May 30th Minutes
May 30, 2023
Those Present: Greg Kunz, Trenton Morrell, Tee Steadman, Mayor Stephan Waechtler, Maintenance Supervisor Shane Clark, City Clerk Lynette Smith, Sheriff Bart Heslington, Tyler & Katana Sorensen, Kevin & Marty Nate, Con Vouros, Addison Ochsenbein of Sunrise Engineering, Duke & Coy Smith
Meeting called to order: 7:00 pm Invocation: Mayor Stephan Waechtler
The Council entertained a motion from councilor Greg Kunz to approve the added agenda items of Tyler Sorensen, Con Vouros and Executive Session I.C. 74-206(a) to discuss hiring employes to the published agenda and was seconded by councilor Trenton Morrell. All were in favor and the motion carried the council. Councilor Greg Kunz also made the motion to approve the published agenda and was seconded by Trenton Morrell. All were in favor and the motion carried the council.
The minutes from May 2, 2023, were read aloud by Clerk Smith. Councilor Tee Steadman made the motion to accept the minutes as read with corrections to Ordinance #96 to prevent digging up the road and Councilor Greg Kunz seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion carried the council.
The Sheriff reported that he and City Attorney, Adam McKenzie are reviewing a contract to bring to the Council and he brought along some statistics for the month of May and showing that there were 62 contacts made for various reasons and 18 citations were issued. Most of the contacts were primarily speeders. Councilor Tee Steadman requested that the officers be here to patrol on weekends and Sunday afternoons for campers and some early mornings. If the council has concerns they can call Bart directly. For funeral escorts we can call the dispatch and give some notice. In our contract, it will designate the primary points of contact mainly between Sheriff Bart and a council member.
Tyler Sorensen came before the council to discuss putting a building behind their house and currently the water line runs through there and only has one shutoff for all three connections, so if anyone becomes delinquent, they all would be shut off and not just the one that is delinquent. If someone else were to purchase Sylvia Miller’s place there needs to be a second valve installed. When the building goes in it should have a separate valve installed too and the City will replace the valves sooner than later when the City workers can get to it. Since there are three connections when the valves get installed it will be considered an existing hookup and not have a fee except for when the water gets turned on and is being used.
Twin Creeks will be on July 8th and the fireworks are coming along with some food trucks in between the activities and fireworks. Katana is having trouble getting help for the activities and she is raising money for donations for the fireworks with a budget of $7500 including the cost of the fireworks.
Con Vouros would like to get water to his barn that is in City limits and used to be a dairy barn and has a hydrant so it would have had water at one time. Not sure if it was capped at some point because it being a dairy should have it’s own line. He would like some help to locate the valve and then turn it back on and will pay a separate bill for it.
Addison Ochsenbein of Sunrise Engineering came before the council and stated that he went over some funding options with Amanda at SEICOG but we don’t qualify because our weather was not extreme enough to have caused the issues that we had. There is an option to get a loan through USDA or LHTAC for traffic or mudslides or transportation impacts but he doesn’t think that we have a strong enough case for it.
Marty Nate commented that the merry-go-round is damaged, looks like it got dented from the snow; maybe can get powder coated and rebuild it. Katana will look into available grants for playground equipment but will need to be careful so we don’t lose the use of the old equipment we have.
Councilor DeLoy Kunz is concerned about renting out rooms, but we don’t have anything in the Ordinances against it or having multiple families in one dwelling. It’s not a lot different than other home-based businesses we already have in town either.
Councilor Tee Steadman has some concerns with the trailers coming back into town. The Mayor has been called and made aware that the trailer is here but they are going to use it for a storage for now. They will have 30 days and then it will need to be moved if they are using it for more than just storage.
Councilor Greg Kunz said he and Joe went and looked at the turn around up the canyon and think with a CAT that you could make a big turn around area to accommodate all that go there through the year. He says to ask the County to come and move some gravel around. Greg will talk to them about widening it.
Police Report: None
Maintenance Report: Shane gave his report for the month of May and stated that he has been busy at the cemetery with 3 graves and 1 exhumation. He has been doing the Land app sampling and got up to the tank. He and Alan got a lot of the lead and copper inventory done. He mowed at the park and the cemetery and they got the water line fixed to Rusty Dimick’s/Eric DeClark’s place. The City will pay for the pipe and it is still way cheaper than digging up the road and the whole section will be taken care of now.
Office Business: There are 15 delinquent water and sewer accounts for the month of May. Lynette reported that some of the delinquents are repeat offenders and that we will be resuming shutoffs for those not catching up their accounts. The next council date is a conflict with the 4th of July and so it will be moved to the following evening on Wednesday, July 5th. The Mayor asked if we want to do a breakfast at Twin Creeks and it was decided that the council will host the breakfast and the food trucks will be there in the afternoon to evening. Katana is still looking for help with the bike race, cornhole, parade and flag ceremony.
Duke & Coy Smith came before the council as they have both qualified for the National Jr. High Finals Rodeo in Perry, Georgia and would like a monetary donation to help with their expenses to get there to compete. Councilor Greg Kunz made the motion to give them each $350 and to come back and report on their trip at the next meeting with videos. Councilor Tee Steadman seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion carried the council.
Councilor Greg Kunz made the motion to go into Executive Session at 9:00 pm for the purpose of discussing situations and hiring employees and was seconded by councilor Tee Steadman. All were in favor and the motion carried the council. Councilor Tee Steadman made the motion to leave Executive Session at 9:30 pm and was seconded by councilor Trenton Morrell. All were in favor and the motion carried the council. Councilor Tee Steadman made the motion to increase wages for Shane Clark and Lynette Smith and to hire another full-time employee and split the job requirements. Councilor Greg Kunz seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion carried the council.
The chair entertained a motion from Councilor Greg Kunz for the council to approve checks and vouchers for the month of May 2023 in the amount of $12,884.94 in the general fund, $48,718.48 in the water fund, and $16,872.27 in the sewer fund, with all funds totaling $78,475.69. Councilor Trenton Morrell seconded the motion. All were in favor and motion carried the council.
The chair entertained a motion from Councilor Greg Kunz that council adjourns from the June 2023 council meeting at 9:45 pm. Councilor Trenton Morrell seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion carried the council.
Respectfully submitted,
Lynette Smith
City Clerk-Treasurer