Government : Vinton City Council Notes for 8/8/24: Library Update, USDA and etc.

The Vinton City Council met in session on Thursday, August 8, 2024 beginning at 7:00 p.m. Present were: Rylie Pflughaupt, Tami Stark-Mahood, Wesley Reeker, Zach Parmater, Andrew Elwick with Ron Hessenius absent.

The meeting began with a call to order and roll call followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

Both the agenda and consent agenda were approved. The city received and filed communications, petitions and remonstrances. Minutes were received and filedfrom July 25 and 30, 2024.

City invoices were approved with questions about an expenditure for the VPD of mileage reimbursement, a s.kate center question and sewer line expense for tree root removal.

Kelly Henkle, the librarian at the Vinton Public Library gave her annual report to the council concerning the progress at the library. All of the numbers are up which include, traffic, and circulation.

If you have a library card you can check out physical books, and digital material. The library's digital collections (Libby and Hoopla) are available to residents of the city of Vinton, or rural Benton County, but not to residents that reside within the city limits of towns in Benton County other than Vinton. For example, residents of the City of Shellsburg have access through the Shellsburg Public Library's digital collections.

Henkle will be giving the same presentation to the "Friends of the Library" this Thursday, August 15th, at 6:00 p.m. at the library. Members of the public are welcome to attend. 75% of circulation is the physical collection and 25% is digital. Hoopla and Bridges are both growing.

Children's circulation has also grown and digital seems to be growing in the adult group. Last year. we are in a Class D sized library. Circulation was a little over 22,000 last year, and put us a little over the 50th percentile for libraries our size, Henkle expects this to grow as she completes the numbers to submit to the state for this year.

108 is the average daily attendance for this year, up 40 patrons from 2023. The library has offered 863 programs this year, with a total attendance of 7,300 and last year it was around 4,000.

The library has extended its reach to adults as well as with several events. The library has extended hours some evenings and reached out through several areas in the community.

This year the library installed the book tower that was damaged during the derecho. It now has a home inside the library in its own enclosure. 3,400 new books have been added to the library. The physical size of the library collection for a Class D, is only in the 25th percentile.

Henkle has explored grants to add to the outreach of the library. The American Library Association gave the library a grant to start the Dementia Memory Cafe, the Benton Community Foundation made a gift toward STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics) supplies for kids. Vinton Unlimited also awarded a H.O.T. grant for the wrap up party last year, and several area businesses have stepped in as well as selling surplus supplies to add new things to the library.

Henkle has served in this position for almost two years, and received appreciation from the council for the extraordinary work that she's done to bring people into the library, partnering with area entities and the overall progress she's made.

Clay McBride spoke to the council on behalf of M&M Taphouse LLC doing business as Beast & Bird. He explained the difference in the mobile tap services which puts it in the "vending machine" category. This makes it illegal to put beer cans in a machine. However, the business is unique in that it's the only design in the state that is mobile using technology to change how it's delivered to the consumer.

Because they are mobile they are the only ones in the country to do a mobile service. The laws were created for brick and mortar sites and not mobile entities. McBride has to be "in control" of the premises when he serves. They will be in the city lot across from the courthouse for the cruise this year. So they need both a regular license and a special license to go offsite in the city. The city submitted a letter explaining the exception to the state law on McBride's behalf.

The business received approval of a vending machine waiver for M&M Taphouse LLC dba Beast & Bird. Beast and Bird also received a Class C and special Class C retail alcohol license. A special class C retail alcohol license was also granted for Lucky Wife Wine Slushies.

There was no citizen input this week.

Vinton Braille School LLC, sought approval of a resolution to allow permission for the sale of certain real property for a 8,000 square foot building for the USDA. The property would bring in tax revenue as it will be privately held and rented from the owner by the USDA. Before business went further. Mayor Bud Maynard asked if they planned to pay bills that had been submitted for legal fees that are six months past due. There was discussion about what had happened. With a promise to take care of that issue the city granted the resolution.

Chris Ward, City Administrator explained that once the building was built other counties would be bringing their USDA offices to this location.

The city gave approval of a professional services agreement with Fehr Graham for the US Cellular Water Tower Review.

Approval was given to pay estimate #6 to Woodruff Construction for WWTP (Waste Water Treatment Plant).

Approval was requested for change order #4 to Rathje Construction for West 1st Street Reconstruction and was granted.

Approval was granted for a disbursement request from Evergreen Cemetery.

Reports

Chris Ward reported that he will be speaking to the Kiwanis on August 20, 2024. Planning and Zoning will also be meeting with Alliant Energy on the 20th. The sign has also been ordered for the WWTP with a cost of under $600 which will grant the $2,969,000 in savings for the treatment plant. Ward also reported that he will be out of the office until August 19th.

The Vinton Police Department sent Tyneal Herger to a "Concerns of Police Survivors" conference in Des Moines, where she would learn about certain paperwork that she might need to fill out in case there was the loss of an officer, identifying officers in need. With the rsignation of Wes Meyer, Josh West stepped down as an SRO (School Resource Officer) where he has served for seven years. He will now serve on the day shift. Cory Nesbitt will fill the SRO position following training in Minnesota and will be back for the first day of school. The department will be fully staffed.

Melissa Schwan reported that the janitorial position was filled at City Hall. There will be a Work Session on August 22, 2024 at 6:30 p.m. to discuss the parking discussion next to Horst Physical Therapy.

Good & Welfare

Rock of Ages had a good attendance each night.

August 24, 2024 is Boomtown.

School will be starting in a couple of weeks. Teachers report on the 19th.

WIthout further business, the meeting adjourned.

You can watch the meeting here: https://www.youtube.com/@CityofVintonIA