July 5th Minutes
July 5, 2023
Those Present: DeLoy Kunz, Greg Kunz, Trenton Morrell, Tee Steadman, Mayor Stephan Waechtler, Maintenance Supervisor Shane Clark, Hadley Wright, City Clerk Lynette Smith, Sheriff Bart Heslington, City Attorney Adam McKenzie
Meeting called to order: 7:05 pm Invocation: Mayor Stephan Waechtler
The Council entertained a motion from councilor Greg Kunz to approve the published agenda and was seconded by councilor Trenton Morrell. All were in favor and the motion carried the council.
The minutes from May 30, 2023, were read aloud by Clerk Smith. Councilor Tee Steadman made the motion to accept the minutes as read. Councilor Trenton Morrell seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion carried the council.
Sheriff Bart Heslington came before the council to discuss the police contract and brought some statistics for the month of June and reported that they were out here for 57 hours and made 97 contacts and issued 24 citations. Most of the contacts were for off highway vehicles and had a lot of discussions with kids and parents about wearing helmets while operating those vehicles. They did some foot patrol around City Hall and the church and will be coming out for traffic control this Saturday for Twin Creeks. Councilor DeLoy Kunz requested for more patrol up Stringtown on the weekends for the campers. The Mayor asked Shane to get out the police vehicle and move it around through town.
There was a meeting on June 22nd with the County Commissioners, Sheriff’s Department and 4 cities within the County. The county is not willing to spend any extra money to employ another officer at this time. The other 3 cities want the Law Enforcement on their end of the valley and just in the summer months and feel that their taxes should already be paying for the man power and they’re not willing to pay anymore right now either.
City Attorney, Adam McKenzie, was present to discuss the contract and brought for review. We need to set a fee. The county has all of the equipment and vehicles they need for their guys and won’t need ours. We can put it up for auction if we don’t need it and may be a good idea before it becomes obsolete and not worth anything and we can always buy another car if we ever needed. The contract is for 55 hours of patrol time each month with compensation to increase by 3% each fiscal year. The citation fees issued within the city will come back to the City. The county can have their communications people evaluate the radio and equipment and can incorporate into their inventory and give the City fair market value vs sitting on the equipment and it depreciate to not worth anything as technology updates. The Sheriff mentioned an example of their contract with the Forest Service which includes the vehicle, fuel, equipment, etc. at $45/hour for 55 hours would total to be $29,700 a year. The Mayor mentioned his concerns with reports getting lost and the Sheriff and Attorney both assured him that having a direct agreement with the Sheriff’s Department will eliminate the extra hands and agencies that the previous paperwork had to go through and it all should be well taken care of. Adam also recommended to use Best Practice Judgement in instances of trying to stop traffic or stop wrongdoings from happening.
Adam discussed the subdivision ordinance with the Council and reported on the Tax Commission rejecting the annexation of the Whitaker’s property due to the legal description of the property being of the whole property and not just the parcel that needs to be annexed since the parcel has half in City limits and half in the County. Adam has spoken with Tim Christensen about getting a new legal description for the parcel being annexed and then we can resubmit. The council reviewed all of the question areas in the subdivision ordinance and Adam will attach the developer’s agreement from Addison Ochsenbein at Sunrise Engineering and he will include only what will pertain to us.
Twin Creeks schedule will include the dunk tank, a foam party, bike races, cornhole tournaments, bounce houses and kids karate lessons. There may be a vendor come that has axe throwing and if so, we will need to get a liability waiver form filled out for each participant.
Duke & Coy Smith came and reported on their trip to the National Jr. High Finals Rodeo in Perry, Georgia and said that they had a good time and represented the City well and expressed their thanks to the City for their donation.
Councilor DeLoy Kunz asked about who has purchased building permits and listed some that need to have a permit application mailed to them since they are doing some building.
The Mayor reported that at Con Vouros’s barn, the water valve can’t be located. Councilor Tee Steadman will call the previous owner Reed Clark to find where it was disconnected at and see if we can get his water back to him. Con will pay for parts but the City will not charge a hookup fee and will install a shut off valve. It was discussed to put up some concrete barriers in front of the church until the asphalt gets replaced. Shane will get in touch with A+ Contractors to get an ETA. The council agreed to sell the service truck but to keep the sander for future use and needs a new drive chain. Councilor Trenton Morrell made the motion to purchase the backup plow truck that was used this winter and Councilor Tee Steadman seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion carried the council.
Maintenance Report: Shane gave his report for the month of June and we have officially hired a second full time maintenance man which is Hadley Wright. They have been busy at the cemetery and watering at the land app. There is a water leak under the old chlorinator building at the tanks. Shane has called Cody at A+ Contractors to get a bid and see what he can do to get the building moved and leak repaired. They did some repairs on water lines at Jason Morris and Cody Coombs and will start mowing the right of ways starting next week.
Office Business: There are 16 delinquent water and sewer accounts for the month of June. Lynette reported that the next meeting will be for the budget workshop and all should be in attendance and we should budget to rebuild some of the back roads. Lynette will get in touch with Addison about seeing if there are any grants available for that to the City right now. The City did not get approved for a grant to help with the Lead and Copper inventory. The 4-H want to bring a trailer on July 18th to the park and will take care of their advertising.
The chair entertained a motion from Councilor DeLoy Kunz for the council to approve checks and vouchers for the month of June 2023 in the amount of $15,727.36 in the general fund, $14,894.20 in the water fund, and $24,109.56 in the sewer fund, with all funds totaling $54,731.12. Councilor Tee Steadman seconded the motion. All were in favor and motion carried the council.
The chair entertained a motion from Councilor DeLoy Kunz that council adjourns from the July 2023 council meeting at 10:05 pm. Councilor Tee Steadman seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion carried the council.
Respectfully submitted,
Lynette Smith
City Clerk-Treasurer