REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING
June 15, 2015
The City Council of the City of Fayette, Iowa, met Monday, June 15, 2015 at 7:30 p.m. in the Fayette City Hall pursuant to law and rules of said council, Mayor Pro-Tem Patty Nefzger presiding.
Roll call: Present - Council members Boberg, Patrick, Sorensen, McGrane, Nefzger.
Moved Boberg, seconded Sorensen, to approve the consent agenda consisting of the regular meeting minutes of 06/01/15, Claims List of 06/02–15/15, May 2015 Treasurer’s/Clerk’s Report and Budgetary Report . Roll call, all ayes, carried.
Treasurer's Balance for Fund Accounts as of May 31, 2015: General $294,258.38; Streets $303,732.14; Debt Service $2,958.94; Water Utility $186,245.40; Water T&A $20,075.59; Sewer Utility $339,306.30; CDBG Sewer ($700,534.97); Landfill/Recycling ($957.08); Yard Waste $10,115.37; Bolger Fund $195,436.60; TIF $62,106.31; Local Option Tax $95,438.74; CDBG Façade Grant ($86,020.32); Downtown Project ($15,897.61); Franchise Fees $15,313.85. May receipts by Fund: General $36,992.80; Streets $6,305.50; Debt Service $769.68; Water Utility $3,905.50; Water T&A $500; Sewer Utility $5,200.30; CDBG Sewer $28,750; Lf/Recycling $1,208.80; Yard Waste $248; Bolger $297; TIF $404.67; Local Option $7,584.02; Franchise Fees $3,955.78. Total Receipts $96,122.05. May Disbursements by Fund: General $23,564.56; Streets $3,922.74; Water Utility $15,091.55; Water T&A $1,597.92; Sewer Utility $1,865.64; Sewer CDBG $253,542.42; Yard Waste $5,050.96; Bolger $3,400; TIF $880; Downtown Project $13,600.79. Total Disbursements: $322,516.58. Investments: $1,257,271.69. Bank Balance $1,978,849.33. Balance with Library Funds $2,049,244.51.
Moved Sorensen, seconded Boberg, to approve the agenda as presented. All ayes, carried.
This being the time and place for a public hearing on the status of the CDBG funded Fayette Wastewater Treatment Facility & Lagoon Improvements Project, Mayor Pro-Tem Nefzger opening the hearing for comment. Casey Mai, Upper Explorerland Regional Planning Commission, who is handling the administration of the project, read the following statement and a copy was provided to the city council, the press and others in attendance at this meeting:
To comply with the citizen participation requirements of Section 508 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1987, local government applicants and recipients must do the following:
1) Conduct at least one public hearing on the status of funded activities. The hearing on the status of funded activities must include a review of:
(a) General description of accomplishments to date:
The project is approximately 95% complete. The majority of the construction is finished, including: replacement of headworks building ventilation system, installation of low-intensity aeration equipment in cells #3 and #4 along with an aerated rock filter for cell #3, construction of an effluent recycle lift station, a disinfection system and building at the lagoon site along with installation of a standby generator for emergency operations.
(b) Summary of expenditures to date:
The latest pay estimate is current through June 9, 2015 and indicates that construction expenditures from CDBG funds are at $475,000.00 in terms of work completed with administrative expenditures at $17,150.72. Overall expenditures of all funding sources to-date are $1,526,425.06. The total construction/engineering expenditures to date are at 95% complete.
(c) General description of remaining work:
The only work on this project left remaining is to finish all punch list items that were recorded by the engineer and the City of Fayette.
(d) General description of changes made to the project budget, performance targets, activity schedules, project scope, location, objectives or beneficiaries:
Due to delays in obtaining DNR permits for the project, the final completion date for construction of the project is to be June 30,2015 with project close-out on July 31, 2015.
For more information on this project, feel free to contact Casey Mai, Upper Explorerland Regional Planning Commission, (563) 382-6171, ext 212.
Casey added that the project was to have originally been done three years ago, and the delay did cause the City not to score well enough to receive a second CDBG it had applied for to help finance sewer, water and storm sewer main replacements in the downtown. Casey said Dan Narber with the Iowa Economic Development Authority will be coming to Fayette for a monitoring visit on July 6th or 9th.
There bring no other comments, Nefzger closed the public hearing.
Mayor Pro-Tem Nefzger reported that all council members attended the Iowa League of Cities Small Towns Workshop on June 11th at Upper Iowa University. Patrick said he found the workshop to be very worthwhile and it was interesting finding out what other towns go through. ~ Nefzger said the Police Committee is still taking some steps for filling the police chief position. She added that we should know something by the next council meeting, July 6th. Dennis handed out a report she prepared showing the hiring history of the Fayette Police Department.
Administrator/Clerk Dennis reported that a donation of $500 had been given to the city by Floyd Alber. Dennis suggested the funds be put toward the cost of the fireworks display for Watermelon Days. Boberg said he would like to put the matter on hold for awhile, the council took no action. ~ Dennis reported there had been a complaint regarding a nuisance property on East Water Street with an old truck in the back and an old dilapidated building in the back and junk in the front of the house. Dennis also reported that she received a complaint about the junk sitting around the burned out house that is being demolished at the corner of Main & 7th Streets. The council directed Dennis to notify police officer Fox about the nuisance properties and ask her to contact the owners and then report back to Mayor Wenthe. ~ Dennis reported that the concrete work was going to start in a week or two for the James Lee memorial in the Open Air Market Park. Nefzger asked Boberg if he had the plans yet for the proposed Veterans memorial in the same park. Boberg said he is still waiting on the plans and that the fundraising would be slow. He said the Veterans memorial would probably have to be done in parts as funds are raised. Patrick asked if it was still in the plans to move the present black granite Veterans memorial by City Hall to the park and Boberg said yes it was. ~ Enclosed with the report from Dennis was an e-mail from the Iowa Director of Elections clarifying new legislation approving HF2366 which transferred all filing officer duties for a regular City Election from the city clerk to the county auditor. Candidates filing for city office must file in the Auditor’s office by the filing deadline. Objections and withdrawals are also filed with the Auditor.
Moved Patrick, seconded Boberg, to introduce the agenda item regarding the status of the wastewater treatment project, GIS mapping, sewer main televising and general public works updates. Patrick said we just had the update on the wastewater treatment project during the public hearing. Concerning the GIS Mapping of the water shut-offs, manholes, sewer mains and storm water intakes, Public Works Director Hildebrand said 90% of the field data has been collected. He added that 30% of the map data is in GIS in each of the city’s three utilities. Dennis handed out copies of the billing invoice received today showing a detailed percentage breakdown of how much work has been done to date. Dennis commented that James Krivachek, engineer doing the GIS mapping, said this is the fastest locating he has ever done because Jerry had the curb stops flagged in advance of James coming to Fayette. The council thanked Jerry for getting this done so quickly. ~ Concerning the sewer main televising, Jerry told the council that Municipal Pipe Tool would be in town tomorrow to start jet cleaning and televising. Jerry said he hopes to have 50% of the town done this trip. ~ Jerry mentioned that the city would need to hire an engineering firm to figure out a cost to repair and asphalt Big Rock Road. He suggested having a Street Committee meeting to discuss this. The city is waiting until next spring or summer to start the work on Big Rock Road since the sludge won’t be removed from the fourth cell at the sewer lagoon until after the fall harvest this year.
Moved Sorensen, seconded McGrane, to introduce the subject of spraying for Gnats (Black Flies). Admin/Clerk Dennis had provided the council with information that she received from Fayette County ISU Extension office. The article written by an entomologist stated that spraying for black flies to eliminate them is not practical. The article also said, “Treating breeding sites (rivers) would be difficult if not impossible”. Dennis said she contacted the City of Oelwein, which sprays for mosquitoes, but the person in charge of that wasn’t available to give a cost estimate for them to bring in their fogger to Fayette. It was a consensus of the council that no spraying be done and that people could try using vanilla and other suggested products to keep the gnats away when they are their worst in the spring.
Moved Patrick, seconded McGrane, to introduce Ordinance #486. Patrick said since there wasn’t a deciding vote on the first reading of the ordinance on May 18, 2015, he was bringing it up again since he had the dissenting vote, to give the ordinance a fair chance. Moved Patrick, seconded Boberg, to approve the first reading and waive the second reading of Ordinance #486: No parking on Mechanic Street from Jay Street to Madison. On roll call, Patrick, nay; McGrane, yes; Sorensen, nay, Boberg, yes; Nefzger, nay; the ordinance failed.
Moved Sorensen, seconded McGrane, to acknowledge receipt of the Board of Adjustment meeting minutes of June 3, 2015, where the Board approved a six foot variance to the front yard setback requirement for Roger Post to construct a porch on the front of his house at 514 Franklin Street. Also in the meeting minutes, the Board asked Dennis to ask the council to amend the City Code regarding the number of Board members needed to approve a variance request from four to three because of emergency situations. It was a consensus of the council that Dennis report to the Board that they draft an amendment for the council, but they would like to leave the number as is with exceptions for medical emergencies. All ayes, carried.
Moved McGrane, seconded Boberg, to introduce the topic of installing directional signs along Hwy. 150, facing north and south, for Klock’s Island campground. McGrane said we have such a nice campground that we need to advertise it along the highway. He noted there are signs already on Hwy. 93. Jerry Hildebrand said he contacted the IDOT and they said they would need to do a field study at the intersection of Hwy. 150 & Hwy. 93 because there are already so many signs in that location. Hildebrand said he told the IDOT to go ahead and do the review and he added that the IDOT will pay for the signs and install them if it’s ok to have them.
There being no further business, moved Boberg, to adjourn at 8:29 pm.
