REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING
February 5, 2018
The City Council of the city of Fayette, Iowa, met Monday, February 5, 2018 at 5:30pm in the Fayette City Hall pursuant to law and rules of said council, Mayor Wenthe presiding.
Roll call: Present - Council members Cowley, Larson, Nefzger, Tucker and Wulfekuhle.
Moved Cowley, seconded Nefzger, to approve the consent agenda consisting of the regular meeting minutes of 1/15/18 and the claims list of 1/16/18 – 2/5/18. Roll call, all ayes, motion carried.
Moved Cowley, seconded Wulfekuhle, to approve the agenda as presented. All ayes, carried.
A rough draft of a revised ATV and UTV Ordinance was presented to the council. Mayor Wenthe requested the council to look it over for any other changes to consider before we present it to the City Attorney to review.
Administrator/Clerk McGrane included his FY 2019 Estimated Budget Report reflecting the recommendations from the Personnel and Finance Committees in the agenda packet. Mayor Wenthe and McGrane highlighted a few things from the report, including: 100% city valuation increased $4,612,123; regular taxable value is $26,047,322 which is up $2,081,344; the rollback on residential property is decreasing 1.3182% to 55.6209%; the rollback on multi-residential properties is going down 3.75% to 78.75%; township valuations increased so we will receive $1,935.65 more for the Ambulance and Fire Department; the FY 2019 tax levy will go down $0.84829. The Finance committee recommended a 2% cost of living allowance (COLA) for city employees starting July 1, 2018. Health insurance is decreasing 25.09% March 1, 2018. The city budgeted for an increase of 4 hours a week for the Library Assistant, 3 hours a week for the Library Aid, and 12 hours a week for the Deputy Clerk. To continue with the plan implemented a few years ago, the city budgeted another $60,000 to purchase new water meters to replace the older meters and to continue to purchase remote transmitters, software and equipment to start remote water meter reading. The goal is to purchase enough new meters and remote transmitters in FY19 so the city can move to monthly utility billing. The budget includes resurfacing the tennis and basketball courts at Rainbowland Park, changing the tennis courts into two pickleball courts and adding a small swing-set. Also budgeted is replacing the tower south of Fayette that houses the equipment to page out the Fayette Ambulance and Fire Department crews. Tax levy $14.28785 (down from $15.13614). The budget report is available at Fayette City Hall and the Fayette Community Library. Moved Cowley, seconded Nefzger, to adopt the proposed FY 2019 Budget Estimate. On roll call, Cowley and Nefzger ayes, Tucker, Wulfekuhle and Larson nays. Moved Larson, seconded Wulfekuhle, to discuss the FY 2019 Budget Estimate. Four voted aye, Nefzger nay, motion carried. Larson and Wulfekuhle recommended providing all the city employees a 2.5% wage increase instead of the wage scale increases for the employees that are on the wage scale and the COLA for all the employees. After further discussion, moved Nefzger, seconded Cowley, to adopt the proposed FY2019 Budget Estimate as presented. On roll call, Nefzger, Cowley and Tucker ayes, Larson and Wulfekuhle nays. Moved Nefzger, seconded Tucker, to direct the City Administrator/Clerk to publish the budget estimate and set a public hearing for Tuesday, February 20th at 6PM at Fayette City Hall on the FY2019 Budget Estimate. All ayes, motion carried.
Police Chief Pisanti did not have anything to report to the council at this time.
Moved Cowley, seconded Nefzger, to approve the Finance Committee meeting minutes from January 16, 2018. All ayes, carried.
Moved Nefzger, seconded Wulfekuhle, to approve the Personnel Committee meeting minutes from January 17, 2018. All ayes, carried.
Moved Cowley, seconded Nefzger, to approve the Finance Committee meeting minutes from January 25, 2018. All ayes, carried.
Moved Cowley, seconded Nefzger, to approve the Finance Committee meeting minutes from February 1, 2018. All ayes, carried.
Moved Cowley, seconded Nefzger, to discuss and approve Jerry Hildebrand’s vacation and personal time. The Personnel Committee recommended providing an additional 40 hours of vacation time to use before the end of this Fiscal Year (June 30, 2018) and to pay out an additional 42 hours of vacation time to Jerry Hildebrand since he has lost these vacation hours and was extremely limited on when he could take time off due to the July 2017 flood, an employee in his department off work due to an injury and another employee resigning. Moved Nefzger, seconded Wulfekuhle, to approve Jerry Hildebrand receiving an additional 40 hours of vacation time to use before June 30, 2018 and to pay him 42 hours of vacation time. All ayes, carried.
Moved Nefzger, seconded Cowley, to discuss Resolution 2018-05, recommended by the Personnel Committee. Moved Nefzger, seconded Wulfekuhle, to approve and adopt Resolution 2018-05: Amending the City Personnel Policy by increasing the clothing allowance reimbursement for Public Works employees from $300 to $500 annually. Roll call, all ayes, carried.
There being no further business, moved Nefzger, unanimous, to adjourn at 6:29pm.
