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Slater Regular Council Meeting June 18, 2007 The regular meeting of the Slater City Council was called to order by Mayor Rick Rewerts at 7:30 P.M. on June 18, 2007, at City Hall 105 Greene St., Slater, Iowa. The roll being called the following Council members were present and absent: Dave Cook, Louise O’Donnell, Gene Staples and Don Schick. Electronic – Mark Pritchard. Others in attendance were Intern Mary Beth Chinery, Jim Underfer Jr., Clay Ackerman, Denny Bernholtz, Sean Davis, Cherryl Benning, Cassandra Laas, Kris Hull, Brett Hull, Luther Grulke, Dana Danks, Jack Danks, and Jane Konfrst. Council Member Cook introduced the City Council to the Boy Scouts that were in attendance. He indicated that the scouts are required to attend a public meeting and take notes to acquire a merit badge in communications. The Mayor, Council, and City Administrator welcomed them and thanked them for coming. Denny Bernholtz with The Building Inspectors informed the Council about the services provided by his company. He indicated that they provide municipal code enforcement and inspection services to 18 communities in central Iowa including Huxley, Polk City, Madrid and most recently added Commercial inspections for the City of Ames. He also indicated that each community may tailor specific services such as rental inspections, new sq footage inspections, etc., to best meet its needs. He responded to questions and indicated that he had also presented information to the Planning & Zoning Commission. Cherryl Benning requested a copy of the revenue and expense report for the pool’s concession stand operation during the time her daughter Cassandra was working for the City as Concession manager in 2006. She also expressed her viewpoint about human resource issues. The Mayor and Council clarified the facts regarding her inquiries. Mayor Rewerts introduced Mary Beth Chinery to the rest of the Council. She is a graduate intern from ISU in Public Administration and will be helping in the office as often as she can. It was moved by Cook and seconded by O’Donnell to approve and place on file the minutes of the May 31, 2007, meeting. The motion passed with the record vote as follows: Yes: Cook, O’Donnell, Shick and Pritchard. Council Member Staples indicated that he would like to abstain from voting since he did not attend the meeting. It was moved by Cook and seconded by O’Donnell to approve the payment of expenditures totaling $224,591.84 as follows:
The motion passed with the record vote as follows: Yes: Cook, O’Donnell, Shick, Staples, and Pritchard. No: None. The Council continued to discuss employee health insurance options with Jim Underfer, a representative from TrueNorth Companies. It was noted that the City currently pays $500 of the deductible for a single policy and the employee is only asked to pay $250 of the deductible. With a family plan the City pays $1,000 of the deductible and the employee is responsible for $500 of the deductible. It was confirmed that no money has ever been set aside in a funded reserve or budgeted in the past for this expenditure. The Council discussed moving toward elimination of this self-insurance practice after giving the employees notification that in the future it will likely be eliminated. The representative clarified that the City has the right to do one off-cycle renewal each plan year. This option can be exercised any month with proper notice given by the 20th day of the month. The representative indicated that very few clients provide the level of coverage currently paid by Slater. The most common coverage is an 80-20 plan and the employee picks up the deductible. If the City exercises the option to switch to an 80-20 plan, the premium savings based on the current census will be $6,499 annually. It was moved by Staples and seconded by O’Donnell to select the Wellmark BCBS Alliance Select Plan JNH T97 which pays 80/20 coverage in-network and 70/30 coverage out-of-network compared to the current plan which is 90/10 and 80/20 respectively. It was further moved to continue to self-insure the deductible which should contain or minimize the impact on the employees. Employees should be notified that the City Council will likely require them to pay the full deductible in the future. The motion passed as follows: Yes: Staples, O’Donnell, Shick, Cook and Pritchard. No: none. The Council continued its discussion of water and sewer rates and instructed the City Administrator to provide the information to the City Attorney and have him prepare the necessary ordinance, for consideration by the Council at the earliest possible date. The Council continued the discussion of the Storm Sewer Utility Ordinance. The engineer will research the questions posed by the council and report at the next meeting. It was moved by Schick and seconded by Cook to approve the liquor license for the Community Club’s 4th of July Celebration. The motion passed with the record vote as follows: Yes: Schick, Cook, Staples, O’Donnell and Pritchard. No: None. It was moved by Pritchard and seconded by Staples to approve a Cigarette license renewal for Casey’s. The motion passed with the record vote as follows: Yes: Pritchard, Staples, Cook, Schick, and O’Donnell. No: None. A developer submitted a request that the Council initiate a zoning change along highway 210. The council referred the matter to P & Z. The council discussed the possibility of hiring a temporary, part-time worker to help mow. It was noted that this is not budgeted. The Ballard School System has offered to assist with mowing especially the ball diamonds that they use. Staff will continue to coordinate this. June 25, 2007 at 7:30 P.M. was set for a special meeting to serve as a work session to develop the salary resolution for Fiscal Year 2007-2008; develop and consider a transfer resolution from Local Option Sales Tax to the general fund; and to handle fiscal year end expenditures and matters needed. Gene Staples requested that staff obtain pricing and information regarding the effectiveness of a single application of mosquito spraying if done prior to the celebration on the 4th of July. It was moved by Staples and seconded by Schick to adjourn at 11:00 P.M., the motion carried and the meeting adjourned. |