Justin Vondrak of Hinton was recommended by outgoing Marcus City Attorney, Alyssa Herbold, to replace her. Vondrak comes to the city with much municipal experience and highly recommended. Herbold stepped away from all of her municipal duties recently.
Council took no action on the golf course lease, having questions. They also held a lengthy discussion regarding the renewal of the Casey’s liquor license. A motion to deny auto-renewal and table the renewal passed. Council will reconsider the liquor license renewal at its next meeting. The current liquor license is valid through June.
[Ash] tree removal from city property will continue. An additional $50,000 is coming from the City’s Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) fund. Thirty nine trees remain. The tree discussion expanded into consideration of prohibiting replanting with no concensus obvious. Some discussion of illegal trees planted in Right of Way (ROW) and what can be done and the possible outcomes. Specific issues include safety/visibility at intersections, maintenance and future disease. Additional discussion, with input from Vondrak about enforcement and/or ordinance changes about tree planting.
An additional street light on Holmes Street was considered. There is no cost for installation. The electricity is estimated at $15 per month.
Council accepted a donation to the golf course club house for TVs. They also approved change orders for the club house.
After discussion, council authorized utility staff to put a red Chevy truck on Iowa Auctioneers website to get the best offer.
A long discussion about sidewalk enforcement took place. Some specific places were identified as priority and it was decided that city charges could be assessed to property taxes.
The pool is cleaned and ready to go. Filling was to begin Tuesday. There will be no public swim lessons but private lessons can be arranged.
Council was presented with choices to consider about a new well. To drill at the current location they ave to go 800-900 feet deep. Depth is about $300 per foot to drill. An alternative location for a test well was proposed near the sewer ponds was suggested. Its depth requirement was estimated at 400-500 feet at $100 per foot of depth plus the cost of the piping to transport the water from the well to the current treatment facility that will get proper upgrades.
The third reading to amend the water and sewer rates ordinance was passed. The new rates will go into effect as soon as the ordinance is published. The base water rate is to become $9.83 with a $6.52 per 1,000 gallons of use per month. The sewer base rate will become $6.88 with $7.40 cost per 1,000 gallons of water used each month.