The Paullina City office is in disarray. Much of that is self-inflicted. In mid-May, just before Gemboree, the only person with a real understanding of Paullina’s business and who knew the rules governing much of that business was released from her duties. Since then, dealing with the Paullina City office, and to some extent, the City Council members, has been difficult, even adversarial. Reports of disarray and confusion come from township personnel as well as city residents, business owners and community guests.
The zoning ordinance adopted by the City of Paullina in 2018 has been a source of friction and confusion. Whether it?s good or bad is not the point here. Its purpose is to organize activity and facilities and it codifies the rules for organizing like activity together.
One of the facility types governed by the zoning ordinance are the signs. There are rules in Paullina for placing signs; on a building, in a yard. There are even rules for sign removal.
In late May of 2022 the new Mayor, Brenda Ebel Kruse and also a leader in the Paullina Marketing Committee, an extension of the Paullina Chamber, led the erection of a fundraising sign for Gemboree at the prime intersection of Highway 10 (Grand Avenue) and Main Street. For years, a ?sandwich board? style sign promoting ?Old Market Antiques? and downtown Paullina stood on that boulevard. Until mid- to late May when, with the zoning administrator position vacant and without city council approval, the mayor personally informed the sign owner, Steve Hartong to remove the sign. Soon, a sign promoting Gemboree and fundraising tracking was erected on that location.
A sign permit is required by City ordinance. A request for a copy of the sign permit was made to Deputy City Clerk Whitney Engelke on June 2, 2022. In the same email request a copy of all vendor permits issued for the time period of late May through early June was also made. A food truck set up shop on East Broadway on June 1. No permit was ever found. The Pillow Cleaning Service set up shop on Wednesday July 30 outside City Hall. Mr. Kraft said he was told by Deputy Clerk Engelke that he was the first vendor to get a permit based on the new rules (adopted 2020). Several emails for regular business were exchanged with the deputy clerk without the requested documents attached.
The sign permit did get emailed to the newspaper on June 3. It was redacted. Almost fully. The readable portion of permit application is written in a way that suggests the Chamber and the City are the same entity or at least in some sort of joint effort. The applicant signature was redacted. There was no review and no approval signature. And it provided incorrect information.
State law allows 72 pieces information on public documents to be withheld as confidential. When asked why the redaction Engelke gave a range of non-responsive replies. Each non-responsive answer by Engelke about the redaction got a request for justification by law – one of Iowa’s 72 justifications for confidentiality.
At the same time the effort to obtain a simple sign permit application was on-going, a request for a specific hour of video from the city?s security system was undergoing an effort by the mayor to impose unwarranted fees. A complaint was made on this matter to Iowa Public Information Board (IPIB).
IPIB started its investigation into the charges for the video almost immediately and Ebel Kruse responded on June 6.
The IPIB attorney began investigating the merit of the imposed charges for the video on June 13. She asked questions of Engelke who responded until the IPIB attorney pressed Engelke for clarity of the vague answers in an email dated June 16. On the morning of June 17 Engelke sent an email to the IPIB attorney telling her that all further communications on the matter are to go to Halverson.
On that same date, Engelke sent an email to the newspaper also giving notice that the city attorney is to be contacted on the issue of the redacted sign permit going forward.
On June 17, IPIB attorney communicated with Halverson via email about the charges for the video. Communication for IPIB went to Halverson again on June 24 and 28 each with no response. IPIB reached out to Halverson again on July 8 to receive a reply that Halverson had not had time to get the answer to the 2 questions being asked: )Did deputy clerk Whitney Engelke spend 2 or more hours of her time on the video and 2)Did the tech company (TCA) charge for their assistance?
On June 20, Tisha Halverson forwarded the unredacted sign permit to the newspaper. The applicant turned out to be Mayor Brenda Ebel Kruse. She used City of Paullina as the sign owner’s name and address. She identified herself as agent. There may be an appearance of conflict of interest here.
Oh, and now the permit does have an approval signature. On June 6, 2022 councilpersons Jay Jones and Jean Unrau agreed to share the responsibilities left vacant following the departure of City Clerk Sandy Fritz. The zoning administrator, by ordinance, has the authority to approve or not any zoning application submitted. Jay Jones approved the permit and it is dated 6-6-22, at least 1 week after the Gemboree sign was erected and 14 days before the tug of war over the unredacted permit ended.
What information on the original permit was incorrect? Start with what the sign actually said. What the permit application stated the sign would say and what the sign actually said were not the same thing. The zoning district type was wrongly identified. It was (and has since been removed) placed on Right of Way (ROW), in which only government signs are allowed, again per code. The permit identifies the location as R2, multi-family residential. Even if this sign were place on private property near that intersection that property is zoned R1, single family.
There is a lot more to conduct by the council that appears abdicate their responsibilities. There is a growing body of evidence that the mayor is directing council decisions before meetings. There is already a long list of violations in the conduct of meetings, of notification to the public and more. Stay tuned. The mayor identified herself to report to the council on Monday July 18 about records requests.