The Elma City Council meeting was opened by Mayor Thoren at 7:00 PM in the Elma Community Complex meeting room. Meeting was opened with roll call. Laura Schroeder, present, Emily Ptacek, present, Myron Head, present, Josh Smith, present, Andrew Casler, absent.
Laura moved the agenda be approved, seconded by Josh, carried.
Laura moved the minutes of the August 12th meeting be approved, seconded by Josh, carried.
Busti Lumber has bought the bowling alley building and is looking to take the old entrance off and move it to the north end of the building and LuRae Mohrfeld is looking to build a porch on the front of her house. Laura moved to approve the building permit for Busti Lumber, seconded by Emily, carried. Josh moved to approve the building permit for LuRae, seconded by Laura, carried.
Emily moved to approve the claims, seconded by Laura, carried.
Rich Hollenbeck was not present to talk to the council and residents. Instead he will hold a town hall type meeting at the Memorial Hall on September 14th at 7:00 PM. The public is invited to attend.
Discussion was on street repair. Council had requested an estimate for mill and asphalt overlay of Busti Ave. That estimate came in at $237,345.00. This number is an estimate and not hard quote for repair. Council would like to know what condition water and sewer lines are under the street. Brian already has a plan for sewer line cleaning this fall and Busti Ave is on the list to be done. When the line is being cleaned, it can also be cameraed. It would also be in the best interest of the City if any lead waterlines on Busti were changed out or removed before street repair. Council feels that it would be best to start with Busti Ave as it is one of the most traveled and has not had any repair for a number of years. The plan will be to have the sewer line cleaned and cameraed, an inventory of lead water lines and an estimate to have them taken care of and to get a hold of Colton with Heartland Asphalt to get a more firm quote on milling and asphalt overlay for Busti Ave to happen in the spring/summer of 2025.
Josh Martin was inquiring about who’s responsible for repairing the parking area on the East side of the bowling alley building. The responsibility of that area falls on the owner, so he would be responsible for that.
Along with cleaning the sewer line on Busti Ave, Brian also has areas of Oak St and Main St set to be cleaned this fall.
LJP Waste Solutions (formerly Jendro Sanitation) will be raising garbage rates in October in accordance with the Consumer Price Index. Ordinance 106.08 states what the garbage rate for Elma will be. Suggestions among the council were to raise the rates of all three sizes up $1.00 or raise just the 35 gallon size up $1.00. With the rates that the City charges, the 2 bigger sizes will be able to cover the increase, but the 35 gallon will not. Ultimately, the Council thought it best to only raise the price of the 35 gallon tote with having to raise water and sewer rates in January and another increase coming in January 2025. Laura moved to change Ordinance 106.08 to read that the charge for a 35 gallon tote will be $17.68, seconded by Emily. Mayor Thoren requested a roll call vote. Vote is as follows. Laura, aye, Emily, aye, Myron, aye, Josh, aye, Andrew, absent. Vote passes. Price increase will be on the October water bill.
Brian brought up to the Council that our water permit from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources allows for the City to use a certain amount of water per year and for the last 2 years, the City has used over it’s allocation, per the permit. Brian is required to fill out an application to raise our allocation or figure out how to reduce the City’s water usage. Emily moved that the City raise our allocation, seconded by Laura, carried.
Brody Malone, Howard County Emergency Management is requesting to put a dish on top of the water tower for a new microwave system for better communication for emergency services in Howard County. Laura moved to approve the installation of the dish on the water tower, seconded by Emily, carried.
Mayor Thoren had no further comments.
Emily moved the meeting be adjourned, seconded by Laura, meeting adjourned.
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