July 2013

Beacon City Council Minutes

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

7:00 p.m.

 

I.    Call to Order- General Business-Mayor Shawn Maxwell called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.  Members present:  Ron Ferree, Jim Hughes, Ken Allsup, Richard Thomas, Tom VanDerVeer.

A.    Review Minutes from June 4th Meeting-

B.    Treasurer’s Report –

C.    Claims Report-

D.    Sewer Report –No report.

E.    Water Reports –No report.

F.    Hall Rentals-We had 3 rentals for the month of June, and 2 scheduled for the month of July.

G.   Stephen Memorial Animal Shelter-No report.

H.    Sheriff’s Report-No report.

Motion to approve consent agenda made by Richard Thomas, seconded by Tom VanDerVeer.  Motion carried.

II.    Old Business:

A.    Ragbrai-Everything is pretty much planned and ready to go.  We have two vendors that will be in town:  One is a smoothie stand and one is selling tenderloins and corndogs.  Waiting on one liability policy in the mail otherwise everyone has paid and sent proof of insurance.

B.    Grants-Jill did not talk to Jamie, she will get a hold of him to see what grants are available.

C.    Sheridan Street-Tom talked to Jerry about this.  Jerry said they would remove the guardrail, replace the culvert, and the concrete and replace guardrail to no cost to the City.  He will start on this shortly.

D.   Welcome to Beacon sign-Richard had talked to Jennifer Maxwell.  She is working on a design for the City.  Richard brought in pictures of examples.  Approximated cost per sign would be $800.

E.   Levy Rate Increase-Shawn present a chart with different percentage increases that showed what the City would bring in if they increased property taxes.  A 14% increase would only bring the City around $6000.00 in revenue.  Cutting costs was discussed.  Fire services were questioned regarding how much the City pays for services.  A volunteer fire department was discussed.  Jill will talk to Mark Neff at the fire department regarding how we are billed for services and if the City could possibly be billed on an on-call basis.  Un-incorporate Beacon was discussed also.  Council needs to compile a list of cost saving ideas and bring to next meeting.

F.   Garbage Control-Include with Item G.

G.   Clean-up & Animal Control Ordinances-Council was to compile a list of properties that needed cleaned up.  Eric Dursky is working on getting some ordinances passed on a county wide basis to help the small cities with clean-up of properties.  Jill will give Eric a call and see if he can come to next meeting.  Jill will send certified letters to property owners discussed in meeting to clean-up or a fine will be imposed.

H.   Attendance at meetings/Pay-If a member does not attend a meeting they do not get paid.

I.     Small City Workshop-Discussed up above in grant section.

J.   Wayne Braden Fence-Civil dispute.  This issue is between the two existing neighbors.

K.  Fence on horseshoe-Fence is too close to the road.  Tom hasn’t talked to the owner.  Tom will follow up.

L.  Chickens-Council will review ordinance.  Tabled until next meeting.

III.    New Business

A.   Front Street- Ron and Jim will work on getting bids to get this started.

B.   Park Closed Sign-Richard will find out how much signs will cost.  Park closes at 9:00 p.m.  Sheriff cannot enforce this if signs are not posted and visible.

 IV.    Business from the Floor

A.     Dust control on roads-Tom asked when this would be done and they said they didn’t think it would be cost effective because of all of the rain.  Tom will call and find out.

B.    Midwest Sanitation-Call and cancel service as of July 1, 2013.  LDI will be picking up the trash from now on.

C.    Emergency Management-Restructured to their own municipality.  Services will be changing.

D.    Street Sign Replacement-Tabled until next meeting. 

VI.     Next Scheduled Council Meeting August 6, 2013. 

VII.      Adjournment-Motion to adjourned made by Ken Allsup.  Seconded by Ron Ferree.  Meeting adjourned at 9:25 p.m.