Council Meeting Minutes 11-21-16

Regular Council Meeting

November 21, 2016

The City Council of the City of Fayette, Iowa, met Monday, November 21, 2016, at 7:30 p.m. in the Fayette City Hall pursuant to law and rules of said council, Mayor Wenthe presiding.

   Roll call: Present - Council members Kragnes, Larson, Sandhagen, Wulfekuhle. Absent – Nefzger.

   Prior to this meeting the council held a work session at 6:30 p.m., as posted, and met with Jeremy Lockard, C.P.A. with Ridihalgh Fueling Snitker Weber & Co. Present at this work session was the mayor, the full council except Nefzger, Jeremy Lockard and City Admin/Clerk Kris McGrane. Lockard gave a presentation and discussion of findings and recommendations of the FY2016 audit.

   Moved Wulfekuhle, seconded Larson, to approve the consent agenda consisting of the regular meeting minutes of 11/7/16, Claims List of 11/8/16 – 11/21/16, and the October 2016 Treasurer’s/Clerk’s Report & Budget Report. On roll call, all ayes, carried.

     Treasurer's Balance for Fund Accounts as of October 31, 2016: General $293,079.74; Streets $195,669.60; Debt Service $18,908.23; Water Utility $320,812.42; Water T&A $25,952.91; Sewer Utility $251,822.64; Landfill/Recycling $(509.81); Yard Waste $11,142.67; Bolger Fund $182,449.71; TIF $56,717.08; Local Option Tax $29,271.77; Storm Water $7,214.30; Downtown Project ($26,659.44); Franchise Fees $38,520.45. October Receipts by Fund: General $165,291.03; Streets $13,445.49; Debt Service $4,476; Water Utility $71,000.01; Water T&A $400; Sewer Utility $63,189.25; LF/Recycling $13,870.99; Yard Waste $2,776.80; Bolger $404; TIF $14,813.26; Local Option $7,939.40; Storm Water $1,434.54; Franchise Fees $335.84. Total Receipts $359,376.61. October Disbursements by Fund: General $38,101.47; Streets $29,381.51; Water Utility $12,623.55; Water T&A $851.26; Sewer Utility $38,264.58; LF/Recycling $14,974.71; Bolger $2,050; Downtown Project $1,733.18. Total Disbursements: $137,980.26. Investments: $1,285,113. Bank Balance $2,689,505.27. Balance with Library Funds $2,780,015.78.

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

Upon Mayor Wenthe’s request and the Fayette Ambulance Services recommendation, moved Kragnes, seconded Larson, to appoint Tristan Beyer to the Fayette Ambulance Service.

City Administrator/Clerk McGrane reported that Mayor Wenthe delivered a plant to Full Circle Services to welcome them to Fayette. McGrane attended a QuickBooks training on November 14th, an IPERS training on November 16th and a budget workshop/training on November 17th. The Public Works Department and Cushion HVAC are just about finished redoing the electrical at Klock’s Island Park, which was budgeted for this fiscal year. McGrane advised a public notice or RFQ will be published for Engineers to bid for the downtown project over the next few weeks. Once we get them, a committee will open them and present them along with a recommendation to the council at the Dec. 19th meeting. This is part of the process to apply for the CDBG grant.

Police Chief Pisanti said the police department is preparing for the Thanksgiving weekend and will be performing house watches for any Fayette citizens who will be away for the holidays. Citizens can contact the Fayette police department and request to be put on the house watch list.

Move Kragnes, seconded Wulfekuhle, to introduce for discussion an update on Kevin Lehs property at 516 W. Water Street. Mayor Wenthe advised Kevin emailed the City Administrator/Clerk this morning that the wall footing has been poured with forming of the wall to start today. Kevin stated that the weather looks to warm slightly as the week progresses providing a better environment for the new pour. Wenthe advised we will continue to ask for updates during the process.

Moved Kragnes, seconded Larson to discuss the Board of Adjustment meeting minutes from November 9th, 2016. It was discussed if the Board of Adjustment decision is final for requests or variances they approve and according to the City Code, their decisions are final. Moved Kragnes to approve the Board of Adjustment meeting minutes of 11-9-16, but the motion died for lack of a second. There was some discussion on the approval of the Grove’s request of a special exception to the zoning ordinance. Sandhagen stated the Board of Adjustment made their decision but the council does not have to give approval. Wenthe encouraged the council members to talk to the Board of Adjustment members about their concerns since they are serving on behalf of the community.

Moved Kragnes, seconded Larson to introduce Sharroll Richards to discuss city signage on Main Street. Richards gave a presentation in 2011 to the Fayette city council and wanted to revisit her presentation with the new city council members. Richards pointed out that the surrounding cities in our area including Hawkeye, Sumner, Independence, Oelwein, West Union, Calmar have LED electronic signs and if Fayette had one it could benefit our city and the university. Richards contacted a couple companies that make the signs, Electronics and Watchfire, and shared a brochure with the council. Richards believes having a LED sign would help keep our residents more alert about what is going around town and announcements. Richards thought some services we may be able to utilize are Thrivent Lutheran Services or maybe a grant or a loan. She thought an ideal place to have an LED sign would be on the corner of Clark Street and South Main. Richards thought it could benefit Upper Iowa University and the city and maybe the college would be willing to work with the city in obtaining one. The council discussed possibilities of utilizing the sign, such as having citizens or businesses pay a small fee to advertise announcements on the sign, for example, happy birthday messages or open houses. Richards mentioned the ideal time to put up the sign is during the downtown project. Austin, an UIU student, thought the LED sign could be beneficial to college students studying communication to assist with managing or program it.

Moved Kragnes, seconded Larson to introduce Crystal Cole, Director of Counseling and Wellness Student Life with UIU, to present on open enrollment for health insurance. Upper Iowa University partnered with the White House in doing a healthy campus campaign. They are getting the word out about open enrollment for health insurance. Open enrollment is from November 1st, 2016 to January 31st, 2017. Jim Mitchell with Farm Bureau is a local agent here in Fayette and he can assist anyone in signing up. Cole provided fact sheets and flyers to the council to help spread the word about the open enrollment period. Cole advised that some people who pay high premiums may want to look into cheaper rates and this enrollment time is the time to do that. Flyers and fact sheets may be picked up at Fayette City Hall.

There being no further business, moved Kragnes, unanimous, to adjourn at 8:10 p.m.

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