Regular Council Meeting
September 6, 2016
The City Council of the City of Fayette, Iowa, met Tuesday, September 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, Nefzger, Wulfekuhle. Absent: Larson.
Moved Kragnes, seconded Wulfekuhle, to approve the consent agenda consisting of the regular meeting minutes of 08/15/16 and Claims List of 08/16/16 – 09/06/16 with the addition of $6,500.85 to Heartland Asphalt for seeding & misc. on the Big Rock Road project. On roll call, all ayes, carried.
Moved Kragnes, seconded Wulfekuhle,to approve the agenda as presented. All ayes, carried.
Mayor Wenthe informed everyone that on August 18th the city signed the agreement presented by Gary Goodell’s attorney to put the property at 101 King Street back in the name of Goodell. We’re now waiting on Goodell’s attorney to sign the agreement and file it with the court system. Once the property is back in Goodell’s name, the city will notify him that he has 30 days to clean up his property. Nefzger arrived at 7:33 p.m.
Administrator/Clerk Dennis reported there would be a work session at 7 pm on Sept. 19th, before the next council meeting, for the auditor to give the annual FY 16 audit presentation. ~ Regarding a check for $500 donated for Watermelon Days by Floyd Alber, moved Kragnes, seconded Wulfekuhle, to give the money to the Watermelon Days Committee to use for the raffle grand prize, as was done last year. All ayes, carried.
Police Chief Pisanti reported there was only one vehicle remaining in town from the nuisance vehicle list and he was going to address that next week. Pisanti added that he was going to start nuisance abatements for the three worst properties in town, not including Goodell’s. He said he spoke to the Attorney Hanson today and asked him to edit the ordinance section regarding the fines, because they are low right now, and with a higher penalty it may help to get some property owners to clean up their properties since it would cost them more if they don’t comply with our city code.
Moved Nefzger, seconded Kragnes, to table the item regarding voting on the rental housing ordinance since Attorney Hofmeyer needed more time to look into the matter. The subject will be on the Sept. 19th agenda. All ayes to table, carried.
Moved McGrane, seconded Kragnes, to introduce for discussion the request from Big Rock Country Club & Golf Course that individuals be able to make donations to the City of Fayette for improvements on holes ten (10) through eighteen (18) of the golf course (city leased property), so they would be tax exempt. All ayes to discuss. Administrator/Clerk Dennis explained that the property where the back nine holes are located is owned by the City of Fayette and is leased to the Big Rock Country Club for one dollar per year for 99 years. When the auditor was preparing the full FY16 audit, Dennis asked him about receiving donations for the golf course. The auditor said according to the lease agreement, that donations may be run through the city for the golf course if the work being done is on the city owned back nine golf course and that the council approves the project with the expense for the work being paid by Big Rock Country Club. Dennis said when the new nine holes were added to the Big Rock Country Club, all of the funds and donations were run through her office at the request of Bill Andres. Moved Wulfekuhle, seconded Kragnes, to approve that donations may be given to the City for Big Rock Country Club work on the sand trap project on the back nine holes so the donations may be tax exempt. All ayes, carried.
Moved McGrane, seconded Wulfekuhle, to introduce for discussion the matter of Kevin Lehs completing the unfinished work on the old house at 516 W. Water Street. All ayes to discuss. Mayor Wenthe explained that the project has gone on quite a while. Lehs was present and said he replaced the roof last year. Lehs said he would have the project on the west side of the house completed in 30 to 45 days by having someone finish the foundation and level the dirt. Nefzger said the last time this was discussed you said you would keep us informed on a regular basis, but that didn’t happen. Kevin said he would. The Mayor asked Lehs to give us an update by November 7, 2016, if he hasn’t gotten the work done.
Moved Kragnes, seconded Wulfekuhle, to introduce and discuss hiring Kris McGrane as the City Administrator/Clerk to fill the vacancy when Christie Dennis retires on October 28, 2016. All ayes to discuss. Mayor Wenthe said we had received 32 applications and we interviewed five of those. He added that we had a good pool of applicants, but not many had city government experience. He said McGrane is committed to the community, has IT (Internet Technology) and computer experience, has experience working for the City of Oelwein Police Department, is a quick learner and should be good for the city. After some discussion concerning McGrane accruing vacation time upon hiring, which is different than the personnel policy states, it was decided to have the subject on the Sept. 19th agenda for further discussion. Admin/Clerk Dennis said she didn’t have a problem with McGrane taking a week of vacation before he had worked a year and that the Personnel Policy should be changed to be the same as the federal government where an employee starts accruing vacation time when they start the job.
Wulfekuhle said being new that she and council member Larson felt left out of the hiring process. Kragnes explained that’s the point of a committee to go through the resumes and interview process and make a recommendation. She added that she thought Kris would do a good job and wasn’t against hiring him. Andrew said he runs a very fair search committee and they would have been welcome at any time to ask to participate in the process. He added that her (Wulfekuhle’s) concerns are duly noted for future processes.
Moved Wulfekuhle, seconded Kragnes, to approve hiring Kris McGrane as the City Administrator/Clerk, for a salary of $45,000 and starting on September 30, 2016. All ayes, McGrane abstained, carried.
Moved McGrane, seconded Kragnes, to introduce the request from Frank Atchison that the city trim two maples trees located at 401 Mechanic and 406 E. College. All ayes to discuss. Scott Bowen was present to represent Atchison and said the Mechanic Street tree has some cracks in it and is a very old Maple tree that is dropping limbs. He added that he feels it is a safety issue. Public Works Director, Jerry Hildebrand, explained that the city doesn’t trim trees in the city right-of-way except when they are covering sidewalks. He added that if the tree is diseases, dead or dying then the city has the tree removed. Hildebrand said if a property owner wants a tree trimmed then the property owner may trim it at the property owners expense. McGrane said Jerry has done a good job in the past of keeping an eye on the trees in town. Bowen said he would like to see the tree on College Street moved to the top of the watch list. Kragnes said Jerry could just keep an eye on the trees and if it looks like they need to be cut down then he can take care of them. Mayor Wenthe agreed that Jerry should just keep taking a look at the trees and others.
Moved Kragnes, seconded Wulfekuhle, to introduce the Community Development and Housing Needs Assessment. Admin/Clerk Dennis explained this is required for the CDBG program applications for the Downtown Sewer/Water Main Replacement Project and the Downtown Storm Water Drainage Construction Project. It shows the housing and community needs in Fayette. Moved Kragnes, seconded Wulfekuhle, to approve the assessment. All voted aye, carried.
Moved Kragnes, seconded Nefzger, to set a public hearing for September 19, 2016 at 7:30 p.m. in Fayette City Hall for submitting two CDBG program applications for the 2017 Fayette Downtown Reconstruction Projects, as noted in the previous paragraph. All ayes, carried.
Moved Kragnes, seconded McGrane, to introduce Resolution 2016-10: Naming Depositories (amending Res. 2012-12). Dennis explained when the auditors were here we discovered the library had a CD in a bank in Arlington, so that needed to be added to our list of banks where we have city funds. Moved Kragnes, seconded McGrane, to approve Resolution 2016-10. On roll call, all ayes, carried.
Moved Kragnes, seconded Wulfekuhle, to introduce Resolution 2016-11: Adopting a policy regarding use of city credit cards. Dennis explained this was recommended by the auditors. She added that the police chief, library director and she have credit cards and the ambulance service, police and public works director have gas cards. Moved Kragnes, seconded Wulfekuhle, to approve Resolution 2016-11. On roll call, all ayes, carried.
Moved Kragnes, seconded Wulfekuhle, to approve the proposal from Jon Biederman, Fehr Graham Engineering, for the 2017 Water Main Installation Project on Madison & Jones Streets, with an engineering cost up to $16,000. Dennis noted the project was budgeted for in FY16 and now FY17. Estimated cost of the project is around $140,000. All ayes to approve Fehr Graham to do the project engineering, carried.
Moved Kragnes, seconded McGrane, to approve the letter from Jon Biederman, Fehr Graham Engineering, certifying substantial completion of the Big Rock Road Improvements Project and Change Order #3, decreasing the cost by $978.69. Total construction cost of the project was $275,952.83. Fayette County’s portion of the project was $22,669.42, leaving the City’s portion at $253,283.41. The engineer’s original estimated cost was $390,095, so actual costs came in around 29% lower. Dennis noted after 30 days she would pay the 5% retainage of $13,797.64. All ayes to approve the project, carried.
There being no further business, moved Nefzger, unanimous, to adjourn at 8:15 pm.
