The Elma City Council meeting was opened at 7:00 P.M. by Mayor Steven in the former school building gym. Meeting was opened with roll call: Tom Platte, present, Randy Thoren, present, Emily Ptacek, present, Jerry Haar, present.
Randy moved the agenda be approved, second Jerry, carried.
Jerry moved the minutes of the July 9th meeting be approved, second Tom, carried.
Tom moved the building permit for Nate Dockendorf be approved, second Randy. Jerry moved the building for Gerry Buttolph be approved, second Randy, carried.
Public hearing for a building permit variance for Tony Roethler was opened at 7:05. Tony would like to put an addition on his garage that would be 3 feet over the ordinance guidelines for property lines. The ordinance states that it has to be denied by 60% of the residents within 300 feet of said property or by unanimous vote by the Council. Tom Platte read aloud 3 letters that had been presented to the Council against approving the building permit variance. The public hearing was closed at 7:18. Tom moved to deny the building permit variance, second Randy. Mayor Steven asked for a roll call vote. Vote is as follows. Tom, yes to deny, Randy, yes to deny, Emily, yes to deny, Jerry, no. Upon clarification, he was voting no to approve the variance. Vote carries.
Discussion was on the school building and the 3 options that were presented. Concerns from the public have been the cost of the renovations and where the money would come from. The committee has come up with a list of grants that will be applied for once a decision is made. Another concern was how do we know that the clinic would be used and remain open. The simple answer is that there is no guarantee, but if we build it so that if that does happen, there would be other options for use of that space in the future. The decision was made to put a survey in the Alta Vista Shopper containing the 3 options to get a better idea of how the public feels about renovations.
Dennis and Randy talked about options for leasing a different loader to replace the current one that the City owns and is now out of commission. There will be more options presented at September’s meeting. There were 2 letters of interest presented to the Council to fill the Council vacancy. One was from Henry Smith and the other from Laura Zenner. Randy moved to approve Laura to fill the Council vacancy, second Jerry. Mayor Steven requested a roll call vote. Vote is as follows. Tom, aye, Randy, aye, Emily, aye, Jerry, aye. Vote passes.
TJ was not present to discuss a camper dump station.
Denny discussed the issues with the sewer plant having a crack/hole in a wall and that the lawyer had been there Monday afternoon and had been given all reports and notes from the past on how the plant has not been working properly. The DNR has also been contacted and been here to see the problems. However, engineers have not been contacted. Shannon will contact the engineers that built the sewer plant as well as a private engineer to discuss how to fix the issue.
In the past, the City has booked 20,000 gallons of LP through Innovative Ag Services. Emily moved the City book 20,000 gallons again this year, second Jerry, carried.
Discussion was that a number of years ago the museum received $7,000 to pave the parking lot by the trailhead and it has not been done yet. The Council all agreed that this needs to get done.
Mayor Steven had no further comments.
Randy moved the meeting be adjourned, second Jerry, meeting adjourned.