December 2023 Minutes
December 5, 2023
Those Present: DeLoy Kunz, Greg Kunz, Trenton Morrell, Tee Steadman, Maintenance Supervisor Shane Clark, Maintenance Hadley Wright, City Clerk Lynette Smith, Addison Ochsenbein of Sunrise Engineering, Kari Ure of Bear Lake County Extension Office, Kevin & Marty Nate, Katana Sorensen
Meeting called to order: 7:00 pm Invocation: Maintenance man Hadley Wright
Council President, Greg Kunz, conducted the meeting since the Mayor was gone on business and didn’t make it back in time for the meeting. The Council entertained a motion from Councilor Tee Steadman 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 November 8, 2023, were read aloud by Clerk Smith. Councilor Trenton Morrell made the motion to accept the minutes as read and Councilor DeLoy Kunz seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion carried the council.
Kari Ure from the Bear Lake County Extension Office came before the council to introduce herself and what she is doing for the Extension Office. She is new to town and part of the Family & Consumer Science department and 4-H. She would like everyone to fill out an online survey to give feedback of what needs we have in our community.
Addison Ochsenbein of Sunrise Engineering came before the council to report that he submitted the grant application for the transportation plan study and funding won’t be available for at least a year. He will put in for the water loan in January and he and Kevin are looking for other funding sources too. He said it may be possible to make an amendment to our last study for just the line from the spring to the tank. He also suggested looking into other grants from the NRCS for the Irrigation Company too. There is also a TAP application he can look into for replacing sidewalks with the City having to match 7.34% in matching funds. The council appreciates all of these grants he’s looking into for us and look forward to hearing back if we are recipients to any of them.
Katana Sorensen came before the council to discuss issues she has with her neighbors and would like to put in an 8 foot privacy fence along the north side of their property to separate from their neighbors. They have had to start documenting incidents that they have with them and feel this fence is necessary for the safety of their children from their neighbor. The fence would only run east and west and not north and south and the trailers would stay on the property even with the new fence. The council said they will look more into the Ordinance #27 and regulations about fences and would like Katana to come back to the next council meeting to give them time to make a decision. Councilor Trenton Morrell asked if the neighbors would sign off on an 8 foot fence. Katana also asked if there is a noise ordinance other than the curfew for minors or jake breaks because they have been outside around 10:30 at night and told they were disturbing their neighbors and violating Ordinances and so she wanted to check on that. Lynette will dig deeper and see if there is anything for noise for businesses or adults.
The Christmas Park Lighting Event was another successful event. We planned on about 100 people and probably had about 80 people there. Santa did inform us that he is retiring this year and so we will need to be on the look for a replacement next year. This is an event that we all look forward to all year and love seeing how most of the community comes out for this event, even if it isn’t to visit with Santa.
The City will have a Christmas Light Contest again this year and Lynette will advertise and get the gift cards ready. The council will need to report back by December 20th to select the winners. Three places will be awarded and 1st will receive $100; 2nd $75 and 3rd $50.
Employee Christmas Bonus’s were discussed and Councilor Trenton Morrell made the motion to give Shane Clark, Hadley Wright and Lynette Smith $500 each and Doug Thompson $200. Councilor Tee Steadman seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion carried the council.
Councilor DeLoy Kunz asked Clerk Smith to include in the yearly end of year letter that the State Highway plow operators have requested for citizens to move their garbage cans back towards their property so they don’t get hit on the highway and to also include there’s a lot of cars still parked in the right of ways too so it’s not easy to plow. He also reported that the painting for the crosswalk along the highway is scheduled to be done but probably won’t happen until next year now. It was also requested to mark where the new curbing is by the church so people can avoid for parking.
Councilor Tee Steadman reported that Sheriff Heslington couldn’t be here tonight due to not feeling well this week and recovering. He also said if the new police contract is here to get it signed so we can get that officially taken care of. Lynette will get the Mayor to sign it in the morning so it can get to the Commissioners.
Marty Nate came to report on her findings with Tyler Williamson and their progress on the cemetery map. He has emailed a map that he has platted and she will need to borrow Shane’s map again so they can get it finished.
Police Report: Deputy Sheriff Ryan Larsen called before the council meeting to give a report for November. He was also unable to make it to the meeting due to being called out on an accident before the meeting. He reported that they worked for about 59 hours this month. They made 38 contacts and issued 4 citations.
Maintenance Report: Hadley gave their report for the month of November and stated that he and Shane have been doing some water training and putting up Christmas lights. They got the electrical outlets fixed at the pavilion to be able to plug in all of the Christmas lights. They trimmed some trees on Stringtown and reached out to DeLoy about the cattleguards at the State Highway Department but they have some other plans for those. They looked at some generators at Gundersen’s as they are the same brand and nearly the same price as elsewhere. They got the plows ready and chains on vehicles. The McCulloch’s came and removed the headstone completely at the cemetery that was not in line with the others. Lynette called and left a few messages with the contacts she had but never got a response from any of them, so we are unsure if they will be bringing the headstone back again next year or what is going on there.
Office Business: There are 16 delinquent water and sewer accounts for the month of November. Clerk Smith asked if anyone knew who is living in the home North of town in Dottie Harwood’s old place or have a way to get a hold of them. We have tried to contact them and left notes on the door with no response and no mailing address. Lynette will try the title company again in the morning and see if she can find the realtor and get ahold of them that way. She also reported that Layne DeClark has been in touch and said they came and shoveled off the roof to make sure there won’t be any leaks or damage and they are still planning to come back and fix the roof before winter gets too deep here.
The chair entertained a motion from Councilor Tee Steadman for the council to approve checks and vouchers for the month of November 2023 in the amount of $17,530.70 in the general fund, $10,271.02 in the water fund, and $21,263.50 in the sewer fund, with all funds totaling $49,065.22. Councilor DeLoy Kunz 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 November 2023 council meeting at 8:30 pm. Councilor Tee Steadman seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion carried the council.
Respectfully submitted,
Lynette Smith
City Clerk-Treasurer