City Council

CITY OF BRITT – BRITT IOWA – MAY 7TH, 2019 The City Council of the City of Britt, Iowa met in pursuant to law and the rules of said Council in special session in the Council Chambers in City Hall at 7:00 o’clock P.M. the 7th day of May 2019. The meeting was called to order by Mayor Arndorfer, and the following Council members were: PRESENT: Stacy Swenson, Curt Gast, and Chad Luecht ABSENT: Dwight Leerar and Paul Verbrugge The Mayor presented the agenda. It was moved Gast and seconded by Swenson to approve the agenda as presented. Motion carried by unanimous vote. It was moved by Luecht and seconded by Swenson that the following items contained in the Consent Agenda be approved and adopted: All items listed under the Consent Agenda will be enacted by one motion with a roll call vote. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a request is made prior to the time Council votes on the motion. Consent Agenda items may include any non-controversial subjects. a. Approve Minutes of the 04/16/2019 Council Meeting b. Approve Minutes of the 04/30/2019 Special Council Meeting c. Claim list in the amount of $93,094.33 d. Approve renewal of a Class C Liquor License (LC) (Commercial) w/Outdoor Service & Sunday Sales for La Guadalupana (Sophia Martinez) A roll call vote was had which was as follows: Ayes: Swenson, Gast, and Luecht Nays: None The motion carried, and the Consent Agenda items were approved and adopted. The department heads presented their reports. Linda Friedow, Library Director, reported the May Blast went well with over 30 kids and 3 stations. There was a glitch with the printer program, so the company has given us another 30-day free trial. Linda will be presenting at an upcoming conference along with Shannon Nielson. The Library will welcome back Sean Gaskell on Tuesday, May 21st at 7pm. He will bring to us the music of West Africa while playing the Kora. Vance Hagen, Public Works Director, reported normal monthly duties performed to include research for small equipment for shop, final stages of clean up at the commercial park has begun and he met with Heartland Asphalt for some additional work to be done on the next set of alleys. Discussion on what to do with the water tower was next. The replacement of the water tower will not be included in the plans for the new water treatment plant, but the tower will need to be replaced at some point in the not so distant future. Because of this Hagen recommends thoroughly cleaning out the inside of the tower, reseal the tank and then paint the exterior. We are choosing not to completely sand blast the exterior back to bare metal as the costs associated with this would be over half of the cost to replace the entire tower. The option chosen will still give us several years of service until it needs to be addressed again. Police Chief Mark Anderson reported Sergeant Harmon & the K-9 Kovu would attending a Narcotic Training in Des Moines this week. Officer Holbrook has graduated and is now on full-time duty with the police department. He continues to do great. Officer Williams graduates from academy next week. They have transitioned their new dash cams into their cars and the vehicle wraps are being done that week. Abatements will begin in the next week or two. Since the last council meeting the department has responded to 219 calls for service. Fire Chief Jon Swanson reported they had 5 calls in the month of April. They are working on some training. The Britt Fire Association has a 2019 Red Ford F550 chassis on order to replace the DNR loaner we have. Swanson also met with the new Fire Service Training Bureau Chief John Kraemer. Finally, he’s been working on getting bids ready for a new fire truck. Finally, Mike Boomgarden noted we had 1 new building built in April. He also spoke with 13 individuals and answered zoning questions. City Administrator Sawyer presented her report. Sawyer informed the City Council we have received a request for tax abatement by Bret & Autumn Swanson (370 5th Avenue SE). The request includes the abatement on the first $75,000 of the actual value for a period of 5 years. This is a standard request. It was moved by Swenson and seconded by Gast to approve the request for tax abatement from Bret & Autumn Swanson on the property located at 370 5th Avenue SE, Britt, IA on the first $75,000 of the actual value for a period of 5 years. Motion carried by unanimous vote. Next, Sawyer discussed the letter from Bolton & Menk for the revised scope of engineering services for the integrated planning report. As we have gone a different direction than originally planned and the engineers thought it would be good to provide us with an updated letter. The engagement letter addressed the review of the Facility Plan Amendment to the DNR as it was originally created in 2017. Since then, it has been decided that an integrated approach would better fit Britt’s needs as we have both an aging water treatment plant as well as an aging wastewater treatment plant. Representatives from Bolton & Menk will be present at the next meeting to review the plan with us. Mayor Arndorfer presented his report. The discussion of the city credit card was discussed. When the cards were originally set up, they were all linked together. Meaning, the cards for City Hall and the Police share one limit. This means even if one card doesn’t reach their maximum limit credit can still be denied if the other cards also have outstanding limits expended. It is the recommendation of the Mayor to increase our credit card limit to $10,000. This limit will be shared among the three existing cards the city has. It was moved by Luecht and seconded by Swanson to increase the limit on the City’s credit card from $5,000 to $10,000. This limit will be shard among all three cards. Motion carried by unanimous vote. Next, Arndorfer discussed the Officer Holbrook’s salary. It is the City’s policy to give an officer a 3% increase upon successfully graduating from the Police Academy. The Mayor recommends we approve the increase to Officer Tyler Holbrook’s salary as policy dictates upon successful graduation from the academy. It was moved by Gast and seconded by Luecht to approve the 3% increase to Officer Tyler Holbrook’s salary. His new wage will be $20.14/hour. Motion carried by unanimous vote. Finally, Mayor Arndorfer discussed the residential lots the City has been offering for free. As of now we have 2 parties interested in 2 lots each. One has immediate plans to move forward while the other has a longer time-table. We have gotten two offers from a local real estate agent in town. The first will be relocating to Britt and plan on putting up a home that is 2,400 square feet. The other wants to put in a 2,100 -2,200 square foot house. Those measurements do not include the garage. A request from the agent is for the city to pay half of the reduced closing costs. This would be a request for $250. Council discussed this and felt they were getting the lots at no cost, so they were not willing to put in the additional $250. On the first offer, with the 2,400 square foot house – it was moved by Swenson and seconded by Luecht to accept the offer for lots 3 & 4 with no additional funds going towards the closing cost. Motion carried by unanimous vote. On the second offer for lots 23 & 24 with the home that is proposing a 2,100 to 2,200 square foot with a 3 car garage with geo thermal heating the council noted the covenants state in order to receive 2 free lots the buyer must put up a home that is a minimum of 2,400 square foot. It was moved by Gast and seconded by Swenson to counter the offer stating the home needs to follow the covenants and be a minimum of 2,400 square feet. Motion carried by unanimous vote. Mayor Arndorfer will take the offers back to the real estate agent. During Council input, a concern about the sidewalks north of the railroad tracks was brought up. The sidewalks are in poor condition as big vehicles cross them on a daily basis. It was decided the sidewalk committee would need to address this issue and bring their recommendation back to the City Council. Additionally, we have been informed the existing trees planted on lots at Sunset Ridge are encroaching on the farmland that is adjacent to the housing development. The city will work on the issue. With no further business it was moved by Luecht and seconded by Swenson to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried by unanimous vote. Debra R. Sawyer, City Administrator/Clerk Ryan L. Arndorfer, Mayor “These minutes are as recorded by the Clerk and are subject to Council approval at the next regular meeting.” VENDOR DESCRIPTION AMOUNT A P CLEANING SERVICES OFFICE CLEANING $370.00 AFLAC AFLAC-PRE-TAX $85.52 ALLIED ENS LLC COMPUTER UPDATES $994.90 AMAZON DVDS $268.19 ARAMARK SERVICES $273.85 BADGER METER SERVICE AGREEMENT MAY-OCT $780.00 BASE MEDICAL REIMB $292.52 BOLTON & MENK PRINCIPAL/ENGINEER $1,795.00 BRITT FOOD CENTER LIBRARY SUPPLIES $80.03 BRODART BOOKS $715.56 BROWN SUPPLY INC MUELLER SS REPAIR CLAMPS $495.00 CASADY BROS. IMPL. INC HYDRAULIC $775.35 CENGAGE LEARNING LP BOOKS $175.12 COMM 1 TELELPHONE $572.17 COUNSEL OFFICE & DOC PRINTER LEASE $908.94 DELTA DENTAL OF IOWA Dental/Vision Addition $575.54 EFTPS FED/FICA TAXES $10,950.90 GIFTS SEW SWEET POLICE SHIRTS $372.20 GLOBE GAZETTE SUBSCRIPTION RENEWAL-LIBRARY $338.31 GREAT AMERICA FINANCIAL COPIER LEASE PAYMENT $227.00 HANCOCK CO CLERK OF COURT GARNISHMENT $219.50 HANCOCK COUNTY SHERIFF GARNISHMENT 2 $273.30 HAUGLAND REPAIR RUT CAP/TOOLS $1,437.14 HAWKEYE COMMUNITY COLLEGE WILLIAMS- ACADEMY $4,370.00 HAWKINS INC. CHLORINE/CHLORINE CYLINDER $186.50 HOLIDAY INN AIRPORT DEBRA IMFOA $325.08 HUNTS ELECTRIC REPAIR HANDICAP DOOR $75.45 IMFOA IMFOA/CERTS DEBRA $250.00 IPERS POLICE IPERS $7,145.56 JEFF SCHOTT TRAINING- CITY COUNCIL $1,113.14 KIOW ADVERTISING $111.59 LINDA FRIEDOW MILEAGE (NILC CLARION) $40.60 MICRO MARKETING AUDIO $127.12 MONTICELLO PUBLIC LIBRARY BOOKS $8.00 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVE LIBRARY RENEWAL 2YRS $30.00 NATIONWIDE RETIREMENT DEFERRED COMP $20.00 PAYROLL CHECKS PAYROLL CHECKS ON 04/24/2019 $15,331.06 PAYROLL CHECKS PAYROLL CHECKS ON 04/30/2019 $984.75 PRESTO-X-COMPANY PEST CONTROL $45.00 PRITCHARD AUTO 2017 EXPLORER MAINTENANCE $57.13 SPEER FINANCIAL BONDS AND NOTES $375.00 STATE TREASURER STATE TAXES $1,742.00 SWENSON'S HARDWARE PRINTER $912.79 TRULSON AUTO HYDRAULIC HOSE FITTINGS $336.86 U S POSTMASTER UB POSTAGE $265.93 UHC HEALTH-PRE-TAX $6,105.22 WASTE MANAGEMENT SANITATION $11,561.01 WATCHGUARD VIDEO PD CAMERAS $18,501.00 WEBWISE SOLUTIONS WEBSITE WORK $97.50 CLAIMS TOTAL $93,094.33