Regular City Council Meeting
City Hall, Cherokee, Iowa
May 22, 2007 – 7:00 P.M.
A regular meeting was called to order on this date by
Mayor Henrich. Present:
Councilman Varce, Mallory,
Stieneke, Leach, Peck, City Attorney Miller, Clerk-Treasurer Taylor.
Mary Benson, 427 Gillease, told
the council that her son and husband own the house at 812 Amber Drive.
A water softener pipe broke and 4300 cu. ft. of water filled the 4’
crawl space. They pumped all the
water
onto the yard and no water went down the sanitary sewer.
She was requesting that the $155 sewer charge
be waived. The Mayor explained that
since this item wasn’t listed on the agenda, the council couldn’t make
a decision at this meeting. The
item will be placed on the June 12th agenda.
Dan Rollison, Recreation
Director, was present to update the council on the aquatic center and recreation
programs. Dan passed out copies of
the employee handbook for the aquatic staff and a list of the basic
equipment being ordered for the concession stand. He has forwarded a copy of the handbook to a member
of the Iowa Parks & Recreation Assoc. who will review it and make any
recommended changes. The state
pool inspection is set for June 7th.
Dan and several aquatic staff members attended an aquatic center
workshop on May 18th and came back with some good information.
On May 29th there will be a Red Cross
lifeguard management course held at the community center.
Surrounding communities have been invited to
attend. The staff swimsuits are
here and the t-shirts have been ordered through Creative Services.
The
concession stand equipment ordered includes a hot dog roller, Pasquale’s Pizza
and pizza oven, alligator ice
(slushy machine), popcorn popper and Blue Bunny will lease and service a cooler
for $50/year. Lockers for
the lifeguard room are in and are being assembled.
Dan would like to assemble as much of the equipment as
possible, so when the aquatic center is ready, he can just move everything over
and install it. He reported that
the Knights of Columbus donated $1,500 from their calendar sales to be used
toward the community center
improvements. The Whistle Stop will
be operating the concession stand at the ball fields and will pay $20/month
to cover electricity costs. There
are currently 9 men’s softball teams and 5 co-ed teams signed up.
The softball
association does the bulk of the work for the games and tournaments and the city
does the promotion. The
fishing clinic, sponsored and run by the Fishing Club will be held on June 2 in
conjunction with the free fishing
weekend. Taco Johns has expressed
interest in helping to promote the aquatic center and pool parties and
have offered food coupons as promotional items.
A motion by Councilman Varce,
seconded by Leach, approved the second presentation of an ordinance increasing
the base water charge to $5/month and adding a $4/month maintenance fee, with a
5-year sunset. Roll call was:
AYES: Varce, Mallory, Stieneke, Leach, Peck
NAYS: None
On a motion by Councilman Leach,
seconded by Peck, the council approved the first presentation of an ordinance
regarding compliance with the State Plumbing Code in the installation of any
water service pipe and connection to
the water system. Roll call was:
AYES: Leach, Peck, Varce, Mallory, Stieneke
NAYS: None
A motion was made by Councilman
Varce, seconded by Stieneke, to approve a resolution setting fees for
services and programs, including cemetery fees, park and recreation fees, fire
fees and water fees. Roll call was:
AYES: Varce, Stieneke
NAYS: Mallory, Leach, Peck
The motion died for lack of a majority vote.
During discussion on the fees,
Councilman Leach said that with gas prices increasing we need to keep the
camping
fees affordable to attract people to town. He feels the camping fees should not be increased.
Councilman Stieneke
agreed that gas prices are increasing, but the city also has to pay more for gas
for mowing, so why can’t the rates
be raised to offset some of those costs. Leach
had a brochure for a Denison campground that offers trails,
swimming, etc. and doesn’t cost any more than what we charge, however he
didn’t know what their monthly rate was.
He said that Park Supt., Duane Mummert said we don’t need to raise rates as
everything is running fine. Stieneke
then suggested having a 2-week minimum on camping, rather than a monthly rate. Councilman Peck said we are
still making money at the present rate. Councilman
Varce said they are raising the fire and cemetery fees, which
go into the General Fund. They are
also raising water rates, so recreation fees should be no exception.
If the city
is to run like a business, as costs go up, so do prices.
Duane was present and said they need to stay competitive.
He said you could go to Dog Creek and camp for $10/night.
They have the same amenities that we do. He didn’t
know whether they have monthly rates. Most
of the monthly campers are contractors, who aren’t even at the park
during the day. They just shower
and sleep there. Stieneke said that
he had received calls from 5 people saying
that they camp free on the weekend because there is no one collecting the money.
Duane said there are envelopes
available for camping fees. If any
of the council members have a problem, they should contact him directly.
Councilman Mallory stated that even if we have no campers, we still have
to maintain the park. He isn’t in favor of
raising the camping fees. This will
be brought back to the next meeting for further discussion.
At 7:35 p.m., Mayor Henrich
opened the public hearing on the 2006-07 budget amendment.
The Clerk explained the
amendment is necessary to account for the aquatic center donations and
contributions and the expenses for the
project; police employee deferred compensation withdrawals; Street Dept.
equipment purchases; and transfers
between funds. As there were no
oral or written comments, a motion by Councilman Stieneke, seconded by Leach,
closed the public hearing at 7:36 p.m. Motion
carried.
On a motion by Councilman Leach,
seconded by Mallory, the council adopted Resolution No. 07-08, amending the
2006-07 budget. Roll call was:
AYES: Leach, Peck, Varce, Mallory, Stieneke
NAYS: None
A motion by Councilman Stieneke,
seconded by Leach, unanimously approved the following under “Consent
Business”.
City council minutes of May 8th.
Renewal of the storm water
permit for the Bacon Aquatic Center/Gillette Park project and payment of the
$150 fee.
Renewal of class “C” liquor
license – Western Iowa Tech. Conference Center and class “C” liquor
license for Corvo’s.
John Cook reported that the main
items left to complete at the aquatic center are the retaining wall and steps,
trail
to the filter building and painting of the pool tank.
These are all weather sensitive. The
contractors have been on the
site the past two Saturdays and have remained on site into early evening on
several occasions. Ten Point
Construction
should have the Gillette Park trail completed within 5 working days.
Heg Painting hopes to paint the pool tank next
week. Once it is painted and
caulked there is a 7-day cure period before the pool can be filled.
Once filled it takes
about 7 days to bring things into balance.
They are shooting Father’s Day weekend (June 16-17) to open the
facility.
Schoon Construction is almost ready to spread black dirt for the sod to be
placed around the pool. John
indicated
that he has had more interest in donations in the last few weeks and the
fundraising is over $91,000 beyond the
$3.6 million goal. Councilman Varce
noted that Randy and Sandy Pritts would donate a freezer for the concession
stand.
Kent Kuehl, Utility Service Co.,
and Water Supt. Mark Napier, were present to review maintenance contracts for
the Hill St., M.H.I. and north water towers.
Mr. Kuehl explained that the prices quoted several months ago are the
same. Mark reported that the
necessary sanitation repairs have been made to the M.H.I. tower and the cost
will
be included in the contract price. The
sanitation repairs on the Hill St. tower will be done under the maintenance
contract. Mark reminded the council
that the Tyson tower is currently under another program through the end of
this year. Mark will bring this
back in December for the council to consider adding that tower to the Utility
Service
Co. program. A motion by Councilman
Stieneke, seconded by Peck, approved the maintenance contracts with
Utility Service Co. for the Hill St., M.H.I. and north water towers.
Motion carried.
Tom Jenness, rural Cherokee, was
present to discuss his property east of Saratoga, south of Park.
He explained
that this area is the remains of what was once Fountain Lake, which has grown
considerably in the last several years.
There was a drainage tile that kept the area low, but when the city put in a raw
water line in 1994, Mr. Jenness feels
there was damage to the tile. When the water line was put in the tile was damaged and
pieced together. The water
line was then placed on top of the tile. The
tile continued to work for some time, but doesn’t now.
There are two storm
sewers collecting water from Park, Sumner, Summit and Saratoga that dump into
this site. With the damaged tile,
the water isn’t making its way to the river.
Mr. Jenness is working with the NRCS in determining the size of tile he
would be allowed to install. He had
hoped to have some cost estimates and is requesting assistance in replacing
the tile. He said a rough estimate
would be $3,000-$4,000 to replace the tile.
He will come back to the council
when he has cost figures.
City Attorney Miller reported
that he is waiting for information from Partners Management Group in order to
make
the transfer of the Doherty Addition lots back to the Cherokee Community
Foundation. The council reviewed
several options on how to market and sell the lots. One suggestion was to sell each lot for $1,000, with no half
lots except where they already exist. The
council will review the options further and discuss it at the next meeting.
Councilman Mallory asked who
would be serving on the committee to hire a city manager.
Councilman Varce
said the committee consists of himself, Councilman Stieneke, Mayor Henrich, Rich
Cook, Jim Nelson, Ed Otto,
Jeff Hayes and Mark Buschkamp. The
committee will draft guidelines and advertisements for the position, which
will be brought to the full council for approval.
The full council will also be involved in the selection of the city
manager. Councilman Varce reminded
the council that although they may not all agree that a city manager
is needed, they need to be constructive and not destructive during the process.
The Clerk prepared a report for
the council showing possible funding sources for the proposed community
center improvements. Mayor Henrich
strongly suggested that the council bid the heating and cooling system
replacement, with the other items (lighting, PA system, etc.) as options so they
can then decide how much they
want to spend. The council agreed
and said they need to start by replacing the roof.
Councilman Stieneke
said they need to find out if anything will be coming off or will be installed
on the roof in conjunction with the
heating/cooling system before the roof is replaced.
Councilman Leach will contact Greg Kooker about setting
up a time for a walk-through of the community center.
On a motion by Councilman
Stieneke, seconded by Leach, the council went into closed session at 8:30 p.m.
to
discuss possible litigation as per Iowa Code Chapter 21.5(c).
Roll call was:
AYES: Stieneke, Leach, Peck, Varce, Mallory
NAYS: None
A motion by Councilman Leach,
seconded by Varce, brought the council back into regular session at 8:40 p.m.
Roll call was:
AYES: Leach, Peck, Varce, Mallory, Stieneke
NAYS: None
On a motion by Councilman
Stieneke, seconded by Mallory, the council authorized waiving charges
assessed to the property at 313 E. Willow for the abatement of a nuisance in
1999 and authorized the City
Attorney to proceed with obtaining an easement for the E. Main Street water line
project as discussed in
closed session. Motion carried.
On a motion by Councilman
Stieneke, seconded by Varce, the meeting was adjourned at 8:41 p.m.
Motion carried.
News media – Ken Ross, Chronicle Times; Greg Slotsky, KCHE.
Dennis Henrich –
Mayor
ATTEST:
Debra Taylor, CMC
City Clerk-Treasurer