Monday, December 17, 2018

City Council Minutes


City of Russell
Council Meeting
December 12th 2018
Present:  Duane Bedford (Mayor), Council members:  Chris Feehan, Terry Newcomb, Casey DeHoedt and Cindy Smith, City Clerk.
Duane Bedford, Mayor, called meeting was called to order at 6:00 pm.
Resolution to finalize the sale of the east 40 feet of the portion of South Washington Street that lies between Lot 1 of Boyd’s 3rd Addition and Lots 2 and 13 of Boyd’s Addition to be sold by the City of Russell to Robert Chipp.   This Resolution for finalize was motioned for approval by Chris Feehan and seconded by Terry Newcomb.
Aye’s – All approved
Nay’s – None
Invoices from Garden & Associates will be paid by the city and the city will be reimbursed from the loan that is in place for the repair of the sewers.  Terry Newcomb motioned for the approval and submittal of monies due to Garden & Associates.  This motion was seconded by Chris Feehan.
Aye’s – All approved
Nay’s – None
Review of L&L Pelling quotes were reviewed for the finalization of the work required to complete the work on East Smith Street.  Also, reviewed other quotes provided by L&L Pelling regarding future work on other city streets in town that will be considered for completion in next years budget.  Chris Feehan motioned for approval of the quote from L&L Pelling to complete the sealcoat work on East Smith Street for a total of $21,327.90.  This motion was seconded by Terry Newcomb.
Aye’s – All approved
Nay’s – None
Jim Larrington had put in a request for approval for him to attend some classes.  One will be held in Newton for Pumps, Filters and Towers in Newton Iowa on January 17, 2019 and one for an overview of protocol for Iowa One Call.  These classes attendances were motioned for approval by Chris Feehan and seconded by Terry Newcomb.
Aye’s – All approved
Nay’s – None
A Resolution for holiday schedule for the year 2019 were discussed and the following holiday’s will be paid to full time city employee’s for the following holidays:  January 1, 2019 – New Year’s day, May 27, 2019 – Memorial Day, July 4, 1029 – Independence Day, September 2, 2019 – Labor Day, November 28, 2019 – Thanksgiving Day, December 25, 2019 – Christmas Day and one extra holiday of employee choosing.  This was motioned for approval by Chris Feehan and seconded by Casey Dehoedt.
Aye’s – All approved
Nay’s - None
Casey Dehoedt motioned for meeting adjournment at 6:45 pm and seconded by Chris Feehan.
Aye’s – All approved
Nay’s – None
Reminder of meeting next Wednesday at 6:30 for budget review sessions.


___________________________
Approved by:
Duane Bedford, Mayor

___________________________
Attest:
Cindy A Smith, City Clerk




Russell News


Russell News December 25, 2018
            We are pleased to learn rural Russell resident Ava Johnson was awarded (one of five) Midwest Heritage gift of three bred heifers. The goal is to help future young farmers gain interest and knowledge of the beef cattle industry.
            Ava is a seventh-grader involved in the Russell Reivers 4-H Club.  She has shown cattle, goats, pigs, rabbits and chickens, is involved in dance, volleyball and will run track. Her goal is to attend college to be an animal nutritionist or scientist.
            The program will span five years and participant must maintain accurate records.  At the conclusion of the five years,  recipients are responsible for paying back the market value of the three bred heifers.
Calendar 
            Sunday, December 30th 6 p.m.,First Baptist Church, New Years Eve Game Night  at the Church. Everyone invited to come and bring friends with you.
            Wednesday, Jan 2, 6:30 p.m. Night Owls of Faith United Methodist Church  will meet for a pizza party , Connie Smith will have the lesson.
            Thursday, January 3,  Chariton schools resume
            Thursday,  January 17,  1:15 p.m.   Russell News meeting at the Museum-everyone welcome
            Thursday,  January 17,  6 p.m. Russell Museum/Library Board meeting


Wednesday, December 12, 2018

City Council Minutes



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