July City Council Minutes

City of Russell

Council Meeting

July 6, 2020

Present:  Mayor Chris Feehan, Casey DeHoedt, Terry Newcomb, Jay Pierschbacher, Robert Smith, City Maintenance Supervisor Jim Larrington and City Clerk, Cindy Smith.

Mayor Feehan called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.

Guest Jodi Hilsabeck joined us via speaker phone as she was unable to attend the meeting in person.  Jodi is with Midwest Assistance Program, who will be providing us a vulnerability emergency response plan that is required for the new sewer project.  She explained how this will be paid through the federal grant division and that the city will not be charged for this plan. 

Casey DeHoedt motioned to proceed with Midwest Assistance Program to provide us the vulnerability emergency response plan.  This motion was seconded by Jay Pierschbacher.

Aye – All Approved

Nay’s – None

Motion Passed Jodi will meet with Cindy Smith and Jim Larrington to get the information necessary for her to present to her board for approval.

Council was then joined via speaker phone with Attorney Michael Carpenter to review where we are regarding our ordinances as they will now be assisting the city on legal issues.  The ordinance’s will be revitalized by code section and then we will be going through each section every month and adding fines as needed to these ordinances. 

Council then reviewed the minutes from the June 1, 2020 meeting.  Jay Pierschbacher motioned to approve the minutes from the June 1, 2020 meeting and this motion was seconded by Robert Smith.

Aye’s – All Approved

Nay’s – None

Motion passed.

Council then reviewed minutes from the June 16, 2020 meeting.  Casey DeHoedt motioned to approve the minutes from the June 16, 2020 meeting and this motion was seconded by Terry Newcomb.

Aye’s – All Approved

Nay’s – None

Motion passed.

There was a brief discussion on final number for fiscal year 2019/2020 and review of the income and expenses for June.  Terry Newcomb motioned to approve the income and expenses for June 2020 and this motion was seconded by Robert Smith.

Aye’s – All approved

Nay’s – None

Motion passed.

Police Report – Council was presented a resume’ for junk and debris ordinance officer.   Mayor Feehan also presented to the council a contract that we could work with ADLM regarding ordinance enforcement.  ADLM would work as needed and then turn all their documentation over to our attorney for area’s that are not compliant.  Casey DeHoedt motioned to go into a contract with ADLM and this motion was seconded by Robert Smith.

Aye’s – All approved

Nay’s – None

Motion passed.  Mayor Feehan will proceed with the necessary requirement to contract with ADLM.

Fire Report – Mayor Feehan provided the report for the fire department.  The fire convention for the state of Iowa has been canceled due to the covid virus.  The fire department therefore will not be holding their annual BBQ cookoff this fall.  They will however be providing a drive through dinner on September 19^th 2020.

Mayor Feehan also noted that 6 firefighters have been in training for their Firefighter 1 certification and will be taking the final test in the month of July.

Water / Wastewater report – Supervisor Jim Larrington reported that the replacement pipe in the water tower has been completed.  Some additional repairs were completed as the original pipe was buried and connected incorrectly and had to have an 8’ section of additional piping replaced.  They also replaced some electrical heat tape and added more insulation for winter freezing.  We have had issues in the last 2 year’s and this should help with this issue occurring as well.  Rathbun water also replaced some equipment with upgrades in the tower.  Our water loss for the month of June was at 38% and some of this was due to the draining of the tower and the leaking that was occurring.  Jim did note that his daily water usage reading has gone down from 28,000 gal a day to 22,000 gal a day so our loss should also be down in July.

The lagoon had a sludge dredge test, samples have been sent to the lab for testing and when received Garden and Associates will complete their report.  All three (3) cells 18” to 2’ full, all are evenly formed but will need to be dredged.  When Jim was with the engineer, it was noted that the road to the lagoon will need to be moved with a new larger gate for the equipment to gain access to the lagoon.

Street report – Supervisor Jim Larrington has spoke with LL Pelling and the are looking at the end of the month for the repair of Ames St./State St. intersection repair.  Crocker street road has the new culverts in driveways as needed and ditch repairs to stop water runoff.  Road will be reshaped (crowned) and rock added then this repair will be complete. This will now allow the road to drain correctly.  Jim will also rework the ditches up to the intersection by the old school property.

Reiken Concrete will be scheduling to lift the road on Prairie Street near the Atwell Street intersection as it is starting to dip and will cause further damage if not repaired. 

Need to order new flags as some of the flags have become weathered.  There is money in the budget to renew flags or add flags every year.

Hydro Klean is working on getting us onto their schedule to locate storm sewers along East Shaw Street where the road has eroded to determine where the storm drains go and where/if they are broken.  Jim is also working with the phone company as they have marked fiber cable running where work will need to be completed.

Old Business: 

Larry Templeton’s National Race that he had seemed to be well ran and there were no issues and he is anticipating that this may become a yearly event for him.  With the weather and covid they did not need to use the football field as he had anticipated.

Land by the cemetery, Mayor Feehan has been in contact with the landowner and we are awaiting decisions to be made from them.

Mayor Feehan presented the council with the original bid for the gutter and downspouts for the bandstand and the shelter house in the park.  Jay Pierschbacher motioned to approve the work on the bandstand and shelter house in the city park to have the gutters and downspouts installed as quoted, this motion was seconded by Terry Newcomb.

Aye’s – All Approved

Nay’s – None

Motion passed Mayor Feehan will get with the contractor to let them know to proceed with the project.

The railing in front of the post office and city hall should be completed by the end of the month. 

The redemption trailer is complete and will be placed up by the recycle bin.  This trailer will be for any redeemable cans or bottles, they will need to be clean as not to draw bugs.  Casey will take the trailer to the redemption center when full and they will return the monies donated to the city for Christmas decorations or other city improvements.

New Business:

The Horizon’s committee has given the city a letter to release the funds that they have in the horizon’s account to be used as follows:  $1,000.00 to be held to pay Jim Noble for mowing the grounds near the Russell City sign as you enter the town from 34.  The remainder of the money to be divided between the City for Christmas decorations and to the newly revised garden club.  At this time the money will be held by the city and given to the garden club as they request.  A new bank account will be established for the garden club to hold the money for them.  At present Casey DeHoedt is the garden club treasurer and she felt that this would be an acceptable way to show monies spent for the garden club.  She currently has a go fund me page that will be going into this new account when set up. 

We have had a request to place a banner out near 34 in the grass area that the city owns for a grand opening.  This has been granted for this grand opening and Robert Smith will be compiling guidelines that must be followed for future individuals that might wish to advertise in this manner.  When this is complete it will become a new city ordinance. 

There is a memorial brick structure in the community center park that has been broken and is falling apart.  We believe that at one time this held a time capsule but we are unsure if it has been opened or if it is still there.  We are going to finish tearing down this structure and place the plaque either on a pedestal or some form to show the plaque in the park. 

The sidewalk north of the tracks has broke and is no longer safe.  Jim has fenced off this area and Mayor Feehan is going to work with the county to see if they can assist us in the repair of the culvert that goes under Prairie Street as this is a large culvert and the street will need to be closed for this repair to be completed.  When this culvert is repaired, the sidewalk will be repaired at the same time. 

Mayor Feehan is also working with exterminators regarding the bats in the upstairs of the city hall building.  They will be here on the 20^th to give us an estimate. 

Casey DeHoedt also has been doing research regarding the city hall building to try to receive grants to repair the upstairs for either turning it into an apartment or additional meeting rooms.  She stated that she will need to get a complete listing of what would need to be repaired and placing an elevator entrance for handicap accessibility to meet grant guidelines.  She will continue her research.

The garden club will also be installing a hanging planter on the city hall building.  The garden club also would like to add planters to the bandstand.  Council approved these planters to be installed.  The garden club has also been given deck stain that they wish to use on the bandstand.  They will power wash the decking and seal the decking prior to winter.

Jay Pierschbacher motioned to adjourn the meeting at 8:30 and this motion was seconded by Robert Smith. Meeting adjourned.

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Approved by,

Chris Feehan, Mayor

Attest:

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Cindy A Smith, City Clerk