BP City Council

Belle Plaine, Iowa

April 15, 2019

(From meeting minutes)

The Belle Plaine City Council met on April 15, 2019, at 6:00 p.m. in the council chambers with Mayor Dave Fish presiding. Present: Mary Pech, Judy Schlesselman, Mitch Malcolm, and Andy Neuhaus. Absent: Mark Tegeler. Also present: Assistant City Attorney Gage Kensler, City Administrator Jeff Horne, and City Clerk Jacki McDermott. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.

Motion by Pech, seconded by Malcolm to approve the Consent Agenda, the Council Minutes of April 1, 2019, and bills received. On roll call vote, all voted Aye, motion carried.

Resident Comments: none.

The City Clerk gave the Council the City Treasurer’s Report for March and the current City Budget report.

Police: Police Chief Kris Hudson gave the Council a copy of his media report on police calls. He will send the report to Jim Magdefrau at South Benton County News on Facebook and to the newspaper editor. He commended Officer Lani Mumby for her work on a fraud case where she recovered $10,000 and arrests were made.

Development: Morgan Mitchell, the Executive Director of Belle Plaine Community Development Corporation gave the monthly report. She and Greg Johnson, Casey Neuhaus, and Kate Robertson attended the Iowa Rural Development Summit in Grinnell. They will be traveling to the city of Conrad for a Main Street, Iowa exchange on Wednesday where they will share ideas learned in Belle Plaine. The Benton County Supervisors will be discussing the Land Use Ordinance on April 23rd in Vinton, concerning business development along Highway 30. BPCDC & Benton Development Group are supporting a change. She will be engaged with the Service Learning Day on Wednesday April 24 when she will be helping Tina and Randy Beal clean bio cells downtown. There will be a ribbon cutting ceremony for Independent Tech Solutions on April 17th at 4:00 p.m.

Sound Park: Jessica Rilling, from Iowa Valley Resource Conservation and Development and local resident Steve Beck met with Council about the Sound Park, which is taking shape on Main Street. They gave the history of the project and an update on the Sound Park. Sixteen communities in Iowa participated in art projects as part of the Byways of Iowa Public Art Initiative, which was a cash match for a National Endowment for the Arts grant. There were several local donors, as well as a large unrestricted donation. Belle Plaine Community Development Corporation owns the land and four years ago the City signed a resolution to include Belle Plaine in the project. The project is subject to SHIPPO review. In 2018, there was a Call to Artists, and site work started last fall but has been held back because of the weather. No grant money will lost due to the delay caused by weather conditions. John Schlue is the artist and, as he lives in California, Steve Beck and Jessica Rilling are coordinating the work onsite. All of the parts to the Sound Park have been purchased and are in storage and the site preparation is underway. Jessica has met with Morgan Mitchell, the new director of BPCDC and will have an Art Committee meeting next week to update the committee. Site safety is an important issue as the site is very near the train tracks. Jessica will bring a full budget to the Council for their review. The Mayor cautioned that children’s’ safety concerning the park and the railroad line is a major concern for the city and hopes that the committee addresses that issue. They were assured that would be a strong consideration for the park.

Other Business: Motion by Schlesselman, seconded by Neuhaus to set a public hearing to amend the current budget at the May 6th regular council meeting. On roll call vote, all voted Aye, motion carried.

Motion by Malcolm, seconded by Neuhaus to approve the second reading of Ordinance #19-2: an ordinance dealing with peddlers licenses in the City of Belle Plaine, Iowa by adding a fee of $25 per license and a $250 municipal infraction penalty for failure to obtain or display the permit. On roll call vote, all voted Aye, motion carried.

Motion by Neuhaus, seconded by Pech to waive the third reading of Ordinance #19-2: an ordinance dealing with peddlers licenses in the City of Belle Plaine, Iowa by adding a fee of $25 per license and a $250 municipal infraction penalty for failure to obtain or display the permit. On roll call vote, all voted Aye, motion carried. The Ordinance will become law upon publication.

Motion by Schlesselman, seconded by Neuhaus to approve Resolution 19-4-1: a resolution to adopt small wireless guidelines in the City of Belle Plaine, Iowa. On roll call vote, all voted Aye, motion carried.

Motion by Malcolm, seconded by Pech to approve the renewal of a Class B Native Wine Permit (WBN) and Sunday Sales for Peddlers Mall at 822 12th Street, Belle Plaine, Iowa. On roll call vote, all voted Aye, motion carried.

Pech made a motion to accept the request from Belle Plaine Area Museum to block the parking on the south side of 12th Street from 9th to 10th Avenue from 7:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 11th for a Vintage Machine Show. On roll call vote, all voted Aye, motion carried.

In their Committee of the Whole session the council discussed the use of emergency sirens and instructed the Mayor to come back with a more comprehensive report.

Jeff Horne, City Administrator, told the Council he met with Kirkwood representatives about selling off their radio tower and their use of the tower that is located on the city water tower property.

Mayor Dave Fish gave the Council the evaluation forms for the City Administrator which must be turned in by May 6th for his evaluation in closed session at the May 20th meeting. The Mayor talked to the council about Benton County land use policies. Benton County does not allow business development along Highway 30. Benton County Development Group is taking the lead in trying to persuade the Benton County Supervisors to change this policy and he invited Council members to a meeting of the Benton County Supervisors. Mitch Malcolm volunteered to attend the Benton County Landfill meeting for the Mayor on Thursday April 18.

Resident Comments: none

Correspondence: There was a thank you letter from the Marv Koeppen family for flying the flag at half-staff on the day of his funeral. The flag was also flown at half-staff for the funeral of Kenny Bevins.

Motion by Neuhaus, seconded by Schlesselman to enter into closed session at 7:35 p.m. per Iowa Code 21.5 (1) (j) to discuss the purchase of particular real estate only where premature disclosure could be reasonably expected to increase the price the governmental body would have to pay for that property. On roll call, Judy Schlesselman voted Aye, Mitch Malcolm voted Aye, Mary Pech voted Aye, and Andy Neuhaus voted Aye. Tegeler was absent. Motion carried. The minutes and the tape recording of the closed session will be available for public examination when the transaction discussed is completed.

Motion by Malcolm, seconded by Neuhaus to come out of closed session at 7:50 p.m. On roll call vote, all voted aye. Motion carried.

Motion by Malcolm, seconded by Schlesselman to direct the City Administrator to keep on doing what he has been doing. On roll call vote, all voted aye. Motion carried.

Motion by Neuhaus to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Malcolm. On roll call vote, all voted aye. Meeting adjourned at 7:52 p.m.