September 16, 2019

Posted: September 13, 2019 | Updated: October 16, 2023

AGENDA

NOTICE AND CALL OF PUBLIC MEETING

 

GOVERNMENTAL BODY:                         THE CITY COUNCIL OF CRESCO, IOWA

DATE OF MEETING:                                   SEPTEMBER 16, 2019

TIME AND PLACE OF MEETING:             7:00 P.M. AT CRESCO CITY HALL

 

PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT THE ABOVE MENTIONED

GOVERNMENTAL BODY WILL MEET AT THE DATE, TIME AND PLACE SET OUT ABOVE.    THE TENTATIVE AGENDA FOR SAID MEETING IS AS FOLLOWS:

 

ROLL CALL:  BRENNO, McCARVILLE, FORTUNE, BOUSKA, CARMAN

 

ACT ON THE CONSENT AGENDA: All items listed under the consent agenda will be enacted by one motion. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a request is made prior to the time council votes on the motion.

  1. Approval of the Agenda
  2. Approval of the Claims
  3. Approval of Minutes from September 4, 2019
  4. Approval of Class E Liquor License (LE) to add Class B Wine Permit to Casey’s Marketing d/b/a Casey’s General Store #2511
  1. Approval of Class E Liquor License (LE) to Change Officers for Casey’s Marketing d/b/a Casey’s General Store #2511

 

STAFF REPORTS: There may be action taken on each of the items listed below.

  1. Public Works
  2. Police
  3. Administration
  4. Committee Updates

 

BUSINESS:  There may be action taken on each of the items listed below.

 

  1. Public Hearing on the Proposed Plans, Specifications, Form of Contract, and Estimate of Said Improvements for the Vernon Road Watermain Improvements Project
  2. Resolution Making Award of Contract for the Vernon Road Watermain Improvements Project
  3. Resolution Authorizing the Mayor and City Clerk to Enter into a Professional Services Agreement with WHKS & Co. for the Vernon Road Watermain Improvements Project
  4. Resolution Authorizing the Mayor and City Clerk to Enter into a 28E Agreement with Howard County for Law Enforcement Services Regarding the Jail
  5. Motion to Submit a Letter to the Iowa Utilities Board in Opposition of the Proposed Alliant Energy Rate Increases
  6. Set Public Hearing for Budget Amendment #2 for Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 2019
  7. Discuss Nuisance Property at 119 5th Ave E
  8. Discuss the Proposals Received for the Trailer Park Development

 

COMMENTS FROM AUDIENCE:

 

ADJOURN:

 

THIS NOTICE IS GIVEN AT THE DIRECTION OF THE MAYOR PURSUANT TO CHAPTER 21, CODE OF IOWA AND THE LOCAL RULES OF SAID GOVERNMENTAL BODY.  POSTED SEPTEMBER 13, 2019.

MINUTES

Mayor Bohle called the Cresco City Council meeting to order on September 16, 2019, at 7:00 pm at City Hall. Council Members Brenno, McCarville, Fortune, Bouska and Carman were present. No council members were absent.

Carman made the motion to approve the consent agenda which included approval of the: agenda; claims; minutes of the September 4, 2019 meeting; Class E Liquor License (LE) to add Class B Wine Permit and also to change officers for Casey’s Marketing d/b/a Casey’s General Store #2511. Bouska seconded and it passed all ayes.

Public Works Director Freidhof reported: (a) everyone is busy especially with planning for the Vernon Road projects; (b) street light project should be finished tomorrow; (c) researching whether additional street lights can be connected to the solar.

City Clerk Girolamo reminded everyone that candidate filing for the Mayor and Council positions is due September 19th. Twenty-five signatures are required. The election is November 5, 2019. Featherlite had a leak in their water system and had an extra $7,000 billed this month. The meter was able to download a report showing the number of gallons used per hour that clearly showed the days that had the leak running continuously for about a month.

Bouska reported the Regional Housing Authority met in Postville. This is often referred to as Section 8 Housing. Howard County has 48 units of which 39 are in Cresco and we are currently maxed out. She explained Port-Outs as where a person from a big city, such as Chicago, moves to Howard County for the six month waiting period; lives here long enough to meet the subsidy requirements; moves back to Chicago; we continue to pay their subsidy, but at the higher Chicago rates.

Library Director Kay reported that during the heavy rains last week the Library had water come in so they are still figuring out how to fix the problem and also replace some concrete.  They are gearing up for the silent auction in October. Thursday is the public webinar “13 Ways to Kill Your Community”.

Brenno reported that at the Park Board meeting they were informed that memberships were down to 688 which is the lowest in a long time. They continue working on the potential pool renovation plans. They signed an agreement with the school for gym rental. A scoreboard will be purchased for the Kessel ball field. The ice skating rink is being painted.

Mayor Bohle opened the public hearing on the proposed plans, specifications, form of contract, and estimate of said improvements for the Vernon Road Watermain Improvements Project. There were no written or oral comments and the public hearing was closed.

Daren Sikkink from WHKS reported that bids were opened for replacing watermain on Vernon Road and extending storm sewers past the airport. An auto-flusher will be installed and will dump into the new storm sewer. Howard County will do a cost-sharing for the portion in the County. The two bids received were Skyline Construction $329,295.43 and Generation X Construction $336,660. When we originally opened the bids, Skyline’s bid was $12,622.50 higher due to a math error. The unit price was correct but when multiplied by the quantity there was decimal point error. The rule for contracts is that the unit price is the driving factor so the bid was corrected for the multiplication error. The Engineer’s estimate for the project was $440,000 so they are recommending to Council to approve the low bid from Skyline Construction.

Bouska made the motion to approve the resolution making award of contract to Skyline Construction for $329,295.43 for the Vernon Road Watermain Improvements Project. Brenno seconded and it passed all ayes.

Carman made the motion to approve the resolution authorizing the Mayor and City Clerk to enter into a Professional Services Agreement with WHKS & Co. for the Vernon Road Watermain Improvements Project. Bouska seconded and it passed all ayes.

Fortune made the motion to approve the resolution authorizing the Mayor to enter into a 28E Agreement with Howard County for law enforcement services regarding the jail. Carman seconded and it passed all ayes.

Brenno made a motion to submit a letter to the Iowa Utilities Board in opposition of the proposed Alliant Energy rate increases signed by the Mayor and council members. Fortune seconded and it passed all ayes.

Bouska made a motion to set a Public Hearing for October 7, 2019 for Budget Amendment #2 for fiscal year ending June 30, 2019. Fortune seconded and it passed all ayes.

Freidhof informed Council that we acquired property at 119 5th Ave East through the nuisance abatement procedure and State Code 657a.10a. The lot is small and there are some mold problems. The shingles are in very poor shape. The City will have approximately $7,000 invested including property taxes of about $3,300. We will contact a contractor to see if he thinks it is salvageable. If we think it can be sold, we will proceed with an auction with sealed bids needing to be submitted to be eligible to bid at the auction like what has been done in the past.

Mayor Bohle read an Official Response to concerns brought forward by Mr. Dan Weness at the September 4, 2019 Council meeting: “The Proposal received from BDM Properties for the development of the property has been reviewed and meets the requirements of the RFP (“Request For Proposal”). Ahlers and Cooney helped prepare the RFP and is working on the Purchase and Development Agreement and agrees that it appears that the requirements were met. According to our calculations, the breakeven point in property tax revenues would be about seven years. This is assuming the Schwickerath property is completely finished in 18 months and BDM finishes about 20% each year for five years. In year 7 and beyond, BDM will generate approximately 32% more in property taxes each year. BDM Properties has assured the City that they did not see the Schwickerath Proposal prior to the August 19th meeting where the proposals were presented to Council.”

Mayor Bohle asked for comments from the audience. Nathan Schwickerath addressed the Council in regards to a letter sent to Mr. Weness in response to comments made at the last Council meeting. He disagreed with the statements made in the letter and still feels that the BDM Proposal does not meet the RFP requirement to be finished in five years. He requested to see a copy of the proposal and the audio tapes from the August 19, 2019 work session and Council meeting and September 4, 2019 Council meeting, which will be provided to him.

Carman moved to adjourn at 7:46 pm. Brenno seconded and it passed all ayes.  The next regular Cresco City Council meeting will be October 7, 2019 at 7:00 pm at Cresco City Hall.

 

Mayor Mark Bohle
City Clerk Michelle Girolamo

Documents

2019 City Council Agendas, Minutes