Council Meeting Minutes 9-5-17

REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING

September 5, 2017

     The City Council of the city of Fayette, Iowa, met Tuesday, September 5, 2017 at 7:30pm in the Fayette City Hall pursuant to law and rules of said council, Mayor Wenthe presiding.

     Roll call: Present - Council members Kragnes, Larson, Nefzger, Tucker and Wulfekuhle. 

     Moved Kragnes, seconded Larson, to approve the consent agenda consisting of the regular meeting minutes of 8/21/17, claims list of 8/22/17 – 9/5/17, the June 2017 and July 2017 Treasurer’s/Clerk’s Reports, the June 2017 Budget Report, and the Outstanding Obligations Disclosure Statement Report for FY2017.  The total debt for the city ending 6/30/17 was $1,616,535.50.  Roll call, all ayes, motion carried.

     Treasurer's Balance for Fund Accounts as of June 30, 2017:  General $213,868.81; Streets $305,948.29; Debt Service $18,732.67; Water Utility $235,735.90; Water T&A $22,183.34; Sewer Utility $219,463.90; Landfill/Recycling $2,708.27; Yard Waste $5,229.67; Bolger Fund $225,731.89; TIF $51,749.62; Local Option Tax $8,078.58; Storm Water $10,994.18; Downtown Project ($29,715.04); Franchise Fees $48,920.48.  June Receipts by Fund: General $61,692.09; Streets $108,191.12; Debt Service $13,565.96; Water Utility $4,083.72; Water T&A $1,010; Sewer Utility $5,269.17; LF/Recycling $894.61; Yard Waste $188.72; Bolger $37,333.18; TIF $71.90; Local Option $16,157.16; Storm Water $130.31.  Total Receipts $248,587.91.  June Disbursements by Fund: General $145,618.99; Streets $13,466.99; Water Utility $119,660.46; Water T&A $6,606.73; Sewer Utility $93,636.02; LF/Recycling $80.00; Yard Waste $6,661.76; Bolger $1,245; TIF $5,409.26; Local Option $94,596.40.  Total Disbursements: $486,981.61.  Investments: $1,291,619.01.  Bank Balance $2,624,743.56.  Balance with Library Funds $2,714,455.44.

     Treasurer’s Balance as of July 31, 2017: Checking $1,324,160.77; Savings $242,815.03; Investments $1,128,876.14; Library Memorial $9,309.81.  Total July Receipts: $181,664.29.  Total July Disbursements: $188,446.43.  Balance: $2,705,161.75.

     Moved Kragnes, seconded Larson, to discuss Frank Atchison water bill for 308 E. State Street.  Atchison was not present.  After discussion, no action was taken.

     Moved Kragnes, seconded Wulfekuhle, to approve the agenda as presented.  All ayes to approve, motion carried.

     Mayor Wenthe advised the council that a few housing focus groups took place today and more will take place tomorrow.  This is part of the business and cultural development study that UIU and the City of Fayette partnered together to strengthen our community.  City Administrator/Clerk McGrane and Wenthe attended a FEMA/Ia Homeland Security & Emergency Management Public Assistance Applicant Briefing on August 31st.

     Administrator/Clerk McGrane reported to the council that he attended the UIU Resource Fair on 8/24 to encourage new students to use fayetteiowa.com as a resource for city information, local businesses, and activities/events.  McGrane also attended the UIU Haunted Hayride meeting on 8/29 and it was decided to hold their event on the same night as our town trick-or-treating and Maple Crests Halloween event to hopefully bring more people to Fayette that evening.  McGrane advised at the Fayette Co. Advisory Committee meeting on 8/30 it was reported that NEIA Community Action Corp. is anticipating to start building the new house at 104 King St. in the Spring of 2018.  McGrane also informed the council that the Fayette Community Library has posted and published the help wanted ad to hire a new part time assistant librarian.  

     Moved Kragnes, seconded Tucker, to get an update on Kevin Lehs property at 516 W. Water St.  Lehs was not present at the meeting.  Nefzger advised she spoke to Lehs and he moved the pile of dirt, moved and stacked the pile of bricks and tiles, and he has an individual coming in to do some tuck-pointing to the house.  Chief Pisanti advised he spoke to Lehs about a week and a half ago and advised him of the nuisance abatement ordinance.  Lehs said he would take care of it and he did.

     Moved Larson, seconded Kragnes, to consider and take action on the storm water drainage at Madison and King Streets.  Wenthe, Tucker and Public Works Director Hildebrand met with Chris Matt on 8/29.  Their recommendation would be a two-phase approach.  Matt recently placed an additional drain at this location.  The first phase would include rerouting the storm water, lowering the tile on Matt’s property, and move forward with the construction work to hopefully address the storm water issue.  If phase one does not help, then move to phase two which would be to dig out the ditch at this location to hopefully capture the storm water and hold it a little longer before it drains across the road.  After discussion, moved Kragnes, seconded Wulfekuhle, to approach Matt about returning the ditch to the original condition.  All ayes, motion carried.

     Moved Kragnes, seconded Larson, to consider inspecting or replacing the city-owned Rohn 25G tower.  The city has received a few rough estimates from Tri State Tower.  McGrane received specific information from the Fayette County E911 Coordinator about what they currently have on the tower which he forwarded to Tri State Tower to get a more accurate estimate.  McGrane is still waiting to get an estimate from another company.  McGrane attended the Fayette County E911 meeting on 8/23 and the committee did approve to pay for half the cost of a tower inspection up to $1500.  Moved Kragnes, seconded Tucker, to table.  All ayes, motion carried.

     Moved Kragnes, seconded Larson, to review updates of the Fayette Flooding from July 22nd, 2017, timeline.  Wenthe advised the council of the latest updates and information including designated FEMA funding is currently frozen due to the disasters in Texas and possibly in Florida to assist them.  The city will get reimbursed however it may not happen as quickly as originally planned.  McGrane advised he is continuing to work with the insurance company for the pre-treatment plant flood damage.

     Moved Kragnes, seconded Larson, to discuss parking issues in the 500 block of Mechanic Street near the North Ridge condos.  After discussion, moved Larson, seconded Wulfekuhle, to change the ordinance to make the east side of Mechanic Street from E. Jay St. to W. Madison St. no parking any time.  Three ayes, Kragnes and Nefzger nay, motion carried.

     Moved Wulfekuhle, seconded Kragnes, to discuss a housing assessment with Glenn Lyons and Marilyn Arber with 571 Polson Developments.  The city and UIU have a contract with Zach Mannheimer and McClure Engineering to get some revitalization ideas.  Lyons and Arber were contacted by Mannheimer to take a look at Fayette’s housing market.  They are looking at the economic & demographic data and are meeting with some individuals & focus groups while they are in town for a couple days.  After they are finished with their research they will provide a preliminary analysis that will include if there is a reasonable demand for either ownership housing for single families or rental apartments.  If there is, they will start to look at sites and a feasibility analysis that they could do a preliminary analysis on.  If there doesn’t appear to be a strong enough demand in either of those options, they will help us to start conversations about what will it take to create or enhance that demand.        

     Moved Kragnes, seconded Larson, to consider changing the days and/or the hours of the Fayette Yard Waste Site.  Larson advised he was approached by a couple people in town about doing something different with the hours of the Yard Waste Site.  After discussion and different options were discussed, no action was taken.

     Moved Kragnes, seconded Tucker, to consider surveying the property lines for the Open Air Market.  McGrane advised  a property owner next to the Open Air Market recently inquired about putting up a structure on their property.  In doing some research, it was discovered that the city may not have a survey of the lot lines for the Open Air Market and there are some conflicting maps that show where the lot lines are.  The Open Air Market is a flood buy-out area so nothing can be built on the property.  Fehr Graham Engineering provided a cost estimate of $1,150 to take a survey of the entire Open Air Market area.  Moved Larson, seconded Nefzger, to contact the owners of the property next to the Open Air Market to ask if they would want to pay half the cost of the survey.  All ayes, motion carried.

     Moved Kragnes, seconded Nefzger, to consider an extension of Officer Ben Davis living outside the city limits.  Davis was granted a waiver to the residency requirement for one year when he was hired and that time has now passed.  After discussion, moved Tucker, seconded Wulfekuhle, to provide Officer Ben Davis one more year from his hire date (making it a total of two years) to find residency in the Fayette city limits.  Three ayes, Kragnes and Larson nay, motion carried.  The council requested to have Davis attend the next regular city council meeting.

    Moved Kragnes, seconded Tucker, to discuss the FY2017 ending balances and transfers to and from savings and budget transfers.  McGrane explained the auditors require council approval for the end of the year transfers, even though this is policy and discussed during budget meetings.  The funds remaining on June 30th are put into savings for equipment, vehicles or projects for the following fiscal year or transferred out of savings to help cover extra costs accrued.  McGrane explained there was one more local option sales tax deposit on June 30th that was not accounted for when McGrane made the bank transfers on that same day.  He will make those transfers in the current fiscal year.  Moved Kragnes, seconded Nefzger, to approve the ending balances and transfers.  All ayes, motion carried.

     There being no further business, moved Nefzger, unanimous, to adjourn at 9:34pm.

There is no place like home. And there is no place like Fayette.

11 S. Main Street

563.425.4316

info@fayetteiowa.com

Pay Your Utility Bill

Pay Now2

Pay your Fayette Parking Ticket

Pay Now2