City of Carlyle City Council met April 13.
Here is the minutes provided by the council:
The Carlyle City Council was called to order by Mayor Judy Smith, at 7:00 p.m. remotely due to COVID-19 shelter in place order.
The meeting opened with the Pledge of Allegiance.
Aldermen remotely present were Kent Newkirk, Shannon Petrea, Scott Diekemper, Don Perez, John Hodapp, Jeremy Weh, Michael Jansen, and Logan Speiser.
City employees remotely present were Andy Brackett, City Attorney Joe Heiligenstein, City Treasurer Chad Holthaus, and City Clerk Rita Jurgensmeyer.
Others remotely present were Kelly Ross, Matt Wilson, Scott Rakers, and Jean VanDorn.
A motion was made by Alderman John Hodapp and was seconded by Alderman Jeremy Weh to approve the minutes from the March 23, 2020 regular meeting. The motion was unanimously approved by roll call vote. Aye: Kent Newkirk, Shannon Petrea, Scott Diekemper, Don Perez, John Hodapp, Jeremy Weh, Michael Jansen, and Logan Speiser. Nay: none.
Alderman Don Perez made a motion to approve the transfers from Fund 1 – General Fund to Fund 3 – Street and Alley for $25,000.00, Fund 4 – Police for $45,000.00, Fund 16 Retirement for $10,000.00, Fund 17 Parks for $5,000.00, Fund 20 Library for $15,000.00 and Fund 22 Pool House Loan for $5,000.00 for a total of $105,000.00. The motion was seconded by Alderman Jeremy Weh and was approved unanimously by roll call vote. Aye: Shannon Petrea, Scott Diekemper, Don Perez, John Hodapp, Jeremy Weh, Micahel Jansen, Logan Speiser, and Kent Newkirk. Nay: none.
Alderman Don Perez made a motion to accept the treasurer’s report as presented. The motion was seconded by Alderman John Hodapp and approved unanimously by roll call vote. Aye: Scott Diekemper, Don Perez, John Hodapp, Jeremy Weh, Michael Jansen, Logan Speiser, Kent Newkirk, and Shannon Petrea. Nay: none.
Alderman Don Perez made a motion to approve the payment of the claims against the City. The motion was seconded by Alderman John Hodapp and approved unanimously by roll call vote. Aye: Don Perez, John Hodapp, Jeremy Weh, Michael Jansen, Logan Speiser, Kent Newkirk, Shannon Petrea, and Scott Diekemper. Nay: none.
Alderman Don Perez made a motion to accept a purchase approval for a 9700 I-Series flushing station at a cost of $13,999.00 from IMCO Utility Supply Company. Alderman Kent Newkirk seconded the motion and it was approved unanimously by roll call vote. Aye: John Hodapp, Jeremy Weh, Michael Jansen, Logan Speiser, Kent Newkirk, Shannon Petrea, Scott Diekemper, and Don Perez. Nay: none.
In public comments Mayor Judy Smith spoke for Gene VanDorn. She said he called her with two concerns. The first concern was for the work to be done on Krebs Hill. There is a $10,000.00 estimate for traffic control on the engineer’s estimate. He feels that it is a high amount for traffic control. The second concern was about leaf burning. He wants to relay to the Council that he is totally in favor of a leaf burning ban because of all the people with respiratory issues.
Mayor Judy Smith then thanked everyone for their support at the fish fry Friday night. She said that Garrett Wade did a tremendous job getting everything set up. They served close to 640 meals. They brought in $5,753.00. She thanked the Police Department and Garrett Wade for organizing the fish fry.
Mayor Judy Smith then thanked the churches that participated in ringing their bells on Easter Sunday.
Mayor Judy Smith said that Cheryl Brinkmann, who is on the Library Board, contacted her to discuss an activity for Earth Day that she will run under the Library. Since we will still be in the quarantine the schools will not be able to take the children to the lake on Earth Day like they have done in the past. She is going to run a contest where families can adopt a section of sidewalk either uptown or in their neighborhood and draw with sidewalk chalk something that will honor Earth Day. They can then take a picture of it and post it on the Library’s website. They will also create a map of the drawings for anyone to take a walk and look at the decorated sidewalks.
Mayor Judy Smith then thanked the Hunt/Melton family for bringing the Easter Bunny to town. They gave the Easter Bunny a ride around town and played “Here Comes Peter Cottontail”. Mayor Smith said it was much appreciated.
City Administrator Andy Brackett along with Scott Rakers from H. M. & G. then explained the Krebs Hill resurfacing bid award.
Scott Rakers explained that the low bidder only bid $2,400.00 for traffic control and that $10,000.00 was the estimate. Mayor Smith said that she would relay that information to Gene VanDorn.
City Administrator Andy Brackett said that Byrne and Jones Construction was the low bidder. Their bid was $341,082.72 with a 10 percent budget contingency of $34,108.27 for a total of $375,190.99. He said that it went before the Street and Alley Committee and they recommended accepting this bid. Andy Brackett said that up to $300,152.79 would come from Fund 41 – Infrastructure Fund and up to $75,038.20 would come from Fund 34 – Tif 2.
Alderman Don Perez asked if this bid includes milling the asphalt down and laying new asphalt. City Administrator Andy Brackett said that this is correct.
Alderman John Hodapp asked if the city was keeping the millings. City Administrator Andy Brackett said that yes, it was discussed that the contractor would get with Joe Behrman.
Discussion was held concerning keeping the millings to use in the alleys.
Alderman Don Perez made a motion to accept the bid from Byrne and Jones Construction for $341,082.72 plus a 10 percent contingency for the Krebs Hill resurfacing project. The motion was seconded by Alderman Kent Newkirk and was approved unanimously by roll call vote. Aye: Jeremy Weh, Michael Jansen, Logan Speiser, Kent Newkirk, Shannon Petrea, Scott Diekemper, Don Perez, and John Hodapp. Nay: none.
City Administrator Andy Brackett asked Scott Rakers for a timeline for the project. Scott Rakers said that as soon as the contract is sent to the contractor it will take two to three weeks for the contractor to get the bonding and insurance back to the city. At that time, the mayor will sign it and the contactor will be issued the award and they will have ten days to start. They have 20 working days (four or five weeks) to complete the project. Scott Rakers then added that they should get it done in two to three weeks if they do not have any major patching to do after they take the surface off.
Administrator Andy Brackett then explained a resolution to suspend the late fees and any utility disconnection through the bill due June 5, 2020. They are still suggesting people should pay what they can, so they do not get too far behind.
Alderman Jeremy Weh made a motion to approve the resolution to suspend the late fees and any non-payment disconnections through June 5, 2020. The motion was seconded by Alderman Michael Jansen and it was approved unanimously by roll call vote. Aye: Michael Jansen, Logan Speiser, Kent Newkirk, Shannon Petrea, Scott Diekemper, Don Perez, John Hodapp, and Jeremy Weh. Nay: none.
City Administrator Andy Brackett then explained that the city typically waives the utility and trash fees for the Clinton County Senior Center. The credit for the last fiscal year was $6,671.88. He said that this has gone before the Finance Committee and they recommend waiving the utility and trash fee for the Clinton County Senior Center.
A motion was made by Alderman Kent Newkirk to waive the utility and trash fees for the Clinton County Senior Center for FY21. The motion was seconded by Alderman John Hodapp and was unanimously approved by roll call vote. Aye: Logan Speiser, Kent Newkirk, Shannon Petrea, Scott Diekemper, Don Perez, John Hodapp, Jeremy Weh, and Michael Jansen. Nay: none.
Alderman Michael Jansen spoke on the next agenda item, leaf burning ban. He said that he has been approached from several people complaining about leaf burning. He gave several examples of the disadvantages of leaf burning. He feels that leaf burning should be banned but burning sticks that have fallen in your yard or having a fire pit should be admissible. He spoke of the options that the citizens may utilize to dispose of their leaves.
Alderman Don Perez said that he has had healthcare professionals come to him about leaf burning because of health issues and that he agrees with Alderman Michael Jansen.
Alderman Scott Diekemper said that he has noticed coming into town in the last few weeks with the warmer weather you can smell the smoke as soon as you hit city limits.
Kent Newkirk then spoke of his concerns. He asked how many complaints the Police Department has had. He brought up several points concerning how people would get rid of leaves. He asked if the Street and Alley department can keep up with picking up more leaves. If all burning is banned would they have time to pick up sticks. He feels there is a lot of questions to be answered before all burning is banned.
Alderman Kent Newkirk felt that this should be addressed in an open forum where the citizens can voice their opinions. He would like to postpone this until the council meetings are able to be held in regular session.
Alderman John Hodapp asked if a survey could be sent out in the utility bills. City Administrator said that it could be done.
Discussion was held concerning what questions should be on the survey.
City Attorney Joe Heiligenstein said that he could look at some other municipalities’ ordinances and see how they handle burning in their cities.
City Administrator Andy Brackett said that he would have a survey made up for the next council meeting so they can add or delete any questions at that time.
City Administrator Andy Brackett spoke on the COVID-19 update. He said since the last meeting they have implemented crew rotations. The departments are split up into different crews so that if one person gets sick it will not spread to the entire department. He also said that a freeze has been put on any non-essential spending including non-emergency overtime for FY21. He also explained that sales tax, non-home rule tax, video gaming tax will be lower, and they will need to plan accordingly. He also said that at the last council meeting they discussed assistance programs for small businesses sponsored by the city. After speaking with City Attorney Joe Heiligenstein, it was decided that there are too many issues that would need to be dealt with to be able to offer any programs to the small businesses. He said there are much better programs being offered through federal and state agencies that these businesses can take advantage of.
At 7:45 p.m. Alderman Don Perez made a motion to adjourn. The motion was seconded by Alderman John Hodapp and was unanimously approved by roll call vote. Aye: Kent Newkirk, Shannon Petrea, Scott Diekemper, Don Perez, John Hodapp, Jeremy Weh, Michael Jansen, and Logan Speiser. Nay: none.
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