City of Russell
Council Meeting
December 3, 2018
Present: Duane Bedford (Mayor), Council members: Chris Feehan, Jay Pierschbacher, Terry
Newcomb, Corey Paige and Casey DeHoedt.
City Maintenance Jim Larrington, Police Officer Dustin Hardin and City
Clerk Cindy Smith. Also present was Dale
Housh of Lockridge Lumber.
Public Meeting
was called to order at 7:00 pm by Duane Bedford, Mayor.
Public
hearing was held for the sale of the 40’ section of Washington Street between
Northumberland and E Smith Street. Duane
Bedford asked if there were any questions regarding this sale of the street and
there were none. Terry Newcomb motioned
for the approval of the sale to proceed and this was seconded by Casey
Dehoedt. Roll call was as follows: Jay Pierschbacker – Aye, Terry Newcomb – Aye,
Corey Paige – Aye, Casey Dehoedt – Aye and Chris Feehan – Aye. None were
opposed.
Sale of said
property was passed and the papers have been signed and will be sent to James
Medford, Attorney at Law and he will process the Quick Claim Deed and the money
will be paid by Robert Chipp Jr. to the City of Russell for the said property.
Public
meeting was closed at 7:03 by Duane Bedford and the regular council meeting was
called to order at 7:03 pm by Duane Bedford.
The November
5th meeting minutes were motioned for approval by Casey Dehoedt and
seconded by Corey Paige.
Approved –
All Ayes
Nay’s – None
Reba Collins
had reported a complaint of loose dogs near her house. Officer Hardin stated that he has notified
the owner of the dogs that they need to be kept on a leash at all times and
owner stated that there were several dogs that are out and he stated that he
has or will be notifying all dog/cat owners that their animals need to be kept
on a leash or confined. He will continue
to monitor the situation.
Dale Housh
was present to request that Lockridge would like to place an antenna on the
city water tower to provide internet service to the City of Russell. They have had several inquiries from residents
in town and in nearby farms requesting service from them. They would provide insurance as required to
this to be installed on the city water tower.
The City of Russell currently has an antenna on the water tower from
Skybeam and per the contract that the city has with them, Lockridge will need
to verify that there will not be a conflict or interference with Skybeam’s
operation if they install their antenna.
When this has been determined the council will then vote on proceeding
with the antenna.
Income and
expenses were reviewed and motioned for approval by Chris Feehan and seconded
by Terry Newcomb.
Approved –
All Ayes
Nay’s – None
Officer
Hardin provided the police report to the council that he is getting familiar
with the city and has been on patrol at various times of the day/night. He did report that a garage door at a vacant
residence had been driven into and that the front door of same property had
been broken into. He has also been
giving verbal warnings to residences regarding the leash law and patrolling the
bus stop. The city is looking into
insuring his personal equipment with Beaty insurance.
Fire Chief
Brian Beaty was not in attendance, the fire report was provided by Chris
Feehan. The new fire fighters have been
doing the necessary training and there has been a couple trailers parked near
the station that they have been using for this training. The new air tanks have also arrived.
Jim
Larrington gave his report on the water/wastewater. The DNR did do an inspection on our lagoon
and we have changes that have been put into effect on where the testing needs
to be completed at. The testing
requirements for 2019 will be more stringent, going from 100 ppb to 5 ppb that
the test samples must come back as. DNR
stated that some of the cities are pumping effluent to larger streams to meet
the testing requirements.
We are also
still getting the inspections and measurements from the engineers at Garden and
Associates to prepare for the sewer project that needs to be completed. We are approximately 50% completed of the
topographic work that needs to be completed
Water loss
for the month of November is down to 18%.
There are still new meters that need to be installed.
Jim
Larrington gave the street report – he met with L&L Pelling on getting
quotes for the future street repairs that need to be completed.
During the
recent snowstorm he started plowing the streets around 10:30 am and worked on
keeping the streets passable and putting sand/salt down to try to keep up with
the amount of accumulation that we had. A cylinder on the plow broke and he had to use
the backhoe to plow streets. There were
several complaints about the streets not being widened enough for 2 cars to go through,
with the amount of snow we had and most roads having ditches, the roads were widened
as much as they could be without tearing up yards.
Alliant
energy installed one new light pole on the northwest corner of Shaw and Maple
and cut down 2 poles that were in front of the post office / city hall
building. These will be removed when the
new sidewalk is installed in front of the building.
Part of
Atwell Street is closed due to a damaged manhole cover.
A Budget
session was scheduled for Wednesday December 19th at 6:30 to begin
the new budget for 2019/2020.
The council
also discussed getting a credit card though Great Western Bank. This are will only be allowed to be used by
Duane Bedford, Mayor; Jim Larrington and Cindy Smith. This motion was approved by Casey Dehoedt and
seconded by Terry Newcomb.
Approved –
All Ayes
Nay’s – None
Meeting was
called for adjournment at 8:45 by Chris Feehan and seconded by Casey Dehoedt.
Approved –
All Ayes
Nay’s - None.
___________________________
Approved by:
Duane
Bedford, Mayor
___________________________
Attest:
Cindy A
Smith, City Clerk
