MINUTES OF THE ROLAND CITY COUNCIL

REGULAR SESSION

FEBRUARY 12, 2007

 

The Roland City Council met in regular session on Monday, February 12, 2007, at 7:00 p.m., at City Hall with Mayor Samuel Juhl presiding.  Council members present at roll call were Duane Canny, Roger Fritz, Bob Hanson and Jeri Neely.  Absent was council member John Lee.  Also present were 7 visitors and members of the community.

 

It was motioned by Hanson, seconded by Fritz to approve the consent agenda containing the following items:  agenda, minutes from the January 22, 2007, meeting as written, clerk/treasurer reports, and claims as submitted.  All were in favor.

 

There was no public input at this time.

 

Department Head Reports were as follows: 

 

Street Department - Street Superintendent Harold Hovick had nothing to report at this time.

 

Water/Wastewater Department – Water/Wastewater Superintendent Dean Uitermark stated the mag meter has been installed at the Wastewater Plant.  The water line at Ed Cannon’s froze.  They will need to run a new line this summer to keep it from happening again.  There is a possibility the next door neighbor’s line is frozen also.

 

City Clerk - City Clerk Deneen Frost had nothing to report at this time.

 

Jerry Handsaker was not present at this time.

 

The Council reviewed the 2007/2008 budget.  It was motioned by Fritz, seconded by Canny to approve the following changes to the budget:  decrease the Street Dept. Capital Reserve fund by $10,000; wage increases for employees with health insurance will be 3% with $150 per month increase for insurance; the Mosquito Capital Expenditure will be decreased by $4250; the Library line items for adult/juvenile books and dvd’s will be reverted back to what was presented; wages for the Library will be increase by $1500 to meet the minimum wage increase.  All were in favor.

 

Council member Fritz updated the council about what has been happening at the New Library Joint Committee meetings.  At the second meeting the groups were to come with proposals to discuss.  The Library Board and the Foundation both came in with the same proposal, to place the same plan on the ballot with different wording.  Council member Fritz presented his plan to the council.  The plan consists of purchasing the building north of the current Library, temporarily moving the Library into Wright’s building, tearing down the two older buildings and constructing a new 6,000 sq ft Library.  Once the new Library is done, move the Library into it and make some renovations to the Wright building and move City Hall into that building.  He feels it could be potentially done for $500,000, with grants and donations.  He feels confident that his proposal will be accepted by at least 75% of the community.  If his proposal does not pass he will donate $1,000 to the Library Foundation and resign his position from the Council and not seek re-election for at least two and a half years.

 

There was discussion on getting a second opinion of the costs of the three design plans that the Library has and an estimate on the plan presented by council member Fritz.  Council member Fritz thinks the Engineering firm will come in and chat for nothing, but there may be costs to get the numbers crunched.  There was also discussion on getting a second Structural Study done.  Council member Hanson stated he doesn’t know when the building got that bad.

 

There was discussion on whether or not the owner of the building north of the Library is interested in selling.  Council member Fritz stated that he has visited with the wife, but no price was discussed.  He wanted to wait and see if the council was interested in the proposal.  There would be approximately 6,660 sq ft to build on and if the City grew and the Library needed more space they could expand into the Fire Station property and build a new Fire Station.  Council member Hanson stated that tearing down Wright’s building is a sore subject.  Council member Neely stated that she has been told to get a Library Board.  They’ve been working on this for nine years.

 

Rick DeWald, Library Board & Committee member stated that Council member Fritz put a lot of work into it, but it was a personal plan.  This is a huge project and the Council needs to give direction on how much is too much and how big is too big.  Council member Neely stated she’d like to see what the Engineer firm has to say before the council does anything else.

 

Corey Johnson of the Design Committee stated that the committee did look at alternate plans.  The cost was almost the same whether you tore down Wright’s building or remodeled it.  With the new construction there are no unknowns, you don’t get that when you remodel.  Corey also stated that the roof has been patched.  He doesn’t feel that council member Fritz’s proposal will come in anywhere near what he’s proposing.  He stated that the cost of construction is running about $95.00 per sq ft.  He also agrees that a second opinion would be worth the money.

 

There was discussion on the future expansion needs of the Library and how Story City and Nevada have already outgrown their current facilities.  Council member Hanson stated that they need to find someway to make Wright’s building work, because that’s the only way to make the project go.  Foundation member Danielson stated that the Foundation isn’t thrilled with putting money into an old building.  Foundation member Shadlow stated she’d like to go forward with a plan that all will support.

 

It was motioned by Canny, seconded by Hanson to have council member Fritz make contact with the Engineering firm to see if they are interested in putting together some numbers for the Library project.  All were in favor.

 

Council/Mayor consisted of the following:  Council member Neely inquired as to the status of council member Lee’s attendance.  If he’s not coming back they need to get someone else on the council.  Council member Hanson stated that he’s not sure council member Lee is going to live in Roland when he gets back.  Council member Fritz stated that the council can compel him to attend a meeting.

 

There was public input at this time from Rick DeWald.  He stated that they have been working on the new Library for seven years.  He also stated that they are ahead of the curve for this type of project.  There was also input from Kristi Anderson.  She asked that when they have the structural study done to make sure they check the floor to make sure it will support the weight.

 

With no further business at this time, Hanson moved adjournment of the meeting at 8:29 p.m., seconded by Canny.  All were in favor.  The next regular council meeting will be Monday, February 26, 2007, at 7:00 p.m. at City Hall.

 

 

JANUARY RECEIPTS

 

 

General Fund

 $     14,783.70

 

Road Use Tax

 $       9,773.25

 

TIF

 $       2,226.90

 

Economic Development

 $       3,740.58

 

Meter Deposit

 $          210.11

 

Library Trust

 $          121.37

 

Debt Service

 $          263.20

 

Capital Projects-NLAC

 $                -  

 

Water

 $     13,582.55

 

Sewer

 $       8,367.14

 

 

 

 

      TOTAL        

 $     53,068.80

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FEBRUARY CLAIMS

 

 

GENERAL FUND

 

 

 

 

Police Dept.

 

 

Story County Sheriff's Office

2nd & 3rd qtr law enforcement

 $     28,135.00

 

Total Police Dept.

 $     28,135.00

 

 

 

Fire Dept.

 

 

Hokel Machine Supply

recharge fire extinguisher

 $            24.15

Interstate Battery

(9) 7.5 v batteries

 $          205.60

Iowa State University

training

 $            51.00

 

Total Fire Dept.

 $          280.75

 

 

 

EMT’s

 

 

Interstate Battery

(9) 7.5 v batteries

 $          205.61

 

Total EMT’s

 $          205.61

 

 

 

Streets

 

 

Heart of Iowa Coop

fuel

 $            71.22

OSE Trustworthy Hardware

couplers

 $              4.69

Roland Service Center

(2) tires, mount & balance (S-10)

 $          184.08

 

Total Streets

 $          259.99

 

 

 

Landfill/Garbage

 

 

Stone Sanitation

garbage hauling - January

 $       6,118.75

 

Total Landfill/Garbage

 $       6,118.75

 

 

 

Library

 

 

EFTPS

Fed/SS/Med

 $          610.08

Ia Public Employee Retire Sys

IPERS

 $          288.40

Treasurer, State of Iowa

Iowa w/h

 $            76.00

Anderson Meat & Grocery

program supplies

 $            52.72

Baker & Taylor

adult-juvenile F/NF

 $          460.81

Hometown Plumb, Heat & Cool

install (2) GFI outlets

 $            90.20

ICN

long distance

 $              5.50

Iowa Telecom

phone bill

 $            55.70

Premier Office Equipment

copier maintenance agreement

 $            54.00

City Employees

wages

 $       2,541.85

 

Total Library

 $       4,235.26

 

 

 

Swimming Pool

 

 

Iowa Telecom

phone bill

 $              7.98

 

Total Swimming Pool

 $              7.98

 

 

 

Policy & Administration

 

 

EFTPS

Fed/SS/Med

 $          920.32

Ia Public Employee Retire Sys

IPERS

 $          307.94

Treasurer, State of Iowa

Iowa w/h

 $          128.00

Dust-Tex

rug rental

 $            30.16

Gibb's Plumbing, Heating & Cooling

service call-condensate hose froze

 $            72.00

IKON Financial

copier lease

 $          153.00

IKON Office Solutions

maintenance agreement

 $            50.82

Iowa League of Cities

DATA dues

 $            30.00

Iowa Telecom

phone bill

 $          119.93

JBD Enterprises

web page maintenance/add NLJC pages

 $            95.00

Kabel Business Services

hra payment & monthly fee-Deneen

 $          110.76

Story City Herald

publications

 $          166.37

US Cellular

cell phone bill