January 25, 2023 – Special Meeting Minutes
January 25, 2023 – Special Meeting
Those Present: DeLoy Kunz, Greg Kunz, Trenton Morrell, Tee Steadman, Mayor Stephan Waechtler, Maintenance Supervisor Shane Clark, City Clerk Lynette Smith, City Attorney Adam McKenzie, Kevin & Marty Nate, Tim & Merg Neuman
Meeting called to order: 7:00 pm Invocation: Mayor Stephan Waechtler
The Council entertained a motion from councilor Tee Steadman to approve the published agenda and was seconded by councilor DeLoy Kunz. All were in favor and the motion carried the council.
The Mayor welcomed all to the meeting and appreciated the public in attendance. Councilor Greg Kunz made the motion to leave the regular meeting and go into public hearing for the purpose of discussing a property annexation, increasing monthly water rates and increasing water and sewer hookup fees. Councilor Tee Steadman seconded the motion. A roll call vote was taken and is as follows: DeLoy – yes, Tee – yes, Greg – yes, Trenton – yes. Motion carried the council. Clerk Smith reported that there has not been any comments received in person or by mail to the office in regards to the public hearings.
The Whitakers would like to annex their remaining 2.5 acres of their property into the City limits. 2.5 acres already lies in City limits and they would like the other half in the City too. A map of the City limits and property was shown to the council and public. City Attorney, Adam McKenzie said the process to annex is to adopt the Ordinance to annex, then we will have another public hearing to rezone the property as residential. Marty Nate commented that it is already in the Comprehensive Plan that if any property is annexed to City limits that it will be rezoned to residential.
Resolution #2023-01 was read to the council; a resolution to increase the monthly water rates $10. This increase will be saved for future upgrades to the water system and hasn’t been increased since 2008. The sewer rates haven’t been increased since 2012 and ideally rates should be increasing 3% each year. Shane Clark informed the council that we have new testing requirements that have come up this year for Lead & Copper and each home must be documented in the City. Kevin Martin of Sunrise Engineering is helping us to apply for grants to help with those costs, but this $10 increase will help to pay for that as well. Adam said that we can pass an Ordinance to raise the rates each year; if it is less than a 5% increase we don’t need a hearing and can just adjust/increase each year.
Resolution #2023-02 was read to the council; a resolution to increase the water and sewer hookup fees from $1500 to $5000 each plus associated fees. Adam went into detail about keeping in mind that the mine is coming soon and that we need to get an ordinance in place for subdivisions because growth will be coming to the City and we need to start planning for it now. Adam suggested for the council to look over the County’s Subdivision Ordinance as a good starting point and decide what applies to us and what we want to keep and what we don’t need along with their zoning ordinance to update ours. He advised for us to put a subdivision ordinance into place before annexing any large parcels and to make sure the system can handle more homes in its current state. He suggested adding to a subdivision ordinance that for example, in order to develop a subdivision that they must bring in water shares to provide for their homes and that the developer must work with the City Engineer to solve water issues.
Councilor Greg Kunz made the motion to close the public hearing and move back into the regular meeting Trenton Morrell seconded the motion. A roll call vote was taken and is as follows: DeLoy – yes, Tee – yes, Greg – yes, Trenton – yes. Motion carried the council.
Councilor Greg Kunz made the motion to approve the annexation of 2.5 acres of the Whitakers property into the City limits. Councilor Tee Steadman seconded the motion. A roll call vote was taken and is as follows: DeLoy – yes, Tee – yes, Greg – yes, Trenton – yes. Motion carried. Councilor Greg Kunz made the motion to approve Ordinance #109 annexing property of 2.5 acres into the City limits. Councilor Trenton Morrell seconded the motion. A roll call vote was taken and is as follows: DeLoy – yes, Tee – yes, Greg – yes, Trenton – yes. Motion carried.
Councilor Greg Kunz made the motion to approve Resolution #2023-01 to increase the monthly water rates beginning April 10, 2023 and was seconded by Tee Steadman. All were in favor and the motion carried the council.
Councilor Tee Steadman made the motion to approve Resolution #2023-02 to increase the water and sewer hookup fees to $5,000 each and was seconded by DeLoy Kunz. All were in favor and the motion carried the council.
The chair entertained a motion from Councilor Tee Steadman that council adjourns from the January Special Meeting council meeting at 8:15 pm. Councilor Greg Kunz seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion carried the council.
Respectfully submitted,
Lynette Smith
City Clerk-Treasurer