Waukon Council holds first meeting of 2010

by Dwight Jones
 
The Waukon City Council met in regular session the evening of Monday, January 4, 2010 with a full council in attendance. This was the first official meeting for Councilman John Ellingson and new Waukon Mayor Loren Beneke.
To begin the meeting, Jack Sweeney was once again in attendance and welcomed the two new members of Waukon City government, followed by further discussions regarding the removal of snow from area businesses. Sweeney had also been at the previous meeting, and was back to see what additional work had been done. There were concerns expressed at the previous meeting that area businesses, specifically some from downtown, were having their snow hauled away at City expense while others, Sweeney included, had to pay for removal on their own.
Councilman Joe Cunningham presented Sweeney copies of a notice that he and the rest of the Council had prepared that was going to be running in this newspaper explaining the snow removal ordinance and how it was going to be enforced. Cunningham explained that there were four businesses that were going to be affected the most by the enforcement, and showed a letter he had prepared explaining such to them. He had also made phone calls to each. All parties seemed content with the progress that had been made, and the Council explained that they would likely be having a work session in the future to discuss the matter further.
Moving on to Regular Business, Waukon Economic Development (WEDC) President Denny DeBuhr discussed the benefits of the City developing a Residential TIF program. DeBuhr, Cunningham and Beneke had taken part in a program presented by RC&D of Omaha, NE that further outlined residential TIF, and DeBuhr was requesting a work session with WEDC, the City Council, the Waukon Planning and Zoning board and staff from Upper Exploreland Regional Planning to discuss matters further. If Upper Exploreland is available, the meeting was set for next Monday night, January 11, at 5 p.m.

Next, the council discussed the fueling station at the airport. The fueling station, operated by the Allamakee County Flying Club, has been out of operation for some time due to concerns regarding liability to the City and questions on insurance coverage. Cunningham was asking if there would be a way that the City could allow the Flying Club members themselves to use the fuel without allowing sales to the public. Ellingson explained that limitations of the equipment made it nearly impossible to sell fuel to the public at this time. When questioned on the legality of it all, City Attorney Jim Garrett explained that “it all comes down to liability,” and wanted to discuss the matter further with the City’s insurance carrier.  The issue will discussed further at a future meeting.
All of the annual appointments took place next, which is standard procedure at the first meeting of the year. Beneke appointed Councilman Trent Mitchell as his Mayor Pro-tem, and the Council appointed Dr. Steve Perkins as the new City Health Officer. Nearly everything else remained unchanged.
The Mayor and Council then discussed Departmental Reports, which had been removed from Council meetings by former mayor Keith Schroeder. It was determined that the information they provide is important and beneficial, and will once again be included starting at the next meeting.
A job description and the hiring process to fill the position of City Zoning Administrator was then discussed.  Garrett, Beneke and City Clerk Diane Sweeney will work to develop an ad to go in this newspaper, along with a detailed job description for those interested in applying.
Addressing the final agenda item, the Council re-appointed Steve Pladsen to the Waukon Wellness Center board.