MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETINGOF THE HILLS CITY COUNCILJUNE 14, 2005 – 6:00 P.M.Mayor Jim Jellema called the meeting to order with the following council members present: Jim Jellema, Dana Dahlquist, Linus Svoboda, Keith Elbers, and Ross Metzger. Employees present: Joanne Goehle, City Treasurer; Connie Wiertzema, City Clerk; and Wayne Ward, City Maintenance. Guests: Jeff Bass-Hills Fire Department; Mike Spath, Stephanie Page, Lyle Bos, and Lexi Moore-Hills Crescent. In reviewing the May expenditures, and in particular a $400 expenditure to Development Services for preparation of a FEMA grant, the Council requests that the Fire Department pre-approve any expenditures which are out-of-the-ordinary. Motion by Dahlquist, seconded by Svoboda to approve payment of the May expenditures: General $4,340.92; Park $3,201.45; Fire $34,448.30; Street $1,411.66; Legion $410.69; Sewer $1,316.71; Garbage $1,740.82; Recycling $108.57; Water $1,291.50. Motion carried. General Checking 61,146.36General Fund CD#18614, 6/9/05 (prev. #18197 243,300.81General Fund CD#18764 (prev. #17760) 2.75%, 9/15/05 71,299.52Fire Truck Replacement Fund CD#18647, 2.0%, 1/13/06 0.00Hills EDA Security Deposit Account 1,439.08Hills EDA Checking – Acct. #1248 4,325.64Southern Hills Condo Acct. #1263 295.45EDA CD#18870, 3.25%, 5/7/06 75,630.77Motion by Svoboda, seconded by Metzger to approve the Treasurer’s report; along with making a change in the renewal of General CD#18614 for one year at 3.55%. Motion carried. Discussion to allow New Vision to pull water from the City’s old well, pending the cost of the necessary piping.Ward reported that the water storage tank and elevated tank have been cleaned, repaired and inspected.Jellema suggested to block off traffic on State Highway 270 during future Memorial Day cemetery services. Discussed the cost to replace stop signs and street signs. Mike Spath, Stephanie Page, and Lyle Bos appeared at the meeting to discuss the City’s request to have the postal boxes removed from State Hwy. 270, nearest the Main Avenue intersection and crosswalk. The City Council feels there is a safety issue for the community children at that crosswalk and intersection, and the mailboxes enhance that issue. Per correspondence from the Hills Postmaster, the City has no authority to request the removal of the boxes and cannot interfere with postal delivery. Therefore, the City Council asked Spath, Page, and Bos if they feel the boxes are a hazard to the crosswalk and if fhey would consider removing their boxes. Spath, Page and Bos do not agree that there is a hazard and chose not to remove their boxes. Jeff Bass appeared at the meeting to encourage the Council to adopt a resolution to establish the National Incident Management System. The Council tabled the adoption of a resolution in order to review NIMS information provided by the County. Bass requested permission, for the Fire Department, to hold a hog roast, along with a temporary liquor license to serve beer. Also requested permission to hold this fund-raiser at Rez Park sometime in August from 5:00 P.M. to 9:00 P.M. The Council was apprehensive, and questioned whether the Fire Department would actually earn that much extra by serving beer, in comparison to the extra costs involved. Following a short recess, Councilmen Jellema, Metzger, and Elbers agreed to allow the plans for the fund-raiser with the conditions that: 1) The Fire Department obtain the necessary liquor liability insurance and provide a certificate of insurance to the City; 2) The Fire Dept. must provide the appropriate means of carding individuals, to avoid the sale of beer to minors; and 3) That no beer be sold or consumed before 5:00 P.M. or after 9:00 P.M. A copy of the City liquor ordinance will be provided to the Fire Dept. Dahlquist, a member of the Fire Dept., abstained from the motion. Svoboda chose to stay out of the discussion due to personal feelings. Bass informed the Council that Development Services was hired by the Fire Department for a fee of $400, to apply for a FEMA grant. The Council instructed Bass that the Fire Department must obtain pre-approval from the City Council and Martin Township for out-of-the-ordinary spending. Bass requested permission, that if the $88,000 grant is received, to split the grant money between the City, Township and Fire Department. The Council did not comment. Council questioned whether the Fire Department had a meth lab plan in place, which Bas confirmed they did. The City will make plans to advertise the fire tanker truck for sale at a later date. Discussed street assessment terms for blacktop work in Park View Third Addition (Sixth Street). Motion by Dahlquist, seconded by Elbers to assess the blacktop and gravel costs to the abutting property owners at 8% interest for a period of 10 years, with the option to pay off the balance at any time. Motion carried. A meeting will be scheduled with property owners in Park View First Addition for the purpose of discussing the terms of special assessment for blacktop.The Clerk will attend a Board of Appeal and Equalization training meeting in July.Notification will be sent to Ryan Burgers regarding his intentions for the removal of his mobile home and garage from the City’s property; also to request that the garbage must be removed and grass cut. The Council approved to reimburse Verhey Construction and R-B Electric for renovation costs to the southeast office space, located in the American Legion building. Verhey Construction will rent this office space at $50 per month. Ross Metzger and Kelly Leuthold will set stakes for their proposed commercial building. This will allow the Council to observe the location and setbacks, in order to act on a building permit application. Motion by Dahlquist, seconded by Elbers to approve building permits for: Tim and Lois DeHaan for a patio; Ed and Carol Gehrke for a lawn shed; John and Kim Ehlers for a concrete driveway, fence, and brick patios; and Jesse and Karen Gaugler for a fence. Motion carried. Discussion regarding hog confinements and the distribution of manure near the city limits was tabled. Motion by Dahlquist, seconded by Metzger to hire Kanegieter Tree Service to remove one tree and trim trees on Mildred Kesterson’s lot, and to use donated funds to cover the cost of the tree service, and city truck rental. Motion carried. Council reviewed correspondence from Rock County Rural Water, pertaining to the credit taken toward the City’s water bill, due to the numerous flushings of rusty water problems. RCRW agrees with the estimated number of gallons flushed, but disagrees with the water rate credit taken. The Council’s response to RCRW is that employee wages for straight time or overtime hours were not included in the credits, only water usage according to the City’s rate schedule. Received an LP contract price offer of $1.189 from Popkes Car Care. Council tabled the discussion. Discussed the Fire Department and City’s purchases of gasoline from two local gas stations, in an attempt to make the purchases even between the two stations. Jellema abstained from the discussion. Svoboda as Mayor Pro Tem led the lengthy discussion. Svoboda made a motion that the Fire Department continue to purchase all their fuel and repair services at Erwin’s Service; and the City purchase all their fuel at Orv’s Shell, with repair services to be left to the maintenance department’s discretion. Dahlquist abstained from the vote due to a conflict of interest. Svoboda withdrew his motion for lack of a second. No further motions were made. The Council instructed city maintenance to continue as before, to purchase gasoline from each station on a month-by-month trade-off, but to periodically review the Fire Department’s fuel sales, in order to make purchases comparable. Council tabled discussion regarding the removal of vegetation from the Rez Park swimming area, as the Beaver Creek Sportsmen’s Club is working on this issue. Council discussed whether there is a need for a separate junk pickup for electronics. Residents have the option to take these items to the county transfer station for a fee. The Council tabled the discussion. Due to confusion at the May Council meeting, the Council continued discussion regarding Wayne Ward’s family health insurance, wherein his spouse is eligible for Medicare this fall, and can no longer be named on the City’s family health insurance plan. The cost for a single supplemental insurance is $259 per month. There was discussion as to whether the City should be responsible for Medicare supplement policies, especially for a person who is not an employee of the city. It was also discussed that the Council set a limit to pay $925 toward medical health insurance, but didn’t specify how it is spent. Motion by Dahlquist, seconded by Svoboda to pay Janis Ward’s supplemental health insurance of $259 per month, and Wayne Ward’s individual health insurance of $660 per month, plus Wayne’s life insurance portion for up to a total of $925.00 per month but no more than $925 per month. Voting in favor: Dahlquist, Svoboda, Metzger and Jellema. Voting against: Elbers. Motion carried. The Clerk was instructed to send a thank you to Mike Spath for the small disk that he gave to the City of Hills, to be used for tilling sand around the park equipment and volleyball courts. The Council made it a policy to review the City’s equipment and buildings on a yearly basis. Discussed the appointment of a councilperson to fill Dana Dahlquist’s position. Motion by Elbers, seconded by Metzger to appoint Pete Hoff to fill the position. Hoff will be invited to the July 12th meeting. Motion by Metzger, seconded by Elbers to appoint Linus Svoboda to fulfill the President positions of the EDA and Southern Hills Condo Association, in place of Dana Dahlquist. Motion carried.The Council thanked Dana Dahlquist for his dedicated service to the City of Hills. Motion by Dahlquist, seconded by Svoboda to approve the May 10th minutes, with changes regarding Janis Ward’s supplemental insurance. There was only discussion, and no motion was made, the Council did not deny Ward’s request for supplemental insurance for Janis Ward. Motion carried. The Clerk informed the Council of the State Auditor’s plan to have each precinct purchase election equipment for an approximate cost of $10,600. Additional costs involved will be insurance, updates, maintenance, transporting and storage of the equipment. It’s possible for some precincts to be combined at the same location in order to share the cost of expenses. No action taken, more information will be forthcoming. The Council discussed whether to use a direct deposit plan for employee salaries. No action taken, tabled at this time. The City Council set a policy to begin the use of a mileage log sheet for use of the city’s pickup.Motion by Dahlquist, seconded by Elbers to refund utility deposits to Roger Russell, Brian Sandbulte, Eugene Immediato, Jim Susie, and Matt Boeve. Motion carried.Joanne Goehle, City Treasurer, informed the Council that she has been a city employee for 24 years, and asked the Council to consider paying $100 per month toward her supplemental insurance, with no increase in wages, beginning January 1, 2006. Motion by Dahlquist, seconded by Elbers to adjourn. Meeting adjourned at 9:45 P.M. Connie J. WiertzemaCity Clerk(7-7)
