Regular City Council Meeting
City Hall, Cherokee, Iowa
March 27, 2007 – 7:00 P.M.
A regular meeting was called to order on this date by
Mayor Henrich. Present:
Councilman Mallory, Stieneke, Leach, Peck, City Attorney Miller,
Clerk-Treasurer Taylor. Absent:
Councilman Varce.
At the last meeting, the council
reviewed a proposed hiring policy for full-time and permanent, part-time
employees as a
way of informing the council of upcoming department vacancies.
The policy states that all full-time and permanent, part-time
employee vacancies occurring in a department be reported to the city council for
review. The council will then
assess each
situation and inform the department head as to whether they can proceed to fill
the vacancy. The City Attorney had
been
asked to check the City Code relating to the police department and hiring
methods. Attorney Miller reported
that according
to City Code the Mayor appoints a Chief of Police, with council approval.
The City Code also establishes that the council
authorizes all full-time or part-time personnel for the police department.
However, the Chief has always been given the duty
to do the actual hiring of personnel. Councilman
Mallory, who brought this issue before the council, said it is not his intent to
have the council do the hiring of personnel, and he is not disagreeing with the
people that have been hired, he just feels the
council needs to be aware of vacancies in all departments before they are
automatically filled. This
wouldn’t apply to
seasonal, part-time employees. Councilman
Peck agrees that the council needs to be made aware.
On a motion by
Councilman Mallory, seconded by Peck, the council approved the hiring policy as
presented. Motion carried.
Kent Wenck, Code Enforcement
Officer, was present to review the status of the houses at 317 E. Main, 312 W.
Locust and
343 E. Cedar. The city now has deed
to these properties and wishes to sell them. Kent doesn’t feel any of the houses should
be rehabilitated and feels it would be too costly.
Kent recommended selling the properties on contract with a $2,000 deposit
from the buyer, who would then have 6 months to demolish the structures. After satisfactory completion of the demolition the
city would return the deposit and issue a deed.
A motion by Councilman Stieneke, seconded by Leach, authorized
advertising the three properties for sale with the conditions that they would be
sold on contract with a $2,000 deposit from
the buyer, who would then have 6 months to demolish the structures.
After satisfactory completion of the demolition the city
would return the deposit and issue a deed.
Motion carried.
A motion by Councilman Peck, seconded by
Leach, adopted Resolution No. 07-05, a resolution of desire to dispose of real
property – 317 E. Main. Roll call
was:
AYES: Peck, Mallory,
Stieneke, Leach
NAYS: None
On a motion by Councilman Peck, seconded by
Leach, the council adopted Resolution No. 07-06, a
resolution of desire to dispose of real property – 312 W. Locust.
Roll call was:
AYES: Peck, Mallory,
Stieneke, Leach
NAYS: None
A motion by Councilman
Stieneke, seconded by Peck, the council
adopted Resolution No. 07-07, a
resolution of desire to dispose of real property – 343 E. Cedar.
Roll call was:
AYES: Stieneke, Peck,
Mallory, Leach
NAYS: None
On a motion by Councilman Leach, seconded by Stieneke, the
council unanimously approved the following under “Consent Business”.
City council minutes of March 13th.
Reviewed Library Board minutes of February 7th.
John Cook and Dan Rollison were present to review the
status of the Bacon Aquatic Center project.
John reported that the shelter is up, the wet sand area has been
excavated, the pool deck concrete is being poured, and finish work on the pool
tank is being completed. Dan
reported that they have been interviewing pool personnel and have had about 3
dozen applications for lifeguards. They
have several applications from teachers for managing the concession stand and
are looking at possibly having college students in charge of admissions.
Once the positions are filled he will report back to the council.
He also passed out information on staffing for special pool events. The legal requirements for lifeguards needed:
up to 30 swimmers-1 lifeguard; 30 to 125 swimmers-2 lifeguards; each
additional 125 swimmers (or fraction thereof)-1 additional lifeguard.
The water slides require 1 guard at the top and 1 at the bottom. Using an average staffing cost of $6.50/hr. per lifeguard,
Dan put together several scenarios for different types of events and the
anticipated staff costs, which ranged from $22/hr. for the shallow area and
splash pad for 75 people up to $61/hr. for use of the entire pool up to 125
swimmers. He recommended the
following fees for special events:
 | $75/hr. for shallow area and splash pad up to 75 people |
| $100/hr. for water slides, shallow area and splash pad up to 100 people |
| $125/hr. for entire pool up to 125 people |
| $50 for each additional half hour for shallow area and slides |
| $62.50 for each additional half hour for entire pool |
| $50 for each additional number of people up to 50 |
| $10/hr. to have concession stand open |
On a motion by Councilman Leach, seconded by Peck, the
council approved the above fees for special events at the aquatic center.
Motion carried.
On a motion by Councilman Leach, seconded by Stieneke, the
council authorized closing E. Main from 2nd to 1st on June
30 from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. for a summer street dance.
The council also authorized transferring the city’s liquor license to
serve beverages at this location. Motion
carried.
A motion by Councilman Stieneke, seconded by Leach,
authorized transferring the city’s liquor license to the fairgrounds on June
23 for the fireman’s ball. Motion
carried.
Julie Marr-Potter, Aerial 7 Logo Maps, Sioux City,
presented a proposal to provide city maps for distribution throughout the area.
She passed out examples of their color maps compared to the blue and
white maps presently being used that were put together by the Chamber of
Commerce several years ago. Ms.
Marr-Porter indicated that they have artists, commercial artists and
cartographers on staff. The maps
are paid for through advertisements from local businesses and they usually sign
up 30% of the businesses. Their
staff does all the soliciting for ads, takes photos for the maps if necessary
and distributes the maps to the City, the Chamber, all major gas station within
a 50-mile radius of the community, and all advertisers receive 50-100 maps.
The city will receive $1,200 in free advertising for special events.
They have done maps for Okoboji, Spirit Lake, Sioux Center, Storm Lake,
and Sioux City, to name a few. On a
motion by Councilman Leach, seconded by Peck, the council authorized Aerial 7
Logo Maps to proceed with the maps. Motion
carried.
A motion by Councilman Stieneke, seconded by Leach,
approved a contract with Kuehl & Payer for engineering services at a cost
not to exceed $25,275 for the Ament Addition Storm Sewer project.
Motion carried.
On a motion by Councilman Leach, seconded by Stieneke, the
council unanimously approved the 2007-08 contract with the I.U.O.E. Local 234
employees effective 7/1/07.
The council received a notice from Harlan Curtis, Street
Dept. machine truck operator, on his upcoming retirement on 5/1/07.
A motion by Councilman Leach, seconded by Peck, authorized the Street
Superintendent to fill the position. Motion
carried.
A motion by Councilman Peck, seconded by Stieneke,
unanimously approved a tax abatement application for 720 Sleezer Road.
The council reviewed two quotes on copy machines for the
Water Department: Perkins Office
Solutions-$2,700; IOS Office Solutions-$2,800.
Councilman Stieneke questioned the need for another copier and asked
whether the water department could do their copying at City Hall.
A motion by Councilman Leach, seconded by Peck, authorized the purchase
of the copy machine from Perkins Office Solutions for $2,700.
Roll call was:
AYES: Leach, Peck, Mallory
NAYS: Stieneke
As per the City Code, the Fire Chief can issue variances to
the open burning ordinance that allows a resident to burn under the open burning
ban. The fire department suggested
establishing a fee for the variance, which may deter people from making the
request. Only a few variances have
been granted such as to a resident who removed a large amount of trees and
rather than hauling it all to the landfill was able to burn it on site.
Councilman Stieneke suggested eliminating that section from the code and
not allow any variances. Street
Supt., Jim Agnitsch, asked whether that would also ban the city from burning at
their site by the river. The City
Code has a separate section that would continue to allow the city to burn at a
specified site. The council asked
that an ordinance be brought back to remove the variance option from the City
Code.
A motion by Councilman Stieneke, seconded by Peck,
unanimously set April 30 as citywide clean up day. Residents will be asked to call City Hall with their list of
items and city crews will do the pick up. This
will include appliances and tires for a fee paid in advance.
On a motion by Councilman Leach, seconded by Stieneke, the
meeting was adjourned at 8:25 p.m. Motion
carried.
News media – Ken Ross, Chronicle Times; Greg Slotsky, KCHE.
Dennis Henrich – Mayor
ATTEST:
Debra Taylor, CMC
City Clerk-Treasurer