by Mari Radtke
A special meeting of the Paullina Council held Monday September 24 closed unanswered questions for staffing. Alana Peavey, a new arrival to Paullina comes with related experience was confirmed as the Deputy Clerk to replace Alex Griggs. Her wage was set at $22.00 per hour.
A lineman selected has not yet arrived. He has expressed concerns about housing in Paullina. Paying mileage from where he currently lives was considered but he would not be able to fulfill the 30 minute arrival standard in the event of an emergency. A second candidate was to be contacted in the event the first candidate declines the position. A final selection will be determined.
City properties available for purchase do not have specific expectations for the buyer tied to them, according to introductory comments by Mayor Marling Sjaarda. The point came on the heals of an inquiry into the purchase of 430 S Main as demolition of that property came up for discussion at a regular council meeting. He suggested that clear expections for the sale of city property to a private entity needs more than just a sale price. Some thoughts to codify are improvement value, time frame and zoning use. Sjaarda concluded, “We have some work to do before we really can be responding to people who are interested in these lots.” A workshop to discuss standards for the sale of property was set for Tuesday October 1 at 5:30.
A deeper discussion followed to reach a decision about 430 S Main. The last owner is deceased. The house fell into disrepair and is now in the hands of the city. At the last regular council meeting the agenda item to demolish the site and offer a clean lot for sale was considered. An inquiry from a private citizen about buying the lot as is and doing their own demolition was brought to council. Council was split and it was decided that more information was needed to make a decision. The item was tabled.

Council rehashed the information again at the special meeting and clarified what their outcome interests and priorities are in the property. A few key points brought council to a 4-1 decision to demolish the house.
1) The inquiry to purchase and demolish the house was not an offer.
2) The city owns a nuisance property and wants to establish a standard of care for property, not just impose a standard onto the citizens.
3) Governmental requirements to sell property would take until the end of November if the City began the process immediately. Council expressed concern that the weather would turn and not allow demolition until spring.
4) Covenants the Council would want to adopt for the sale of all properties would need to be developed and approved in an open meeting prior to selling.
Two bids to demolish the house were presented to council. The lowest bid for $8200 from Country Crushers was approved. City Clerk Michelle Wilson shared budget information from the beautification fund. Council is hoping to recover some or all of the demolition expense from the sale of the lot.
Councilperson Carol Honkomp was the lone dissenter saying, “I had some different thoughts on it.”
Wilson had reported to Council that Justin Jacobsma with Williams and Co. would be coming on Friday to see what the problem is with getting a correct cash balance for Paullina’s 2022 books. In a presstime update, Wilson said Jacobsma “…was not able to figure out why the cash report did not balance. He did give us some ideas that we are going to work on this week and probably next week.”