November 20 Council Meeting

Quick meeting. All council members were there except CM Sargent. CM Elect Webb was also in attendance. There were only 3 non usual items on the agenda. (By usual, I mean the consent agenda, dept head reports, and public comments).

So for those 3 items...we approved our health insurance contract. It actually went down by $500 a month. It was by a new way of figuring it, and a new pool our employees are in. We all praised 0bama and are expecting a trip to the State of the Union address, because we are the only people in the country that have seen health insurance rates go down.

We cancelled our January 1 council meeting. Jan 1 is the 1st Wednesday of the month. We decided we could get by with the meeting just on the 15th. As a 5 Wednesday month, we could add another one in late January if need be to get budget stuff squared away.

And lastly the council approved the hiring of Linda Sharer to be our new utility billing clerk. That is a part-time position and she will be replacing Janet Olson who is retiring. Linda brings a lot of experience, and she has a nice personality that I think will work well with the various folks who come into City Hall. We had a lot of good applications, and it wasn't easy to choose. I believe she will be starting around December 12.

We will only be having one council meeting in December as well. We cancelled the Dec 4 and 18 meetings, and will only be meeting on the 11th.

Grant #3

Grant #3 this month is a nice one as well. I went to Reiman Gardens in Ames to pick up a $6000 check from the Story County Community Foundation. The money is to be used towards construction of the new concession building at Britson Park.

The SCCF funds various projects around the county. Most are what I would call human services type grants. I think 3 different libraries got money as well. Ours of course will help out kids all around the county, and of course I'm biased, but I think was a worthy choice. I sat at a table with grant recipients from Story City. The group working on restoring the outside of the building housing the carousel got $3000, so that was nice too.

It is nice to see our local projects being recognized by a foundation like SCCF. As for Britson Park, we still have more money to raise to get the building built, which should start next spring. We are going to have a chili cookoff in January, and another 5K run in March.

Here is an article from the Ames Trib about the grants that the Story County Community Foundation awarded.

Grant #2

I had the privilege this week of going to Theisen's in Ames to pick up a $1000 check. The money was donated to help build our new concession stand/restroom/storage building in Britson Park. I read the list of Theisen's donations. They donate to a lot of different organizations in Iowa. Kudos to them. HERE is a link to that list.

I think Theisen's is my favorite store in Ames. And I'm not just saying that because they gave us $1000. I buy my shoes, ammo, cleaners, car stuff. And free popcorn to eat while shopping. Here is a pic of me getting the check (I love big ceremonial checks!) I am with Store Manager Shane Skala who just happens to be a Roland resident.

Grant #1

I'm gonna trickle out news of 3 grants that Roland has or will receive over the next week. So here is #1. I and City Clerk Jodi Meredith worked on a grant request from Story County with money directed for Economic Development. The money is coming from TIF revenues from the windmills in the eastern part of the county. We put in a request for the expected cost of asbestos abatement in the two properties the city owns on Main Street that will be torn down--namely the old library building, and the one just north of it--218 and 220 N Main to be exact.

Our request was funded at 50%, so we are receiving $6950 towards this project. So that is nice.

In case you've missed it in previous posts, we have been saving our dollars to tear down those buildings and construct a new city hall in that location. How the project ties in to economic development is downtown revitalization. And then the idea of the council is to have a more professional city hall that potential residents can see. Right now it smells bad in there with our co-located power plant, and is harder to find, not being right on Main Street.

The Ames Tribune has an article on our request, and the 5 other communities that received funding. HERE is the link.

Updated City Website

Led by council member Jerry Balmer, and some assistance by me, the city has set up a new website. We worked with Hobbs Design to modernize it a bit, and make it so city staff can more easily update it for things going on.

Roland was one of the first cities in the county with a functional/informational website. I was a big proponent of that way back when, when I was on the city council. I'm guessing that was 10 or more years ago. And it has served us well, and had most of the basic info that people were looking for.

For the most part, it will have the same information. But it will have more pictures, and hopefully be more of a selling/marketing point for Roland.

So give it a whirl. It can be found here: http://cityofroland.org/

November 6 Council Meeting

Had everybody at the council meeting on 11-6, and also Council Member-Elect Andrew Webb. He will take office on January 2. I think the meeting went about 75 minutes or so.

We got an update on asphalt repairs around the city, most of them are on the east side of town. Crack filling will be on hold until next spring due to the weather turned cold.

We, as in years past, knocked December down to 1 council meeting. We cancelled the meetings on the 4th and 18th, and are having one on the 11th. December typically doesn't have a lot going on. When I first got on the council, we only had meetings once a month. However I was in favor of twice a month. We stayed on top of things a little more, and the meetings went more quickly. Two shorter meetings do not seem as painful as one long meeting. But in December we can get along ok with just one

The council passed two resolutions in regard to financing our sewer projects. One was to set the public hearing, and the other was just some administrative stuff regarding borrowing. The public hearing on our financing will be at our December 11 meeting.

We tabled a RADC request for funding for a sign touting our industrial park along I-35.

We had Micheal Hart from Northland Securities present that gave us a very informative presentation regarding the city's ability to borrow money for our sewer project, and how to pay for it. The project is going to cost $1.8 million approximately. We can pay for it via property tax, via sewer charges, or a mixture of both. The presentation showed how it would affect property tax payers, if paid that way, or what rates would have to rise via sewer. My preference is that is all goes on sewer bills on a line item charge that we all pay. We run our sewer department just like a business. It does not receive funding via property tax. We charge what it costs to run our sewer system. I think this is no different. Everyone will see it on their sewer bill, and that it will simply go away when it is paid off. From a little straw poll of early opinion at the council meeting, I gather I am alone in that opinion. I would say the council is leaning to doing a mix. And I get that. That is a way of spreading it around I guess, and property owners in the city have a vested interest in having a good sewer system. But I think it is important to keep our property taxes low. When people look at moving somewhere, they will get an info sheet showing the tax on a property they are interested in. Do people look at water and sewer rates? And again, as I mentioned, sewer is a business. That business should not be subsidized outside of that business. And that is what happens if we use property tax to pay for this.

Lastly, we had a report from Drew Kamp who is assisting communities in Story County with economic development and such. He gave us an update on the county's use of TIF money for grants for economic development activities. City Clerk Jodi Meredith and I did a grant request for assistance on paying for asbestos removal at the two properties on Main Street that will be torn down for a new city hall. We found our that half of our request was funded, and we will be receiving approximately $6900 towards that effort, so that was a nice grant to get.

Statement on the Mayoral election

I have had the privilege of serving two terms on the Roland City Council, and two terms as the Roland Mayor. I thought that was enough for now, so I decided not to seek re-election for the seat of Mayor this year. As it turns out, no one else was interested in filing either, so the Mayor spot was to be filled with a write-in candidate in Tuesday's election.

The Story County Auditor called me Wednesday, and informed me that I was the leading vote getter of write-in votes for Roland Mayor.

So with that news, a primer on Iowa election law in regards to the Mayor slot. The leading write-in candidate is offered the job. If s/he turns it down, it is then offered to the second place vote getter. If that person turns it down, it falls upon the city council to appoint someone to the position. It does not automatically keep going down the list of people receiving votes.

Since I was prepared for my term to be done, I called the person who received the second most number of votes. He indicated he did not want to take the role of Mayor. So at that point, the situation was such that the council was going to need to appoint someone in January of 2014.

I thought about the situation a bit, and where the city and the City Council are on various projects. I've been working with the council on our new storm and sanitary sewer project. We are almost to the part where we are prepared to work on details for financing. I really would like to see that project go forth with the effort that the council has put towards it.

Also, in January through March, the City Council and city staff work on our next fiscal year's budget. That is one of my favorite roles as Mayor. I don't have a vote, but I have always enjoyed working with our staff, city boards, and council to come up with a budget that provides desired city services while keeping our property taxes in the lower half of communities in Story County. City budgets are one of the most confusing things for new mayors and council members, and the way our elections roll, those people are thrown right in the thick of it, as soon as they take office. Simply as a citizen of Roland, I would prefer to not have a Mayor leading that discussion who was thrown into that situation.

So I have to decided to accept the results of the election and continue on as Roland's Mayor. However, I plan to only do so thru the efforts to nail down the financing of our sewer project, and to complete the 2014-15 budget. So I expect to resign the position of Mayor on or around March 31, 2014. With my resignation at that time, the City Council will have to appoint a replacement. I don't like the thought of resigning, but whether I leave at the end of my current term, or at the end of March, the City Council will still have to appoint someone to the Mayor position.

This will also give three additional months for a candidate to come forth and get up to speed on city business. I think we have a good City Council and enjoy working with them. So I have confidence we are in good shape with those folks. It is a gratifying feeling to see that some amount of people still decided to write my name in, even when I indicated no interest in the position. I'm proud of our community, how safe it is, how we have a great new park, and how many young families are choosing to live here. My plan is to continue to give best effort towards the position of Mayor. Thank you to those that have expressed your support.

Law enforcement contract with Story County Sheriff Dept

As you know, Roland does not have its own police department. I think that ended circa 1998 or so, when the city fathers decided they had enough of the high turnover in the police department. Roland just couldn't pay enough or offer enough "excitement" to keep police officers. So the council went with a contract with the Story County Sheriff Office.

So currently Roland is one of 9 communities in Story County who contract with the SCSO. (The others being Collins, Colo, Gilbert, Kelley, Maxwell, McCallsburg, Slater and Zearing). Having their own PD are Ames, Nevada, Huxley, and Story City. Cambridge contracts with the Huxley PD.

So that contract comes with a cost. We have to pay a per capita rate to the SCSO for law enforcement. The last fiscal year was $49.50, this year is $52.00. So for Roland, that comes out to around $67,000 a year.

So we as a city council have a balance of police coverage versus paying more. If we wanted to have 2 officers of our own, we'd have to pay probably another $100,000 a year. Divided by the number of households in town, that would be another $200 per household. For now, I'm not seeing that as likely happening.

So while we do yearly contracts with the SCSO, to help with budgeting, the Mayors of the 9 communities contracting with the SCSO get together to set what we should pay going forward. The Sheriff makes a presentation on what his expenses are and so forth, and then the Mayors that show up make a recommendation. Six of the nine mayors showed up, including me. After some discussion, we decided a 3% increase in the per capita rate for each of the next 3 years was appropriate. I individually also thought that was appropriate. Our city employees got a 3% raise this year. Obviously the SCSO is not an employee, but if we had police officers, they probably would have gotten a 3% raise. So this is for the whole "department" or at least the public safety/police line item in our budget.

It does affect the smaller towns a lot more. The Mayor of McCallsburg mentioned it is their biggest line item. For us, it is not. But it is what it is, and just wanted to pass along how that all works.

Vote for someone else

As you may know, we have an election coming up next Tuesday. We have 3 people running for 3 council spots, so we've got that covered. However, we also have a mayor spot, and no one filed for it. (Obviously including me.)

If you read the Story City Herald last week, the article on the election said I would do it if written in. That is incorrect. That is what I said the two previous times I was elected via write-in. I'm ready to hang it up for the time being. I might run again in the future, but for now, I'm ready to do something else.

Since no one is on the ballot, here is what will happen. The person with the most write in votes will be offered the job. If s/he turns it down, it will be offered to the person with the 2nd most write in votes. If s/he turns it down, the city council will be tasked with appointing someone to fill the position.

So don't vote for me, fill someone's name in that you think would do a good job.