March 19
CITY OF HIAWATHA
CITY COMMISSION MINUTES
MONDAY, MARCH 19, 2007 at 5:35 P.M.
HIAWATHA CITY HALL
723 OREGON ST.
1. Pledge of Allegiance/ Call to Order
The Hiawatha City Commission met in regular session on Monday, March 19, 2007, at 5:35 p.m. at City Hall with Commissioner Collins, Commissioner Shamburg and Commissioner Gamble present. Mayor Gernon and Commissioner Schmitt were absent. Commissioner Collins presided over the meeting.
2. CONSENT AGENDA
a. Approval of minutes of the March 12, 2007, City Commission meeting.
Commissioner Shamburg made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Gamble to remove the approval of the minutes from the agenda. Motion carried. 2 ayes. 1 abstain. Commissioner Collins abstained.
Commissioner Shamburg made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Gamble to approve the minutes from the March 12, 2007, City Commission Meeting as presented. Motion carried. 2 ayes. 1 abstain. Commissioner Collins abstained.
b. Payroll appropriation #1079 in the amount of $39,601.66.
c. Approval of Utility Refunds in the amount of $355.16.
d. Approval of Electrical License for Waser Plumbing.
Commissioner Shamburg made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Gamble, to approve the remainder of the Consent Agenda as presented. Motion carried. 3 ayes.
3. Presentation of petitions, public comments, memorials.
Old Business
4. Consider Accepting Changes to Chapter VIII of the Municipal Code as Recommended by the Citizen Committee.
Administrator Ladner explained that the Citizen Committee which had been appointed by the Commission had completed its review of Chapter VIII of the proposed municipal code. The changes made by the committee had been reviewed by the League of Municipalities Attorney, Scott Hildebrand.
Administrator Ladner said the League would then combine the revised Chapter VIII with the changes the Commission made to the rest of the Municipal Code at the work session in January 2007. She said that they are currently working toward having the entire revised municipal code ready for adoption at the April 9th meeting. She would like to have a public open house after the meeting on April 2nd to allow residents to review the new code and ask questions about what items are changing. She asked the Commission if they had any questions on the submitted changes.
She pointed out that Section B was omitted because it was omitted from the Holton ordinance that the committee was using for a guide. This section, which concerns the disposition and recovery of motor vehicles, could be put back into Chapter VIII if the commission wanted.
Dean Tollefson asked that another work session be held due to some information he had acquired and thought that some more revisions needed to be made in Article 2a and Article 5. He thought that these issues should be reviewed before Chapter VIII was adopted.
Administrator Ladner pointed out the Mr. Tollefson had been on the committee and had attended every meeting. She said that the committee, despite Mr. Tollefson’s objections, had chosen to keep Article 2a and Article 5 in the chapter.
Commissioner Gamble asked if the chapter needed to be approved at tonight’s meeting or if it could be approved when they had a full commission.
Administrator Ladner said that not approving it tonight would put off the adoption date until mid to late April. She said that she hesitated to have a second work session next week since there is already a work session scheduled for next Monday for the Capital Improvement Plan.
Commissioner Gamble said that he would prefer to have a full commission to approve Chapter VIII, since it was one of the main chapters of the Municipal Code.
Commissioner Shamburg said that he was ready to accept the recommendations of the committee, but that he would be willing to wait until they had a full commission if that is what the others wanted to do.
Commissioner Collins wanted to wait until they had a full commission.
It was agreed to put the item back on the agenda for next week.
5. Administrator Ladner told the Commission that a Resolution needed to be voted on to give permission for the boundless playground at Bruning Park as a part of the grant application process.
Commissioner Collins read the resolution.
Commissioner Gamble made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Shamburg, to adopt Resolution 2007-06, Permission for a Boundless Playground at Bruning Park. Motion carried. 3 ayes.
New Business
6. Consider and Approve Final Change Orders for Downtown Streetscape Project.
Administrator Ladner explained that she had received the final information for the Downtown Streetscape Project. Included in the spreadsheet detailing are the change orders that have been approved by the Commission as well as those that have not or are in question.
On the spreadsheet, Changes #1, 2, 3 and 7 have all been approved by the Commission previously. Changes #4, 5, and 6 are quantity changes that resulted from things not identified prior to construction, including the need for additional structural sidewalk and meters on Seventh Street that were believed to be in the alley but were in fact along Seventh Street. Item #8 is work that was previously approved by the Commission but that she had erroneously believed had been included in item #7. This was work for outlets in front of the courthouse which was done after the Commission had approved it, when she believed that the costs had been included in the Change order referred to as item #7. She said that the funding needed to be approved for that change order.
Commission Collins asked if there was enough money in the funds to cover that. Administrator Ladner said that there was.
Administrator Ladner said that according to her calculations there was a total of $14,625 in change orders still to be approved.
Commissioner Gamble made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Shamburg, to approve the final change orders for the Downtown Streetscape Project. Motion carried. 3 ayes.
7. Lynne Ladner, City Administrator.
Administrator Ladner said that she, Rance Hixson, Carl Nelson, and Ed Jones had met Monday with the owner of the foundry in Topeka which is doing the work on the streetlight bases. There are approximately 47 bases here which have been determined not to be reusable in addition to the eight at the foundry that are in question. The owner pointed out that they were heavily pitted and cracked. She and the committee plan to meet with the engineer next week to look over the bases here and the ones at the foundry that were rejected. The owner thought that they may be able to salvage some of them which had the “ears” broken off, by braising the “ears” back on. She said that they are trying to keep the number of bases that are unusable to less than the 40 that are in the contract.
She said that the city employee’s luncheon is on Wednesday, March 21 and invited the Commission to attend. She asked permission to close the City Office from 12:00 noon until1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 21, 2007, so that all employees can attend. The Commission agreed to allow that.
She noted that the Employee Benefit meeting will be Wednesday as well.
8. Mayor Crosby Gernon.
9. Com. William Collins.
Commissioner Collins said that he had had some calls concerning the streetlight project on Iowa Street. He said that there were a number of lights taken out 12 or 13 years ago and residents were asking if they could be put back in as a part of this project.
Administrator Ladner said that they were hoping to have money left over after the completion of this project to do some other lighting projects within the City.
Commissioner Collins thanked Commissioner Gamble and also expressed his appreciation for Commissioner Schmitt, who was not in attendance, for the outstanding job they have done while serving on the Hiawatha City Commission and said that they will be missed on the Commission..
10. Com. Curtis Gamble.
11. Com. Marianne Schmitt.
12. Com. Steffen Shamburg.
13. Adjourn.
Commissioner Shamburg made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Gamble, to adjourn. Motion carried. 3 ayes. Meeting adjourned at 5:59 p.m.