Belle Plaine, Iowa

December 7, 2022

The Belle Plaine City Council met on December 7, 2022, at 6:30 p.m. in the council chambers with Mayor Dave Fish presiding. Present: Judy Schlesselman, Garrett Landuyt, Mary Pech, and Lyle Morrow; Mitch Malcolm was absent. Also present: City Administrator Stephen Beck, City Attorney Jennifer Zahradnik and City Clerk Sandy Walton. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.

Motion by Pech, seconded by Morrow to approve the Consent Agenda, Council Minutes of November 16, 2022, receiving and filing of the minutes from the October 25, 2022, meeting of the Belle Plaine Community Library Board of Trustees meeting, and bills received. On roll call vote, all voted aye, motion carried.

Resident Comments: None.

Motion by Morrow, seconded by Schlesselman to approve the second reading of Ordinance #22-15, an ordinance amending Chapter 50, Nuisance Abatement Procedure and adding a new Chapter 59 Criminal Activity Nuisance to the Code of Ordinances of the City of Belle Plaine, Iowa. On roll call vote, all voted aye, motion carried.

Motion by Schlesselman, seconded by Pech to approve waiving the third reading of Ordinance #22-15, an ordinance amending Chapter 50, Nuisance Abatement Procedure and adding a new Chapter 59 Criminal Activity Nuisance to the Code of Ordinances of the City of Belle Plaine, Iowa. On roll call vote, all voted aye, motion carried. The ordinance will become law upon publication.

Chief Hudson gave a police report. The property owner at 909 9^th Avenue pled guilty to failure to abate a dangerous building. Andrew Markham completes his ILEA training on December 16^th. Andrew Batcheller begins his ILEA training on January 3^rd. On November 29^th our Dispatch Agreement with Benton County was settled. It will remain roughly the same as it is now. Kris helped Jay post 3 trucks on GovDeals. Bidding will end on December 15. All are doing well.

Motion by Morrow, seconded by Landuyt to allow Kris Hudson to carry over 111 hours of vacation time. On roll call vote, all voted aye, motion carried.

Motion by Schlesselman, seconded by Pech to have the City Administrator send a letter to the owner of 1111 15^th Street, Belle Plaine, Iowa. This property was demolished but has not been hauled out and cleaned up. Letter is to state that a fence needs to be put up immediately and give a timeline for completion of hauling out the debris. On roll call vote, all voted aye, motion carried.

Motion by Schlesselman, seconded by Pech to approve Resolution #22-12-01, a resolution to set a public hearing for a CDBG DR Application in preparation of a community development & housing needs assessment. On roll call vote, all voted aye, motion carried.

Motion by Landuyt, seconded by Pech to approve Business Incentive Grants for Belle Plaine Discount at 818 & 820 12^th Street ($4,500) and The Hair Hut @ 903 13^th Street ($330.99), for their application fees to be remitted to BPCDC and for the City Administrator to meet with the new BPCDC Director and go over the Business Incentive Grant Process. On roll call vote, Landuyt, Morrow, and Pech voted aye, Schlesselman abstained due to being a BPCDC member. Motion carried.

Motion by Landuyt, seconded by Morrow to approve accepting a final settlement from EMC concerning the 7^th Avenue warning system from the derecho. On roll call vote, all voted aye, motion carried.

Committee of the Whole: Council requested the city clerk to approach Republic Services to inquire about them continuing refuse services and to bring a proposal to one of the January council meetings for review. If the City Council is not happy with the new proposal, we will send out requests for bids from other companies as well.

Steve reported that filter testing with Separmatic has concluded. Filters have been packaged up and returned. Results for iron and manganese are at 100% efficacy, bringing content of those materials to almost zero. It did not remove calcium carbonate, so the water remains hard. However, it improves taste, odor, and aesthetics. We have provided the needed data to Veenstra & Kimm and Steve is to push them for results.

Jay Hamilton presented a plan to trade a 621 endloader on a new skid loader. Cost for the new skid loader would run roughly $60,000 and we would get about $75,000 on trade for the endloader. The credit could be refunded or applied to some needed attachments. Landuyt recommended that Jay be allowed to proceed with the deal so as not to miss out on it and an official resolution approving trade and purchase would be voted upon at the next meeting. Motion by Landuyt, seconded by Morrow to issue executive order power to Mayor Fish to authorize the ordering of the new skidloader with trade. On roll call vote, all voted aye, motion carried.

The new owner of 1303 6^th Avenue is asking for a final inspection. Also, property at 1410 6^th Avenue needs to be inspected. Chief Hudson is to get an administrative search warrant for the 1410 property so we can have Mike, our building inspector, do two buildings on one visit. Steve will communicate with the 1303 owner that his inspection will likely be a week away. If it needs to occur sooner, it will be at the owner’s expense.

New sirens are installed. Their decoders don’t play with our current sirens. New decoders will be installed on their next trip with an estimated cost of $1,000.

Landuyt inquired about the property at 1502 6^th Avenue and questioned whether the owners had to disclose that the city is taking this property to court since he has seen it advertised online. Jennifer reported that they would need to disclose such information, but even if they did not, it did not change our position and any new owner would be held to the same ruling.

Mayor Fish reported on our court case with WRH. He said Jennifer represented us very well. She came into court with a good plan. He is very pleased and impressed with the job she is doing on the case. We spent two full days at the trial. Preliminary position submissions are due 12/14/22 and Final position submissions are due 12/23/22. The judge will rule between Christmas and New Year’s. We should have resolution within the next 30-60 days.

Mayor Fish is looking for a secondary person to be on the Emergency Management Committee and to attend if he cannot. Meetings are the last Monday of each month at 6:30pm in Vinton. He asked the council members to think about whether they would like to be that person or if they had anyone to recommend. He will ask again at the next meeting. This is Scott Hansen’s last year as he will be retiring. He has big shoes to fill and has been a great representative.

The ECICOG meeting was held in Washington, Iowa, where they toured the new minibus shed. Benton Development has their Christmas Party next week and the Benton Landfill meeting is next week as well.

Correspondence: A letter from Kae Palmer regarding the Bio Cells was given to the council for review. The issue will be looked at again in the Spring once we know what plants have survived and what areas might need some plants added.

Old Business: None

Resident Comments: None

The council did not go into closed session.

Motion by Morrow, seconded by Schlesselman to adjourn the meeting. On roll call vote, all voted aye. The meeting was adjourned at 8:09 p.m.

Dave Fish, Mayor

Attest: Sandra Walton, City Clerk

Transcribed by the City Clerk subject to Council approval