Government : Vinton City Council Meeting Notes for 10/10//24

The Vinton City Council held its regular meeting beginning at 7:00 p.m. at City Hall on Thursday, October 10, 2024. Present were Mayor Bud Maynard, Rylie Pflughaupt, Tami Stark-Mahood, Wesley Recker, Zach Parmater, Andrew Elwick, absent Ron Hessenius.

The meeting was called to order followed by the pledge of allegiance.

Both the agenda and consent agenda were approved as well as the council meeting minutes of September 26, 2024, and meeting minutes of Vinton Parks & Recreation of September 12, 2024

City invoices were approved, and communications and petitions or remonstrances were received and filed.

Committee Reports

The council met in a work session at 6:00 p.m. before the meeting to discuss the plan moving forward for the Seed House and a solution for detaining stray dogs.

There was no Citizen's Input.

Old Business

The third consideration and adoption of the following ordinances were approved:

-Ordinance 1101 - an ordinance amending provisions pertaining to pedestrians' right-of-way

-Ordinance 1102 - an ordinance adding a new section pertaining to adult establishment nuisances

-Ordinance 1103 - an ordinance amending provisions pertaining to electronic meetings

-Ordinance 1104 - an ordinance amending provisions pertaining to operating budget preparation

-Ordinance 1105 - an ordinance amending provisions pertaining to publication of minutes

-Ordinance 1106 - an ordinance amending provisions pertaining to bond requirements

-Ordinance 1107 - an ordinance amending provisions pertaining to fire officials' authority to cite violations

A second consideration of Ordinance 1108 - an ordinance adding new subsections regarding stop signs was approved.

There was a discussion of possible ordinance related to parking.

New Business

The council accepted the West 1st Street reconstruction project with Rathje Construction.

Approval was given for a resolution proposing a transfer/sale of interest in real property by sale and setting a public hearing for October 24, 2024, at 7:00 p.m.

The council approved a resolution approving a request for abatement of accrued property taxes and exemption from taxation on property owned by the City of Vinton from date of city acquisition forward.

The council accepted a grant agreement with the Iowa DOT for Runway 34 for the Obstruction Mitigation project at the Vinton Veterans Memorial Airport. The city will be responsible for 15% of the cost and it will be put out for bid.

The pay estimate #8 to Woodruff Construction for WWTP (Waste Water Treatment Plant) improvements was approved.

A change order #2 for WWTP improvements was granted.

Sidewalk reimbursement for 1307 C Avenue was granted.

A special event application for the Lighted Holiday Parade was granted for November 21, 2024, the Spooktacular Parade on October 26, 2024, and Bright Lights on 4th, concert with Hairball for June 7, 2025.

The 2nd council meeting in November was scheduled for Monday, November 25 at 7:00 pm with a Work Session at 6:00 p.m. rather than its usual time which would be on Thanksgiving Day.

Reports

There was a walk-through on the J Ave. construction with Chris Ward, Vinton City Administrator.

Ward also received a letter concerning the AWOS (automated weather observation system) weather alert system at the Airport. The Federal share request is $247,500. Next will be a pre-construction meeting before it comes to the council.

The airport is also considering transitioning the gas pumps from analog to digital and checking the cost to do this.

The pre-applications for any TIP (Transportation Improvement Program aka street projects) are due October 31, 2024, for two and a half to three years out. Ward believes that the city would qualify for close to $900,000. He asked the council which road they would like him to request improvements on. West 4th St. from C Ave. to K Ave. is on the Capital Improvement list. This would not be enough to touch that amount of money. He suggested letting the monies accumulate to pay for the build.

He explained that the program rules have changed. The breakdown used to be that 80% was paid for by the state and 20% by the city. Now the city would pay for the engineering and the state would cover 100% but in the end it would cost the city roughly the same amount. Costs per foot of street is around $600 per foot. The cost to pave W. 4th from C Ave. to K Ave. would be just about the same distance as the section of W. 1st St. that was just completed, the cost for that section was roughly $1.2 million.

Ward also reported on low water pressure areas in town and shared a map with the council.

Ben Parmeter reported that the Vinton Police Department has one officer attending Drug Recognition Expert Training in Florida, something he explained that it had been hard to get a small-town officer approved for. The cost of the training will be paid for by the state. He said it will assist the department as they put cases together which involve drugs.

Matt Boggess of Vinton Parks and Recreation shared that 15 supervisors in the department went through the Stop the Bleed, CPR and AED training. The department is finishing up the fall projects and preparing to move into the winter.

Melissa Schwan, City Clerk shared that the city had agreed to sell the old chipper truck with the arrival of its new truck. The old truck sold for just over $3,000 proceeds will be split between the city and electric department.

Preliminary numbers for the fall cleanup last weekend were lower in participation than last year...and there were a lot of sofas and mattresses being picked up on the curb. The event went well.

Next week Schwan will be attending the IMFOA Conference (Iowa Municipal Finance Officers Association) in Des Moines.

At the October 24th council meeting she would like to schedule a work session at 6:30 p.m. concerning the lot that was purchased on 4th St. this pertains to the proposed Pocket Park.

Mayor Bud Maynard met with a resident on B Ave. concerning a section that is still producing dust following the work last year. A brief discussion was held about this. Maynard also mentioned that on his wish list would be to upgrade 2nd Ave. south of 13th to the new development. Ward said there might be some federal funding available to do this.

Good & Welfare

Reminder of the Fire Department Pancake Breakfast is on Sunday, beginning at 7:00 a.m.

Ward expressed appreciation for those who reached out about his mother who went through Hurricane Helena. She is safe but had damage to her house.

Stark-Mahood reported that Anna Dumuth has been selected as the EMS Person of the Year in the State of Iowa.

Several reported that the Girl Scouts are selling candy, the FFA is selling fruit, and the Middle School is selling coupon books.

The meeting was adjourned for the week.