City committee capsules CROSSING GATES WILL RETURN: Railroad crossing gates, which disappeared in Stevens Point after the Church Street underpass was constructed, will be returning next year. The Stevens Point Board of Public Works and Finance Committee Monday night approved agreements with the state of Wisconsin for crossing gates at the Wisconsin Central tracks on Water Street and W. Clark Street (Highway P). Each project is estimated at $150,000, with the city responsible for $15,000 of the cost of each, a total of $30,000. The money will come from the undesignated capital project funds in the 1999 budget. * * * STATE ENHANCEMENT GRANTS: Stevens Point has added two new requests to its list of five applications for state enhancement grants from the state Department of Transportation. The new requests are a city entrance information gazebo at the southeast corner of North Point Drive and Division Street and purchase of three small lots downtown. The gazebo would be off the frontage road running parallel to Division and the project also includes pedestrian crosswalks and a landscaping plan. The downtown land purchase involve parcels on the southeast corner of Clark and Third streets (former Clark Station) and the northwest corner of Clark and Second streets (former Dawg House and Upper Wisconsin River Yacht Club). The other three applications involve renovation of steam engine 2713 on the south side, sidewalks under the Church Street railroad viaduct and a sidewalk along the north side of Highway 10 and east side of Wildwood Drive to Bannach Elementary School. * * * LIQUOR LICENSE DEBATE: Discussion on denial of bartender licenses consumed most of the time at the Stevens Point Public Protection Committee meeting Monday. The Stevens Point Police Department routinely recommends rejection of a bartender license if an applicant has a conviction for an alcohol or drug offense in the last five years, and the committee usually concurs. The applicant still can ask the council to approve a license, and some have successfully done so in recent months. The committee was deadlocked on an application by Jamie Lynn Cresca, 709 Vincent Court, after police recommended denial because of her juvenile record, including failure to provide information. Cresca told the committee she received a bartenders license in Waukesha last summer. * * * LIMITED PARKING IN HOSPITAL AREA: The Board of Public Works wants parking limited further in the area of St. Michael's Hospital, primarily because of hospital employees parking there. Acting on a petition from residents in the area, the board proposed a two-hour parking zone between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. daily on the south side of Prais Street between Michigan and Clayton avenues for a seven-month trial period. The residents had asked for the zone between Michigan and Minnesota Avenue, but officials figured the limit will reduce problems farther down the block. In conjunction with that proposal, the board also proposed similar restrictions on Peck Street, a block north, between Michigan and Clayton. The trial period was imposed to allow city and hospital officials work on neighborhood parking concerns. * * * DOWNTOWN ALLEY LOSES PARKING: The alley between 920 and 944 Main St. will lose its parking space along the building at 944, the board says. Vehicles currently park parallel to the building, creating problems for trucks servicing downtown businesses. Alderman John Kedrowski, 5th Ward, asked about restricting the parking during normal business hours and allowing parking after trucks no longer make deliveries. * * * NO PARKING FOR MICHIGAN AVENUE-JEFFERSON STREET LIGHTS: The Board of Public Works recommended no-parking zones on Michigan between Center and Main streets and on Jefferson for 265 feet west of Michigan and 260 feet east of Michigan. The area has been reconstructed for traffic signals and the no-parking zones will allow for orderly flow of traffic. Those signals were expected to be installed by now, but probably won't be until February because of a backlog for signals. * * * BRIDGE BASH 2000: The Board of Public Works gave its OK to the Association of Downtown Businesses to hold "Bridge Bash 2000" from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 26, in the southwest quadrant of the Public Square. The association says the event is planned to inform the community of the upcoming construction of Clark Street and a new bridge and will feature an ice sculpture and contests for people to construct bridges of their own materials. * * * PAY RAISES: All Stevens Point employees not represented by labor unions will receive a 3.5 percent wage increase for 2000, the Personnel Committee said Monday. The increase matches the hike given with labor settlements. Crossing guards will receive an equal increase, going from $6.97 per hour to $7.21. * * * RETIREMENT "BUY BACK": The Personnel Committee reaffirmed that city employees hired prior to Jan. 1, 1973, will have to "buy back" qualifying service credit of six months on their own to receive the benefits. Persons hired before that date were not required to contribute to employee retirement accounts for the first six months of employment, but they can do so before retiring and thus receive a larger monthly formula benefit.