[0:06] All right. At 6 pm call to order this meeting of the council

[0:16] to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it

[0:21] stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice

[0:26] for all.

[0:30] Thank you. And uh we'll next move on to a roll call of the city cler.

[0:34] » De Milner >> present.

[0:36] » Derski >> present.

[0:39] » Rolando >> stolen

[0:42] » present. Okay. All present and accounted for a little bit of an adjustment to the

[0:48] agenda before we approve it. We'd like to take under new business item A and uh

[0:54] move that down to C and move B and C up one spot. We our speaker may be just a

[1:02] little bit late. So, um,

[1:13] with that, we have a motion.

[1:20] » Second. >> Do we need to clarify that's amended?

[1:22] Nope. Okay. Okay. Motion to second. Any further discussion?

[1:27] All in favor say I. >> I.

[1:31] » I.

[1:38] » Okay. On to item four. Citizens opportunity to address the council. U.

[1:43] Please walk to the front, state your name and address and the subject of your

[1:46] discussion. And we ask you to limit your comments to three minutes.

[1:57] You want to jump again? >> Good evening, Mayor and Council. My name

[2:02] is Jane Sheer, longtime Benton County resident living outside of Atkins. I'm

[2:07] here tonight to follow up on a few items related to the Morgan Valley Energy

[2:11] Center, a large natural gas energy plant

[2:16] cited less than two miles southeast of Atkins. First off, we want to thank all

[2:21] of you for the work that you've done so far on this project, opposing it and

[2:26] speaking to it. We are asking for assistance with the Iowa Utility

[2:32] Commission letters of objection from other Benton County cities within the

[2:36] 10M impact zone. My husband Rob Hirsch has met and worked with many of these

[2:42] cities and the councils. So, this is where we stand on those letter letters

[2:46] of objection to the Utilities Commission submitted.

[2:52] Atkins, the city of Fairfax, Benton County Board of Supervisors, Benton

[2:58] County Conservation Board, and Norway is conf we're confirming

[3:03] receipt by the IU. New Hall has indicated yes, they are

[3:07] going to they have yet to submit. Shellsburg submitted a list of questions

[3:12] to Alliant three weeks ago. We haven't heard if they got any

[3:16] responses. said no. So, we're asking Mayor Cruz to

[3:23] reach out to all the cities in Bent County and the impact area and just have

[3:27] a conversation. Whether they have yet to submit, they've

[3:32] submitted or choose not or chosen not to. It just seems like the neighborly

[3:36] thing to do. We're all in this together. Everybody's going to be impacted to some

[3:40] degree and it might create a sense of camaraderie and maybe some other other

[3:45] ideas that people have. Next, to remind those here and online

[3:52] where they're watching live at a later time, Atkins is the closest city to the

[3:58] power plant and has not been considered by Lynn County. So, we do matter, folks,

[4:04] and it's time to show up. So, we have a new calendar which I'll

[4:09] pass out to everybody. There's copies out here. This information is online.

[4:14] So, the critical dates that are coming up besides if you feel like getting some

[4:17] of your emotions out, we are going to be having a protest in front of the Alliant

[4:23] Building tomorrow downtown Cedar Rapids from noon to 1. We have plenty of signs

[4:28] or you can just hang out, listen. We handing out information. So, we're going

[4:32] to try to do a little bit on the offensive just get the word out.

[4:37] So, a couple critical dates. Monday, September 28th, 6 o'clock, the Lynn

[4:44] County Planning and Zoning Meeting for the Morgan Valley Energy Center. This is

[4:47] the only they're going to talk about there. They're having a special planning

[4:50] and zoning meeting at Hotel Kirkwood. And this is a public comment time, but

[4:56] prior to that, you can email in public comment. So, you can call down whatever

[5:00] you can do, get the word out. >> J, I get that right. So that planning

[5:04] zoning commission meeting is at the hotel Kirkwood.

[5:06] » Yes, they are going to have their regular one on Monday the 21st, their

[5:11] monthly meeting, but Morgan Valley Energy Center will not be on the agenda.

[5:16] They're having a special meeting a week later.

[5:20] And then the other item that will come up after that, Tuesday, October 20th, I

[5:25] know this is a ways out, 6 pm again at Hotel Kirkwood. and that is the board of

[5:31] super Lynn County Board of Supervisors public hearing and the first reading. So

[5:36] where we are right now is Glen County planning and zoning have are looking

[5:41] over their plan if they're going to recommend to the supervisors to go ahead

[5:47] and site it or not. So they're kind of going through their technical review and

[5:52] that's part of the um the 28th where they hear from people. I don't know if

[5:57] they'll make their decision at that time. they'll be discussing it, but then

[6:01] the idea is on the 20th, the board of supervisors will be making a decision or

[6:06] the first reading and hearing from people and then taking in consideration

[6:10] what the planning and zoning committee has said. So, those are super critical.

[6:15] There's some other stuff going on um besides that. So, I'll pass these out to

[6:20] everybody and then I'll put more back here. And then along with that, I just

[6:26] want to remind people that Even if you've signed a petition,

[6:32] make sure you file an objection. Either you go online and these sheets are out

[6:37] there, too. You can do it yourself and if you get on the docket, you can see

[6:40] what other people have done. And it's just not you. It's family, too. Kids are

[6:44] doing it. They're concerned about playing outside. They're concerned about

[6:48] their pets and their friends, all that kind of stuff. You can also submit

[6:52] multiple times. We also have these postcards

[6:55] there. Again, there's some out there. So, whatever we can do, but we gota, you

[7:00] know, contact representatives, talk to Tom Ghold.

[7:04] Reach out. You know, there's a lot of information online to do those things.

[7:08] So, it's just not our fight. It's just not save Morgan Valley's fight. It's

[7:13] everybody because it's going to affect everybody's quality of life. So, thanks

[7:17] for hearing me out and let's do it together.

[7:21] » Thank you, J. Thank you.

[7:27] » All right, moving on to new business. Again, we have moved item A uh down two

[7:34] spots and we're going to start with item B,

[7:37] proposal from Hawkeye communication for outdoor video camera system for the

[7:41] wastewater plant, sewer lift station, and water treatment plant.

[7:46] Scott will uh tell us all about that. >> Yeah, I think Mayor Dave's going to jump

[7:50] in here. You got in your packet a proposal from Hawkeye uh communications

[7:56] for installation of the security systems uh that we have like for example a fire

[8:03] station here at city hall with cameras and so forth. Uh the proposal would

[8:07] include the wastewater plant. So there' be two cameras installed at the

[8:10] wastewater plant. Uh also one at our lift station uh the sewer lift station

[8:16] and then also two at the water treatment plant. So the What we got from Hawkeye

[8:22] was for $11,81420.

[8:26] Uh that's uh on a cloud-based system. So storage is pretty much unlimited on that

[8:32] one. David was able to procure one more quote uh for your consideration. We laid

[8:36] that out. We got that today. Laid that out here tonight from Atkins Telephone

[8:41] Company here in town. and it is in a total amount of $8,344.70

[8:49] or the pretty much the exact same type of um systems here. This one does not uh

[8:56] store it data back to the cloud. So it does provide a hard drive with one

[9:02] terabyte on each of those hard drives that we would have. So it wouldn't have

[9:06] quite the capacity that we would have with the Hawkeye system. So might be

[9:11] some potentially additional cost associated with a noncloud based system

[9:16] there. So David, I know you want to have anything further on that.

[9:23] » Yeah, one uh Hawkeye is you're also going to be paying for an annual

[9:29] subscription for the cloud base. Um ACT does not. So, it's just one's a little

[9:38] cheaper, but one's going to have hardware at each place and one's will

[9:43] will not will be on the cloud. The cloud's going to have unlimited storage

[9:48] and the hardware will have fill up in time and I don't know how they if they

[9:53] replace it or or get rid of it and start it over.

[10:02] » In terms of the location, David, so the placement of the cameras at the

[10:06] wastewater plant. Generally, what areas would those pick up?

[10:11] » Uh, at the wastewater plant, it'll if we put it on a corner, it'll pick up some

[10:16] of the uh the system on on the back side. So, in case uh one of us is

[10:22] walking out there by ourselves, you know, that we can somebody can see it on

[10:26] camera. Um, it'll and then the other one will pick up the gate coming in. So, if

[10:31] anybody comes through the gate, comes in, it'll pick up somebody coming in

[10:34] through the gate. lift station, just one shining at the

[10:38] gate. So, whoever comes through the gate, it'll it'll pick that up. And over

[10:42] here at the water plant. Um there's going to be there's one that's going to

[10:46] be showing on the back doors on the back side. Uh one on the corner that's going

[10:50] to pick up the restrooms and and the building over there in case there's

[10:54] anything happens. And then one in the corner showing the front door um and the

[11:00] garage door going in the front. And we have had things happen in terms

[11:06] of some vandalis.

[11:12] » Uh so how we just got this from ATC here this afternoon.

[11:17] » Y >> how does the equipment compare? I don't

[11:28] » we goose it on AI just to see how long the data would stay on one terabyte

[11:34] drive, 24-hour continuous videoing at 1080 uh for quality.

[11:41] It's four to six days and it starts overwriting the system. Um I don't know

[11:46] if that's enough for us, especially out at the lagoon area. U we'd be able to

[11:54] see if there was some vandalism or an act or something probably the next day.

[12:00] We could probably But I don't know about the far sight.

[12:05] » So what we have here we have fire station uh were on cloud there when they

[12:13] bid the work fire station onto that contract and have to do these other

[12:18] locations but we pretty much have unlimited

[12:23] storage. Does >> Jeremy do you know anything about these

[12:26] one terabyte drives for storage?

[12:32] Yeah. >> Do you know how long or when we'd be

[12:36] looking at replacing something like that?

[12:41] » So, it's really going to depend on the quality of the cameras and how high

[12:49] the transfer rate is. So, it's just going to come down to that. But I would

[12:53] say it's probably going to be a rolling probably.

[13:00] So, have you have you seen with the quote that you had there? You've seen

[13:04] demonstrations of the quality video and >> I've seen some of the some of the video.

[13:10] They're both I think they're both equally

[13:13] you know the clarity is pretty good with both of them.

[13:15] » Okay. So, you have seen some of ATC stuff?

[13:18] » Yes. >> Y Okay.

[13:19] » Um ATC takes takes care of uh Castle Motors. That's one of the places they

[13:25] were talking about. They and but I I reached out to when Hawkeye come in. I

[13:32] reached out to Haywa and talked to them the parks there. They they like all

[13:36] their cameras that they have through Hawkeye. Hawkeye has Cedar Falls,

[13:41] Urbana, Abernet, so they're familiar with parks and the

[13:48] ATC's here in town. And you know, local's always

[13:53] better if you can get them.

[14:07] I think that's kind of a tough spot to get to this great walking into a

[14:13] meeting.

[14:22] We're looking at about a $3,200 difference.

[14:29] Does that include the warranty packages on these both of these or not?

[14:34] » I do not.

[14:40] » They got sales tax piped in here. >> Yeah, I

[14:44] they're about >> know that's another 300 bucks.

[14:46] » Yeah, they're 8300.

[14:52] I guess the only question I have is the drive um versus the cloud. The cloud is

[14:58] always going to be better. Um if it's a 1080

[15:03] quality, which is the high end, um that's a wash between the systems.

[15:20] Certainly supporting local business

[15:30] in particular.

[15:35] » I'm kind of on the hard drive versus cloud.

[15:39] » My instinct is I actually like having control of the video.

[15:44] We have that hard drive on site, right? So it can't

[15:47] It's just it's physically ours. Um but the storage concerns and then the

[15:54] fact that it would be hard on fail.

[16:11] So it's just I'm kind of torn both ways really. I don't think there's a little

[16:16] bit of cost difference between the two. I would have to dig in to

[16:23] » I think we need to talk in looking at ATC's

[16:29] bid. Basically, it looks like they own the equipment. We

[16:34] don't based on we're paying licensing fees on Hawkeye.

[16:39] Is that safe to assume that? >> No.

[16:42] Hawkeye, you're paying licensing fees for the cloud,

[16:46] » right? >> And we're not on the cloud with

[16:50] » But I'm just saying the equipment that's listed for ATC for cost

[16:55] doesn't appear. I don't know. I'm just asking the question.

[16:58] » The other question I have is accessibility. Um with the cloud-based,

[17:03] you should be able to anyone with uh authorization to access it should be

[17:08] access. And I don't know about the hard drive. um system if that's part of that.

[17:13] I don't know >> if you can access it also.

[17:15] » You can access it live too. >> He had it on his he had uh on his phone

[17:20] multiple that he was allowed to have access to.

[17:25] » You said the equipment was pretty comparable to both companies

[17:31] » came each have their own their own camera their own one has hardware one

[17:37] does not. Right. So the hard wire they can cut.

[17:44] » It's all wireless >> to the camera or is it wireless?

[17:47] » Wireless. >> No, they'll have cat five or cat 6.

[17:51] » Yeah. Back into the building like fiber.

[17:58] So it's not

[18:05] » they're saying um >> yeah it's just one versus the other.

[18:10] » Right. >> There's no difference.

[18:14] » There's not

[18:18] » at the end of the day like we're shooting apples to apples here.

[18:21] » Okay. So, it's just coming down to what do we want to kind of

[18:28] if we really wanted to do it in house, but I don't know how much you want to do

[18:32] that

[18:36] person.

[18:44] » In the beginning, but your guys is all think about your home security. No

[18:49] different from

[19:05] I've I've installed a lot of these cameras. I guess I just did them too

[19:09] cheap. But the labor's quite high if you ask me.

[19:16] » Yeah. >> For both

[19:23] Scott, can I interject a little bit? >> Oh, I'm sorry, Bruce. Can I comment just

[19:30] a minute? >> Bruce,

[19:34] » Brian, I'm sorry. >> Um, I do have I can talk to you

[19:38] afterwards about I do have some experience from Arnold

[19:42] » with everything we dealt with out there. I would say one thing that comes to mind

[19:46] is knowing your hot and cold ratings, especially the cold. I understand money

[19:52] is limited. You'll never afford what you normal,

[19:58] but there are issues when you get into cold weather, things freeze, frost over,

[20:05] you won't see anything even though, you know, until the sun warms it up.

[20:11] So, I I can interject more

[20:20] If it's food for thought. >> Yeah.

[20:24] » Well, technology has changed quite a bit too. So, there is

[20:30] we say it's 260 on those 360.

[20:41] I I don't think we know that.

[20:47] » Okay, we'll call it a bird camera.

[20:58] » Either way, it's just a bird's eye camera. So, those were there. That kind

[21:03] of causes the element of them not getting frozen over because it has like

[21:07] a triple core layer on the plastic and the glass. So it shouldn't freeze ever

[21:12] unless we have like 40 temperatures consistently.

[21:16] » That's the only time you're going to run into that.

[21:18] » Okay. >> Is that

[21:22] » is that the H6L camera you're talking about?

[21:27] » Yes.

[21:31] » Yep. That would be that one there. >> That's

[21:35] an interesting >> perspective.

[21:40] Yeah, the Hawkeye the Hawkeye gear seems to be true commercial.

[21:45] » I'm I'm on their website now looking at what they

[21:55] » I mean it's what you're going to see in schools you know commercial buildings

[22:07] I mean I appreciate both I think

[22:12] whatever direction the staff feels most comfortable having to deal with.

[22:17] It's kind of where I was >> either either way

[22:24] I to me it probably be the clock system just less stuff potentially go wrong

[22:30] you know all that kind of stuff >> it's a little more

[22:35] you're paying for it too

[22:39] » because

[22:44] from your references >> yeah I think they're both they're both

[22:47] If there was an issue, they'd both three right on top of it.

[22:49] » Okay. >> So,

[22:51] » yeah. To me, it just comes down to one, you know, cloud and the other the other

[22:56] one's a little more and the other one's a little less.

[22:58] » I I think we still got some questions to work through these. Can we table it at

[23:03] least to get the uh service contract andor warranty information and maybe ask

[23:10] a couple more questions of both vendors >> possibly. Yeah.

[23:13] » And I think we can make a better decision. I'm a I think the cloud-based

[23:17] one's a little bit better, but um I think we deserve that part of it too,

[23:24] you know, whether it's the cold or whatever. I think those are honest

[23:27] questions to ask. >> And the service contract is going to be,

[23:32] you know, >> yeah, there's nothing for service

[23:35] contract >> first and foremost with a security

[23:37] system or video system. Speaking from a person that's bought thousands of them

[23:42] for school buses, you need reliability first and foremost. It doesn't do you

[23:46] any good if it doesn't work >> if anything.

[23:50] » Yeah. So, we need to make sure it's reliable and and uh and go from there.

[23:54] So, yeah, I would agree with you, Bob. I would if I was in a voting position, I

[23:59] would want to ask some questions. >> Motion to table it until we can get some

[24:03] further info and we can bring it up the next meeting

[24:08] and vote on it. >> Motion to table.

[24:12] » Second, Derski. Any

[24:16] further disc?

[24:21] » Yeah, it looks like it's on a gun turret that spins off the website. I was just

[24:26] out there looking at it, but

[24:31] any further discussion? Again, I mean, we're not talking about,

[24:35] you know, huge dollars here, but I think we we do owe it to ourselves to to make

[24:40] sure we're doing the right things. So, >> all right. All those in favor say I.

[24:44] » I. >> I.

[24:47] » All oppose say nay. Okay.

[24:52] Tabled. With that we'll move on to item C which

[24:58] is uh a review of the engineering services agreement for the water

[25:03] distribution system improvement project by Mr. Flory.

[25:07] » Yeah. Thank you mayor. This is something kind of came out of those recent water

[25:12] bane break episodes we had up on on First Street. And so if you recall from

[25:18] our budget, we had allocated $125,000 toward some street patching. And that

[25:25] was part of a project actually was engineered prior to me coming here. Uh

[25:30] and since we'd already got the plans paid for, we thought, okay, well, we'll

[25:33] go ahead and pencil that in as a project for fiscal year 27. Uhhuh. In terms of

[25:39] need, uh I think what I would like to ask for the council's blessing on is

[25:44] instead of spending that 125,000 from the general fund on those street

[25:48] patching projects that we would move that 125,000

[25:53] water distribution system improvements in particular, this project that I am

[25:58] presenting here tonight. So then that would be $125,000.

[26:02] We've got some other uh ideas on other sources of funds, but but I did want to

[26:07] mention that one first. So, that's really the kind of the genesis of where

[26:11] this project is coming from. And we'll go through the maps here in a little

[26:14] bit, but but again, back to those two water main breaks. Again, they're in the

[26:18] same spot. So, not necessarily, you know, that they weren't related, but you

[26:23] know, we did have those two right there on first in that location. So, uh,

[26:27] you've got a copy of a proposal from Snyder Associates. It just cut forward

[26:32] to exhibit A, which is really the, uh, non boilerplate language, if you will.

[26:38] So, it kind of outlines what the project is. So, we'll just kind of review that.

[26:42] Uh again, we'd be looking at starting on First Street from Cardinal Avenue uh

[26:48] through the east intersection of 4th Avenue, replacing appro approximately

[26:52] 640 ft of 4 in water man with 8 in main. Uh did confirm with Jared that some of

[26:59] that we have so uh we have about 175 to 200 lineal feet of 8 in already that was

[27:06] extended from Cardinal. So basically shave about 175 to 200 ft off of that

[27:13] that already has and we'll look at that in the map here in a minute. Uh but 4th

[27:16] Avenue then from railroad to first street about 520 ft of 4inch main

[27:22] replace that with 8 inch main. Fourth Avenue from 1 to 2 replacing 365t

[27:28] of 4 inch main with 8 inch main. Um and then second street and fifth avenue from

[27:35] fourth to first street it's about 800 ft that that would be an alternate and then

[27:40] fourth avenue from third street to park ridge about another 540 ft uh of 8 in

[27:45] main and there is no 8 in main there we'll look at that uh in a moment here

[27:50] but uh generally the the improvements include replacing the aging water man as

[27:55] noted above uh add new water man as described above to provide additional

[28:00] loop move into the system to provide additional increased fire flows. We'll

[28:04] look at those fire flows in a minute. So, we'll be able to improve those. Uh

[28:08] replace water service connections to the main. We'll look at a map here in a

[28:12] little bit. We're under that DNR mandate to understand what all of the service

[28:18] laterals that connect from the house to the main are. So, in the bulk of the

[28:22] community, we know what those are and they're either copper or plastic. Uh but

[28:27] this is an area that would involve about 24 properties and they are in our

[28:32] unknown category. So we don't have data on what those service lines are now

[28:37] based on the the age of the homes themselves. Most of these are in the 50s

[28:43] 60s and and maybe a little newer than that. So highly unlikely that there's

[28:48] any lead probably unlikely even some galvanized but there probably is going

[28:53] to be some galvaniz but not probably a lot in that service line so could be

[28:58] copper there but again this would give us an opportunity to identify what those

[29:02] service lines are knock those 24 or so off of our DNR inventory that we have to

[29:08] have completed uh in October of 27. um replace some aging aging isolation

[29:16] valves along each stretch of the water man. We're grossly deficient in terms of

[29:21] the number of valves that we have. So that's why sometimes we get into

[29:24] situations where we have to isolate a larger area of the community that we

[29:28] would like to because we don't have enough valves and don't have enough

[29:31] working valves. Replace aging fire hydrants along each stretch of the water

[29:36] man. Additional hydrants would be added to meet current design standards. So you

[29:39] know we definitely don't meet any of those regulations in terms of the fire

[29:44] hydrants. Uh and then again just taking out the uin

[29:50] line. So then in terms of uh pavement patching and that kind of work what we

[29:55] would do there is probably allow those trenches to settle over the course of

[30:00] the winter and then probably sometime uh early summer

[30:05] you know the excavated areas. So uh this would be a uh special assessment

[30:10] project. So the work from Snyder would include all necessary uh procedures to

[30:16] involve the uh special assessment process and I can talk about that one

[30:20] later. Um preliminary schedule in terms of uh how we see this thing playing out

[30:25] would be council would uh approve the contract tonight. Preliminary plans into

[30:30] the DNR in October. uh final plans in December, targeting a biding in

[30:36] February, and then hopefully construction spring summer of 27. As we

[30:41] know, no state or federal funds are utilized for this project. All would be

[30:45] local local funds.

[30:53] The total for the workers have laid out

[31:05] Thereage three. >> There we go. Uh 60,500

[31:11] for that. And then in terms of the maps, just kind

[31:15] of want to look at those with you a little bit. I included those in your

[31:18] packet. So first map in your packet, uh you can see the area. We'll start over

[31:24] there at Cardinal on first and look at heading east. So, what I talked about

[31:29] that 8 inch line that's in in there already, it's already into Cardinal past

[31:34] that uh twin culverts that are in there, the drainage culverts there. So, it's on

[31:38] the other side of those. So, that 8 inch line is uh east from Cardinal probably

[31:44] close to 200 feet there. So, we would pick up that 8 inch line, run it as I've

[31:49] identified there in the yellow uh to the east on first to that hydrant area over

[31:54] there, then north and tie into that 8 in. So, railroad in that area has an 8

[32:00] inch line. So, we would tie into that 8 inch line on railroad, tie into that 8

[32:05] inch line on Cardinal, and then bring the 8 in line down uh fourth and tie

[32:11] into an 8 inch line that's kind of out in front of the school there uh up by

[32:17] Second Street there. So, that would be the base project. The alternates would

[32:22] be then to add the water line from Parkridge. Uh and that is in a tiff

[32:27] district actually. Uh the fourth avenue section there is alternate one. So that

[32:31] would be a potential opportunity for uh some funding there. But that would be

[32:36] running that water man from Park Ridge and tying into that 8 in. So that would

[32:41] be just absolutely phenomenal improvement for that school and that

[32:48] area in terms of the fire flows and uh water quality and those kinds of things.

[32:53] Uh the alternate two is again more or less because we're right in that area uh

[32:58] to pick up the rest of those that that's got some pretty bad infrastructure there

[33:03] as well. >> Is that where the fire hydrant is?

[33:07] » Yep. >> That's so bad. Yeah.

[33:09] » Yeah. Uh the next page is just kind of a repeat, but it shows again what the

[33:15] water lines are in terms of their existing capacity and just lays out the

[33:20] alternates and the base. The next sheet is the one that I mentioned earlier that

[33:24] we're working on for our uh lead and copper with the DNR. And you can see the

[33:30] areas that we have no known lead or known lead uh known galvanized known

[33:35] copper. So in this particular area, most all of those are uh colored red. So we

[33:41] mean that means we don't know what those service lines are. So we would learn

[33:46] that as part of this project. Part of an assessment process would be uh to assess

[33:51] those new water service lines to the individual properties if they need

[33:55] upgraded uh to upgrade those. Uh the next sheet is more recent analysis that

[34:02] we had Snyder do and take a look at when they were looking potential addition for

[34:07] uh Stone Ridge phase five over there just to show again what the existing

[34:12] maximum daily pressures are. Uh with the tower level level at 26 feet, that is

[34:18] generally the lowest lowest operating level that we have the tower at during

[34:22] the day. Uh typically it's running at about 31 and a half 32 feet. Uh so you

[34:28] can see kind of get a feel for what those pressures are. I think you've

[34:31] heard me say ironically again in this particular area where we had that water

[34:35] main break uh that area actually has the highest PSI uh for our community uh you

[34:42] know north of 55. Uh the next sheet shows again what those pressure contours

[34:48] look like with the water tower full which would be 33 feet. Uh so you can

[34:52] kind of again get an idea what everybody's water pressure looks like in

[34:57] that level. Uh the next one's probably more interesting is the fire flow

[35:01] availability. Uh so you can see in the area that we're uh looking at for

[35:07] portion of these improvements, we're at 750 gallons per minute. So that is that

[35:11] is definitely uh below what the DNR would recommend. That's a thousand is

[35:17] what's recommended there. So so we would definitely uh improve that substantially

[35:22] by looping it and connecting it to those two 8 inch mains. Another area that

[35:28] we'll have to be addressing here at some point is over there on uh A Avenue. You

[35:32] see those are very low U fires over there.

[35:37] Uh the next sheet I just kind of calculated out some some distances there

[35:42] in terms of what front uh lineal footage uh we'd be looking at for the project.

[35:46] So we kind of went over over some of those earlier. So, uh, I think, uh, you

[35:52] know, we've had some, uh, DNR surveys that have been done over the years.

[35:58] They've not specifically addressed issues related to replacement of

[36:03] undersized main. So, these 4in lines, 6 in lines where we've got hydrants on 6

[36:08] in line, uh, that is not in compliance with today's standards. Obviously, can't

[36:14] be anything on less than an 8 inch line. We've got number of hydrants on on 6 in

[36:18] lines but this would definitely be an area when we look at the study that

[36:23] Snider had done in 2019 2020 and it identified really uh a couple of the

[36:30] more problematic areas in the community. I think they identify about three to

[36:34] four and this knocks out two of them. So in terms of the school being under

[36:42] » on an 8 inch line, what would the pressure be required? Still 40

[36:46] » uh for the we'd be north of that >> 55.

[36:49] » Yeah, I think we'll be >> that's

[36:53] back back to his four areas that they identified in that study in December

[36:58] 27th, 2019. And this was considering only the 4-in line neighborhoods was uh

[37:05] uh the obviously the lumber yard area. Uh specifically they called out uh the

[37:12] 4th Avenue region uh by the school and third street and uh and the other two

[37:22] were uh like High Point Drive. They they talked about the lows that'll be

[37:27] available up there as well. They don't call out a because they focused on the 4

[37:31] inch there, not the 6 inch on a Avenue. That's noticeably bad. So,

[37:37] » so I really like the opportunity even at the base package. So, again, as I

[37:43] mentioned, if we bid this out, we'd have a base package, which would be probably

[37:47] somewhere around that 1,400 lineal feet of 4 inch line, replacing that with 8

[37:53] inch line. Then we'd have the alternate one. Can't remember the distance on

[37:57] that. Might be like about 500 ft or so going bridge up to third. Uh that would

[38:02] be I think again a high priority for for me as I look at this project because

[38:07] then you'd be tying in with that 8 in up on railroad all the way down to an 8 in

[38:12] on car bridge all the way over into an 8 in on Cardinal and then in issues where

[38:18] properties that lie east of this became problematic in terms of a break. We'd

[38:23] have new valves all through this area. you wouldn't get into a situation where

[38:27] you have to shut a large area off because one area was affected. So, so I

[38:33] really like the opportunity here to to reallocate some funding that I think in

[38:38] light of what we know know with the recent breaks there to kind of

[38:43] repprioritize that funding towards what I think is a higher need than doing some

[38:48] some street patching. And I think again in terms of uh the the future funding

[38:53] opportunities, uh we've got that uh Trevor, I know you and I talked about

[38:57] this a lot, that one issue, that one final year on that note is rolling off.

[39:02] That's about 107,000. Uh so we can kind of reshuffle some things like to try to

[39:08] keep that 107,000 on and then add that to the 125 uh that

[39:15] we could reallocate. Then I think uh we've also got some opportunities to do

[39:20] some interf loan agreements as far as like the tip on that alternate one since

[39:24] that's in a in a tip district. So uh yeah, I think it lays out pretty well.

[39:29] Bob and I have talked quite a bit shall at some point I really want to get going

[39:34] on the franchise fees for our utilities uh gas and electric. This would be a

[39:39] great use for that 1% franchise fee. Or if you want to consider even a little

[39:44] more than that, like a lot of communities have, you could add that on

[39:48] and then fund these improvements or something like that too.

[39:56] In terms of special assessments, uh this is something that many communities do uh

[40:02] in particular where uh there are extraordinary benefits to particular

[40:08] property. So again, in this particular project, we're talking probably about 24

[40:12] homes affected here. Uh you know, there about close to 800 homes uh in the

[40:17] community uh in that neighborhood. So the theory of the special assessment is

[40:22] that those who are receiving the highest benefit of these improvements should

[40:27] contribute to those to the cost of those improvements. Uh what I would propose in

[40:32] this and we're we're nowhere near there, but something like this to me would be

[40:36] obviously I think it's a bit of a no-brainer that you would assess for uh

[40:40] replacement of inferior service lines that only serve those homes. Uh and then

[40:46] I would suggest a 5050 uh on the pipe replacement. So, we're upgrading the 4

[40:52] in main, this 4in cast iron pipe, I would suggest a 5050 partnership on

[40:59] part of the assessment process. >> So, David, if there was a valve there at

[41:05] fourth and first when we had that break in that first outage, we had to shut off

[41:10] 74 homes. How many homes would have been affected if a valve would have been

[41:14] there? >> What was it? 75 or so. What? Well,

[41:17] whatever just a block would be it should have been every 300 350 should be a

[41:23] valve. So between each block essentially. So what whatever's in a

[41:29] block five houses. >> Yeah.

[41:32] » Of 10 for if you count both sides. >> Right. Yeah. Okay. So that's what jumped

[41:36] out at me is because when I was down there he pointed out where the 8 inch

[41:40] man was and it is in it is on the the east side of the cover. Um, so I think

[41:46] you said about 300 to 320 feet to First Street, but the next valve is up over

[41:52] the hill another three or 400 feet. >> So you're 7 800 feet to get to about to

[41:58] shut that down. And that's why it affects so many homes. So

[42:02] » um, you know, it's kind of kind of comes simultaneously with our

[42:07] » with our other project uh, boosting pressure. I think actually we were

[42:12] coming to talk about that at the last meeting when we found out that that

[42:16] water mane broke again. Um so um kind of funny how things work that way, but uh

[42:23] uh you know at the very least having having that you know that that chunk

[42:28] done in a valve there where you know and the connection to to the 8 inch on

[42:34] railroad and cardinal makes a lot of sense.

[42:37] most importantly increases the fire flow for that whole district uh to include

[42:42] the school who will be in on the 5050 as well.

[42:46] » Yeah. >> Yeah. It's a it's a sorely needed area.

[42:50] » It was identified eight years ago and >> we have a chance to do it now based on a

[42:56] break that we never really really got a chance to really take a close look at

[43:00] the maps >> until the second break happened.

[43:03] And uh I think it's a win-win uh for the city

[43:07] » going forward that that area would not qualify for CDBG

[43:13] » and even if they did it would take >> uh quite a long time to get it done.

[43:18] » Yeah. >> And you're competing with that. There's

[43:22] absolutely no guarantee that 24 homes would be a small project to compete

[43:27] with. probably wouldn't get much and I don't know that you're going to meet the

[43:30] low income requirement in that area. Uh so yeah, the grant opportunities are

[43:37] » human

[43:41] » and St. Steven's church isn't that far away.

[43:45] » Correct. >> Right now we're just looking at

[43:48] » uh just design. >> Yep. Yep. So uh but yeah so looking at

[43:53] design uh but his proposal would include uh you know all those services for

[43:57] special assessment >> which would have to be determined after

[44:03] we get designed and we try to fit this. >> Yeah. Yeah.

[44:16] » Yeah. It's it's something that's very done.

[44:19] Atkins uh but it's done very very very >> well

[44:25] I was first home in Kansas was a new development with special tax assessments

[44:31] and that's where I have I at least you're moving eyes wide open

[44:37] this is what it is to run the water run the roads run this development that

[44:42] people buy into that understand it's focusing existing homes now facing

[44:47] assessment, I guess.

[44:53] » And there'd be public hearings, right, SC?

[44:55] » Oh, yeah. >> There's just a lot of steps to fill

[44:58] before it even would be approved. >> Yeah,

[45:01] » that's good. Where they'd be able to come forward,

[45:04] » but it's really in that. So, just to give you a little historical benefit,

[45:08] there's many projects that we did like the special assessment. Nobody really

[45:13] wants to be assessed. Uh, but when it's that has a real meaningful gain to the

[45:19] property. We'd have some projects where some people would come up to the podium

[45:22] and say, "Well, I really don't want to pay for it, but it's badly needed." And

[45:26] may have to say, "Well, so are you a for or against?" Well,

[45:32] » you know, but uh but I sure like to see the furniture. Just didn't want to pay

[45:36] for it. >> Nobody likes

[45:39] » Well, what the actual increment is, right? My my experience was it was

[45:45] substantial. >> Yeah. to pay it off over 10 years. So,

[45:48] so yeah, we've had some we had some 15 20,000 but service line might be, you

[45:55] know, maybe for service line,

[46:00] you know, paid off over 10 years with your taxes. So, I don't think these are

[46:04] anything that's going to put anybody out.

[46:08] » And there's also the preliminary assessment schedule. So,

[46:14] » that gets out to the public in advance as a you know it's kind of an estimated

[46:19] cost. >> Yeah. It's not

[46:21] » so it's and it's a it's a process to it. So

[46:24] » so they'll know exactly could be this is the amount it's usually conservative

[46:28] amount. But yeah, when you're looking at fire

[46:33] flow improvements, water quality, you're not drinking out of a 75 main any

[46:38] longer. You're not drinking out of a old potentially older service line that runs

[46:43] to your house. Those are all very

[46:51] » in this area. >> And doesn't it help with insurance?

[46:56] » It should definitely. Yes. >> It'll improve your ISO rating for your

[47:00] home. >> Yeah.

[47:01] » Yeah. Because right now they're under that. So So at some point, you know,

[47:06] there's got to be like a meeting sort of a halfway. Everybody wants, you know,

[47:11] government to pay for everything. There just isn't

[47:14] for all that >> and that's sign probably why things

[47:18] advanced too far. Uh but I'm excited about the opportunity to not only

[47:22] address you things that were listed in the DNR sanitary report about the the

[47:27] low water pressure but but here we are uh you know very shortly into this this

[47:31] term here. Uh and here's an opportunity that we're kind of presenting to to take

[47:37] a real progressive role in taking out 1500 ft maybe more of some of the worst

[47:44] water man in town. I think we do. >> How long does the DNR give you to get in

[47:51] compliance? >> Oh, there's there's not.

[47:54] » Okay. >> There's no mandate, you know, and and

[47:57] we've had people say, "Oh, you're under a mandate to replace that." No.

[48:01] And every every survey and I got one right here, but uh every survey there is

[48:06] no mention of the 4 in maintenance replacement.

[48:09] » Now businesses they give you a a date. >> Yeah. No, they do mention the pressure.

[48:14] » Not like not like the the the >> not like the wash,

[48:18] » right? >> The threeear inspections. That's

[48:21] some of those items are different. >> Why

[48:25] not? uh just because they had the background. Uh could could have RFP it

[48:30] out. Uh but they've got pretty good background with the city. Uh seemed like

[48:35] a pretty easy transition. I do think the the prices I don't think you're going to

[48:40] see a big sale. Okay. >> Somewhere else on that.

[48:45] » Well, that would be my question because I think council members would get some

[48:48] questions and I and I'm sure I will too. is I mean is there any benefit to doing

[48:53] to mo moving forward with this now or benefit to waiting till we see what what

[48:58] uh uh >> and Kim

[49:01] » Vanster and Kim comes back with an overall proposal? I I don't know but

[49:04] those are questions those are questions we'll get and we we want to make sure we

[49:08] understand. >> Yeah. No, there definitely would not. I

[49:09] mean these this is going back into the 2019 2020. So I mean it's that that

[49:14] diagnosis there. I think it's legitimate. This is an old old man.

[49:20] » It's not getting any better. >> No, I mean that's been a concern for a

[49:24] very long time. >> Yeah, I know. It's not all of a sudden

[49:27] somebody else can look and say, "Gee, that 4 inch man is

[49:30] great." I mean, you know, it's you got the school there. This is this is this

[49:38] is bad in nobody's going to say, "Yeah, you missed

[49:42] the vote on this." So yeah, we know we have a big uh again

[49:47] a big elephant with all the 4 inch man in town where we're going to have to

[49:50] start >> somewhere and and this is a high

[49:53] priority area that >> Yeah. Yeah. I mean one

[49:57] » one bite you got to do it one time. This is I think I don't think the town is

[50:03] probably in 15 years maybe more taken out how much 4 in line

[50:11] » that I don't I don't think there hasn't been

[50:15] a water project since >> you're on

[50:19] » I mean I can tell you this 4in line is not good you know that from your past

[50:25] reports we know what we have Yeah, it's that needs to be replaced.

[50:33] » You know, the pressure.

[50:40] » I would make a motion to approve the engineering services agreement with the

[50:44] 2026 water distribution system improvement project.

[50:51] » Motion stolen. Second. Not. Any further discussion?

[50:58] Jeremy.

[51:04] » We lost him. He has said he had a bad connection.

[51:06] » Okay.

[51:10] » All right. Uh, all those in favor say I. >> I.

[51:13] » I. >> Okay.

[51:16] » I just say thanks again for that. I think that's uh we're not there yet, but

[51:21] you take bold steps. Uh,

[51:26] full up there. So, but again, you got to act to do something. Like I said,

[51:32] nobody's going to come in and replace that line for us.

[51:35] » We're going to have to do it again. And it means getting busy and getting it

[51:38] done and making it happen. Sometimes, uh,

[51:42] » it ain't easy. >> We're taking a step in the direction,

[51:48] right? >> Financing question.

[51:51] » Yeah. And I'm not concerned about it. Yeah. I'm really not. I mean this where

[51:55] we're not so like clear like we put in all new street water sewer sidewalks

[52:00] laterals. This is just the water thing. >> Well that's yeah it's not like this is a

[52:06] strip mall like right this is essential infrastructure. It's it's it's not uh

[52:11] you know it's uncontested that it has to be replaced. Correct.

[52:14] » Right. >> And so we at least need to understand

[52:18] what replacing it cost. Right. No, absolutely. But I don't want it to be

[52:22] one of those where, you know, we buy the plans and then never get away. We got to

[52:27] execute on it. So, I think it's a great project. Uh the distribution system is,

[52:33] you know, water's lifeblood of the community after air, you got to have

[52:37] water and this is, you know, 75 year old infrastructure. Long long past.

[52:44] » Yep. >> Absolutely.

[52:47] Okay. All right. Back to uh new business item A. I believe uh we have our guest

[52:55] here for a uh review of the Benton County multi-jurisdictional local hazard

[53:00] mitigation plan. >> I'll give a quick introduction. Robin,

[53:03] if you want to just review the plan, but council, you got a copy in your packet.

[53:08] Uh resolution approving the multi-jurisdictional local hazard

[53:11] mitigation plan. Uh also provided the one that was approved back in 2021.

[53:17] So updated every five years. Probably the most uh that and I know you've all

[53:21] got copy of that. The most thing important thing I guess I could tell you

[53:25] about it is it's a it's a prerequisite for any sort of funding for FEMA or you

[53:30] know Department of Homeland Security any of those kinds of improvements pre-

[53:34] disaster post disaster. If you don't have this plan you're not going to be

[53:38] eligible for any of those uh grant dollars. Now, there are obviously more

[53:43] reasons to do the plan than than just be concerned about grand dollars, but for a

[53:47] finance person, that's what's kind of on on my mind. But again, it looks at So,

[53:52] this was in collaboration with all of the other cities in Benton County. I

[53:56] think Robin, you did the update for every city in in Benton County. So,

[54:00] obviously, we all share the same kinds of weather patterns and all these kinds

[54:05] of things. So the the theory is that we don't really all need necessarily our

[54:09] own individual standalone plan but we could all operate under the emergency

[54:15] management agency's opices contract and have one countywide plan that has uh

[54:21] compartmentalized every community with all the information that we have

[54:26] particularized to each of our communities there. So, I I do want to

[54:29] recognize Bob for your extensive work and helping review all of this and get,

[54:34] you know, some updates added to that as well. And uh we shared those with Robin

[54:39] over the last I don't it's been probably eight, nine months or right somewhere

[54:43] there. So, yeah. >> Yeah.

[54:44] » So, I know you want to add any more or >> you basically covered it. It is a

[54:49] fiveyear update. FEMA requires it be updated every five years. So, we take a

[54:53] look at what's happened over the past five years and see how that changes. um

[54:58] priorities and um you know back in 2020 when this was being done, we were just

[55:05] getting into um COVID and so there was a you know some actions included about

[55:11] stocking up on medical supplies and and um some of that that type thing that now

[55:19] having gone through that most communities have decided that they don't

[55:23] really need to make that a community um specific action because we all work

[55:29] closely with our county public health and with state public health and so um

[55:34] that was one of the changes incorporating some of the information

[55:37] from the do was one of the changes from the last um from the last plan so it's

[55:43] just a chance to update um there's been some growth in your community in the

[55:47] past five years so updating all those demographics as well so that if you um

[55:52] when you do go after some funding um for any of these projects or if your

[55:57] community were affected by a a disaster that um warranted a presidential

[56:03] declaration, you'd have this plan in place and all of the actual political

[56:08] jurisdictions in the county participated. So, not only the

[56:11] communities, but your school districts and um and then there's a couple

[56:16] utilities in Venton that are considered political jurisdictions. So, they

[56:21] participated as well. So, one plan covers all of those jurisdictions. Um

[56:27] and FEMA recognizes that. So right now the plan's being reviewed at the state

[56:31] level. It'll go on after that to Kansas City to FEMA region 7 for approval. And

[56:37] part of the process to have it completely approved is to have each of

[56:42] those um jurisdictions adopt the plan um by resolution. So that's what we're

[56:49] asking. >> How many of the other cities I know

[56:51] Shellsburg had it on their agenda for tonight too? Everybody also got their

[56:55] own. >> Um I've just been receiving

[57:00] a few this week. So it's it's just depends on when council meetings were

[57:04] were scheduled. Yeah. >> And I just add we did post a link on our

[57:09] website and social media just to comment.

[57:14] » Did you receive any? >> Pretty quiet. Pretty quiet.

[57:19] » Yeah. >> Takes a while to read.

[57:23] Yeah, it is pretty big. >> Mayor said all about 427

[57:28] » sheriff's department or fire department or anything.

[57:30] » They did. No objection.

[57:34] » No.

[57:41] » Motion to approve the 2026 Benton County multi-jurisdictional

[57:45] local hazard mitigation plan. >> Second.

[57:51] » So, Do we need to talk about that language

[57:54] there? We're approving the resolution. Correct.

[57:58] » Right. That's I believe that that would probably be what

[58:00] » Okay. Motion to approve resolution number 2026-09-01.

[58:07] » Sorry. >> Okay. And a motion and a second.

[58:15] Any further discussion, council? Okay. We will have a uh roll call vote

[58:22] for the city by the city clerk. >> Deonner

[58:24] » I. >> Derski.

[58:25] » Hi. >> Nut.

[58:27] » Hi. >> Stolen.

[58:28] » I

[58:32] resolution passes.

[58:36] With that, let's see if I can find my way back here. We get to city

[58:41] administrators report. >> Yeah, thanks. Just a couple things real

[58:44] quick. uh going to give an update on the T traffic engineering assistance program

[58:49] funding request for safe route to school study. Uh very happy to report that the

[58:55] DOT did uh approve that funding request. So that does fund a certain number of

[59:01] consultant hours. I forget the total number of hours that they so maybe 100

[59:05] and some hours that they'll contribute a consultant time uh into developing uh

[59:10] what for us I hope will be a safe route to school application for next year uh

[59:15] you know involving crosswalks and sidewalks and all of those kinds of uh

[59:19] things. So definitely appreciate the quick turnaround. I guess we just got

[59:23] lucky and hit the right time. So just goes back to I think a conversation we

[59:27] had at one of those coffees and I think Jay you and Trevor kind of brought that

[59:30] up and so I reached out and we had strong interest uh school had heard

[59:35] about so I heard from some folks from the school uh area residents and then

[59:39] Cardinal area got some feedback from them that want to be involved in it. So

[59:44] uh really looking forward to that. So at some point we'll have probably an

[59:47] agreement between the city and the DOT for that that study that'll be

[59:51] presented. So no cost to the city. Uh yeah, even better.

[59:56] » That was a quick turnaround. >> It was really quick. We're lucky on

[59:59] that. Uh and then I just want to mention that uh Liant was here. Uh David, I

[1:00:04] don't know if you want to add on that, but Lion was here putting the electric

[1:00:07] into the new uh entry gateway sign there. So, looks like they got all of

[1:00:11] that done. I was the uh contractor for Alliant putting lines underground and

[1:00:16] they're waiting for Alliant to come in and set the meter

[1:00:20] » and then Wayne will come in and >> Yep.

[1:00:22] » finished all off. >> Y but they did get the lines all in

[1:00:26] » the to the meter pest. >> Yep. Okay.

[1:00:29] » Yep. To the meter pest. >> Okay. So, we're and hopefully

[1:00:33] » getting closer. Excellent. >> Excellent.

[1:00:37] » That's all I got. >> That's all you got? Okay. retired

[1:00:40] » mayor's report. Just a couple of things. Um attended a a mayor's meeting over in

[1:00:45] Fairfax on Friday. That was a time well spent. Uh few eastern Iowa mayors there

[1:00:50] and we uh we had a discussion with an attorney about data centers and the

[1:00:56] things we're learning about data centers and kind of by default power plants um

[1:01:01] that kind of go along with that. So um one discussion I just a discussion point

[1:01:07] maybe for future um that I took away from that was the the the really strong

[1:01:12] suggestion is that cities particularly small cities um get uh moratoriums

[1:01:21] uh if if they so choose in place until ordinances can be created regarding

[1:01:28] those things. So something for us I think to think about. Um

[1:01:33] » and again >> I'd agree with that.

[1:01:36] » I mean you look we don't have a big chunk of ground where things can happen

[1:01:40] right in our incorporated area but that is not how it happens all the time. Um

[1:01:44] so uh we try to annex things into small cities and without any kind of plan in

[1:01:49] place. Um and so a moratorum is not saying we'd never allow that or consider

[1:01:54] that. It's putting that in place so that ordinances can be uh researched

[1:02:01] » and developed and and in place so you can control what happens in your

[1:02:05] incorporated area. So I think that again I kind of maybe crudely uh early on uh

[1:02:11] this year said we need to look at doing something like that and and now we have

[1:02:15] a more succinct legal way of doing that. So I think we need to consider doing

[1:02:19] that. Um, second, I just want to, you know, props

[1:02:24] to the Legion and and getting people involved in the Avenue of Flags. There's

[1:02:28] a lot more flags out there. I love that and it it looks great in the community

[1:02:31] and and, uh, they're keeping them up through September 11th, which is

[1:02:36] fantastic. So, um, props to the Legion. If folks don't have that, it's a great

[1:02:40] fundraiser for the Legion. I'd encourage you to get involved in that. So um then

[1:02:45] the last thing again maybe just kind of throwing throwing things out there a

[1:02:49] little fishing maybe future discussions but

[1:02:53] um I've given I thought and talked to a lot of you about um maybe having a

[1:02:59] public forum discussion time in our meetings. Maybe not every meeting, maybe

[1:03:04] periodically we would do such a thing where maybe we'd review inquiries that

[1:03:08] come in by email um information requests and talk about those things publicly. Um

[1:03:16] number one to build confidence with our people that that do send inquiries that

[1:03:20] they know that we're looking at them and we're addressing them and taking them

[1:03:23] seriously. But I also think there's an opportunity

[1:03:27] for us uh because I think none of us want to go out in social media and argue

[1:03:32] with people. And I think that's very wise not to do that. But maybe we could

[1:03:37] discuss some of the things that go on internet land in a public setting so

[1:03:43] that we can have a public discussion about those kind of things and

[1:03:46] particularly things that just aren't correct.

[1:03:51] » Just food for thought. I don't know. Uh could

[1:03:55] be inviting more, you know, issues. I don't know. But I think it's something

[1:04:00] worth talking about. Um because we don't want to ga engage in

[1:04:05] a non-public setting, maybe we can bring it to a public setting. And and again, I

[1:04:09] want I want >> I want our citizens to feel like if

[1:04:12] they've got if they've if they've take the time to send an email and they've

[1:04:16] got a concern that they're requesting assistance from us on that they know

[1:04:20] that they're being addressed and we're discussing them as well.

[1:04:25] Just food for thought.

[1:04:30] » That's why your coffee thing was a huge step

[1:04:33] » and we will continue that and maybe that's

[1:04:36] » correct. Right. >> Next month.

[1:04:38] » October 17th. Yes. >> It's the next one. Y and maybe that's

[1:04:42] where we incorporate that. I just I think we could think about those kind of

[1:04:45] things and uh >> maybe improve the communication a little

[1:04:50] bit.

[1:04:55] Next up, we have the consent agenda. >> Just info. Um, the bank wreck reports

[1:05:00] were not available tonight, but the rest was in the packet.

[1:05:14] So, the consent agenda includes uh the August 25th city council meeting

[1:05:19] minutes, approval of bills and claims submitted by the clerk. Uh not all the

[1:05:24] financial reports. >> All the financial reports, treasures

[1:05:27] report, revenue and expense except for the bank record.

[1:05:30] » Except for the bank reconciliation, >> right?

[1:05:34] » Uh the August 26 2026 utility trial balance and R reports approval of

[1:05:40] renewal of a class B retail native wine license for Central City Family

[1:05:46] Pharmacy. Uh also known as Atkins Family Pharmacy. Uh and approval of ownership

[1:05:52] change for Casey's General Store 401 Stone Brook Drive for their class E

[1:05:57] retail license, alcohol license, tobacco license.

[1:06:01] » So Casey's What's Casey's doing here? just ownership changes to their

[1:06:07] » corporate. Yeah.

[1:06:11] » Several times, >> especially with a new building.

[1:06:14] » Okay. >> Cuz it's like, didn't they build it?

[1:06:22] » And they're doing that in other communities.

[1:06:24] » Every community does pretty much. Yeah. Every every place where there's a

[1:06:28] tobacco or alcohol license or there's a Casey store, every city gets the same

[1:06:33] ownership change. >> Okay.

[1:06:36] » But they keep the >> Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.

[1:06:41] » Okay.

[1:06:44] » Do we have a motion?

[1:06:49] » I'll make a motion to approve the cassette agenda.

[1:06:52] » Motion to Milner.

[1:06:59] Second not any further discussion.

[1:07:05] All those in favor say I. I. >> I.

[1:07:09] » Unanimous.

[1:07:12] All right. We move on to other business. Uh we'll start with David back there.

[1:07:18] You got anything? Anything else? Nope. Okay.

[1:07:21] » Just give me some uh questions for the two

[1:07:25] camera stuff in the next couple days and I'll I'll get all that for you.

[1:07:29] » Okay, sounds good. >> Shelly,

[1:07:33] » no. >> Nope.

[1:07:35] » Bob, >> I got a couple. Um,

[1:07:38] I sent an email back to Scott and to you, Mayor, and to Dan, Chief Dan

[1:07:44] Ramlesburg, about the emergency management uh uh course conference is

[1:07:50] going to be over in Walke in October. I may that I don't know. We'll talk some

[1:07:55] more about it, but it does tabletop uh disaster drills.

[1:08:00] » What do you know what the dates are? >> I believe it's October 16th

[1:08:06] and it's a tabletop presented by the emergency management crew out of the

[1:08:10] state and uh with some city inputs on what they went through some of the I'm

[1:08:14] assuming like Greenfield or whoever out there who went through some of the

[1:08:17] tornado business. Um, Chief Ramlesburg did send out call stats to Scott and I

[1:08:24] just before the meeting. And just to let you know, they they're ahead of schedule

[1:08:28] again for about the fifth year in a row for calls. And if you haven't noticed in

[1:08:32] the morning, I know a lot of people go to work. I'm retired. I don't do much

[1:08:35] that there is a ton of calls in the early morning. So, those guys that are

[1:08:39] responding uh in the morning, there's not many of them, but they've been on

[1:08:44] numerous calls over the last couple weeks between probably 6 a.m. and 9 a.m.

[1:08:50] whether they're going out to Highway 30 for whatever or I see area ambulance

[1:08:54] tearing into town on 33rd Avenue. So those guys are doing stellar work and it

[1:08:59] looks like they're going to quite possibly go after another record which

[1:09:03] is nothing to be happy about. But as this thing pushes forward uh with the

[1:09:08] power plant if it comes to attrition, it's going to pick up quite a bit for

[1:09:13] him. So, uh, I think we need to probably sit down with Dan and sometime make sure

[1:09:18] that anything we can do to help them recruit EMS and fire here over the next

[1:09:24] three to five years is going to be pretty critical because there's a bunch

[1:09:27] of older people over there about ready to turn south, too. And, uh, I think

[1:09:32] it's important we got to have that conversation with them. Um, the only

[1:09:36] other thing I want to talk about is that when I was in here going through, it's a

[1:09:42] lot easier to come in here and read council minutes and agendas than looking

[1:09:46] online through past council meeting and agendas. I was in there looking for like

[1:09:51] water stuff and conversations and packets and trying to figure out what

[1:09:55] was agreed to prior, what was said so we can kind of logically think out our

[1:10:00] water issues in this town. and I came across a couple troubling areas uh not

[1:10:07] pertaining to the water but I don't want to go into too much

[1:10:11] detail that with the expenditures uh that I came upon came upon I found

[1:10:19] that and I presented it to Scott and um you know I I would like to request that

[1:10:25] we have a close session to discuss uh specifically the period of 2021 21 to

[1:10:32] 23, maybe 24, but 21 to 23 just to discuss those items between the the five

[1:10:39] of us and the mayor and Shelley and Scott and possibly the lawyer. Uh to

[1:10:46] discuss those to figure out what the best way to present that to the public

[1:10:50] to be fully transparent. Um, I I think it it'll let us verify the

[1:10:57] public how the public money was intended to be spent and it gives the residents

[1:11:03] confidence that we're we're being one transparent and accountable to every tax

[1:11:08] dollar whether the five or six or seven of us at this table that weren't here

[1:11:12] during those time frames. U we can discuss that and how to present that.

[1:11:17] That doesn't mean jump right off the deep end and say we're going to request

[1:11:21] a special I don't, you know, that's an option, but

[1:11:25] I don't know if we need to do anything like that. But I think the best thing to

[1:11:29] do is to sit down, talk about it as a group, and then how we want to roll that

[1:11:35] out in the future. I don't I don't think there's any um

[1:11:40] uh criminal activity. I'm not a lawyer anyway, but I I'm pretty sure there's

[1:11:44] not, but there's uh probably a financial irregularity at at the worst. uh that

[1:11:52] needs to be presented and how we want to handle that.

[1:11:57] So I would vote ask for uh a close session be scheduled by the city

[1:12:05] administrator and the mayor at the near future where we can discuss these

[1:12:09] issues. >> I'll get Doug and see what

[1:12:19] » anything else? No, sir. >> I'm good.

[1:12:25] » J,

[1:12:32] » how many? >> Oh, you more recent.

[1:12:36] » I saw that. >> Oh, it's looking even better. I can't

[1:12:39] remember. We got another batch in here the other day and Oh, it's looking

[1:12:43] fantastic. You know, I'm excited. Not have a ton of people watch our meetings,

[1:12:47] but when we have that now, we'll be able to Simoc cast three different places

[1:12:52] basically uh cast on YouTube, Facebook and city website. So you're welcome

[1:12:59] organization of the minutes. >> Oh just just from that just the snapshot

[1:13:04] I see >> the quality of work that how data will

[1:13:08] be managed and maintained on there >> and the interactivity I mean between

[1:13:13] doing business on online and things so so much easier with permits and those

[1:13:18] kinds of things. So, it's going to be a mess. And Bob has asked for it many many

[1:13:22] times with the new um cell the texting uh notifications and that I wish I wish

[1:13:28] for another 100 meter break. But, you know, if we had had the one the the new

[1:13:32] website with the Dixel off and running and everything, we we've been able to

[1:13:36] kind of fence off a particular area and then if we had those cell phones for

[1:13:40] that area, we could have notified everybody by text message. You know, we

[1:13:43] could do that by email and things, but people don't really look quite as

[1:13:49] quickly at their email most of the time versus a text message. And in

[1:13:53] particular, the texting is very popular among older people, not as much as the

[1:13:58] email, but the texting. They really like getting the text messages. So, thank you

[1:14:02] for mentioning that. We're hopeful to get it done soon.

[1:14:10] » It's going to be >> work that's going on.

[1:14:13] you haven't, you know. >> Yeah, it's one of those in the scale of

[1:14:16] all the other things that we're doing. It probably doesn't deserve a whole lot

[1:14:20] of attention, but it's probably one of those things going from trash to

[1:14:24] treasure because the site we have, I think every

[1:14:29] » Oh, yeah.

[1:14:37] » Awesome stuff. I have one more item for Scott. It's the status on the code of

[1:14:43] ordinances >> about the same time as website. So,

[1:14:45] we're hopeful to have that and Mayor and I actually talked about maybe another

[1:14:49] change you might like to see to to one particular area there. And so, you will

[1:14:54] get that back hopefully here uh within a couple of weeks is kind of what she

[1:14:58] suggested. Uh and then kind of run through some of the areas that maybe you

[1:15:02] want to get a little more look at discussion.

[1:15:06] » Y and then get a schedule for adoption

[1:15:10] then so I can some some more ideas come into play

[1:15:17] » item 11 motion to adjourn motion stolen second not

[1:15:23] » all in favor say I >> I

[1:15:27] » thank you everyone >> thank you mayor

[1:15:34] Wait a minute.

City of Atkins City Council Meeting 09-08-2026

Transcript