The Clear Lake City Council met Tuesday evening and faced a lengthy agenda, including the resignation of council member Brandy Roberts, who is moving out of the community. It is the second time in a year that the council has had to take up the process of appointing a new member, and interested citizens are once again being asked to send a letter to Clerk Kari Mechtel outlining their experience and interest in the position.
The letter(s) will be reviewed at October’s meeting, when the council will decide upon the next steps in the process.
Insurance Renewal
Ron Mumm of Steil Insurance Services appeared before council to present this year’s insurance renewal quote. Mumm reported that the city’s quote is “flat” when it comes to expenses, meaning there are no significant increases and in several cases the rates were lowered.
“As I looked through your policy I didn’t see any gaps in coverage,” Mumm noted.
He and Public Works Director Dustin Luhning also worked together to ensure that all city owned vehicles are on the coverage list.
Council passed a unanimous vote to renew the insurance policy for the next year.
Sheriff’s Report
Sgt. Andy Ochs presented the Sheriff’s Report for the past month, which included 46 total calls for service. Security checks (12) and traffic stops (7) continue to dominate the ledger, while Mayor Tim Goenner asked for additional patrols to deal with the dynamic “Jake” braking issues on Highways 10 and 24.
According to Goenner, the issue has been happening on both roads, many times late at night and is in violation of the city noise ordinance prohibiting such driving. Ochs said he would pass along the request to the deputies who patrol the area for additional enforcement actions.
Solar Array
Rich Ragatz of Ideal Energies was at the meeting seeking positive comment from the council for the concept of a ground mounted solar array at the wastewater treatment plant. He has been working with the sewer authority on the concept and was looking for the council’s blessing to move forward with compete specifications for the project, which would utilize approximately one acre of land for the panels themselves and additional areas for items such as the required setbacks.
Because the joint powers sewer authority owns the land being considered, there will need to be an appraisal done on the value of the property and arrangements made to site the project within the legal authority of the participating municipalities.
Because no final plans have been made and the project is still in concept form, council passed unanimous approval for Ragatz to move forward with the details fo the project, which will be brought back to council at a later date.
In Other Business, the Council:
• Discussed the speed study from Co. Rd. 6 and also the possibility of putting in the base for a trail to connect the developments in that area with the rest of town;
• Discussed employee lunch break protocols and how that could affect liability and worker’s comp issues;
• Held a discussion with Bob and Tim Arnold, who are looking to subdivide property that belongs to their mother. Lot splits, a landlocked parcel and rules for splitting and platting the property were reviewed and the Arnold bothers decided to seek the sale of the property before deciding upon a course of action for the zoning;
• Approved a quote for $3,000 for KLM Engineering to put together a proposal for the inspection and refurbishing of the water tower;
• Heard from Luhning regarding a stop sign to be installed near the park, as well as the recent installation of the new scoreboard at the amateur baseball field;
• Reviewed the Fire Chief salary comparisons and approved keeping the current agreement in place;
• Heard from City Engineer Keith Yapp regarding the new developer for the Parkside Development, LGI Homes. Goenner asked that if possible, the city look at requiring several different designs of homes to be built in the development rather than one or two models;
• Approved the Specialized Incentive Pay Proposal which will reward employees for obtaining certifications that benefit the city;
• Approved the 2022 preliminary expenditure/revenue budget.
