REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING
November 15, 2021
The City Council of the City of Fayette, Iowa, met Monday, November 15, 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 Potratz, seconded Tucker, to approve the consent agenda items consisting of the regular meeting minutes of 11/1/21, the claims list of 10/30/21 - 11/12/21, the abstract of votes for the city elections on 11/2/21, the Annual Financial Report for Fiscal Year 2021 and the Street Financial Report for Fiscal Year 2021. Roll call, all ayes, motion carried.
Moved Tucker, seconded Wulfekuhle, to amend the agenda and move agenda item 6C, discussion on the Water Street liquidated damages to 6A at the beginning of Old Business and to approve the amended agenda. All ayes, motion carried.
Upon Mayor Wenthe’s request, moved Wulfekuhle, seconded Post, to appoint Elizabeth Meyer to the Fayette Fire Department. All ayes, motion carried.
Mayor Wenthe attended the Big Rock Country Club golf course meeting last week and they are working through their options of how to pay off their debt. Wenthe reminded them that the city owns the back nine and if they make any changes to the course, the agreement with the city will need to be updated.
City Administrator/Clerk McGrane updated the council on the CDBG Rehab grant administered by Upper Explorerland. McGrane has been in communication with the state and is looking into options the city can take for the grant. McGrane notified a few businesses in town about the hotel-motel tax passing so they can start preparing and to reach out to the Iowa Department of Revenue with questions. McGrane has been working with a few business owners to get a meeting for all Fayette business owners to meet. Andrea Scott with Yoga Genesis has a meeting scheduled for them on 11/17. McGrane sent out the fiscal year 2023 budget worksheets to all the department supervisors and boards.
Fayette Police Chief Davis advised the council the city did not receive one of the grants for the K9 but there is another grant he is pursuing. Odin, the Fayette PD K9, will be evaluated in January to determine if he will be able to go through K9 training in the spring. Davis is now a certified Mental Health Crisis Intervention Member. Davis said the Fayette PD toy drive has started for this year and encouraged everyone to help promote it. The department has partnered with Peacocks for Progress to help promote the toy drive at Upper Iowa University. The toys will be donated to Riverview and Helping Services as in the past.
Moved Tenney, seconded Post, to discuss W. Water Street project liquidated damages. Wenthe advised he met with Jon Beiderman (Fehr Graham), Public Works Director (PWD) Jerry Hildebrand and Kris McGrane to discuss the liquidated damages. The recommendation was to penalize Heartland Asphalt $12,600 for the project delays. Colton Meirick with Heartland Asphalt was present. Meirick was appreciative of the city for their patience with the delays of the project and was understanding of the penalty. Moved Potratz, seconded Post, to move forward with liquidated damages to Heartland Asphalt for the West Water Street improvements project of $600 per day from September 18, 2021, to October 8, 2021, totaling $12,600. All ayes, motion carried.
This being the time and place published for a public hearing on allowing KDME, LLC to have access to and to install a solar electric generating system on designated premises owned by the City of Fayette and sell the electricity generated by the system to the City of Fayette, Mayor Wenthe opened the hearing and asked for comments. Tucker advised she had a resident that was concerned about the ground solar panels by the water tower. Pat and Linda Whelan were present and asked questions including how the power purchase agreement worked. Kent Kraus with Eagle Point Solar was present and explained how the agreement worked. McGrane advised PWD Hildebrand mentioned to him there used to be a home located at the place where the ground solar panels at the water tower were scheduled to be constructed. Kraus and the council will look to see if they may be moved to provide more room for a future house. Mayor Wenthe closed the hearing.
Moved Potratz, seconded Tucker, to discuss Resolution 2021-32. Moved Tucker, seconded Tenney, to adopt Resolution 2021-32 approving the Solar Power Purchase Agreement. Roll call, all ayes, motion carried.
Moved Tenney, seconded Post, to discuss purchasing a 2022 F-150 4x4 Regular Cab at a maximum price of $36,280. This was a budgeted expense, and the lowest bid is from Wilbur Ford at $30,600. A few other bids included a Chevy from Birdnow at $34,210 and a Ford from Browns at around $37,000. PWD Hildebrand advised the truck may not get here until June and it is an addition to the Public Works vehicles. Moved Tenney, seconded Potratz, to purchase a 2022 F-150 4x4 Regular Cab from Wilbur Ford for $30,600. All ayes, motion carried.
Moved Tenney, seconded Tucker, to discuss continuing with a Wellmark Health Insurance plan for city employees. McGrane advised he met with the city's insurance representative on 11/12 to discuss the cities options. The best option was to remain with our current plan with an increase of 7.45% to the premiums. The city will have around a 40% usage loss for this current year. The city saved money from the previous plan that the city moved away from earlier this year because our usage loss was under 74%. Moved Tucker, seconded Wulfekuhle, to continue with the Wellmark myBlue HDHP Bronze partially self-funded plan for the city employees and contribute a total of $1,000 to single and $2,000 to family city employee's health savings accounts with half the amount paid every six months. All ayes, motion carried.
Moved Tenney, seconded Post, to discuss Resolution 2021-31. Moved Post, seconded Wulfekuhle, to adopt Resolution 2021-31 gWorks Master Services Agreement, Terms of Service, Product Support Agreement and Privacy Policy. Roll call, all ayes, motion carried.
Moved Tenney, seconded Wulfekuhle, to discuss moving forward with hiring Upper Explorerland with city code of ordinance updates. McGrane provided the quote which was $3,500. It was the consensus of the council to find out how the administration of the current CDBG grant will be completed by Upper Explorerland before we start a new project with them. No action was taken.
Moved Wulfekuhle, seconded Post, to discuss Resolution 2021-33. Moved Tenney, seconded Post, to adopt Resolution 2021-33 an agreement for Codification Services with Local Government Professional Services, Incorporated doing business as Iowa Codification. Roll call, all ayes, motion carried.
Moved Tenney, seconded Potratz, to discuss and approve the Annual Urban Renewal Report for fiscal year (FY) 2021. Moved Wulfekuhle, seconded Tucker, to approve the Annual Urban Renewal Report for FY2021. All ayes, motion carried.
Moved Potratz, seconded Post, to go into closed session per Iowa Code 21.5(1)(j) to discuss the purchase or sale of particular real estate only where premature disclosure could be reasonably expected to increase the price the City would have to pay for that property or reduce the price the City would receive that property. Roll call, all ayes, motion carried.
Moved Tenney, seconded Post, to open regular session. Roll call, all ayes, motion carried.
Moved Tenney, seconded Post, to discuss the city purchasing property in the city limits of Fayette. Moved Potratz, seconded Tenney, to not take action on purchasing any property at this time. All ayes, motion carried.
Moved Tucker, seconded Post, to discuss applying for a grant. Moved Tucker, seconded Tenney, to continue to look at grants and put a plan in place to assist with vacant businesses in Fayette. All ayes, motion carried.
There being no further business, moved Potratz, unanimous, to adjourn at 7:16 pm.
