February 2, 2015 Minutes

The semi-monthly meeting of the City Council of Walcott, Iowa, was held on Monday, the 2nd day of February, 2015, at Walcott City Hall. Mayor John Kostichek called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Council members present were: Tim Koehler, Virgil Wayne Latimer, Lisa Mengler, Jackie Puck, and Jacob Puck. Absent: None. City employees present: John Brockmann, Lisa Rickertsen, Linda Rivers, and Tom Schirman.

Mengler moved and Jacob Puck seconded to approve the agenda. Motion carried.

Consent Agenda. Jackie Puck moved and Koehler seconded to approve the consent agenda including the invoices, minutes from January 19, 2015, and minutes from January 22, 2015. Motion carried.

Introduction of Audience. Dennis & Karen Puck, Carol Snay, Brent Puck, Larry Koberg, Randy Moeller, Lee Muller and Brett Marshall.

Central Petroleum Company. Attorney Brett Marshall was present, representing Central Petroleum Company (Cen-Pe-Co). On behalf of Cen-Pe-Co, he requested the City Council reconsider constructing a municipal building on the city-owned lot (101 S. Main Street), west of Cen-Pe-Co. Marshall cited security and safety issues, additional parking concerns, proximity of other buildings, and delivery issues. Marshall stated that due to the nature of their business they would like to have a buffer zone around their property and have already purchased additional property over the past several years. Mengler stated she appreciates everything Cen-Pe-Co does for the community and will take it under consideration. Following additional discussion, Mengler moved and Jackie Puck seconded to have Attorney Schirman converse with Marshall to obtain further information on reasons why Cen-Pe-Co feels the City should not build at 101 S. Main Street. Motion carried.

Karen Puck : Historical Items. Karen Puck stated she would like to find a place to keep and maintain historical items and memorabilia so that Walcott's history can be preserved. She stated the items represent stories and ideas and having an area for historical items could also be utilized as an educational center. Carol Snay reported on the historical items present during the Sesquicentennial celebration in 2004 and the need to preserve and display items on a permanent basis. Lee Muller agreed with Puck and Snay and spoke in favor of having a place to store and view historical items. Puck has a tremendous amount of items and brought copies of old newspapers and other historical artifacts for council to view. Puck stated she wants her collection of items to belong to the City and asked the Council to consider providing space for a historical area/center, possibly in the proposed municipal building. Mayor Kostichek thanked them for coming and providing the information for future consideration.

Building Department Report.
Rental Housing. Rivers reported the biennial rental housing inspections will start in March. The rental housing inspection program is for all non-owner occupied housing. Rivers questioned if the council wanted to continue to inspect non-owner occupied residences that are occupied by immediate family members (parents or children). Following discussion, Koehler moved and Mengler seconded to leave the ordinance as is. All non-owner occupied housing will continued to be inspected under the rental housing program. Jackie Puck and Jacob Puck abstained due to conflict. Motion carried.
Call Service. Rivers presented information on a call service to use as a courtesy call to remind residents of code enforcement violations, such as snow removal, and suggested it could also be utilized for other departments when needing to notify multiple residents at one time. The service includes a pre-recorded message regarding the code violation/city notification. Discussion ensued regarding snow removal. The council took the information under advisement and it will be discussed at the next meeting.

Public Work's Report. Brockmann reported on the recent snowfall issues. He stated they did one pass through on all streets and will start to widen the streets and haul snow tomorrow.

City Clerk's Report. A special meeting for the FYE 2016 budget was scheduled for Thursday, February 12th at 5:30 p.m. Rickertsen reported she received a phone call from a citizen in support of being a pass through town for RAGBRAI this year. Davenport will be the end point for the 2015 RAGBRAI and Coralville is the last overnight town. Larry Koberg stated it's too good of an opportunity to pass up. Following discussion, council consensus was to advise Joe Taylor, President of the Quad-Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau, that the City is interested in being a pass through town for this year's RAGBRAI.

Questions/Concerns. Randy Moeller questioned the status of the South Downey Street paving project. Rickertsen stated it will not be done this fiscal year and the council has not yet discussed projects for the FYE 2016 budget. The project will depend on street finances available and/or borrowing. The Public Works Department was thanked for their snow removal efforts.

Koehler moved and Jackie Puck seconded to adjourn at 7:34 p.m. Motion carried. All votes on motions were unanimous, unless noted.