January 3, 2017

January 3, 2017

Wellman, Iowa

The Wellman City Council met in regular session in the Council Chambers of the Wellman Municipal Building at 5:30pm.  Mayor Ryan Miller presided with City Administrator, City Clerk and the following Council Members: Robert Goodrich, Fern Bontrager, Robert Freeman and Tracy Owens.  Following the Pledge of Allegiance the Consent Agenda was approved upon motion by Freeman, Seconded by Owens and all aye votes.  The consent agenda includes the agenda, minutes from previous meeting and the following claims:

In public forum, Jack Seward spoke on behalf of the Washington County Board of Supervisors to update council on a few things going on in the county.  Seward provided council with a flyer containing information on the new rules of operation at the Washington County Rural Solid Waste and Recycling Center.  They have a new contractor who will be operating the center and have made a few minor changes to operation.  The County is currently looking for a new attorney to fill the remainder of the current term.  They have been reviewing applications and are hoping to appoint someone at the January 17^th meeting.  The county is still working on filling the Emergency Management Director position.  They’re hoping to have this position filled in the near future.

Resolution No. 17-01 A resolution to establish the official newspaper for the City is Kalona News was introduced and caused to be read.  Goodrich moved to approve Resolution No. 17-01, Bontrager Seconded and upon roll call the vote was unanimous ayes.

Resolution No. 17-02 A Resolution to set mileage reimbursement rate for employees was introduced and caused to be read.  Litwiller explained that the IRS 2017 Standard Mileage Rate is 53.5 cents.  Bontrager moved to approve Resolution No. 17-02 being the 53.5 cents, Freeman Seconded and upon roll call the vote was unanimous ayes.

Resolution No. 17-03 A Resolution authorizing annual appropriations for Bond 2016A payments for Fiscal year 2018 was introduced and caused to be read.  Freeman moved to approve Resolution No. 17-03, Owens Seconded and upon roll call the vote was unanimous ayes.

Resolution No. 17-04 A Resolution authorizing annual appropriations for Bond 2012B payments for Fiscal year 2018 was introduced and caused to be read.  Bontrager moved to approve Resolution No. 17-04, Freeman Seconded and upon roll call the vote was unanimous ayes.

Discussion and action on “Free Little Library” was had.  Hanni Hernandez was present and explained how the “Free Little Library” would work and her thoughts on a good location for the Library.  She would like to receive help from the city on the exact location and maybe ask the public works guys help her with installing the post that it’d be erected on.    She also explained that this project would be a memorial for her daughter who was an avid reader and she feels would love to see a project like this.  Council feels that this would be a great project.  Litwiller and Hernandez will get together to figure out the best location for this project.

Discussion and action was had on Council Member Appointment.  Miller explained the process of appointing a new council member.  If council elects to appoint one of the three candidates, anyone has the right to petition the appointment and enforce a special election.  Once appointed, they would serve until the next election period.   The three interested candidates gave council a brief introduction and discussed why they would like to become council member.  Freeman made a motion to appoint Shannon McCain, Owens Seconded and upon roll call the vote was unanimous.

Council had a discussion on Parking Regulations and how they want to handle Snow Emergencies.  Litwiller explained that she has received and looked over the proposed changes that the city attorney has put together for changes to the ordinance and just wanted council’s thoughts on how to proceed.  After much discussion council decided to have Litwiller continue looking through the proposed changes and to contact some other cities to see what process they use and what works best for them.

Discussion and action was had on Simplex Grinnell Agreement.  Miller explained that this is the Fire & Security systems at Parkside.    Freeman made a motion to continue with Simplex Grinnell, Seconded by Owens and all voted aye.

In council reports, Owens wanted to let council know that after the article in the paper last week regarding the speed trap through Wellman, that he was overflowed with calls thanking him for bringing this topic up.  Now he would like to see what can be done about it.  He also asked if the public works guys could put up a few new flags on the stop signs by the fire station.  Freeman mentioned that he’s noticed that a downtown business has an overflow of trash piled up in the back of their store and wondered when this would be cleaned up.  Litwiller gave council an update on the Water and Well issues that happened over the holiday weekends.  She also mentioned that the Senior Center had over 40 people show up for their annual Christmas Day potluck.  The library had their first New Year’s Eve party and had 80 people present.  They showed a movie for the children and had activities and snacks for them in the basement.  Goodrich stated that he would still like to see a work shop in the near future to discuss Public Works Director and Water/Wastewater Supervisor.  Litwiller explained that this can all be discussed in the budget work shop in February.

With no further business to be discussed Freeman moved for adjournment at 6:52 pm, Bontrager Seconded and all voted aye.  The next regular City Council Meeting will be Monday, January 16, 2017 at 5:30 pm in the Council Chambers of the Wellman Municipal Building.

Minutes transcribed by the City Clerk subject to Council Approval.