MINUTES - CITY COUNCIL MEETING
Hawarden Public Library
Monday, April 9, 2001 at 7:00 P.M.

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

Present: Council members: Kallsen, Harvey, Dorhout, Woodley

Absent: Mayor Porter; Councilman Cauwels.

Staff Present: Craig Coffey, City Administrator; Tom Kane, Public Works Director; Tom Sedgwick, Telecommunications Director; Jim Pickner, City Attorney; Mike DeBruin, Police Chief.

In the absence of the Mayor, Mayor Pro-Tem Kallsen presided over the meeting.

Standard Agenda Items

Item 1. Approval of the March 19, 2001 Minutes. Moved by Woodley/Dorhout to approve the Minutes of March 19. Motion carried unanimously.

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

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

Item 4. Staff Reports/Discussion.

• Mr. Coffey reported that the building next to the new Bomgaar’s location has been torn down and HAPP has sold this property to Bomgaars. The Dollar General Store will be locating in the old Bomgaars location as soon as possible.
• John Millikan and Chad Krebs, along with Chief DeBruin have just passed a refresher course as part of an amnesty program to bring back previously certified first responders. This will be an added safety net for our citizens.
• A Disaster Planning meeting was held March 28th to evaluate our preparedness for emergencies within the City with recommendations and discussion.
• Chief DeBruin reported to the Council on the three separate incidents at the Schools within the last two weeks.
• Tom Kane reported that the newly purchased grader arrived today.
• Mr. Coffey reported that he had completed the certification for the Community Economic Preparedness Program (CEPP) Certification for Industrial that would be picked up April 11th. If approved, we would receive an award on May 3.
• The Development Committee held a meeting on March 17th to lay out their recruiting goals and focus on economic development.
• He is working on a Horton Grant Application and an additional one from a private foundation with Wee Care.
• Mr. Coffey and Brad Meyer, Ambulance Director, recently attended Fire Administration Training which covered ordinances, contracts, fees and other changes in Iowa law.
• Mr. Coffey also attended a class on 504 small business loans.
• The new meter reading software has been installed. This involves entering readings into a handheld electronic device and then downloads to the computer billing software.
• Mr. Coffey reported that the City will not be operating the concession stand at the pool this year and that someone has been recruited to operate this facility.
• He stated that the City’s health insurance was going up by 8.7%, and the City’s liability insurance was also going up by $7,000 or 9.5%, but included what was previously a separate electric transformer policy of $3,500.

Item 5. Mayor Report. Mayor Pro-Tem Kallsen read the proclamation given to the Library for National Library Week held April 1 thru April 7. Different correspondence was read, including a letter from Congressman Latham, Northwestern Mutual Finance and a thank you from the Sioux Center Mayor. He reported that the Northwest Iowa Community Conference in Washington, D.C. is Oct. 2 thru Oct. 4.

Other Agenda Items

Item 6. Third Reading Amended Ordinance No. 590, Repealing Entire Title 9 and All Chapters Therein of the Hawarden City Code and Replacing it with a New Title Nine and Chapters Within That Adopt Specified State of Iowa Traffic Regulations by Reference and Readopt Existing and Creating New Local Traffic Regulations, All as City Code Violations of the City of Hawarden. Moved by Harvey/Woodley to approve the third and final reading of Ordinance No. 590. Aye: Woodley, Kallsen, Harvey, Dorhout. Nay: None. Motion carried.

Item 7. Third Reading of Ordinance No. 591, Amending Chapter 6.08 “Solid Waste Disposal” of the City Code by: Adding a Definition; Prohibiting Organic Wastes; Changing Residential Collection Frequency; Establishing Unit Based Pricing; Modifying Residential Container Storage Requirements; Encouraging Recycling; Providing Repealer and Severability Clauses and an Effective Date. Moved by Harvey/Woodley to approve the third and final reading of Ordinance No. 591.
Aye: Woodley, Kallsen, Harvey, Dorhout. Nay: None.

Item 8. Participation of Airport Study with Sioux Center and Orange City. Discussion was held to see if the Council is willing to participate in an Airport Study with Sioux Center and Orange City and also allows other communities to become involved and be a part of what happens around us. The initial cost to participate in the study would be under $2000. Moved by Harvey/Dorhout to seek to participate and pay up to $1500.00 towards this study with Sioux Center and Orange City. Motion carried unanimously.

Item 9. Discussion and Approval of Recycling Container Plan. The landfill has requested that we discontinue the individual orange bags as they are not recyclable. Instead they have suggested we go to a permanent container. Staff also prefers this option and prefers to get us out of the garbage bag business. Currently the City spends about $3,000 a year on the bags. What is hoped to do is offer one $3 off certificate, per home, towards the purchase of a 32-gallon trash can/w lid if purchased here in town. The City has approximately 1,000 homes putting our cost at around $3,000 with full participation (as budgeted). The cost to the homeowner would be about $6 ($9 trash can). We would order recycling stickers from the Independent to place on the containers. Moved by Dorhout/Havey to move forward on this plan. Motion carried unanimously.

Item 10. Discussion and Approval of Hiring the Boy Scouts for Clean-Up Project. This item was removed by Mayor Pro- Tem Kallsen saying that it was a donation. Mr. Coffey said he was unsure of the legal status of public donations, so he put it on the agenda as payment for a service. The City Attorney said he would research this. The Council agreed by general consent to keep it as a donation.

Item 11. Discussion and Approval of the Purchase of a Mini Trencher. This item was postponed until the next regular Council meeting to allow staff to collect some additional information.

Item 12. Discussion of Gas Purchase Option for Iowa Lamb. Because Iowa Lamb is a major part of our gas load, they wish to lock in portions of their gas usage prices but they would pay the same way according to our ordinance. This would lock in some of their usage at the market rates they are comfortable with and would enable them to control the lamb processing around the gas costs incurred to them. Mr. Coffey was directed by the Council to draw up a contract for gas purchases for Iowa Lamb and any necessary ordinance permitting this, and with usage thresholds of who we offer this gas purchase option.

Item 13. Discussion of Codification Process. Mr. Coffey presented two options to the Council on the codification process involved with the Hawarden Municipal Codes. The first option would be to get our codes fully codified with all the current ordinances for $2300 by July 1 and meet that yearly objective. We could then rewrite a section at a time looking at other codes and developing this for Hawarden.

The second option would be a more extensive review of our codes now. The cost would be approximately $6,500 and would require a large amount of employee time. It is estimated to take over a year to conduct the more extensive update as every section will be looked at and although it will improve our code, it will not be as thorough as the first process. Putting the code on the Internet would be an additional fee to convert it in folio format and host the site.
The Council directed Mr. Coffey to proceed with option two because of the need to work on the codes after initial updating. Moved by Harvey/Woodley to direct staff to pursue the second option for codification. Motion carried unanimously.

Item 14. Closed Session - Telecommunications Proprietary Session Under Iowa Code Sec. 388.91. At 7:40 p.m., moved by Woodley/Dorhout to enter into Closed Session. Aye: Kallsen, Harvey, Dorhout, Woodley. Nay: None. Motion carried unanimously.

At 8:53 p.m., moved by Harvey/Dorhout to adjourn Closed Session and resume Regular Session. Aye: Kallsen, Harvey, Dorhout, Woodley. Nay: None. Motion carried unanimously.

Item 15. Closed Session-Discussion of the Purchase of Property Under Iowa Code Section 21.5(j). At 8:56 p.m., moved by Woodley/Harvey to enter into Closed Session for the purchase of property under Iowa Code Section 21.5(j). Aye: Kallsen, Harvey, Dorhout, Woodley. Nay: None. Motion carried unanimously. At 9:04 p.m., moved by Woodley/Harvey to adjourn Closed Session and resume Regular Session. Aye: Kallsen, Harvey, Dorhout, Woodley. Nay: None. Motion carried unanimously.

Moved by Harvey/Woodley to adjourn. Motion carried unanimously. The Council meeting adjourned at 9:05 p.m.

__________________________
Richard Porter, Mayor