Gilbert City Council Meeting

December 16, 2002

Index of items discussed:
Basic stuff   Open forum: city is off schedule in completing its comprehensive plan   The Iowa DNR and the Gilbert wetland dam   Solving Lion's Park drainage problem (AKA as Dunn Street culvert)   Rewriting contract for Alan Hanson, city water superintendent   Approving tax exemptions for construction on four homes   The 2003-2004 city budget
	Law enforcement contract with Story County Sheriff's Department Human services: donations to non-profit groups Water service and water tower maintenance Repaying loan for new well Sewer system
Re-appointment of two women to the Parks and Recreation Commission
General discussion among council members
	Backup drivers for snow plowing during emergencies Request for waiving fee for late payment of water bill Elf hats to be worn when city officials pick up Christmas trees A bit more about the Parks and Recreation Commission

Basic stuff:

The meeting began shortly after 7:00 pm when Mayor Bob Jaquis asked Dianna Schmidt, the clerk, to call roll. Three council members were present: Craig Allen, Lynn Henn, and Peg Uthe. Council member Chris Benda arrived a few minutes after the meeting began. Other people present at the meeting included: a handful of students from the Gilbert High School senior government class; Helen Gunderson, who is a Gilbert resident and editor of the Gilbert Gazette; Alan Hanson, who is the town’s water superintendent; and David Dougherty of WHKS Engineering Company, who provides engineering services to the town.

The consent calendar was approved.
 

Agenda item number one — open forum:

After the basic business, the mayor began to open discussion about agenda item two regarding Gilbert’s wetland dam; however, citizen and Gazette editor, Helen Gunderson, asked if he was going to skip the open forum. So he back tracked and asked if anyone was at the meeting to speak during the forum. It is a time during the meeting when citizens and other visitors can address topics not on the agenda.

Helen noted that at the November 4 joint meeting of the council and planning and zoning commission, the consultants from the Public Management Resource Group had distributed a time table for Gilbert to complete its comprehensive plan. She reminded the council that the time table says the final draft plan would be done by November 25; then there would be council and commission review with comments returned by January 1; then there would be public hearings as soon as February 15. Helen asked where the council stood in relation to that timetable, i.e. whether it was going to remain on schedule. Council member Peg Uthe and perhaps another council member replied that they had not heard anything about the progress on the timetable. The mayor said that based on the conversation at the November 4 meeting, that they would "just expect not to be on that timetable." (Note: Helen was at the November 4 meeting and aware that the council and commission had much more to discuss about elements of the plan and needed to make some preliminary decisions. However, nothing was said at that meeting about delaying the timetable. Helen assumed the consultants would work with the results of the meeting as well as hold another meeting with the council and commission during December in order to keep on schedule. Because the topic was not on a December agenda, Helen raised her question.)
 

Agenda item number two — Gilbert wetland dam, work order number six:

The mayor turned to David Dougherty of WHKS Engineering. David brought the council up to date on dealings with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources about its concerns regarding the wetland dam that was constructed in Upstill Park as part of the Vision 2000 project and that had the potential to raise the flood water elevation on nearby lowland owned by a Mr. Roth. The matter has been discussed at several previous meetings.

David reported that the DNR had reviewed the city’s response to a directive about the dam. He said the DNR agreed with all of the city’s report except for two items. 1.) The DNR wants the city to use a higher flow rate in its formula to calculate the potential flood problems. 2.) The city had calculated that the dam raises the flood water level by only .03 feet (one third of an inch). The DNR responded that although .03 feet may seem small, it is a significant amount, even though the city had claimed in its report that .03 feet was an insignificant amount.

David said that there may be a way to keep the dam and wetland as they are. He said there is a constricted area of the lowland stream near the Roth property that could be (cleared or widened). Council member Craig Allen raised some questions about the rigidity of the DNR. David said the DNR is "going by the book." David went on to provide some background. He said that with flow equations from previous years (perhaps decades) the DNR had used a rate of 700+ cubic feet per second to estimate the flow of water in a 100 year flood. However, after the flooding of the early 1990s in Iowa, the DNR had decided that a rate of 2000+ cubic feet per sec should be used for calculating a 100 year flood. He added that the DOT and other agencies in the state realize that when the latter amount is applied to the equation for calculating the flow in a small basin, the estimates usually turn out to be too high. David said that when his firm did the flow calculations for the city, it had used an average of the old and new standards in its equation.

David described the work order his company had submitted to the city to re-do the calculations. He also pointed to an item for preparing a formal (application) to the DNR. He also said that the foot bridges in the park are supposed to be above the water level for a 50 year flood, but the city is asking for a variance on that matter, and the DNR will probably grant it.

Council member Lynn Henn jokingly said that in hindsight, knowing about the advent of the West Nile virus, perhaps the city would have been better off to take out the whole damn dam. He got some chuckles from around the table.
 

Agenda item number three — Lions Park drainage project:

The Lions Park drainage problems have been discussed at several previous meetings. It has to do with poor drainage at a box culvert under Dunn Street at the east end of Lions Park where water accumulates and stagnates. David referred the council to an estimate the city had gotten from Ames Trenching to work on the project. He said the company has already done part of the work by digging to expose an existing (tile) line. That was there was talk of installing (a line) under the sanitary sewer, and there was a need to see if there would be enough fall for the plan to work. David added that the estimate from Ames Trenching had not clarified the issue of draining water out of the lowest part of the culvert. At one point, he said that to do so would mean cutting through both concrete and steel and would be a very difficult job.

Allen asked some questions about how successful the project could be (i.e. how dry would the space be after the project was complete.) David said there are already ponds that are four to six inches high in the culvert, partially due to vegetation (cattails, etc.) downstream that slow the flow of water. David added that there is "no 100 percent solution" to the problem.

The mayor said that no decision was needed at the meeting. David agreed and said he still needs to get full clarification from Ames Trenching and that might not happen until after Christmas.
  

Agenda item number four — well head protection project:

The mayor turned to water superintendent, Alan Hanson, to report on this topic. However, there was not much of an introduction to what the issue was about. It became more clear during the discussion. Alan stated that things are going slower than he had anticipated. He has made some inquiries (we are not sure of whom — whether environmental officials, landowners, or other persons) and is waiting for a response. He added that he didn’t think the delay would hold up progress on constructing the new well. He said that next the town would have to be surveyed to determine what pollutants may be in the area. For instance, he mention the coop and the possibility of agricultural chemicals that are applied in the area. He also alluded to Corn Suitability Ratings (CSR) and Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) figures to determine (what the city should pay in rent for the well head protection area and have it be in a grass buffer.)

David said there is a property management person who oversees the land (where the current well is or near it). David has talked to that person about the possibility of putting in a CRP buffer. The person might be interested if the price is right. Allen asked how much land would be involved. Alan said the area could be as much as a 2500 foot radius. Uthe asked if the area could extend to land across the road. Alan said, "Yes, that’s why we want everyone (presumably landowners) to sign up."
    

Agenda item number five — licensed operator contract for water and sewer systems:

Alan said he had rewritten his previous contract a bit because questions had arisen about what he did to earn the dollar amount he received. He often referred to the state criteria for a licensed operator. He said that in his new contract, he wrote that he will be paid an hourly rate (over and above his monthly contracted amount) for any task that is not listed in the state standard. He also said that if he signs on to do the work, and if something goes wrong (presumably since he holds the license), that the state would come after him first (and not Gary Steel who is the city maintenance supervisor who does some work in the water plant). Alan said he kept his monthly rate the same as it had been in the past but raised his hourly rate from $19 to $25.

Henn asked if Alan would get a cost of living increase for both the monthly and hourly rates. Uthe asked if the hourly rate would go up again in July if there was a general raise then for the city staff. Alan said it wouldn’t need to.

Craig Allen said he realized that hourly work and expenses would vary but that council member Jon Popp had pointed out to him that at the end of November there had been a substantial increase in the amount paid to Alan. Alan said that was because Gary Steel had been on vacation, and that he (Alan) had filled in to do daily operation of the water plant which is over and above the criteria set by the state. Alan also said he has provided the city clerk with a complete, detailed hourly listing of how he has used his time. For instance, he recently worked three weekends. Alan added that although he is asking for a $25 hourly rate over $19 in his old contract, that the total number of extra hours he has worked has gone down.

The mayor asked how often Alan ran the water cycle. Alan says that he runs the softener daily but that if the city switched to an automated system, his time could be cut down two hours from start to finish each day. Alan also reminded the council he would be taking some vacation time in January and that the mayor would be on call. There were some chuckles around the table.

The mayor said the city could look into the cost advantages of having an automated system. Alan, who lives up in the Randall area, said that on weekends, it takes him four hours to come to Gilbert, do the softening process, and go home. The council’s consensus was for Alan to do more research to obtain bids mainly for an automated softening system but also for a filtering system. The mayor said he thought that the last time the city sought bids, the total was around $50,000. Council member Benda asked, "Do we have the money to do it?" The mayor responded, "That’s what we will have to figure out." Alan recommended that even if the city goes to an automated system, that it not cut back Gary’s work hours. Craig Allen said there would still be plenty of work that could keep Gary busy 80 hours a week for the city.
  

Agenda item number six — property tax exemptions:

Four properties in town were listed for property tax exemptions. The mayor asked for a motion to approve them. There was a motion but then silence. Then some joking. Craig Allen said that for the one for the Uthe home (sic Peg Uthe’s house) something should be written into the exemption about holding a party when the remodeling is done. There was more joking and laughter. The exemption for Uthe’s home at 202 Ashton was treated separately with Uthe abstaining. It passed as did the other three exemptions. Henn asked Uthe about the ease of filling in the application form for the exemption. Uthe said the process had been easy and that the clerk had printed off the legal description of the property from the Story County web site. She said that helped a lot.

Allen spoke about construction at a home on school street where the people had filled in a ditch. He wondered if they had gotten a permit. Both the mayor and clerk responded that the people had applied for a permit. The mayor said that the people filled the ditch with dirt in order to move their heavy trucks onto the site but that when the construction is done, they will look for people who want the dirt.
  

Agenda item number seven — 2003-2004 budget:

The mayor said that he now has the firm numbers for the Sheriff’s Department contract. It will be $38,493. He said that he had been at a meeting (presumably with other mayors and the department) and that "we sat at that meeting for 1 ½ hours to determine that the per capita rate would go up one dollar from $38 to $39." He added that those cities in the county such as Ames and Story City who have their own police forces have a per capita cost of $95 to $100. He also concluded that Gilbert would need $200,000 to start its own force, which would make its per capita rate around $200. Uthe joked that the city would have to ticket more drivers (to collect more money) in order to pay that much for a police force.

The mayor said the group had met in the new county jail, and that it was very nice. He also asked council member Chris Benda if was still interested in participating in the citizens’ academy. Benda was not currently interested. The mayor said that if he, himself, had an extra evening available during the week, he would be interested in being part of the academy.

Back to the budget. The mayor said that he had not received budget figures from the fire department.

The discussion then returned to the human services budget which had been discussed at the last meeting. Dianna Schmidt, the clerk, said that she had sent a check for $175 to the AIDS Coalition at an address in Nevada in July but that it had just recently been cashed. She tried to contact the group to find out what happened but has been unable to locate it.

The consensus of the council was to keep the list of donations to non-profit groups the same as it had been last year. Henn said it would be nice to give more but that the city could not do that in light of other expenses.

Allen asked about paying for the automated water system. The mayor said it would be paid for in this fiscal year, not next year’s budget.

Benda asked Alan Hanson how the cost of water services in Gilbert compared to that in other towns. Alan said that compared to Randall, that Gilbert was looking good. Alan also mentioned that this would be Gilbert’s last year on its tower maintenance contract. Uthe asked if it was like the maintenance contracts that a person gets when he or she buys a new piece of equipment. Alan said it was and that, "one way or another, they are going to get you either for a five-year contract (or by the job)." Craig Allen spoke favorably about maintenance contracts, especially for equipment that is likely to break down. The mayor said the contracts are good because the company puts the city on a maintenance schedule. Benda said they are also easier to budget. Al said the company is doing a good job of maintaining the Gilbert water tower, but that the work is not costing the company $46,000 per year. There was consensus to budget for $50,000 to include an estimated 10 percent increase in the contract. Then when the company actually announces the amount of the new contract, the city can decide to sign on or simply have the money in the budget to do the work job by job.

Alan said the closest company is out of Clear Lake with others in South Dakota and Nebraska. Craig Allen asked about the unique tower in Adair. Uthe mentioned the one that is designed like a tea pot in the town where Mrs. Olson was from.

David asked about budgeting to repay the loan for the new well. The consensus was to put $18,000 in the budget toward next years repayment of the loan. Craig Allen said he believed in paying off loans as quickly as possible.

The budget for the sewer system was then discussed. Alan Hanson said the Gilbert sewer system is an easy one to operate and couldn’t see the need for changing much about it. There was then a rambling discussion. Among other things, Alan noted that the Hydroclean System for the sewer costs $1000 per half day of service. The mayor suggested Alan take the whole page from the budget for the sewer (and probably related line items) and sit down with Gary Steel to see what should be budgeted.

Alan, with a deadpan look on his face that hid the fact that he was joking, soberly asked if the city should have McClure Engineering do another study of the lagoon system. It took a few moments before the council and clerk caught onto his joke. In the meantime, there was an awkward air in the room. Not only was David of WHKS Engineering, who now does the engineering work for Gilbert, sitting near Alan, but there are remnants of sore feelings toward McClure, partially for all the studies it has conducted for Gilbert but that didn’t really help the city. Eventually there were some chuckles and Alan made the point that the city should start thinking again about expanding the lagoon system — that in some respects, it is getting close to its limit of use. The mayor asked David what amount to put in the budget. David said he would do some calculating and get back to the mayor.

Benda asked Alan if the city had any other aerating system for the lagoon than that of Gary driving his boat around in the lagoon. Alan said, "the system is working nice, and if it’s not broke, don’t fix it." Then there was a period of silence.

That concluded the budget discussions for the evening.
  

Agenda item number eight — appointment of Sarah Carlson and Joy Leister to the Parks and Recreation Commission:

The mayor made no introduction nor explanation of his choice to re-appoint Sarah Carlson and Joy Leister to the Parks and Recreation Commission. He did say he is the one with the authority to make appointments but would like a council motion to approve them. He asked for a motion, and there was one as well as a second. He asked if there was any discussion.

Helen Gunderson, who is not only a Gilbert citizen but a former member both of the Parks and Rec Commission and the city council asked to speak. She said that when she met with the commission, there were times when a small group of members (perhaps three, including Sarah and Joy) were faced with a difficult organizational situation. They were willing to be working participants of the commission but were unable (or at least strongly resistant) to taking leadership, and there was no one on Parks and Rec willing to provide the needed, strong leadership. Helen said that in light of that dilemma, she had two questions for the council.

1. What are the council’s expectations of these new members?
2. What kind of support can the new members expect from the council so the parks and recreation commission can be successful in filling its role?

Some place, either at the end of her questions, or in the middle of them, the mayor bluntly cut her off and said her remarks and questions were not relevant to the stated agenda item of appointing members to the commission. He said if Helen had remarks related to the appointments, she could make them. Helen began to speak again by giving some background, but before a sentence or two was out of her mouth, the mayor cut her off again. Helen then asked if she could explain how her questions were related to the agenda item of appointing the new commissioners. The mayor said she could not.

(Note: No council member intervened, either to over rule the mayor or to suggest that Helen be given a few minutes to express herself without interruption. It would be appropriate for a council member to say that he or she would like to hear more of what a visitor had to say, considering that his or her insights might be helpful to the council. It is not the first time that the current mayor has been rigid, without a thoroughly solid rationale, and cut off remarks by Helen, either when she served as a council member or after her resignation last spring when she was angered by similar treatment.)

The mayor called for the vote, and the council approved the appointment of Sarah and Joy to the Parks and Recreation Commission.

(Note: we could say more about our opinions on the mayor and his rigid style toward Helen during this discussion. However, since Helen is also the editor of the Gazette, we don’t want there to appear to be too much conflict of interest in preparing this summary of the council meeting. Instead, we may wait a few weeks to write a separate piece for the opinion section of this web site. Needless to say, we do believe that part of the role of being an effective elected official is to make sure that the citizens feel they are heard.)
  

Agenda item number nine — general discussion among council members:

The mayor asked about who to have do the snow plowing for the city in an emergency situation considering that Alan may be away on vacation. Benda and Henn both said they would be willing to volunteer to drive the snow plow.

The mayor reported there is a lady who is on limited income and gets her check on the 23^rd of each month and too late to pay her water bill on time. She would like to have her late fee waived each month. The council mainly talked about how the woman should pay her bill ahead of time; however, at least a couple council members alluded to understanding how difficult a situation the woman is in and having sympathy for her.

Craig Allen made some remark about his own utility bill. Henn said, "that’s because you have a 300-gallon-a-minute toilet." There was laughter around the table.

The mayor asked Allen if he wanted to share his idea about the city’s day for picking up trees. Allen thought everyone involved should wear elf hats to make things more festive. Uthe asked if there would be a fire at the end. The mayor said perhaps there could be a fire but not until the city’s dump truck had been moved away from the burn pile. (A former council member one time damaged the city truck when he left it too close to the fire."

Benda said something to the effect that the next time we do this, we need to get more people on the Parks and Recreation Commission. The mayor indicated that might not be necessary. He said Joy Leister will provide him with a list of names. He also said Joy suggested something about having an application form for the commission. He also pointed to a copy of the upcoming city newsletter (perhaps a mock up or perhaps the final copy) and said something about why he had not put an item in the newsletter. (Note: at the last meeting, when the mayor asked for suggestions about what to put in the newsletter, at least a couple of council members suggested publishing an announcement about openings on the Parks and Recreation Commission. Also, we applaud Benda for bringing the matter up. There should be a public, full council discussion about the future well-being of the commission.)

Adjourned at 8:12 pm.
 

This unofficial summary provided by Gilbert Gazette editor, Helen D. Gunderson. When the minutes of a  meeting become available (after they are approved at the next council meeting), we will post them. You may also wish to look for the minutes in the fine print of the legal notices in the Ames Tribune about 14 days after a council meeting. 

If someone has an eye for proof-reading and finds typos, mis-spelling, grammar, or other errors, please let us know so we can make corrections. It's difficult and time-consuming to prepare the summary, and although it would be wise to find a copy editor before posting the summaries, we feel it is important to make the essence of the material available to the public as soon as possible.

Also, the city council tape records each meeting, and the clerk maintains the cassettes for use in writing the minutes and clarifying future questions about meetings. As far as we know, those tapes are part of the public record (unless the a city uses the tapes only for preparing minutes then destroys the tapes). And as far as we know, citizens and other persons may arrange with the clerk to listen to the tapes at city hall.