Belle Plaine, Iowa
September 7, 2022
The Belle Plaine City Council met on September 7, 2022, at 6:00 p.m. in the council chambers with Mayor Dave Fish presiding. Present: Mitch Malcolm, Mary Pech, Judy Schlesselman, and Lyle Morrow. Garrett Landuyt arrived at 6:33 p.m. Also present: City Administrator Stephen Beck, City Attorney Jennifer Zahradnik and City Clerk Sandy Walton. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.
Motion by Morrow, seconded by Schlesselman to approve the Consent Agenda, Council Minutes of August 17, 2022, receiving & filing of the minutes from the August 23, 2022, meeting of the Belle Plaine Community Library Board of Trustees, and bills received. On roll call vote, all voted aye, motion carried 4-0.
Resident Comments: Dennis Devore of 1902 11th Avenue was present to express his concerns with his neighbor’s bad garage as well as share his opinion of vehicles and property not kept up within the city; not liking the length of time that people are given or that these things must go through the court system. He also inquired as to a timeframe for hydrant flushing this fall.
The resident from 1904 11th Avenue was not able to be in attendance for the hearing to discuss his dangerous building nuisance but had called and spoken with Mayor Fish. His garage will be torn down by the end of September. This time frame was OK’d by the council.
There was no report from BPCDC, but Mayor Fish reported that the group is looking for a new director.
In Committee of the Whole, council discussed changing the start time of council meetings. At the next meeting council will officially vote to approve a change in start time to 6:30 p.m.
Also, in Committee of the Whole, Chief Hudson presented a potential ordinance addition dealing with nuisance abatement and property where criminal activity is a serious and continuing problem. Based on direction from the council, Chief Hudson and City Attorney Zahradnik will work on drafting an ordinance specific to Belle Plaine with appropriate penalties for council to approve at a future meeting.
The last topic at Committee of the Whole was to discuss a letter received from the Iowa American Water Company of Davenport, Iowa. They want to buy our infrastructure then charge our residents for its use. After brief discussion it was determined that we do not want to give up control at this time. If things change drastically in the future, we will need to look at various similar companies.
Motion by Pech, seconded by Malcolm to approve Resolution #22-09-01; a resolution approving the Iowa Department of Transportation FY22 Street Finance Report and authorizing the city clerk to sign it. On roll call vote, all voted aye, motion carried.
Motion by Morrow, seconded by Schlesselman to approve Resolution #22-09-02; a resolution accepting and approving the annual financial report for fiscal year ending June 30, 2022. On roll call vote, all voted aye, motion carried.
Motion by Malcolm, seconded by Pech to approve Resolution #22-09-05; a resolution temporarily restricting parking for the school bus stop on 16th Street in Belle Plaine, Iowa. On roll call vote, all voted aye, motion carried 5-0.
Motion by Schlesselman, seconded by Morrow to approve the first reading of Ordinance #22-11, an ordinance amending the Code of Ordinances of the City of Belle Plaine, Iowa by amending provisions pertaining to parking regulations. (Deals with 16th Street parking & the school bus stop). On roll call vote, all voted aye, motion carried.
Motion by Malcolm, seconded by Landuyt to approve the first reading of Ordinance #22-12 an ordinance amending the Code of Ordinances of the City of Belle Plaine, Iowa by amending provisions pertaining to golf carts, utility trail vehicles, and all-terrain vehicles. These changes are a result of the newly passed laws regarding ATVs by the State of Iowa and have been enforced since July 1, 2022. Code is being updated to match the state code. On roll call vote, all voted aye, motion carried.
Motion by Morrow, seconded by Pech to waive the second reading of Ordinance #22-12, an ordinance amending the Code of Ordinances of the City of Belle Plaine, Iowa by amending provisions pertaining to golf carts, utility trail vehicles, and all-terrain vehicles. On roll call vote, all voted aye, motion carried.
Motion by Schlesselman, seconded by Landuyt to waive the third and final reading of Ordinance #22-12, an ordinance amending the Code of Ordinances of the City of Belle Plaine, Iowa by amending provisions pertaining to golf carts, utility trail vehicles, and all-terrain vehicles. On roll call vote, all voted aye, motion carried. The ordinance will become law upon publication.
Motion by Landuyt, seconded by Pech to approve the first reading of Ordinance #22-10 an ordinance amending the Code of Ordinances of the City of Belle Plaine, Iowa by amending provisions pertaining to the burning code. These changes do not change the current laws in place but make the code clearer; we never allow garbage or rubbish burning in the city limits. On roll call vote, all voted aye, motion carried.
Motion by Morrow, seconded by Landuyt to waive the second reading of Ordinance #22-10, an ordinance amending the Code of Ordinances of the City of Belle Plaine, Iowa by amending provisions pertaining to the burning code. On roll call vote, all voted aye, motion carried.
Motion by Schlesselman, seconded by Malcolm to waive the third and final reading of Ordinance #22-10, an ordinance amending the Code of Ordinances of the City of Belle Plaine, Iowa by amending provisions pertaining to the burning code. On roll call vote, all voted aye, motion carried. The ordinance will become law upon publication.
Motion by Malcolm, seconded by Pech to approve the Class E Liquor License, Class B Wine Permit, Class C Beer Permit (Carry Out) & Sunday Sales for Casey’s General Store #3513 at 606 13th Street, Belle Plaine, Iowa. On roll call vote, all voted aye, motion carried.
Motion by Malcolm, seconded by Landuyt to approve a one-time utility credit of $71.04 at 1212 15th Street, Belle Plaine, Iowa for a hose malfunction. On roll call vote, all voted aye, motion carried.
Motion by Morrow, seconded by Malcolm to approve a residential tax abatement under the Belle Plaine Revitalization Plan for the property at 1540 15th Street, Belle Plaine, Iowa; owned by Wiley Plaza LLC of 3525 Center Point Road NE, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. On roll call vote, all voted aye, motion carried.
Motion by Schlesselman, seconded by Pech to approve a commercial tax abatement under the Belle Plaine Revitalization Plan for the property at 503 3rd Street, Belle Plaine, Iowa; owned by Daniel Friedman at 1171 77th Street, Belle Plaine, Iowa. On roll call vote, all voted aye, motion carried.
The City Administrator, Stephen Beck, reported that the guys did a great job repairing the emergency water main break that happened over the holiday weekend on 8th Street. The repairs went well, and we saved a lot by completing it ourselves. He will be presenting a proposal at the next council meeting to purchase a piece of equipment (correlator) that would help pinpoint leak detection. We now have a Grade 3 Wastewater Operator; Nick has passed his test! Steve is also scheduling interviews for the water/wastewater job opening.
The test filter for well 6 should be here Friday. We will install it and need to tinker with it a bit to find the right settings. We will be testing the water multiple times each day for hardness, iron, manganese, calcium carbonate, and other substances. We have purchased some equipment to allow us to do this testing onsite instead of sending it to Keystone Labs.
Kirkwood is removing the asbestos roofing, putting on a new roof and downspouts and installing new electrical to the building. There is no hard timeline on the handoff but should be in the next month or so. They will be leaving a few items like tables, chairs, and pictures.
Steve is working on a couple of tree grants for fall planting. The tree board is meeting on 9/8 to firm up the program. We did lose some of the trees planted last fall due to the strange weather. Trees this year are again expected to be for public spaces such as the right of way and parks.
We continue to work with FEMA in an attempt to get the 21st Street project, 10th Avenue culvert, and welcome sign covered by federal funds.
Mayor Fish reported that ECICOG met in Monticello where they looked at the Innovation Station (office space for startup companies). They might like to do something like this in Benton County. He attended the meeting for the Benton County Landfill. They are working on filling a job opening. Benton Development is not meeting in September but is looking for a backup location to have meetings when their normal Van Horne location is unavailable. Ideally something centralized in Benton County. The Benton County Clerk’s Luncheon, hosted by BDG, is scheduled for September 22nd.
The mayor and several others met with the DOT today about the school crossing lights on 7th Avenue (Highway 21). We are still pushing for a HAWK system the DOT says we do not qualify to have. We are hoping to get something comparable with red or red flashing lights. The DOT may also recommend going to a 3-lane highway for roughly 4 blocks.
Correspondence: The letter from Iowa American Water that was discussed during Committee of the Whole was the only correspondence.
Old Business: None
Resident Comments: Mary Helen Preston was present to answer any questions the council may have on information provided last month regarding the capital campaign for Preston’s Station. She reported that they would need to have approximately $225,000 before applying for some matching grants. Council applauds her efforts.
There were no updates from our attorney regarding litigation, so council did not go into closed session.
Motion by Landuyt, seconded by Morrow to adjourn the meeting. On roll call vote, all voted aye. Meeting adjourned at 7:39 p.m.
_________________
Dave Fish, Mayor

Attest: _______________
Sandra Walton, City Clerk
Transcribed by the City Clerk subject to Council approval