Waukon City Council approves July 1 increase in water and sewer rates among other items of discussion

by Dwight Jones

The Waukon City Council met in regular session the evening of Monday, June 6 with the full council in attendance.  With the Allamakee County Dairy Days parade rolling by outside, the Council addressed a 14-item Regular Business agenda.
Under Departmental Reports, Zoning Administrator Al Lyon reported that he had been busy putting together 14 nuisance abatement letters that were scheduled to go out to homeowners who were currently not within the City’s guidelines. These normally go to homes that are considered un-kept due to yard clutter, long grass, etc.
Water and Sewer Superintendent Bob Campbell had a number of issues to discuss, the first being the fact that he had been questioned and was subsequently questioning the Council on whether or not they were going to move ahead with a previously discussed proposal that would have the City take over all commercial water meters within the city.  Current city code requires the 40-plus owners of such meters to have them tested, and it’s been discussed if ownership and subsequent testing wouldn’t be better suited by the City.  Replacement and testing costs were discussed but no final decision was made.
Another follow-up discussion then occurred between Campbell and the Council on a sewer line issue near Eighth Street NW. The problem had been planned to be remedied as part of the Bresnahan Subdivision Project, which is now on hold, and so now needs to be re-addressed. Options were discussed but no action taken.
Campbell also notified the Council that a new emergency siren had been installed and two others repaired. The new siren will not function until a technician comes and finishes the work, but a bulk of the work is done. He also said that he has requested a quote on an annual maintenance agreement to allow the sirens to be monitored more closely and repaired when needed.
At Campbell’s request, Lyle TeKippe with TeKippe Engineering updated the Council on some electrical updates that are needed at the new Northgate lift station. The cost is estimated at $17,725, but the City’s portion would be 1/3, or $5,725. Though it was agreed that the work was needed, additional information will be gathered and the issue re-addressed at the next council meeting.
Moving on to Regular Business, a representative with Piper Jaffray was in attendance to give the Council details on the sale of the City’s general obligation bonds that took place earlier that day. Numbers came back very favorable for the City. The winning bid was by UMB Bank of Kansas City, MO (working locally with Farmers and Merchants Savings Bank) at the rate of 3.18%. The Council approved the sale.
The Council was then updated by City Attorney Jim Garrett on some issues that had arisen at the Bev Needham property, which has a collapsed storm sewer that needs to be addressed. It seems that Needham is not agreeing to an easement that would be needed to perform the work as scheduled due to possible concerns on how it could negatively affect her property value. It was the Council’s opinion that she had simply received some bad or incorrect information or “advice”, but the project is at a standstill until the easement is in place. Councilman Steve Wiedner agreed to speak with Needham in an attempt to resolve the issue. If unsuccessful, the Council has other options available in gaining the easement but was hopeful Wiedner would be successful in his efforts.
Waukon Wellness Center Director Dani Bucknell was in attendance to inform the Council that the fire alarm system at the Center had failed and needed to be replaced. The control panel within the system, though only a few years old, had failed, and the cost, just over $5,000, was the same to replace the entire system, including sprinkler heads, as it was to replace just the control panel. The Council approved the expenditure to get the system fully back up and running.  Bucknell will also investigate an annual maintenance plan to monitor and repair the system as needed.
The City’s development agreement with WW Homestead Dairy was then discussed.  Garrett explained that he had some concerns that the assistance that was being offered currently had few to no strings attached to make sure that the business owners followed through with their agreement. Though the City is comfortable working with the parties involved, such qualifiers are considered “normal” in these types of agreements. In fact, Garrett had been notified that Homestead Dairy had a similar agreement with the State of Iowa and the Council directed Garrett to proceed with adding language to an agreement that would basically mirror the stipulations set forth by the State.
The Council then agreed to waive the right to review a subdivision plat by Arlene Handke, which basically consisted of taking a double lot and dividing it in two.
Next, the Council approved the City of Waukon to join the Iowa Multi-Jurisdictional (MJ-7) Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan, which has been in the development phase for approximately one year. The plan would allow all cities from the county to work together on a mitigation plan vs. each having its own.
The Council then approved and adopted the proposed increases to water and sewer rates, in addition to a yard waste disposal fee. All will now become effective July 1.
Water services at the sports fields near the Wellness Center currently under construction were then discussed.  Councilman Joe Cunningham explained the water service, which would allow grass to begin to grow and be watered as needed moving forward, was necessary for such a facility, and the remainder of the Council agreed and approved the change order for $11,043 to do the work.
To close out the meeting, the Council approved an agreement renewal with T&W Grinding and Compost Services for another year of service at the city yard waste disposal site. And, the Council approved a property tax exemption application for Ralph and Theresa Lyons.