Regular Council Meeting
June 6, 2016
The City Council of the City of Fayette, Iowa, met Monday, June 6, 2016, at 7:30 pm in the Fayette City Hall pursuant to law and rules of said council, Mayor Wenthe presiding.
Roll call: Present - Council members Kragnes, McGrane, Sorensen, Wulfekuhle. Absent - Nefzger.
Moved Sorensen, seconded Wulfekuhle, to approve the consent agenda consisting of the regular meeting minutes of 05/16/16, letter from Catherine Miller, Fayette County Planning & Zoning, advising that the County is in the process of amending their zoning ordinance to include specifics for Commercial Wind Energy Systems, noting that the most common setback from corporate limits is one mile, Claims List of 05/17/16 – 06/06/16. On roll call, all ayes, carried.
Moved Kragnes, seconded Wulfekuhle, to approve the agenda as presented. All ayes, carried.
This being the time and place for a public hearing on the FY 2016 Budget Amendment, Mayor Wenthe opened the public hearing and asked if there were any comments. City Administrator/Clerk Dennis said the $902,048 amendment is for the Big Rock Road & Mechanic Street asphalting projects ($177,048 more than originally budgeted) and also the income & expense for the sewer lagoon project ($725,000). Dennis added that there isn’t any increase in taxes for these projects and the city already has the funds to cover the costs. There being no further comments, Mayor Wenthe closed the public hearing.
Moved Sorensen, seconded Kragnes, to approve Resolution 2016-07: Amending the current budget for the fiscal year 2016 by $902,048 in income and expenses. On roll call, all ayes, carried.
Administrator/Clerk Dennis reported that Big Rock Road and Mechanic Street were being surfaced with asphalt on June 6th –June 8th.
Police Chief Pisanti reported they caught some kids knocking loudly on doors and ringing door bells around 10 pm the other night. The parents were cited for the problem.
Moved McGrane, seconded Sorensen, to introduce for discussion the CDBG Water/Sewer and Community Facilities & Services program grants that weren’t funded again this year. Admin/Clerk Dennis said Iowa Economic Development Authority was going to start accepting applications on a quarterly basis starting in 2017, so maybe that would better our chances to get the awards. Moved McGrane, seconded Kragnes, to have Upper Explorerland Regional Planning Commission re-submit the applications since they said they wouldn’t charge the City. All ayes, carried.
Moved McGrane, seconded Kragnes, to introduce Resolution 2016-08: Revised Job Description for the City Administrator/Clerk position and also the job advertisement for the position, the Capital Improvements and Events Report 1993-2016 including the present Vehicle Inventory and the New Building Construction Report 1993-2015. Mayor Wenthe asked Admin/Clerk Dennis to get the job ad out next week with a deadline for applications of July 8, 2016. Wenthe said he would like to see someone hired around the first of September. Someone asked if the new FLSA rules for overtime pay that start December 1st would affect this position. Dennis said she was exempt from overtime, but she would check with the Iowa League of Cities to see about the new rules. Mayor Wenthe noted that the 27 page report that Dennis provided was really interesting and was a good history record of the town. Dennis said she would put a copy of the report at the library. McGrane asked Dennis if she had gone to grant writing training. Dennis said she never had any training for writing grants, that she just wrote them. Dennis said the council will need to decide if they want her replacement to write grants or just have them written by others and pay the extra costs associated with writing and administering grants like other towns do. She added that there are a lot of variables to her job so the council will have to decide what they want from the next person in her position. Moved Sorensen, seconded Kragnes, to refer the job description to the Personnel Committee for further review. All ayes, carried.
Moved Kragnes, seconded Wulfekuhle, to introduce for discussion the Police Committee recommendation to hire Ben Davis as Fayette’s second police officer. All ayes to discuss. Chief Pisanti said there were 18 applicants for the position and three of those were certified. They interviewed the top five and narrowed those down to three and then to one. Pisanti said Davis has worked for Strawberry Point for two years and he would be a good fit for Fayette. He said he did a background check and it’s clear. Pisanti added that Davis had been in the Army for eight years prior to getting his police certification. Pisanti said Davis has a contract with the City of Strawberry Point, similar to the one Fayette had with Sierra Fox, and he still owes $5,216.11 on that over two and a half years. Pisanti said Fayette would buy out the contract so Davis wouldn’t responsible to Strawberry Point for that, then Davis would work off the forgivable loan in Fayette. He added that it’s a good deal for Fayette because we don’t have to send Davis to the police academy and have him gone for the eight weeks of training. Also, Davis makes $39,000 with Strawberry Point so he can’t afford to take less. City Admin/Clerk Dennis handed out a spreadsheet showing the difference in the amount budgeted for a new officer at $35,714.62 for FY17 and the cost of benefits versus the increase of $3,992.39 if Davis was paid $39,000 plus benefits. The total cost including benefits for a second officer is $66,169.77 at a salary of $39,000. Pisanti also added that Davis lives west of Clermont and is trying to sell his present residence, so he has requested a waiver to the residency requirement for one year. Moved Sorensen, seconded Kragnes, to hire Ben Davis for a salary of $39,000 with a waiver of the residency requirement for one year then re-address the matter and Davis won’t be allowed to drive the police vehicle to his home out of the Fayette City Limits. All ayes, carried.
There being no further business, moved McGrane, unanimous, to adjourn at 8:16 pm.
/s/Christie Dennis, City Administrator/Clerk
