Dispose of leftover bait in the trash, not in the water or on land.

•Buy your minnows from Wisconsin bait dealers or catch your own and use it to fish the water you caught it from.

•Wash your boat and equipment with high-pressure or hot water, or let it dry for at least five days.

Bald Eagle Appreciation Day in Prairie du Chien is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 28. Special events scheduled for the AmericInn, 130 S. Main Street, include:

Area wrestlers qualify for State

Four area high school wrestlers qualified for the State Wrestling Tournament to be held at the Kohl Center this upcoming weekend. The top three wrestlers at Sectionals advance to the State Tournament.

Will Davis and Evan Sinram of Prairie du Chien qualified for State in Division 2. Davis, wrestling at 140 pounds, defeated Devon Seitz of Brodhead-Juda 8-1 in his quarterfinal match at the Richland Center Sectional. He then defeated Jon Nolan of Portage 8-3 in his semifinal. Davis severely twisted his right knee during the match and displayed a good deal of grit to continue on and win the match. Davis lost in the final 5-2 to Ryan Bartlet of Jefferson. In the second-place match, Davis then lost by injury default to T.J. Williams of Wisconsin Dells.

Sinram beat Dusty Jentz of Belmont-Platteville 13-6 in his semifinal match at 171 pounds. Keegan Kite of Iowa Grant-Highland defeated Sinram 13-6 in the title match.

Seneca senior Dylan Kansier, the two-time State Champion at 103 pounds, won the championship match at 112 pounds at the Mineral Point Sectional to advance to the State Tournament. Kansier, wrestling for North Crawford-Seneca, defeated Zach Oleson of New Lisbon 6-0 in the title match. Previously, Kansier had beaten Nate Duren of Weston 10-0 in the semifinals.

Ryan Vogt of River Ridge-Cassville qualified for State in Division 3 at 130 pounds. Vogt pinned Joe Rolfsmeyer of Pecatonica-Argyle in 3:55 in the quarterfinals. Vogt then pinned Alex Beckius of Riverdale in 4:48 in the semifinals. In the championship match, Trevor Yager of Mineral Point pinned Vogt in 3:10. In the wrestleback, Andrew Strachen of Viroqua defeated Vogt 12-7.

Area wrestlers also competing at Sectionals on Saturday were Prairie du Chien’s Drew Achenbach at 135 pounds, Jordan Panka at 189 and Quincy Lorenz at 285; and River Ridge-Cassville’s Paul Gunnip at 125 pounds, Garrett Knapp at 145 pounds and Kyle Johnstone at 285.

DOT says paint cleanup plans underway

Ian Winger, of the Department of Transportation (DOT) in La Crosse, said it is too soon yet to tell what caused the paint on the Highway 18 bridge to peel and fall into the river. The contractors and the paint supplier, he said, are in the process of looking for answers.

In the meantime, cleaning up the paint which has already fallen and preventing more from falling into the Mississippi is a primary focus.

Winger said the DOT has asked the prime contractor for the bridge project, Ed Kramer and Sons, to put together a containment plan. Winger said he hopes to have a draft plan this week. The DNR and Fish and Wildlife Service have been informed. Thus far, Winger said, it has been determined that the paint is non toxic to humans.

MPC to lay off 100 more

The global economic downturn continues to make itself felt in the auto industry and as a result companies that supply the auto industry such as Miniature Precision Components (MPC) of Prairie du Chien continue to be adversely affected.

MPC Plant Manager Joe Faust said that by April 16, 100 more employees will lose their jobs. He said that the total workforce will then be down to 90 employees, less than one-fourth of the plant’s full workforce.

"It’s just what the economy is doing," said Faust. "There are no cars being sold. We are downsizing with what our business is asking for, reacting to what the industry is calling for."

Faust said that while MPC is downsizing, there are no plans to close down completely.

He also said that he doesn’t yet know if these latest layoffs will be permanent or not. It all depends upon what the future of the economy and the auto industry holds, he said.

MPC had previously eliminated 100 jobs since the beginning of 2008 and approximately 94 more as of Jan. 20, 2009.

Faust said that MPC is doing everything that it can to cope with a bad situation. "We are fiercely looking for new customers," he said. "We are pounding the pavement for new clients."

MPC makes plastic components for all of the major automakers from around the world. MPC, located at 63095 Vineyard Road, has been in Prairie du Chien for 22 years.

Evaluators laud progress of city’s Main Street Program