City of Mechanicsville

REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING

May 8, 2006

The Mechanicsville City Council met in regular session on Monday, May 8, 2006 at City Hall. Mayor David L. Furry called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. . Those present for roll call were Larry Beck, Jeff Christianson, and Pam Logue-Newcomb. Thomas Hall arrived at 7:10 p.m. Karrie Johnson was absent. Others present included Alan Zerbe, Jim Barber, Sherie Paup, Nate Baker, Joe Paidar, Mechanicsville Telephone Company; Mark Jobgen, IIW Engineers; and Steve Smith, Johnson County Recycling.

OPPORTUNITY for any citizen present to discuss items not on the agenda:

None.

CONSENT AGENDA: Larry Beck motioned, Pam Logue-Newcomb seconded to approve the consent agenda including the agenda, minutes from 4/10/06, finance reports, and claims. Roll call vote: Ayes: Beck, Logue-Newcomb, and Christianson. Nays: None. Absent: Johnson & Hall. Motion carried.

The claims approved were as follows:

US POSTMASTER	Postage	97.16
Payroll	Wages	5,256.76
BRIDGE COMMUNITY BANK	FICA/MC	3,416.02
I P E R S	IPERS	1,508.93
ODD JOBBER	BLDG MAINT	805.00
US POSTMASTER	POSTAGE	115.44
ALLIANT ENERGY	UTILITIES	4,426.24
AME SERVICES	FEES LANDF	280.00
ARAMARK UNIFORM SERVICE	CLOTH ALLOW	124.30
CASEY'S GENERAL STORE	VEH SUPPLY	222.55
CEDAR CO. SOLID WASTE	FEES LANDFILL	1,852.00
CR PHOTO COPY	MISC CONTR	35.87
CONSERVATIVE PUBLISHING	PUBLICATION	238.78
E C I A	LAGOON UPG	4,057.16
FARM PLAN	MAIN/EQUIP	12.68
FIRE SERV TRAIN BUREAU	TRAIN/CONF	913.00
HACH COMPANY	OP SUPPLY	46.30
IA EMS ASSOCIATION	DUES	25.00
I I W ENGINEERS	LAGOON UPG	1,397.80
IOWA WIRELESS	TELEPHONE	19.05
JIMS AUTO BODY	VEH SUPPLY	3.00
JOHNSON CO REFUSE INC	RECYCLING	2,091.50
KEYSTONE LAB, INC	TEST FEES	426.00
KUNDE OUTDOOR EQUIPMENT	VEH SUPPLY	39.95
L E DENDINGER	ATTORNEY	980.00
LISBON-MTVERNON AMB SERV	MUTUAL AID	75.00
MATT PARROTT & SONS CO.	OFFICE SUP	123.81
LONNI KOCH	CPR CARDS	15.00
MECHANICSVILLE TELE. CO.	TELEPHONE	257.33
MUNICIPAL PIPE TOOL CO	CAPITAL EQ	2,903.45
NAPA AUTO PARTS	VEH REPAIR	13.66
QUILL CORPORATION	MINOR EQUIP	364.94
SANDRY FIRE SUPPLY	OP EQ REPA	338.00
SEEHUSEN INS. AGENCY,INC	INSURANCE	152.00
SHIRTS-N-STUFF	SHIRTS	113.50
STRACKBEINS, INC.	VEH REPAIR	1,050.65
US POSTMASTER	POSTAGE	442.05
WALMART	BLDG MAINT	174.76
GAMEPRO	SUBSCRIPT	29.95
UPSTART	SUPPLIES	14.00
JUDY HARTMAN	SUPPLIES	14.50
BARNES & NOBLE	BOOKS	275.11
AMAZON.COM	BOOKS	74.39
TREES FOREVER PROJECT	TREES	500.00
AIRGAS, INC.	MED SUPPLY	12.00
PAYROLL	WAGES	5,482.28
KOCH'S PAINT & LUMBER	MINOR EQUIP	416.87
NEW HORIZON FS INC.	VEH SUPPLY	776.14
JUDY HARTMAN	MILEAGE	30.00

Total Receipts for the month of April by fund:

Agency-Water	100.00
Ambulance Trust	5946.28
Fire Trust	585.48
General	73205.00
Library	19.97
Road Use Tax	7412.46
Sewer Utility	6769.83
Solid Waste	7707.88
Employee Benefit	11348.37
Water	7901.38
Water Sinking Fund	2500.00

Total disbursements for the month of April per fund:

Agency-Water	50.00
Ambulance Trust	264.17
General	32905.07
Road Use Tax	7346.36
Sewer Utility	51258.49
Solid Waste	7318.28
Special Revenue Emp Benefit	4526.39
Water Utility	6602.75

GUESTS:

Joe Paidar, Mechanicsville Telephone Company, request for building permit for tower: Council reviewed pictures and alternatives that are under consideration for the 190 foot self supporting tower. After due consideration, motion was made by Pam, seconded by Jeff to approve the permit for the tower. Ayes all. Motion carried.

Paul Crock: Hwy 30 Coalition: Paul was not able to attend but wanted to make sure that council was aware of the article that had been in the Gazette about the Mt. Vernon/Lisbon by-pass and support the studies of completing a 4 lane from Mt. Vernon to Clinton.

Steve Smith, Johnson County Yard Waste options/proposals/questions: Council reviewed several options for the collection of yard waste. Steve explained that the situation in Cedar County is different from that in Linn and Johnson County as both of them have a compost pile where the collection of the materials can be taken and dumped. Cedar County does not have one and so it would be up to the cities to maintain a city compost pile. Steve recommended that if the council should decide to implement a no burn ordinance in the future, they should have procedures in place before the implementation of it, as well as, consider setting time frames for setting items out at the curb. Steve also requested that a clause be put in the contract allowing for automatic renewal of the recycling contract. Council thanked Steve for coming and providing the additional information. Council will continue to research and discuss the most efficient way to handle the yard waste.

Mark Jogben, IIW review West First Street Improvements: Mark reviewed the proposal that was originally submitted at the last meeting and answered questions from the council. He also stated that the last traffic count indicates that there are about 70 vehicles per day. The council needs to determine whether they should go all the way to the city limits with the street improvements, or just past the current housing and post pone the rest until the land is improved. They also reviewed various funding options that could be utilized including assessing a portion of the cost to the property owners; however, the legal costs for doing this will offset the amount that would be collected through the assessment so is not very beneficial to do. Council referred to the streets committee, which is Larry and Karrie, to review and come back with a recommendation for a future meeting.

DEPARTMENT REPORTS:

ADMINISTRATION: Coppess reported information about street lights that were out and turned into Alliant, along with a request for Alliant to straighten the street light poles along Highway 30; IIW has been contacted about a tile line being hit during construction at the lagoon & the sampling station being disconnected; the light at the Doughboy has been repaired; Medicare has increased the amounts they will pay for Ambulance service calls and a review of our rates should be done prior to the contracts being renewed next year; a copy of the response from the city attorney regarding the Ambulance proposal was provided to council members; information about Cedar County Public Health will be providing the mumps vaccine for those older than 25 between May 15 & May 31, recommended that the Official Street Name map, official building numbering map and the official zoning map should be updated, and on June 13 there will be a Street Finance Report class.

PUBLIC WORKS REPORT:

Zerbe reported that Municipal Pipe had done some cleaning of the storm sewers and the sanitary sewer, recent water testing put us on a contaminant alert for a chemical found in tires/rubber. The level of the contaminant is not harmful Council requested that the “Children at Play” sign on North John Street be brought up to the required height; the street at the end of Crestview Drive should be filled with asphalt to hold the rock; asked to prepare a list of street repairs (noted that other towns have really liked the slurry seal much better than the chip/seal); additional dirt be brought in around the basketball court at the park; remove the 150 year banners on the poles; and to hang the Welcome to Mechanicsville banners. The work in the park day will be rescheduled to May 22 due to the rain out.

POLICE REPORT: Police Chief Jim Barber presented the council with his summary of activity (4/10/06-5/07/06) which included 13 agency assists; 6 animal cases, 1 Assist Motorists; 1 burglary; 15 citizen assist; 2 criminal mischief, 6-911, 1 thefts, 8 traffic stops with 2 citations & 6 warnings; 1 welfare check. Two additional nuisance abatements served, 1 insufficient check notice served, 2 citations issued for no drivers license, 7 warnings for city code violations including BB Gun violation, illegal parking, noise disturbance, curfew violation, animal at large.

FIRE DEPARTMENT REPORT: Nate Baker reported that the fire department had 3 calls which included a grass fire on Indian Avenue, storm watch-tornado warning, and 1 mutual aid with Tipton which was cancelled in route.

Training in April included extrication and car fire in engine compartment with 12 members present, focused on safety, broke windows, removed doors and roof, made a third door, and started engine compartment on fire using LP.

Nate also requested to have flow test for air packs and face pieces completed at $47 per air pack and $5 per face piece and a $25 service call for 25 air packs and bottles and 39 face pieces for a total cost of $1395. Pam motioned and Larry seconded to approve the expenditure to have this annual testing done. Ayes all. Motion carried.

The council also asked to change the meeting date for the safety committee to the first Tuesday of each month so that the timing would be better with preparing requests for the council meeting. The safety committee departments (fire, ambulance, and police) are also working on putting together a list of priorities for items that will be needed in the future.

AMBULANCE REPORT: Sherie Paup reported that the ambulance had a total of 11 calls for the month with 6 medical, 3 trauma and 2 mutual aid calls. Pam motioned, Tom seconded, to approve the request for Jake, Leslie, and Brett to take the written test for training at a cost of $50 each and to do the practical testing fees at $100 each for a total of $450. Ayes all. Motion carried.

Mumps testing: Pam Logue-Newcomb motioned, Jeff Christianson seconded to approve a request for the ambulance personnel to be tested to see if they need to get a mumps vaccination. The cost of the testing is approx $100 each. Ayes all. Motion carried.

Request to purchase Ambulance Life line approx $90,000: Sherie submitted a second proposal at a cost of $106,000 but it did not include a trade in. The safety committee will meet to review the proposal and bring back a recommendation to the council at the next meeting. Sherie also informed the council that “A-9 is not road worthy” as they had it out on a non-emergency transfer and it had a flat tire, and possibly has a head gasket going out on it. The unit has 60,000 miles on it. It has currently been taken out of service and the safety committee will also review options and prepare a recommendation.

Old Business:

Discussion and possible action on:

Bids for Recycling: The current recycling contract is due to expire on June 30, so the council had directed to publish a notice for bids to be opened at this meeting. Only 1 bid was received which was from Johnson County Refuse the current provider of services. The rate increased 40 cents per household, primarily due to the additional fuel costs. A motion was made by Larry, seconded by Pam to enter into a 3 year contract and to modify the existing contract to add a clause that allows the contract to be renewed for an additional term. After the motion was made additional discussion was held on researching the possibility of collecting our own recycling and selling it to North Cedar Recycling. This option would only be available if the 3 towns (Clarence, Stanwood, & Mechanicsville) would pool our materials and sell it as one. It would also involve purchasing a trailer and providing man power to do the collection. Since this discussion was still in the beginning stages, and the current contract expires next month, the council proceeded to vote in favor of approving the contract and if at some point in the future decide something else would be more beneficial to the community, they could exercise those options at that time. Ayes all. Motion carried.

Beck motioned, and Logue-Newcomb seconded, to adjust the recycling and garbage rates by 20 cents each in order to cover the increase in fuel costs. Ayes all. Motion carried.

Sidewalk Inspection Assignments: Mayor Furry divided the town up into 3 sections and appointed Tom and Larry to section 1, Jeff and Karrie to section 2, and Pam and himself to section 3. Upon completing the inspections a list will be compiled regarding the walks that must be repaired.

Tennis Court proposal: Council reviewed a proposal from Tennis Courts Unlimited to put an acrylic surface on top of a new asphalt surface for the two courts at a cost of approx. cost of $5000. This protects the asphalt from deteriorating and extends the life by about 10 years. Council is waiting to hear back on a grant application and in the mean time will work on identifying a way to remove the existing surface prior to the new asphalt being applied.

New Business:

Codification of Ordinances: A summary of the updates due to legislative changes and the ordinances that were passed since the last codification was done was prepared and reviewed by the council. The question of whether or not to modify any of the rates prior to codification was raised which included a discussion on the cost of a building permit. A motion was made by Hall and seconded by Beck to approve an increase in the building permits from $5 to $20. Ayes – Hall and Beck; Nays: Logue & Christianson; Absent--Johnson. Motion failed. Building permit rates will remain at $5. A motion was then made by Larry, seconded by Jeff to approve the draft as presented and to proceed with the completion of the codification. Ayes all. Motion carried.

Copy of Editorial: Improve our town’s entrances: A copy of the editorial from the Mt. Vernon Sun that discussed improving a town’s entrance was passed along to the council as general information by a person who owns property in Mechanicsville and thought the council would be interested in it. The council also briefly discussed communicating with the railroad about possibly locating a Welcome sign in the railroad right of way.

Committee Reports: Tom Hall reported that he had contacted Alliant regarding the energy audit of the city buildings and they are a couple months out and will call to schedule when they are able to do it.

Safety Committee: Pam reported that they had discussed prioritizing purchases and researching the possibility of charging a fee for fire services.

Memorial Building: The cabinets & grills have been moved into the new storage area. The coat racks still need to be replaced. It was also noted that the caulking on the windows in the post office is in need of repair; however, this will wait until the energy audit is completed by Alliant.

Set next regular meeting date: 6/12/06

ADJOURN: There being no further business to come before the Council at this time, council member Logue-Newcomb motioned, Beck seconded, to adjourn the meeting at 9:55 p.m. Ayes all. Meeting adjourned.

ATTEST:

____________________________ _______________________________

Linda K. Coppess, CMC David L. Furry, Mayor

City Clerk/Finance Officer