REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING
June 3, 2019
The City Council of the City of Fayette, Iowa, met Monday, June 3, 2019, at 6pm in 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 Wulfekuhle, to approve the consent agenda items consisting of the regular meeting minutes of 5/6/19, with the addition of “Nefzger abstained” on the vote reappointing Jeff Potratz to the Board of Adjustment for a 3-year term, and the claims list of 5/21/19 – 6/3/19. Roll call, all ayes, motion carried.
Moved Tucker, seconded Nefzger, to approve the agenda as presented. All ayes, carried.
Mayor Wenthe informed the council that Administrator/Clerk Kris McGrane and he worked on a press release promoting our new businesses in Fayette and the Revolving Loan Fund. The Fayette Leader printed the release and the Cedar Rapids Gazette is planning on running a story in an upcoming issue.
Administrator/Clerk McGrane told the council the S. Main St. bridge joint repair was completed over the weekend. McGrane attended the HWY 150 Coalition meeting on 5/29 at the Fayette Community Library.
Fayette Police Chief Davis updated the council on the National Night Out event scheduled for August.
Moved Larson, seconded Cowley, to approve the Fayette Recreation Board meeting minutes from 5/6/19. The council requested McGrane to promote Cardinal Park on Facebook more. All ayes, carried.
Moved Larson, seconded Wulfekuhle, to approve the Fayette Board of Adjustment meeting minutes from 5/23/19. All ayes, carried.
Moved Cowley, seconded Nefzger, to discuss and consider vacating part of the city right-of-way to Jared Hildebrand at 409 Jones Street. Hildebrand advised he would like to construct a 10’ x 12’ addition to the south side of his house where the current deck is located. Hildebrand had attended the last Board of Adjustment (BOA) meeting, where the BOA recommended the city council sell the minimum amount of city right-of-way to Hildebrand, so a variance would not be needed. The council discussed having Hildebrand get a survey of his property, so he would know exactly how much of the city right-of-way he would need to purchase from the city. The council recalled our city attorney does not recommend vacating or selling any city rights-of-way because the property may be needed for future utilities. After discussion, moved Nefzger, seconded Cowley, to not allow vacating the property but to grant an easement at Hildebrand’s expense, similar to what was recently done with the Fayette County Food Shelf expansion, and request the Board of Adjustment meet again to reconsider Hildebrand’s request. All ayes, carried.
Moved Tucker, seconded Wulfekuhle, to discuss and consider approving Lyle and Valerie Buehler’s Demolition Incentive. The council reviewed the receipts provided and clarified that the incentive is only for the demolition costs and does not include costs of street excavation, grass seed, gravel, etc. McGrane will provide the demolition receipt/invoice at a future meeting. No action was taken.
Moved Cowley, seconded Nefzger, to discuss the approval of partial pay estimate number 7 to Tschiggfrie Excavating. Moved Nefzger, seconded Cowley, to approve partial pay estimate number 7 to Tschiggfrie Excavating for the Sanitary Sewer Repair and CIPP Lining Improvements project 16-137 Division 1 contingent upon receipt of all necessary Davis-Bacon wage documentation by UERPC. All ayes, carried.
Moved Nefzger, seconded Tucker, to discuss and consider employee pay increases for FY2020. After discussion, moved Larson, seconded Nefzger, to have all cost-of-living increases take effect on July 1st, 2019, and all the years-of-service step increases on the wage scale to take effect on the employee’s anniversary date. All ayes, carried.
Moved Larson, seconded Cowley, to discuss water and sewer rates and the capital fund fee. McGrane shared spreadsheets with the council showing the income for water and sewer over the last few months, since switching to monthly billing. The spreadsheets show the water and sewer funds have a slight decrease in revenue each month with the additional money going into the water and sewer capital improvements fund. McGrane also showed examples of what it would look like if we switched the capital improvements $10 flat fee per bill to a 1% or 2% fee per cubic foot, as the council had requested at a prior meeting. McGrane advised the council that we expected we would probably have to adjust the minimums and rates slightly once we had a few months to look at. Some users may not see much of a change to their bills because we would be distributing the costs differently which may not cause some total utility bill amounts to change. After discussion, the council decided to set-up a work session next week to continue to look at the rates. McGrane will reach out to the council and choose a date that works best for the majority. No action was taken.
Moved Larson, seconded Tucker, to discuss the water drainage in the 500 block of Mechanic Street. At a previous meeting, the council had requested McGrane to look if the city had any documentation of what was required for CJ Construction to do for the storm water drainage when constructing the condominiums. McGrane advised the Deputy Clerk had been looking but has been unable to find anything. Jerry Hildebrand, the Public Works Director, believes that CJ Construction had met all the requirements. Hildebrand does not think the storm water is running across Mechanic St. anymore since the street was re-blacktopped a couple years ago and a 2-inch crown was put in the middle of the road. Nefzger suggested the city continues to monitor the issue. Wulfekuhle thought the property owners on the east side of Mechanic Street could dig out a ditch to help retain the water since the driveways on the west side are already completed. Wulfekuhle also advised the city needs to consider storm water drainage issues for future developments to avoid this issue occurring again. Tucker mentioned if they continue to have issues in that area, she heard of other options during the flood mitigation meetings she attended that the city could consider, such as having a grassy area or more vegetation. After further discussion, no action was taken.
Moved Nefzger, unanimous, to adjourn at 8:00pm.
