The Wellman City Council met in regular session in the Council Chambers of the Wellman Municipal Building at 6:00pm. Mayor Ryan Miller presided with the City Clerk and following Council Members: Steve Slaubaugh, Doug Powell, Fern Bontrager and Johnny Schwartz; absent: Marc Pennington. Following the Pledge of Allegiance, the Consent Agenda was approved upon motion by Slaubaugh, second by Bontrager and all aye votes. The Consent Agenda includes the agenda, minutes of the previous meeting the FY13 Heritage Agency RFP and the following claims:

At 6:09pm Schwartz moved to enter into closed session pursuant to Iowa Code 21.5(1)(i) to evaluate the professional competency of an individual whose appointment, hiring, performance, or discharge is being considered when necessary to prevent needless and irreparable injury to that individual’s reputation and that individual requests a closed session. Slaubaugh seconded the motion and upon roll call there were four ayes, Pennington absent. The purpose of the closed session was to interview a candidate for the city administrator position.

At 6:58pm Bontrager moved to enter into open session, Slaubaugh seconded and upon roll call the vote was four ayes, Pennington, absent.

Those joining the meeting were Elizabeth Rhodes from the news media, Jeff Heil, Seth Cornwell and Deputy Sheriff Jared Schneider.

Following the closed session the council agreed not to interview any other candidates for the city administrator position. Powell moved to offer the position to the candidate, Schwartz seconded and all present voted aye. Mayor Miller will contact Attorney Kitchen to finalize the contract and get the background check started. In other administrative issues, after a brief discussion, it was decided to wait until the new administrator was hired to look at the organizational chart of the city and make any changes based on his recommendations.

Seth Cornwell was present to explain to the Council his request for a Special Exception for the R1 district to build a four unit apartment building on Madison Avenue. The property will allow for two units. Cornwell stated he and his partner would build the first unit on the north end of the property and if successful then a second one could be constructed on the south end. The Council all agreed the added residential housing would be an asset. The Board of Adjustment will meet on February 15, 7:00pm to rule on the request.

The Public Hearing to receive comments to enter into a loan agreement in a principal amount not to exceed $75,000 for a gas utility refunding loan was opened at 7:15pm upon motion by Slaubaugh, second by Schwartz and all aye votes. There were no written or oral comments. Therefore the Public Hearing was promptly closed upon motion by Slaubaugh, second by Powell and all aye votes.

Resolution No. 12-06 to take additional action to enter into a loan agreement approving bond purchase agreement and authorize redemption of the outstanding obligation was introduced and caused to be read. Jeff Heil from Northland Securities was present to explain the bond sale and water rate study. After the June 1^st debt payments the city’s general obligation debt will be down to 81%. Heil indicated 75% is generally accepted as a good place to maintain so this refunding is moving the City in the right direction on its debt limit. The general obligation debt will include $300,000 of new money to help fund additional costs in the 2011 infrastructure project that will be started in March and other upcoming sewer improvement projects. This refunding is being approved tonight.

As for the water revenue debt, Heil had hoped to use some local option sales tax to add to water revenues to help lower the required rate level to support the debt repayment. He stated the Auditor’s Office has ruled against this. Bond Attorney Danos is looking into options that might help in keeping the needed rate increase to a minimum. Heil showed the worst case scenario would mean raising the base rate from the current $31.45 to $49.00. By extending the debt repayment from ten years to fifteen, it allowed reducing that base rate to possibly $44. Heil will continue to work on this but stated at the minimum he would expect a $7 to $8 increase in rates. He wants to wait a month or two on the water debt to be able to find the best possible rate. He suggested the city bill itself for all water usage and pay for it from the local option sales tax fund. That would bring added revenue into the water fund from LOST that would help in keeping the rates lower. He noted the water revenue refunding includes $200,000 in new money that will be used towards the Jordan well recasing that was added to the RO water project.

Bontrager moved to adopt Resolution No. 12-06, Powell seconded and upon roll call the vote was four ayes, Pennington absent. The Mayor affixed his signature.

Deputy Jared Schneider from the Washington County Sheriff’s Department reported on forty-one calls of service for January. He briefly discussed the fy13 budget indicating the Wellman’s law contract will increase $1,057 to $46,391. The Board of Supervisors is looking at using a different formula to calculate the cities’ contracts using a similar one that is now being used by the communications board. Schneider noted the number of break-ins was substantially down in January.

In the matter of the deputy clerk position, Mayor Miller spoke with a candidate today that had not been interviewed. He will be meeting with this person later this week. There was also discussion on changing the position to City Clerk and what duties should be delegated to the city administrator.

A brief review of some budget items included an update of the proposed salaries and capital items including $100,000 for sewer liner, $90,000 for an endloader to trade-in the maintainer, $20,000 for gas system improvements, and $6,000 for a new copy machine.

The next regular City Council meeting falls on a City holiday. Therefore, the Council set Tuesday, February 21, 2012, 7:00pm for the next regular City Council meeting.

With no further business Slaubaugh moved for adjournment at 8:19pm, Bontrager seconded and all voted aye.

Minutes transcribed by the City Clerk subject to Council approval.