by Mari Radtke
The Paullina Council’s regular meeting on February 19 was filled with setting public hearing dates and budget effort. Council also heard from local business owner, Joel Mueller during public comments. Mueller presented a bid to the council for brushes for street cleaning. Mueller shared information Council that the Quick Attachments’ bid Council was considering was $700 more expensive than his bid. Mueller spent a little bit more time to bring Council’s attention to a quality concern in which the bristles will last longer.
Jeremy Rohwer attended for the purpose of learning more about leasing a portion of the old Iowa State Bank building. He is interested in the back portion, the drive up area. He runs a kettle corn stand during summer. He needs a storage area that is somewhat climate controlled for ingredients and other supplies. Rohwer explains that he looks forward to needing a certified kitchen further down the road for popping and supplying prepackaged kettle corn to various outlets. He is not interested in the entire building currently but doesn’t rule it out.
Mayor Marlin Sjaarda responded that Council is just considering uses for the building such as the fire department, although the two activities don’t appear to create any conflict with each other. Sjaarda went on to ask for questions but went quickly back to asking Rohwer for a more detailed proposal from him. Sjaarda expressed some need to know more about insurance and other regulatory concerns.
Council member Carol Honkomp asked about Rohwer’s timeline. He responded that it would be another month or so to manufacture, but would need a clean environment to store the ingredients.
A public hearing for the Switchgear date and time was set for April 1, 2024. The 15kv switchgear project was approved by Council last year, according to Sjaarda, without a public hearing having been held. Because the project was approved last year and is underway, Council member Dennis Werkmeister asked if this is the normal progression of projects. Sjaarda explained that Council had approved the project but did not hold the public hearing. The $795,000 equipment is budgeted, ordered and will be delivered soon.
A public hearing date for the building installation for the swithgear was also considered and set. The building has always been considered as part of the budget for the project which was set at $1 million, according to City Clerk Michelle Wilson. Both public hearings were set for April 1, 2024.
Council members asked about grants. Superintendent Kelly Top responded that if we were going to get a grant we should have started that when we approved the switchgear. The approval came in October 2022 and engineering began in March 2023. When asked by Werkmeister if there was a budget for the building (Switchgear #2) Top replied there was a budget of $1.3 or $1.4 million with $800,000 being spent on switchgear. The project is paid for from the electric fund. Council’s concerns for available funds was central to the discussion. Sjaarda reminded Council that MRES suggested to Council to issue a $1 million bond to fund the utility after its upgrade project. Honkomp was the only dissenting vote to set the public hearing date.
A third public hearing date was set for “another out of sequence” item. This is for the Lagoon Aeration project. Sjaarda outlined the procedurals steps taken and not taken that explained the “out of sequence.” Sjaarda stated, “We held the public hearing. The council – the last council in early December called the public hearing. We held the public hearing, uhm, but, the note – the notice wasn’t published for that public hearing, nor was a resolution passed. It was just a motion passed. So to clean that up we’ll have all the right process done. We want to have a public hearing for that, go through that process and pass a resolution. So we entertain a motion for this resolution.” Council member Nichole Jacobs moved with a second to set the public hearing date for April 1 came from Council member Jean Unrau. Werkmeister asked about how this fits with the meeting on January 16. Sjaarda explained that they don’t know if it’s a valid public hearing or not, saying, “it probably isn’t a valid public hearing.” He went on to describe actions of the council. They (the last council) set the date (of the public hearing), that date happening over the year end and the changing councils the public hearing notice was not published.” Werkmeister accepted the explanation, “Gotchya.”
According to Iowa law a public hearing notice is required to be published either no more than 20 days and no less than 10 days OR no less than 4 days and no more than 10 days before the public hearing is to be held.
The Clean Sweep broom attachment for the skid loader had 2 bids for Council to consider. Heeren moved to table it with a second from Honkomp. Heeren was concerned with making the decision correctly in light of the just arrived bid. After discussion, Werkmeister moved with a second from Jacobs to purchase the broom from Mueller Equipment. Once all council members agreed the two bids were for the same product and less expensive from the local dealer the motion was approved. Honkomp saying, “he’s a dealer in town and we should support him.” Unrau agreed.
A resolution to engage D.A. Davidson as an underwriter for the City of Paullina. The company cannot be both an undewriter and a financial advisor to the City. The City’s debt capacity is of primary concern to council at the moment. Paullina has used D.A. Davidson for bond work in the past. Determining which financing tools are available to the city for its many projects, revenue bonds, general obligation bonds and other tools, as well as the city’s capacity/limits, is the work the city currently seeks from him. Sjaarda read from information stating Paullina’s current general obligation bond balance is $920,000. The city has a capacity for up to $2.2 million in general obligation bonds. Council voted to engage the company.
Council got their first look into the revenue crystal ball for the city’s next budget. They had the current budget set alongside the anticipated revenue during the 2025 fiscal year beginning July 1.
A discussion about hiring a grant writer ended the agenda items for discussion. Council will pursue finding a variety of grant writers.