December Council Meeting

COLBY COMMON COUNCIL December 6, 2022 Page 1 The regular meeting of the Colby Common Council was called to order at 6:30 P.M. by Mayor James Schmidt. On roll call: O’Brien, T Schmidt, Baumgartner, Hesgard, Hederer and Lindeman. Also present were Mayor James Schmidt, Clerk Connie Gurtner, DPW Harland Higley Jr and Mike Voss. Agenda was posted by the clerk. The agenda will stand as the order of the meeting. Minutes of the November 1st meeting minutes were pre-read and reviewed. Motion was made by Hederer, seconded by Schmidt to approve the minutes as presented. Motion carried with a voice vote. Financial Statement and Bills were discussed. Motion was made Hederer, seconded by Hesgard to approve the financial statement and bills. The amounts approved are as follows: General Fund $94,640.76; Water Department $33,215.76; Sewer Department $39,323.65; Capital Fund $280,243.49; Net payroll $23,713.74. Motion carried with a voice vote. Colby/Abbotsford Police Commission met on November 14th. The commission approved minutes and expenditures. Health Insurance Renewal: The commission voted to recommend to the Abbotsford and Colby city council’s approval of the Security Health Plan proposal through the Spectrum Employee Business Cooperative for 2023 as presented with a 2% increase from the 2022 plan amount. Plan details: Premier HMO, $2,000/$4,000 deductible, $3,000/$6,000 Maximum out of Pocket. All plan design features remain the same. Chief Bauer said the amount budgeted for the premium cost would be sufficient. Motion was made by Schmidt, seconded by Hederer to approve the renewal as presented. Motion carried with a voice vote. Chief's Report: Chief Bauer said there would be an approximate $700 expenditure for squad vehicles due to battery failures. He reported on a rash of scams in the area. Categories included accident reimbursement, mobile bank deposit, credit card, fraudulent Spectrum and Amazon activity and the use of fake checks to draw funds out of bank accounts. Chief Bauer reported on a high speed pursuit on Nov. 11. He commended young officers Lemay and English for doing a fine job handling the pursuit. He said the CAPD was working on another large drug case. Chief Bauer said he would be meeting with the largest financial donor soon to finalize a guarantee letter. Chief Bauer and the CAPC members discussed enforcement of speeding violations in the area. The K-9 was deployed seven times in October, with seven drug-related arrests. There were 779 total CAPD activities reported for the month of October, with a year-to-date total of 8,093, compared to 7,606 total CAPD activities reported for the first 10 months of 2021. COLBY COMMON COUNCIL December 6, 2022 Page 2 Motion was made by Schmidt, seconded by O’Brien to approve a 3.5% raises: Police Secretary Jessica Weich ($24.00/hour to $24.84/hour), Police Lieutenant/Assistant Chief Alex Bowman ($32.07/hour to $33.17/hour) and Police Chief Jason Bauer ($40.00/hour to $41.40/hour) effective 1/1/23. The remainder of the meeting was held in closed session. Personnel/Labor Relations Committee met on November 7th and December 6th. The meeting on November 7th was held in closed session to discuss employee benefits and wages. The committee discussed adding an additional floating Holiday for city employees. They also discussed a wage increase of approximately 3.8% increase of $1.00 per employee. Raatz and Smith $27.29, Lieders and Shaefer $26.79, DPW Higley 33.03, Clerk Gurtner $30.75, Deputy Clerk Hennes $19.75. Motion was made by Lindeman, seconded by O’Brien to approve the addition of one floating Holiday and to increase pay for city employees by $1.00. Motion carried with a voice vote. Central Fire & EMS District met on November 17th. Nancy O’Brien reviewed the activities of the Central Fire & EMS District with the board. Election Audit was held on November 28th. The Election Audit started at 10:00 AM at the Marathon County Courthouse. Clerk Gurtner was present along with Election Inspectors Julie Johnson, Irene Hass and Sharon Rachu. The 205 ballots were sorted into piles of 25 with the remaining 5 ballots in their own pile. We divided into two groups Julie Johnson with Connie Gurtner and Irene Haas with Sharon Rachu. Votes for each candidate for Governor/Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State and Rep of Assembly 69 were manually counted using the post-election voting equipment audit tally sheets. We took turns in the groups of two reading the results while the other inspector tallied. After both had done a tally, results were verified. Julie Johnson and Connie Gurtner completed stacks 1-50, 101-150 and 201-205. Irene Haas and Sharon Rachu completed stacks 51-100 and 151-200. COLBY COMMON COUNCIL December 6, 2022 Page 3 Clerk Gurtner completed the Reporting Form 2022 Post -Election Voting Equipment Audit and no differences were noted between the equipment and the audit. Ballots were sealed back into a ballot bag and signed by inspectors. The audit was completed at 11:55 AM Mayor Schmidt: Mayor Schmidt reported on his meeting of the United Communities of Clark County. He reported that Fourmens Farm Home was bought out by Bolster Hardware. Clerk Gurtner: Clerk Gurtner shared the 2022 tax rates with the council. She also reminded council members of the process to run as an alderperson on the ballot. DPW Higley: The following building permits were issued: Leane Hodd, 408 N 4th St, kitchen remodel; Judy Weix, 311 N 3rd, bathtub and surround; Dawn & Keith Roewe, 509 N 5th St, car port; Lena Courtney, 221 S 3rd St, roof. DPW Higley reported on the precipitation and flows for November 2022 at the STP. He also reported on the pumpage of water for November 2022. DPW Higley also informed the council of a water main break in front of the elementary school on Dolf Street. The crew has prepped the site for the future city garage storage. The new proposed structure will 60 x 60 which is slightly smaller that we discussed. Operator’s License: The city received the following applications for operators’ licenses: Trisha Vanderhoof, 206 N 2nd St, Colby; Skyler Pribbernow, 411 N Main St, Colby - motion was made by Hederer, seconded by Baumgartner r to approve. Motion carried with a voice vote. Johnson Block 2022 Audit Contract: The city received an engagement letter from Johnson Block for the 2022 Audit. The fee is $19,750 compared to last year of $18,475. Motion was made by Schmidt, seconded by Hederer to approve the contact. Motion carried with a voice vote. Request for Residency of a Registered Sex Offender at 300 S Division St: The city received a request from Brandon Lippert to reside at 300 S Division Street with family. His offence was over 10 years ago and Chief Bauer stated that he did not see any issue with him residing at that residence. Motion was made by Hederer, seconded by Schmidt to approve the residency of Brandon Lippert at 300 S Division Street. Motion carried with a voice vote. COLBY COMMON COUNCIL December 6, 2022 Page 4 Employee Christmas Gifts: Motion was made by Hederer, seconded by O’Brien to give each employee a $50 AbbyColby Crosssing Chamber gift certificates. Motion carried with a voice vote. Committee meetings for December: Colby-Abbotsford Police Commission will meet on December 12, 2022 at 6:30 P.M. at the Police Department. Central Fire & EMS District will meet on December 15, 2022 at 7:00 P.M. at Station 2. Adjourn: Motion was made by Hederer, seconded by O’Brien to adjourn at 7:15 P.M. Motion carried with a voice vote. Approved _____________________ James W Schmidt, Mayor Attest _________________________ Connie Gurtner, Clerk