January 2024 Minutes
January 2, 2024
Those Present: DeLoy Kunz, Greg Kunz, Trenton Morrell, Marty Nate, Tee Steadman, Maintenance Hadley Wright, City Clerk Lynette Smith, Katana Sorensen by phone
Meeting called to order: 7:00 pm Invocation: Mayor Steve Waechtler
The Council entertained a motion from Councilor Tee Steadman to approve the published agenda and was seconded by Councilor Greg Kunz. All were in favor and the motion carried the council.
The minutes from December 5, 2023, were read aloud by Clerk Smith. Councilor Greg Kunz 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.
The chair entertained a motion from Councilor Trenton Morrell for the council to approve checks and vouchers for the month of December 2023 in the amount of $28,370.93 in the general fund, $8,128.00 in the water fund, and $19,890.90 in the sewer fund, with all funds totaling $56,389.83. Councilor Tee Steadman seconded the motion. All were in favor and motion carried the council.
Police Report: Sheriff Bart Heslington came before the Council to give a report for December. He reported that the contract has been fully endorsed and is in effect. The county uses electronic citations and Sheriff has been working with the State to get Georgetown set up and it just got finished today, but they used handwritten citations in the meantime. Fines will start to be paid back to our City now also from this past quarter. They have been handling some Ordinance issues and City Attorney, Adam McKenzie has sent them formal letters and they are working together on a timeline to get things resolved. They will issue warnings to those continually parking in the right of way to enable the plows from doing their job and issue citations as necessary. They worked for 64 hours this month and made 89 contacts and issued 13 citations.
The Mayor proceeded to swear-in and recite the oath of office with incumbent councilor Tee Steadman and newly re-elected councilor Marty Nate. The Mayor and councilors all expressed their gratitude to Councilor DeLoy Kunz for his 8 years of service. The council then elected Greg Kunz to continue to be the Council President and Marty Nate will assume the responsibilities and duties that DeLoy had.
Councilor Trenton Morrell made the motion to remove DeLoy Kunz from the water accounts at Ireland Bank, sewer accounts at Zions Bank and general accounts at US Bank and add Marty Nate to all the same accounts. Councilor Greg Kunz seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion carried the council. Clerk Smith will get in touch with the banks and notify all councilmembers when new signature cards are ready.
The Mayor called Katana to discuss their privacy fence they want to install on their property. She said they did not talk to the neighbors about approval of the fence this month and just tried to be extra neighborly instead. Their property is in a C-2 commercial district and they are requesting to install an 8 foot fence, but State Statute says no taller than a 6 foot fence. The council discussed and said the refer trailers are already higher than what a privacy fence would be and they’ve said the trailers haven’t stopped the neighbor from approaching the kids because now he comes between the trailers instead. The council recommended that she take the Sheriff over with her to discuss issues and seek approval for a privacy fence. The council tabled a decision until they’ve spoken.
Addison Ochsenbein of Sunrise Engineering was unable to attend the meeting tonight but is continually working on preparing our application for a drinking water loan.
Councilor Marty Nate reported on her progress with Tyler Williamson on the cemetery map. He has color coded the map and marked the streets and just needs to mark where the flag pole is and then it’s just about finished. She needs to go and measure the board for the banner to be placed on and report back to him so he can print the banner and then we will need to get a book up there with the map.
Councilor Trenton Morrell asked if the County has paid for the speed limit signs yet and Clerk Smith reported that they have not. The Mayor had talked to Commissioner Vaughn Rasmussen about them and then there wasn’t much follow up from there. Trenton has heard that there is money available for us and will find out at the County how to get the money. He has left messages with Corey Krantz about the highway signs and for info to get approved signs and so we can move along with getting a school zone along the highway with no response back yet.
Maintenance Report: Hadley gave their report for the month of December and stated that he and Shane have cleared the roads at the cemetery and opened it up in preparation for a burial there in the next couple of weeks. They went up to the water tanks with the help of the Mayor and have been doing some maintenance on the plow and have attended some continued education trainings throughout the month. Shane also passed his Wastewater Collection exam and has received his license for that. Shane now has a license for drinking water and one wastewater.
Office Business: There are 20 delinquent water and sewer accounts for the month of December. The Christmas light winners were 1st place Jason & Kayla Morris, 2nd place Marlin & Sandy Bartschi and 3rd place Charlie & Lisa Humphreys. All winners were excited and appreciative for the gift cards. Lynette reported that W-2’s will be ready to pick up by the end of the month. Lynette has also been contacted by the title company about the sale of the Holder’s farm and questioned if the Holder’s had been granted access along the railroad right of way. Carrie Hemmert said the City was deeded the railroad right of way in 1999 from NuWest to be used for recreational purposes only. Councilor Greg Kunz and Marty Nate remembered there is a Resolution for the Great Northwestern Trail that specifies the right of way is for recreational purposes only and is not to be gated or fenced along the right of way. Lynette will report back to Carrie at the title company to pass along to the new owners.
The chair entertained a motion from Councilor Marty Nate that council adjourns from the January 2024 council meeting at 8:20 pm. Councilor Tee Steadman seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion carried the council.
Respectfully submitted,
Lynette Smith
City Clerk-Treasurer