Mayor Bob Schmidt said he walked away from the April meeting of the Atalissa City Council not feeling good about not allowing certain members of the public to speak at the April 12 meeting held at City Hall.
“That’s definitely not my style,” he said, noting he took advice from the city attorney Julie Sprague and interim city clerk Chari Hoeffert on not allowing three local residents to speak at the meeting and said “I didn’t feel right about it.”
Schmidt, who is now serving his second year in office, vowed to not make that decision again in future meetings, giving those who are registered the two minutes they are allowed to voice their concerns, noting city council members and other city officials likely won’t respond to the request at that moment.
“We’ll try to make them happy,” Schmidt said, noting he feels the council needs to be open to public discussion, although emphasizing residents shouldn’t keep bringing up the same issues. “We won’t do that again,” he said following the meeting.
Karen Feddersen, who lives in rural Atalissa, was one of those not allowed to talk as she did at the March meeting. She had thought to have made arrangements to speak at the April meeting in notifying the interim city clerk and had planned to talk about several different issues including expenses by the chief of police, the fact he isn’t a licensed officer in the state and the city’s liability in case of an accident with a city vehicle.
Cory Alexander had also made a request to talk about the mayor making decisions without council approval while Linda Wagner had also made a request to speak about street work as well as a camper taken from a property by city officials.
The mayor said residents can always make a formal complaint about certain issues that the city would investigate.
Schmidt said he was surprised by the statements by his chief of police at the meeting, threatening the board they they “would be without a police department” if they didn’t do something about the harassment the chief has been getting from residents. (See full story in last week’s Index).
The mayor said there is potential for Shook to resign his position as “he is going through a lot,” noting the chief has been personally attacked and harassed by Atalissa residents and said, “If I was in his shoes, I would have resigned some time ago.”
Schmidt said Shook has done a good job handling Atalissa issues like nuisance control, noting he was “very personable” in addressing clean-up issues with residents and never issuing a citation. “I want an interactive police chief with the community,” the mayor said, noting he’d rather not see Shook resign and hopes he comes to the city before making a decision to leave the position he was hired to do in January, replacing Matt Bower.
Other city business
In other business, the city is advertising for a new city clerk to replace interim clerk Sherry Hoffert after she was appointed to the position following the resignation of Samantha Parry earlier this year.
In the meanwhile, the city council set a 40-hour monthly salary for the interim clerk at $1,065 and hopes to have a clerk hired in May following a May 4 application deadline for the position. A full job description is available through the city. Schmidt said the city council will hire the new clerk, noting he will appoint a committee of two council members, the interim city clerk or Lee Geertz, and himself to interview and finalize a list of candidates.
The city also heard from Amy Windus concerning a plan she had to supply clothing articles to local residents in need. She said there is no collection site in the city for such articles and hoped to be able to have a shed built to host containers where people could drop off clothing.
She said the community has a food pantry that helps local residents and said it makes sense to add an opportunity for people to obtain clothing items as well. She said there are people who have lost their jobs or have come upon struggling times who may need assistance.
Windus said there is no cost to the city and hoped to operate the clothing unit three times a month from 3 to 5 p.m. on one Tuesday as well as two Saturdays a month. It was pointed out a local church, the Church of Christ, provides some of the same services. The city will look into the program more and decided to table the issue until the May meeting.
Windus also staged a complaint about debris left on city property in the community, asking residents to pick up after themselves.
The city also tabled a request for a city-wide yard sale from Gina Skubal, pushing for a Saturday, May 22 event, despite an idea from another resident to host the event on the same day as West Liberty’s city-wide yard sale. The city did decide on a tentative date for the city-wide clean-up for Wednesday, May 26 by Overson, the Wilton company the city uses for rubbish disposal regularly. A June 2 date was also offered.
The city also approved a liquor license application request by the Atalissa Community Fire Department and chief Mike Smock to be utilized for fundraiser events. The Class B license would include beer and wine cooler sales.
The city also held a public hearing on the 2021-22 city budget at the meeting. There was no public input.
The city also issued mowing bids for six city properties, with an application deadline of April 30. Anyone seeking more information should contact the city.
The mayor also said the city plans to continue making application to the Ryan Trust Foundation in an attempt to obtain funding for city park improvements. He said the application made by the city was issued too late for the present quarter, but could be issued in the future. Schmidt said the city would continue applying for the matching funds, along with looking into other grant opportunities in hopes of reviving the city park, pointing out he’d like to do something similar to what West Liberty is building at Friendship Park this summer.
The council also set a cash management policy for cash collection, payments to creditors, opening bank account, controlling the municipal bank account, withdrawing from bank accounts, cash management and investments, revenue investment, disbursements and check management, financial reporting, cash reserve and annual review.
A draft of a purchasing policy for the city is also being established by city officials.
The next meeting of the council is set for Monday, May 10, beginning at 7 p.m. at City Hall.