City of Byron City Council met October 3.
Here is the minutes as provided by the council:
1. Call to Order – Mayor Rickard called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m.
2. Pledge of Allegiance – Led by Mayor Rickard
3. Roll Call – Aldermen present: *Todd Isaacs, Emily Gerdes, Mittzi Fulrath, Dan Reilly, Mayor John Rickard, Andy Gramer, Michael Gyorkos, Christy Hanlin. Eight members present by Roll Call Vote. Quorum established.
* - denotes start of the roll call vote
Present: City Clerk Caryn Huber
City Attorney Kim Krahenbuhl
Chief of Police Todd Murray
Econ. Dev. Dir. Larry Hewitt
City Engineer Jason Stoll
Dir. Public Works Aaron Vincer
Citizens Pam Kultgen, Bill Pirnat,
Heriberto Santiago, Todd McLester,
Zadok McLester
4. Reverence Period – Mayor Rickard led the Council in prayer.
5. Approval/Amendments to Agenda – Motion by Alderman Reilly to approve, as presented, the October 3, 2018, Agenda, seconded by Alderman Hanlin. Roll call vote: Gerdes, AYE; Fulrath, AYE; Reilly, AYE; Rickard, AYE; Gramer, AYE; Gyorkos, AYE; Hanlin, AYE; Isaacs, AYE. Motion passed: AYE, 8; ABS, 0; NAY 0.
6. Minutes –
a. September 19, 2018 Special Meeting – Committee of the Whole Minutes. Motion made by Alderman Hanlin to approve, as presented, the September 19, 2018, Special Meeting minutes, seconded by Alderman Gerdes. Roll call vote: Fulrath, AYE; Reilly, AYE; Rickard, AYE; Gramer, ABS; Gyorkos, AYE; Hanlin, AYE; Isaacs, AYE; Gerdes, AYE. Motion passed: AYE 7; ABS 1; NAY 0.
b. September 19, 2018 Regular Council Minutes – Motion made by Alderman Hanlin to approve, as presented, the September 19, 2018, regular council minutes, seconded by Alderman Gyorkos. Roll call vote: Reilly, AYE; Rickard, AYE; Gramer, AYE; Gyorkos, AYE; Hanlin, AYE; Isaacs, AYE; Gerdes, AYE; Fulrath, AYE. Motion passed: AYE 8; ABS 0; NAY 0.
7. Public Comment – None
8. Treasurer’s Report – No report.
9. List of Bills – The tentative bills for the City of Byron were presented to the Council for discussion. Alderman Reilly asked about the $5,658.42 bill to Meiborg Brothers Inc. Director Vincer explained that this charge was for repairs made on their International dump truck. The high and low temperature failed and that is not a repair they can do in house. Motion made by Alderman Gerdes to approve the payment of bills, dated October 3, 2018, as presented, in the amount of $104,057.81, seconded by Alderman Hanlin. Roll call vote: Rickard, AYE; Gramer, AYE; Gyorkos, AYE; Hanlin, AYE; Isaacs, AYE; Gerdes, AYE; Fulrath, AYE; Reilly, AYE; Motion passed: AYE, 8; ABS, 0; NAY, 0.
Alderman Isaacs asked about the misc. mowing charges, and Director Hewitt explained these are for vacant properties (i.e. foreclosures). In most cases, they are able to recoup the money by putting a lien on the property. Chief Murray added that we may want to consider the possibility of adding a line item in next year’s budget for these charges as discussed at the TAS meeting. The mowing is done by public works when time allows.
10. Mayor’s Report – Looking forward, November 21 will be our second meeting of November. It is Thanksgiving Eve and Mayor Rickard asked if council members had plans at this time to be out of town. Currently, all are planning to be at the meeting so the meeting will stay on November 21 as scheduled.
Mayor Rickard also set Friday, December 14, for the city Christmas party.
Mayor Rickard has been working on some minor modifications of the council committee structure. Emergency Services will be renamed the Public Safety committee, and would be tasked with police, ordinance compliance, emergency response, and community beautification. We will be writing an amendment to our ordinance to change this. The other committees will remain the same, however, he may move council members around if they are willing.
Mayor Rickard is also looking for ways to keep Aldermen connected, clarify their responsibilities, and improve communication. He encouraged the Aldermen to ask questions in order to make the most informed decisions that they can.
11. City Attorney’s Report – No Report.
12. City Engineer’s Project Status – Engineer Stoll reported that construction work on 3rd Street is commencing, with two blocks of curb removals done on both the north and south sides of the street. Weather has been a problem, with rain during the past week and rain in the forecast for the next week. He mentioned there are open excavations along the road and asked everyone to be careful around the barricades that are in place.
Crestview Trail was prepped and ready to go, however, the rain received Monday night impacted the sub grade and it now has to dry out. Curb will be installed this week, and residents will be affected with limited access to their driveways. They will go door to door to discuss this with homeowners.
A test is scheduled next week for the conditioner at Headworks. They need to determine that the water chemistry is changed to acceptable levels so they can avoid the problems with the water heater that they encountered previously.
Alderman Gyorkos asked if the work on 3rd Street will be completed this fall, and Engineer Stoll said that was still the plan. They will probably be paving in November. They will be going door to door to advise neighbors of the estimated timeline.
13. Report of Director of Economic Development – Director Hewitt reported that it is TIF time and the sixteen payments will be processed soon, along with TIF annual reports and audits.
Chief Murray and Director Hewitt have been working on a compliance list, and once the committees are realigned, addressing these items will be a standing agenda item on the Public Safety Committee agenda.
Chief Murray added that there is a house on 2nd Street, near the Nursing Home, that Attorney Krahenbuhl and he are working through in court to get the best result possible. The case has been continued twice, and the homeowners are making slow progress on the home.
The downtown parking lot project will most likely not be completed this fall. They are still working through the misunderstanding of who owns 6 ft of property in back of the China King restaurant. They may offer an easement for the six feet in dispute in exchange for property to the east of the building in order to have an egress for the parking lot. Director Hewitt encouraged Aldermen to take a look at the area, and Engineer Stoll mentioned that the engineering plans are available to look at in Dropbox in the engineering folder labeled Projects/2018 city parking lot expansion.
14. Committee Reports
a. Community Services – Alderman Fulrath reported that the $123,000 check previously approved by Council for Leander (for Headworks) will be released, as the punch list is near completion. There is another bill for $32,000 yet to be approved. ● The committee also discussed increasing wages for snow plow drivers in order to be more competitive. They currently make $12.00/hr. They plan to discuss with the Administrative Committee. ● On the next list of bills, Director Vincer will be adding a purchase for salt, based on the amount we used last year, at $107/ton. Last year it was $79/ton. We can return what we don’t use. ● Also on the next List of Bills will be a bill for the purchase of a new plow truck. Director Vincer was able to find one for a good price, and, in this case, it will be better to purchase rather than lease. They will request that the truck be held until approval after the next meeting.
b. Emergency Services – No report.
c. Administrative – Alderman Isaacs reported that the committee discussed the SBA lease/buyout proposal. SBA proposed paying a lump sum (approximately 13 years worth of payments), rather than monthly payments. They would then be able to remain on the sight as long as they chose to. The committee recommends rejecting the proposal in order to maintain control over the lease.● The garbage rate has increased by $.50, and the committee recommends that this increase be passed on to customers.
15. New Business –
a. Salt purchase – Already discussed in committee reports.
16. Continuing Business – Chief Murray requested that we move the Hairy Cow Fence Variance to the last item under Continuing Business.
a. Norup Demo Bid – A bid from Norup for the parking lot demolition project is in council packets. Engineer Stoll recommends not accepting the bid at this time since the project is on hold until spring. He recommended bidding the project for one contractor to quote the entire demolition at that time. Council agreed to not accept the bid.
b. Garbage Rate Increase – Alderman Isaacs motioned to increase the garbage rate to residents by $.50 as recommended by committee, seconded by Alderman Gyorkos. Roll call vote: Rickard, AYE; Gramer, AYE; Gyorkos, AYE; Hanlin, AYE; Isaacs, AYE; Gerdes, AYE; Fulrath, AYE; Reilly, AYE; Motion passed: AYE, 8; ABS, 0; NAY, 0.
c. Hairy Cow Fence Variance – Hairy Cow Brewery would like to put up a 4ft. wrought iron fence that would go along the sides of the building. The fence would dead end into the riverbed on one side and a steep slope on the other side so it would not encircle the entire building. Chief Murray said that when the staff looked at the site, they felt this type of fence was appropriate for that building and would add to the ascetics of the riverfront location. Our ordinance states that the fence is required to be a 7 ft. solid fence. Alderman Isaacs motioned to grant the variance, and allow Hairy Cow Brewery to erect a 4ft. wrought iron fence, seconded by Alderman Gyorkos. Roll call vote: Gramer, AYE; Gyorkos, AYE; Hanlin, AYE; Isaacs, AYE; Gerdes, AYE; Fulrath, AYE; Reilly, AYE; Rickard, AYE. Motion passed: AYE, 8; ABS, 0; NAY, 0.
17. Executive Session
a. Section 2(c)11 – Pending, probable or imminent litigation
b. Section 2(c)1 – Personnel
c. Section 2(c)(5)(6) – Purchase/Sale of City Owned Real Property
d. Section 2(c)(21) – Review/Approval of Closed Meeting Minutes
e. Section 2(c)(2) – Collective Bargaining Negotiations
Mayor Rickard advised there was no need for an Executive Session.
18. Communication
a. Next Regular City Council Meeting – Wednesday, October 17, 2018 @ 6:30 pm.
Mayor Rickard adjourned the City Council meeting at 6:59 p.m.
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