City Council

CITY OF BRITT – BRITT IOWA – APRIL 7TH, 2020 The City Council of the City of Britt, Iowa met in pursuant to law and the rules of said Council in regular session via ZOOM meeting at 7:00 o’clock P.M. the 7th day of April 2020. The meeting was called to order by Mayor Arndorfer, and the following Council members were: PRESENT: Stacy Swenson, Curt Gast, Karrie Wallen, Paul Verbrugge and Chad Luecht ABSENT: None The Mayor presented the agenda for approval. It was moved by Verbrugge and seconded by Gast to approve the agenda as presented. Motion carried by unanimous vote. It was moved by Swenson and seconded by Wallen 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 03/03/2020 Council Meeting b. Approve Minutes of the 03/09/2020 Special Council Meeting/Budget Workshop c. Approve Minutes of the 03/12/2020 Personnel & Finance Meeting d. Approve Minutes of the 03/30/2020 Special Council Meeting e. Claim list in the amount of $120,277.37 A roll call vote was had which was as follows: Ayes: Swenson, Gast, Wallen, Verbrugge & Luecht Nays: None The motion carried, and the Consent Agenda items were approved and adopted. City Administrator presented her report. She reminded council that we will be doing our hydrant flushing April 13th & 14th. The water may appear brown during these days but is still safe to use (the staff tests the water). We do urge homeowners not to wash light colored items as they will stain. Sawyer informed the council that our waste removal contract was up in June 2020. We received 2 quotes. The first was from our current carrier Waste Management (WM). The second was from Absolute Waste Removal (Absolute). WM’s quote was for a 5-year contract and Absolute Waste Removal is a 3-year contract. Absolute’s numbers are higher than Waste Management. There are a few reasons why this might be the case. The length of the contract might play into the cost. WM is for 5-years versus Absolute for 3-years. Another reason could be the fees associated with dumping our garbage. Absolute will have to use the landfill that is owned and operated by WM. As the did not compare apples to apples the council requested Sawyer go back to WM and request a shorter contract period of 2 to 3 years as it would more closely match the other quote we received. Sawyer will present her findings at the next council meeting on the 21st of April. Next, Sawyer discussed the codification of the city’s ordinances. At this time our city attorney is reviewing changes made by NIACOG. Since NIACOG has made some updates to existing ordinances, based on changes made at the state level, we will need to have a public hearing to adopt the newly codified ordinances. The updated code of ordinances will be presented to the city council at the April 21st meeting and a public hearing date will be set for the May 5th meeting. One final update from Sawyer noted she had spoken to Wes Brown of Bolton & Menk regarding the Alliant Energy project. We are at the stage where we will need to set a date for the public hearing to approve the project/plans and go out for bids. We will set the public hearing date during the April 21st meeting. Mayor Arndorfer gave a brief update on the COVID-19 situation. We, as a city, have been following the mandates handed down by Governor Reynolds. We recently had concern from a citizen regarding the golf course and people golfing. At this time the Governor has not closed golf courses and since the City does not legally own the golf course at this time, we cannot require them to close. Next Vance Hagen, Public Works Director, spoke about the need for generators. For some time DNR has been talking about having mandatory auxiliary power at the lift stations and wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). In addition, last summer the generator, located at city hall, began having issues keeping up because it powers the entire block of city owned buildings. A solution to these issues would be to move the existing generator at city hall out to the WWTP. That generator is large enough to provide power to the WWTP if need be. In addition, we would purchase a new generator that is large enough to power city hall, the fire station and the library and then another one to provide auxiliary power to Golfview lift station. We received on quote for all three purchases/relocation in the amount of $58,897.66. Hagen was informed to get another quote so we can do a comparison. The findings will be reported at the next council meeting. Next, Hagen reviewed the quotes he got for replacing the diving boards for the pool and painting the pool. Hagen reported painting the pool can wait until next year. The price of the two diving boards will be $6,669.86 and the public works department can install them. It was moved by Verbrugge and seconded Gast to approve the purchase of two diving boards from Palmer Pools and Spa in the amount of $6,669.86. A roll call vote was had which was as follows: Ayes: Swenson, Gast, Wallen, Verbrugge and Luecht Nays: None The motion carried. Hagen reported that he doesn’t not have the numbers from Heartland Asphalt yet and will report those to the council at the next meeting. In addition, we are working with the company who we get our water meters and handheld reader from. We recently ran into an issue and we were informed that our handheld is obsolete, so we will need to upgrade. The last time we spoke about it the cost was around $10,000. Hagen will provide a report at the council at the next meeting. Mark Anderson, Police Chief, was not available to discuss the advertisement of a new officer. This will be presented at the next council meeting on the 21st of April. With no further business it was moved by Verbrugge and seconded by Gast 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 FIRE $650.00 ACCO POOL SUPPLIES $592.80 AFLAC AFLAC-PRE-TAX $85.52 AGSOURCE LABORATORIES Analysis - WWTP $1,364.00 ALLIANT ENERGY ALLIANT $9,652.43 BASE MEDICAL REIMB $292.52 BOLTON & MENK WTRMAIN IMPROVMENTS TO ALLIANT $17,881.52 CARD SERVICES MISC SUPPLIES/LIBRARY $2,650.54 CENGAGE LEARNING LP BOOKS $120.80 CENTER POINT LARGE PRINT LP BOOKS $25.87 COLLECTION SERVICE CENTER GARNISHMENT $327.86 COLOF DIGITAL WEBSITE $338.00 DELTA DENTAL OF IOWA DNTL/VISN-PRETX $479.90 DOGS FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT CANINE SEMINAR $350.00 DOLLAR GENERAL-CHARGED SA HALL SUPPLIES $30.45 EFTPS FED/FICA TAX $11,301.17 GARDEN GATE LIB. RENEWAL $45.00 GREAT AMERICA FINANCIAL PRINTER CONTRACT $204.53 HANCOCK CO CLERK OF COURT GARNISHMENT 2 $439.00 HANCOCK CO HEALTH SYSTEM HEP B VACCINE $424.00 HANCOCK COUNTY RECORDER QUIT CLAIM DEED $17.00 HAWKINS INC. CHEMICALS $829.02 HEARTLAND ASPHALT UPM COLD MIX $670.41 HIWAY TRUCK EQUIPMENT INC LED HEADLIGHT $553.52 HUNTS ELECTRIC CHCK/RPLCE METER AT WTR TWR $126.90 IA NARCOTICS OFFICERS MMBR/CONFERENCE REGISTRATION $275.00 INGRAM BOOKS $687.52 IPERS POLICE IPERS $7,670.48 KIOW ADVERTISING $111.59 KNOWBUDDY RESOURCES JF/NF BOOKS $254.00 MAXYIELD COOPERATIVE GAS $2,452.88 MCNEESE TIRE GREEN PLOW W/ SANDER $1,686.77 MICRO MARKETING AUDIO $85.99 MIDAMERICA BOOKS JF/NF BOOKS $59.85 MIDWEST TAPE DVDS $44.98 NATIONWIDE RETIREMENT DEFERRED COMP $40.00 NORTH IOWA MEDIA GROUP ADVERTISING $680.74 NORTHERN SAFETY CO. INC SAFETY GOGGLES $49.88 PAYROLL CHECKS PAYROLL CHECKS ON 03/11/2020 $16,426.24 PAYROLL CHECKS PAYROLL CHECKS ON 03/25/2020 $16,596.69 PAYROLL CHECKS PAYROLL CHECKS ON 03/26/2020 $1,038.34 PRESTO-X-COMPANY PEST CONTROL $47.00 PRITCHARD AUTO HEADLIGHT REPAIR $147.53 STATE HYGIENIC LABORATORY TESTING $421.00 STATE TREASURER STATE TAXES $1,808.00 STROMER OVERHEAD DOOR RAIL OPERATOR $1,252.97 TASTE OF HOME LIB RENEWAL $25.98 U S POSTMASTER POSTAGE/UTILITY BILLS $372.04 UHC HEALTH-PRE-TAX $5,935.37 VERIZON PD PHONES $660.62 WASTE MANAGEMENT SANITATION $11,993.15 CLAIMS TOTAL $120,277.37