Following the recitation of the “Pledge of Allegiance” and opening formalities Paullina Mayor Brenda Ebel Kruse announced that item 13, increasing the electric rates, was withdrawn. The posted agenda was approved with this single change.
Approval of the June 2022 Treasurer’s report got its time in the spotlight. Council delayed approving the June 2022 treasurer’s report at the July 5 regular meeting. This time the report was approved after some discussion. A treasurer’s report includes the income and spending by fund for the month in question. The treasurer oversees the work of the City Clerk in part by verifying transactions and reported totals and reconciling statements.
City Treasurer Johnene Altman, appointed to a 2-year term on January 3, 2022 asked permission to speak following the approval of the Treasurer’s Report. Altman was appointed to the treasurer position per Title I Chapter 2 Article 11 of the City of Paullina Ordinance that defines the position’s terms, duties and responsibilities.
Altman asked how the council could approve a treasurer’s report that she, as treasurer, has not verified. The reply from the mayor was, “It’s been provided to us. We’ve never seen your signed copies before this.” Altman denied being provided with the information needed to fulfill her duties. Ebel Kruse worked hard to make the breakdown of communication between the city and Altman not the city’s fault despite the fact that Ebel Kruse admitted that the city “did not need you at this time to do that” referring to the creation of the reports. Ebel Kruse following Altman’s complaints of not getting information timely said that she (Altman) was not needed at it at this time to do it the old way – we were not intending to have it done after finding someone to do it. She said that is how they are going forward. When Altman questioned being needed, Ebel Kruse backed off saying for that month. Questions about what work Altman is to do for June came up. Discussion came up about the documents Altman currently has in her possession and finishing June. Deputy Clerk Whitney Engelke said she would speak with Janice [Thompson]and call Altman. Councilperson Carol Honkomp stated that Janice is “doing some deep digging.” Altman continued to complain that she couldn’t give a good report without certain information that has not been provided to her. Council took comfort in the report provided by Janice who is believed to also be serving as City Clerk. The oversight arrangement for Janice is currently unclear.
According to a document approved by council on July 5 and obtained by the newspaper through an open records request Thompson was paid $2,944.20 for time and hours for 9 days from June 1, 2022 through and including July 1, 2022. The mayor gave confused signals. Sometimes she indicated that Altman’s services would not be needed, then backing off from ending Altman’s service. There has been no indication that Altman’s appointment would be ended in accordance with City Ordinance procedures. It’s also unclear what oversight procedures for the City’s money is and will be in place going forward.
Council was still trying to get the June 6, 2022 minutes of the Paullina City Council properly approved and published. Street closures for Gemboree were not properly described at the council meeting of May 27. Mayor Brenda Ebel-Kruse repeated it at the June 6 meeting as the Chamber representative, at the same time presiding over the city council meeting. The June 6 minutes were published June 23 and approved by council July 5. The specific street closures were not included in the minutes. Ebel Kruse stated that description of closed streets was overlooked in a consent agenda and “missed from our minutes”. She asked council to approve the amendment to the minutes for the record. The addition to the June 6 minutes was approved.
Items 12 and 13 on the July 18 agenda were identified as public hearings. Item 13, a public hearing for the 5% MRES recommended 5% electric rate increase was withdrawn prior to the agenda being adopted by council. The reason for the withdrawal is unknown. The public hearing was not properly noticed to the public, however. It was not rescheduled.
Item 12 was also a public hearing. Lynn Porter of Black Hills Energy had presented the council with adopting a franchise fee. Iowa law allows a governing body to impose a franchise fee on utilities up to 5% in lieu of the 1% local option sales tax (LOST). LOST funds are a sales tax sent by the business to the state. The state takes some portion of the 1% and remits the rest to the municipality. The franchise tax is collected and remitted by the utility to the municipality in total. The proposal to Paullina was to change the 1% from sales tax to franchise fee and not increase the cost to Paullina Electric customers. Iowa law requires a public hearing before a franchise fee can be adopted. The public hearing was not published also as required by law. Ebel Kruse reported to the council that some paperwork was incomplete and that the issue needed to be rescheduled. A public hearing was set for August 1 at 5:30pm at the city council chambers to consider any viewpoints of the public on the matter. No public hearings held by the Paullina City Council since the departure of Sandy Fritz have been published.
Approval was sought from and given by council to combine the City Administrator and the City Clerk position into a single City Manager position. Pending acceptance of an offer, the name of the man selected was not provided. The offer was for $70,000 per year with a 6-month trial period.
John Ihle took advantage of the 5 minutes allowed to the public to address the council. He spoke to council about a pair of letters he had received from the mayor. The first letter arrived via email on July 1. That communication demanded that Ihle turn over all records, passwords etcetera for the City’s website to the city. The email also instructed Ihle to communicate all questions to her for passing on to council. A second communication arrived July 14 or 15 this one again dated July 1 cancelling the contract and giving Ihle until July 18 to transfer domain ownership and all data and digital files to the city.
At the July 5, 2022 regular council meeting Councilperson Jean Unrau suddenly spoke out and told the council that she had spoken with Ihle about cancelling the contract and how to do it. Suddenly council had moved, seconded and approved terminating the contract for the website with Ihle and Compu-Wiz. The website and its provider was not an agenda item on July 5. The move is moot. Ihle explained to council on July 18 that the cancellation is not valid due to the item not being on the agenda. He also explained that council has not paid him for services since April and that he owns the domain names. Some back and forth over who provided content and updates for the website was had with finger pointing going both ways. They also disagreed if the password provided by Ihle to Ebel Kruse to update the website worked. Ihle maintained that for $50 each month that includes web hosting he is not responsible for finding and creating content.
Ebel Kruse thanked Ihle for his contribution to the public comment section of the board and the meeting adjourned.