Regular Council Meeting
September 8, 2015
The City Council of the City of Fayette, Iowa, met in the Fayette City Hall at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, September 8, 2015, Mayor Andrew Wenthe presiding.
Roll call: Present - Council members McGrane, Patrick, Sorensen. Absent: Nefzger and Boberg.
Prior to this meeting, at 7:20 p.m., Mayor Wenthe swore in Benjamin Davis as a temporary certified patrol officer for the police department.
Moved Sorensen, seconded Patrick, to approve the consent agenda consisting of the regular meeting minutes of 08/17/15, Claims List of 08/18/15 – 09/08/15 and two change orders for Blazek Construction on the sewer lagoon project for an increase of $30,840. On roll call, all voted aye, carried.
Under communications from the public, Admin/Clerk Dennis mentioned that Darwin Vandersee, 509 Mechanic, complained about the parking on Mechanic Street in front of his property. Patrick said it was voted on by the council with all five members present to leave the parking as it is. Dennis said that Vandersee also complained about the drainage in that area. Jerry Hildebrand said when the condominiums were constructed that drain tile was placed on the west side of the street and roof drainage is directed to the holding tanks behind the condos, so water drainage is actually better now than it was before the condos were built.
Moved Sorensen, seconded McGrane, to approve the agenda as presented. All ayes, carried.
Mayor Wenthe said the police chief search committee interviewed five applicants over Zoom and have narrowed the field down to four candidates. He added that they are planning to have a meet & greet gathering at the Opera House, if it’s available, on Tuesday, Sept. 15th from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. to meet the candidates.
Administrator/Clerk Dennis reported that Big Rock Country Club has paid off their city loan and that the American Legion only has $265 remaining to pay. ~ James Krivachek installed the new GIS program on the Clerk’s computer and the Public Works computer and she has already used the program. PWD Hildebrand needs to review the data to see what corrections are needed. ~ Sept. 3rd Dennis released the insurance funds retained for 701 S. Main Street since the demolition project for Connie Conner is completed. ~ Helping Services of NE Iowa is ending their lease with the city for the office space at #9 S. Main Street. They are moving to a smaller office space at 112 S. Main Street.
Moved Patrick, seconded McGrane, to discuss the agreement between Sierra Fox and the City regarding the payback of her police training expenses. All ayes to discuss. Dennis said she mailed a letter to Fox on August 19, 2015 informing her that she owes $7,199.67 and it was supposed to be paid by August 30, 2015 (sixty days from the date she resigned, as stated in the agreement that Fox signed). Dennis said she also e-mailed the agreement to Fox on August 19th, but hasn’t received an acknowledgement from Fox for either and hasn’t received any payment. It was a consensus that Dennis should mail the letter again by certified mail with a note to Fox stating she has until September 18th to pay what she owes or we will be turning the matter over to our attorney.
Moved McGrane, seconded Sorensen, to introduce for discussion the application for demolition incentive for 103 Jones Street from Jim & Carla Mitchell. Dennis said the start date is Sept. 14th, 2015 and the completion date is October 10th, 2015. A bid of $5,000 was submitted with the application from L&E Construction (Jason Rohde) for the demolition. All voted aye to approve the application with the completion date of October 10, 2015 and the city program paying 50% of the $5,000 ($2,500), carried.
Moved Patrick, seconded McGrane, to approve Resolution #2015-16: Annual Street Financial Report for FY2015, showing total income of $224,551 and total expenses of $136,622, with an ending balance of $403,157 on June 30, 2015. On roll call, all voted aye, carried.
Moved McGrane, seconded Sorensen, to introduce for discussion Resolution 2015-17: Local Match for a hazard Mitigation Grant Program for two warning sirens. Mayor Wenthe said Jason Rohde, Fayette Fire Chief, contacted the siren company and they came up with a couple of other locations for the sirens. The Mayor, Rohde, Hildebrand and Dennis will meet Thursday to decide on the new location for the best coverage for the town. Dennis has been working on the program application with IHSEMD since 2011. There was some funding available, but that ran out. The entire project cost is estimated to be $44,006, but FEMA only has $39,024 available right now and won’t have any again until a Presidential Disaster is declared for Fayette County or more funds are de-obligated. FEMA pays 75% of the funds available and IHSEMD pays 10% of the project cost, leaving the city to come up with $10,336. Dennis said there is $2,620 available in our Emergency Management fund and the mayor said the remainder could come from the Fire Department (approx. $1,900) and the police department budget ($5,800). Moved Sorensen, seconded McGrane, to approve the resolution committing the local match for the sirens project. On roll call, all ayes, carried.
Moved Patrick, seconded McGrane, to introduce for discussion the first reading of Ordinance 488: Rescinding Ordinance 487, reinstating Lien Exemptions, and adding language to the ordinance for a mailing address and phone number from a landlord and that a rental unit must have a separate curb stop in the city right-of-way, as already required in Chapter 90.10 of the City Code, for a lien exemption notice to be accepted by the city. Dennis said there are several buildings and houses with rental units in Fayette that don’t have separate outside shut-offs and this is needed so the city can have immediate access to shut off water for unpaid bills if a landlord files a lien exemption. Moved Patrick, seconded Sorensen, to approve the first reading of Ordinance 488, on roll call, all ayes, carried.
Moved McGrane, seconded Sorensen, to introduce for discussion the first reading of Ordinance 489: Amending Chapters 90.10, Tapping Mains; Chapter 92.09, Customer Deposits; Chapter 92.10, Temporary Vacancy and adding Chapter 99.16, Customer Deposits for sewer, landfill, recycling, yard waste and storm water drainage utility service. All ayes to discuss. Dennis said Fayette’s City Code needed to be revised to meet requirements by the State Code. Instead of having the same deposit for all rental properties, the deposit needs to be based on the usual cost of ninety days of water service and the other services billed by the city. The new language explains how the deposits will be figured. McGrane suggested that a clause be added explaining how the Clerk would figure a deposit if there is no past history. Dennis said Attorney Hanson suggested a paragraph for that (the average usual cost for all residents) so she will include that for the second reading. Moved McGrane, seconded Sorensen, to approve the first reading of Ordinance 489 with the addition of the third section. On roll call, all ayes, carried.
Moved Sorensen, seconded McGrane, to introduce for discussion curb stops (water shut-offs) that need repairing by property owners. Jerry Hildebrand said when he was locating all of the curb stops in town for GIS mapping, he found there are 42 that aren’t working. He said our city code states it is the property owners responsibility to have a working curb stop and in case of an emergency we need to be able to shut off the water to a property. It was a consensus of the council that Dennis & Hildebrand draft a letter to property owners explaining why their curb stops need to be repaired.
There being no further business, moved Sorensen, unanimous, to adjourn at 8:21 p.m.
