REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING
October 18, 2021
The City Council of the City of Fayette, Iowa, met Monday, October 18, 2021, at 6:00 pm in the Community Room at the Fayette Community Library pursuant to law and rules of said council, Mayor Wenthe presiding.
Roll call: Present - Council members Post, Potratz, Tenney, Tucker and Wulfekuhle.
Moved Tenney, seconded Post, to approve the consent agenda items consisting of the regular meeting minutes of 10/4/21, the claims list of 10/2/21 - 10/15/21 and approval to renew the Special Class C Liquor License with Outdoor Service and Sunday Sales for Shrubb's Street Eatery LLC. Roll call, all ayes, motion carried.
Moved Tenney, seconded Wulfekuhle, to amend the agenda by removing agenda items 8B, 8C and 8D and approving the amended agenda. All ayes, motion carried.
Mayor Wenthe reminded the council of the meet the candidate's night on 10/29 at the Fayette Community Library.
City Administrator/Clerk McGrane informed the council he has caught up on the city's finances and reported the city received the first payment of $107,371.55 for the American Rescue Plan, received $80,950.13 from July through October from the speed cameras and received $16,951.66 so far in 2021 from the campground. The new printer/copier/scanner at City Hall was installed on 10/14. This will replace the old utility billing printer. The city auditor was involved in an accident and was hospitalized, so we have rescheduled the city exam for 12/3/21.
Fayette Police Chief Ben Davis advised the council that Officer Ball will graduate from the police academy on Friday and will be back to work. The K9 grant contest for people to vote online opens up tomorrow, 10/19, and everyone is encouraged to vote and share on social media. It is currently on the Fayette Police Departments Facebook Page.
Moved Post, seconded Wulfekuhle, to discuss and consider moving forward installing solar panels with Eagle Point Solar. Kent Kraus and other representatives from Eagle Point Solar were present to discuss solar panel equipment and materials, solar benefits, power purchase agreements (PPA), and the city of Fayette's financial return on a 25 year PPA. Eagle Point Solar visited city buildings and locations and determined the best places to use solar energy. The locations included the library, city hall/police/ambulance, fire department, water tower, sewer lagoons, pre-treatment plant and the water well on Wadena Road. All will have roof mounted solar panels except the sewer lagoon, the water tower and the water well will have solar panels on the ground. A PPA would have the investor purchase all the solar panels, installation, insurance, repairs for any damage, and other costs while the city would receive the cost savings. The PPA would include buy-out terms if the city would decide to buy-out the solar panels after 7 to 10 years. Eagle Point Solar estimates the city could save around $842,668 in electrical costs with the solar panels over the next 25 years. If the city wants to move forward, Eagle Point Solar would send a contract for the city attorney to review. If the city is interested and things move smoothly, they could try and get posts pounded in before the ground freezes this year. Moved Tucker, seconded Post, to move forward with getting a contract from Eagle Point Solar for the PPA and to have the city attorney review it. All ayes, motion carried.
Moved Tucker, seconded Potratz, to discuss and consider hiring a fourth full time Public Works employee. Public Works Director Jerry Hildebrand advised that every year the Public Works department gets more and more things to do and things that result in being short staffed. The department is currently short staffed. Hildebrand would like the job duties to be identical as the current City Maintenance Worker position. Moved Tucker, seconded Wulfekuhle, to move forward and start hiring a fourth full time public works employee. All ayes, motion carried.
Moved Tenney, seconded Wulfekuhle, to discuss hiring Charles Cunningham as a full time Fayette Police Officer at an hourly wage of $21.85 and paying off his contract. Police Chief Davis recommended the city to hire Cunningham, an UIU alumni, for the full-time police officer position. Cunningham currently works for the city of Sumner, he has a college degree and he graduated the academy in August. Cunningham will start working in Fayette on 11/8/21. Davis explained offering Cunningham a higher wage than normal because of the cost area police departments are offering for open positions and we need to stay competitive. By offering Cunningham a higher wage, the current police officers will need a pay increase as well to keep things fair. McGrane recommended having the Personnel Committee meet in the near future to discuss all city employee wages. Moved Potratz, seconded Wulfekuhle, to hire Charles Cunningham as a full-time Fayette Police Officer at an hourly wage of $21.85, to pay off this contract of $21,544.07 and require Cunningham to sign an agreement to pay back the contract to the City of Fayette if his employment shall be terminated over the next few years. All ayes, motion carried.
Moved Potratz, seconded Post, to discuss and approve moving Nicole Ball from an hourly wage of $19.20 to $21.85 following her graduation from the police academy. All ayes, motion carried.
Moved Post, seconded Tenney, to discuss and approve moving Olivia Hake from an hourly wage of $18.54 to $21.19 following her graduation from the police academy effective January 1. All ayes, motion carried.
Moved Post, seconded Wulfekuhle, to discuss and consider on moving forward with an electric transmission franchise for ITC Midwest. ITC Midwest provided all the information including a draft ordinance for the city to review. Moved Tucker, seconded Post, to move forward with the electric transmission franchise information from ITC Midwest and send the information to the city attorney to review. All ayes, motion carried.
Moved Tenney, seconded Wulfekuhle, to discuss Resolution 2021-28. Moved Tucker, seconded Post, to adopt Resolution 2021-28: Water Utility Vendor Agreement Low-Income Household Water Assistance Program. Roll call, all ayes, motion carried.
Moved Tenney, seconded Potratz, to discuss Resolution 2021-29. McGrane advised the maintenance agreement with Copy Systems Inc. is for the new printer/copier/scanner for utility billing and is for $24 a month for the next 12 months. McGrane advised the agreement has already paid for itself because it covered the set-up costs. After 12 months, the city can re-evaluate and determine if it will be worth it moving forward. Moved Tenney, seconded Potratz, to adopt Resolution 2021-29: Copy Systems Inc. Maintenance Agreement. Roll call, all ayes, motion carried.
Moved Tenney, seconded Wulfekuhle, to discuss and consider extending the agreement with Upper Iowa University Recreation Center that provides a discount for city of Fayette residents and the city donating $10,000 to the Recreation Center. After discussion, it was the consensus to refer the topic to the Fayette Recreation Board to discuss. No action was taken.
Moved Post, seconded Potratz, to discuss and consider informing Fayette residents about the election proposals that will be on the 11/2/2021 ballot. Council member Tenney put together a flyer the city may use. Moved Potratz, seconded Post, to allow the City Administrator to hang up the flyer and place on the cities website and social media. All ayes, motion carried.
There being no further business, moved Potratz, unanimous, to adjourn at 7:43 pm.
