MINUTES - REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING
HAWARDEN PUBLIC LIBRARY

Monday, May 22, 2000 at 7:00 P.M. 

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m.

Present: Mayor Jacobs; Council members: Cauwels, Harvey, Kallsen, Woodley, Dorhout.

Staff Present: Craig Coffey, City Administrator; Tom Kane, Superintendent of Public Works;

Jim Pickner, City Attorney; Mike DeBruin, Police Chief.

1. Approval of May 8 and May 15, 2000 Minutes. Moved by Cauwels/Kallsen to approve the May 8 and May 15 Minutes. Motion carried unanimously.

2. Approval of Claims for Payment. Moved by Dorhout/Kallsen to approve the Schedule of Claims for payment. Motion carried unanimously.

3. Open Business from the Community (limited to a maximum of 5 minutes per item). There was no open business presented from the community.

4. Staff Reports/Discussion. Craig Coffey, City Administrator, addressed the Council on some of the items previously presented.

• He reported that a mass mailing had been sent out to ambulance volunteers in NW Iowa and that Pam Harvey had taken over as Interim Director for the squad;
• No definite response has been heard on the penalties for the Boyer Project;
• The Citizen’s Cable Programming Committee meeting has been rescheduled for June and a proposal will be presented at this time;
• The seal coat bids have been reviewed and Tom Kane, Supt. of Public Works, reported that the low bidder was satisfactory to staff. The seal coating is tentatively scheduled for August.
• The two retirements events were also mentioned.

5. Mayor’s Report. The Mayor discussed setting a new meeting to further discuss the Telecommunications Director Position. A meeting date was set for May 30, 2000 at 6:00am in the City Offices.

New Business

7. Closed Session to Discuss City Offer to the Union. Under Chapter 20 of the Iowa Code it was moved by Harvey/Woodley to go into closed session. Motion Carried Unanimously. The session was held to further discuss a pending union proposal. Items generally discussed included wages, health insurance, a policy manual, and job descriptions. Moved by Harvey/Woodley to leave closed session. Motion Carried Unanimously.

Old Business

8. Televising of City Council Meetings. Different views were presented on the pros and cons of televising the City Council Meetings. Discussion centered on if this would hurt debate, will it get more information out to the public, and do the positives outweigh the negatives. The Council reaffirmed their previous decision by acclamation to broadcast the meetings live and by tape.

New Business

9. Discussion of High Speed Internet Contract. Craig Coffey, City Administrator, reported to the Council that we now have approximately 20 people on high-speed Internet. He added that we have high speed Internet on the remaining four nodes and are currently testing those nodes. He concluded by saying that final contracts on this item are now being targeted for the June 5^th meeting.

10. Discussion of Water Rationing. Discussion was held on the possibility of voluntary water rationing, depending on engineer’s reports. The City wells are five foot lower than previous years. As part of the discussion a model Rural Iowa Water Rationing plan was discussed. Guidance was requested of the City Council on this item. No action was taken at this time.

11. Discussion of LSS Property. A letter received from LSS was presented and discussed. The letter mentioned their pursuit of a replacement and contained a vague timetable. Different Scenario's were mentioned and discussion ensued. A recommendation was made to the Council from the City Administrator, to pursue a transitional type of agreement from LSS that would require them to give us a list of potential uses for the property, and give them 12 months to locate one of the approved uses for the facility. Staff was directed to draft a letter to LSS officials. No additional action was taken on this item.

Meeting adjourned at 10:00 p.m.

__________________________
George E. Jacobs, Mayor

ATTEST:

____________________________
Craig M. Coffey, City Administrator