Gilbert City Council Meeting

October 20, 2003

Basic Stuff  Infrastructure Stuff  Restaffing City Hall  Committee Reports

Basic Stuff: Mayor Bob Jaquis convened the meeting at 7:08 pm at city hall. The council appointed Carolyn Main to be the interim clerk to take minutes. Carolyn is also the part-time, temporary staff person at city hall during daytime office hours. Council members Craig Allen, Lynn Henn, Jon Popp, and Peg Uthe were present. Chris Benda was absent.

Other persons present at the meeting included Rich Lepper of Lepper Construction; Scott Williams and an assistant named Jesse from WHKS Engineering Company; and Helen Gunderson, a Gilbert citizen and editor of the Gilbert Gazette.

Open Forum:
No one spoke during the open forum, which is a time for visitors to address issues that are not on the agenda.

Infrastructure Stuff:
The mayor, council members, Rich Lepper of Lepper Construction, and Scott Williams and Jesse of WHKS Engineering firm talked for at least an hour about various infrastructure issues. First was the matter of revamping the already existing portion of Prarie View Drive between Gretten and the Village North Seventh Addition. The revamp will improve the flow of traffic and provide better drainage for the area of homes north of Prairie View Drive. The street reconstruction would be done hand-in-glove with extending Prairie View to the east to serve the new sub-division. Discussion of this project also led to discussion of drainage concerns on the southwest corner of the subdivision where the city pipe provides only a limited capacity for stormwater coming off of the entire town.

Then there was a discussion of the traffic flow with Scott explaining that the extended Prairie View Drive is meant to be more of a collector street. It will be two lanes wide with parking on one side. The principle he said is that of "traffic calming" and that the obstacles will slow traffic down. Helen Gunderson, who is a Gilbert resident and editor of the Gilbert Gazette, asked if there would be potential traffic congestion at rush hour times with cars from several homes on the various cul de sacs all feeding into the narrow street. Scott assured the group that there would be no problem of congestion.

Next there was discussion about a study of the capacity of Gilbert's lagoon system. Scott thought the final draft would be done in four-six weeks but says he is waiting for data from the DNR. He went on to say that based on the preliminary studies, both the hydraulic and organic aspects of the lagoons would be adequate until at least 2005. He says that those projections are contrary to what the city's previous engineering firm, McClure of Fort Dodge, had said. McClure had projected that 90 new homes would put the town over capacity for its lagoons. He concluded that the bottom line was that it doesn't appear that the additional homes in Village North and the new middle school will exceed the capacity of the lagoons. He did suggest, however, that the city should improve its ability to read and monitor the flow of material in the lagoons.

The Rich Lepper spoke about the preliminary plat for Village North Seventh Addition that had been approved on October 9 by Gilbert's planning and zoning commission. He said that the area was a redesigned version of a plan that had originally been implemented years ago and that he was simply "proposing to make a reality of another 30 lots." There was discussion about some technical aspects of the plan, including easements to the city for drainage and other purposes.

Helen mentioned the city's proposed comprehensive plan and how it included a provision for a bicycle trail along the south edge of the Village North sub-division. She asked Rich to explain to the mayor and council members what he had said at the P and Z meeting about putting in a bike trail. He said that space for a bike trail comes down to an issue of ownership. The city could purchase a 10-foot-wide strip on the south side of the project for the trail, but cutting off that much property would put the long-term housing plan in a bind. He also said that the cost of his land would be high since it is pre-platted land and that he assumed the farm land just south of his property would be less expensive. Scott added that more land than simply the width of a bike trail would have to be purchased for a bike trail project because there would also have to be room to run utilities underground. Essentially, it is not wise to cover utilities over with a bike trail that would limit future access for repairs to them.

There was a bit further discussion about extending Gilbert's bike trail system. One council member pointed out that if there was eventually a housing development just south of the Village North project, that an east-west bike trail between the sub-divisions would be a bad idea because the trail would be bordered on both sides by the backyards of homeowners. Helen said that there was already a precedent with Gilbert's current bike trail in Upstill Park that runs alongside the backyards of several homes. The council members disagreed. One said that riding a bicycle on a trail with back yards on both sides would be like riding through a gauntlet. Another council member even referred to it as an opportunity for someone to lob a water balloon at a bike rider.

Council member Jon Popp commended Rich, Scott, and Jesse for doing a good job of working out the details of the proposed plat. Rich said that if the city wants to submit names of people to honor by naming streets after them, that the city should do so soon. He also asked about spacing for street lights. The consensus of the council was to keep the spacing at 200 feet between poles.

Finally, there was a motion by Council Member Peg Uthe to accept the preliminary plat for the Village North Seventh Addition, and it passed unanimously.

The last item about infrastructure had to do with raising the rates for new water meter with a proposed charge of $110 per meter.

Restaffing City Hall:

Agenda item number six was titled, "Discussion of City Personnel vacancies." There really wasn't a discussion. Unfortunately, we put a new tape in our recorder and missed recording about 10-20 seconds of this agenda item. However, from our notes, we recall that the mayor begins by asking Jon Popp if he wants to address the matter now or under the finance commission report which is next on the agenda. Jon says he could go ahead and address it. He starts by reporting that they [presumably the finance committee] had received applications. He continues with the following two sentences which are transcribed from the tape and last 22 seconds.

Then there are nods/mumbles of approval by a couple of other council members and silence. Next, the mayor asks, "OK, are we down to the water and sewer committee [report], then?"

In our estimation, this agenda item lasted no more than 45 seconds and the manner in which the council is dealing with the search for new staff person does appear to skirt the spirit of Iowa's open meeting laws.

Committee Reports:
The only item under committee reports and general discussion by council members was an announcement that the water would be shut off throughout town at 10 am on October 27 to put in a new valve.

Meeting Adjourned.

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.