Construction in town was the main focus of the Oct. 17 West Liberty City Council Meeting.
City administrator Lee Geertz, who participated via Zoom, gave the council a few updates on behalf of city engineer Leo Foley, who arrived toward the end of the meeting.
The power relocation on the Rainbow/Maxson Street project got behind schedule for a few days, when it was discovered that several stakes for power poles had been knocked out of place. Kiowa, BHMG Engineering and interim electric superintendent Jon Meade worked to get the project back on track, and Foley’s report indicated that work was scheduled to begin again on Oct. 18. “Even though it’s a bumpy ride, we are getting there,” said Foley.
Geertz also reported on the Knotty Circle Drive project, which she said is moving ahead, with the entire street torn up. She thanked city staff for working together to create solutions for the residents on garbage and recycling pickup. “I just encourage the residents to continue to reach out to City Hall, to me, the city manager, if they need assistance. But please don’t drive in your neighbor’s yard or over the curb to get to your home.”
Council member Joshua Shiltz said he had received comment from a citizen who felt that there had been a lack of communication on the project and that notification could have perhaps gone out sooner. Shiltz said he thought the communication that had gone out from the city was “very thorough and easy to read.” He asked Geertz who was responsible for making sure residents were aware of projects going on in their neighborhoods.
“The contractor is responsible for notifying the homeowners. That’s part of the agreed upon process,” she said. “This also happened previously on Rainbow and Maxson.”
Geertz said this had been communicated several times to the contractor, All American Concrete, but as of Friday, Oct. 13, residents had reportedly not been notified about the upcoming work. “When we came in on Monday, it was clear that the homeowners had not been notified, so we (the city) got to work right away to try to get as much information out there as possible.”
She said she had expressed her “disappointment and frustration” to Veenstra & Kimm. “When we have Leo in the house, we need to make it clear what that process is going to be. If the contractor isn’t going to do that, we need to know so the city can take steps to be proactive. This is the second time this has occurred, and it’s the city’s face on this, not the contractor.”
“We told them to notify (the residents), they tried to tell us they did, and then the city went out and notified them,” said Foley. He said progress on the project was moving faster than what the city had anticipated.
“We wanted them to wait a couple of days, and before we knew it, they were already excavating. We probably need to have a talk with them on this next phase, and the city will have to be involved. Because, they’re a local contractor – they’re a very good contractor, don’t get me wrong, - but they tend to use some of their advantages of knowing people and things like that to move forward.
“They didn’t do it out of being bad. They did it out of wanting to get this project done before winter. We did want to get them slowed down. As an engineer, you don’t want to tell them to stop construction, unless the city says, ‘tell them to stop.’”
“It just seems like a timing thing,” said mayor Ethan Anderson. “Obviously, people need to be notified.”
“Well, I think they were notified, but it was a couple of days ahead of time,” said Foley. “What I had heard from All American is that they had somebody going door-to-door. Whether he found all of the people or not … I think that was discussed, if they’re not there, there should at least be something left behind. I don’t think that was done until yesterday.”
“If this is an issue – it sounds like it’s been a couple of times – we should probably require a bilingual notification paper to be left,” said Anderson.
“That’s probably a very good idea,” said Foley. “We put it into their contract to do it, we probably should have followed up to make sure they did it a week ahead of time.”
Geertz said the city would keep the website and Facebook page updated on the projects.
Geertz also said work on the powerhouse was also going forward. A bid for the powerhouse roof was expected to go before the council at the first meeting in November.
Shiltz said he received a question from a citizen about dirt being moved at the end of East 8th Street. The citizen was especially concerned about “the amount of rain that falls in that area. The area can kind of collect rainwater, too,” Shiltz said. He said that he had reached out to Geertz on the matter, and had also heard that building inspector Terry Goerdt would be reaching out to the property owner.
Geertz said that it was her understanding that in situations where dirt is being excavated and fill dirt is being brought in, a permit must be issued. “I’m following up with Mr. Goerdt again, because I understood a permit was needed, and we needed to understand why the fill dirt was going.
“The other thing is what you’re alluding to also, Josh, is that typically the DNR, with waterways and how water drains, it’s important to know if that could impact flooding, and if it does down into the city sewer system and stormwater drains, and causing issues there. Once I have that information from Terry and have a bigger discussion on it, I will follow up with council.”
Signage
Mayor pro tem Cara McFerren said that she had received a question from a citizen about possibly relaxing rules pertaining to signs in the right-of-way as the election approaches. McFerren said her understanding was the only thing the city allowed in right-of-ways were the Lions Club flags. Geertz said that there was a special resolution allowing the flags to be placed there. Mayor Anderson noted that, while it was too close to this year’s election to take action on the subject, it was something that could be explored in the future. The next city council meeting is Nov. 7, the day of the election.
Slightly Vintage
The council approved an $8,697 economic development grant for roof repair at Slightly Vintage, located at 317 N. Calhoun St. WELEAD director Ken Brooks said the repair was “much needed.” Council member Dana Dominguez abstained, saying she was related to owner Amber Cardona’s husband.
Disposal of city property
The council voted to approve disposal of city property to the Muscatine County Sheriff’s Department.
Police chief Eric Werling reminded the council that new officer Rusbel Calderon had been hired directly from the Sheriff’s Department. Calderon already has a police vest that has been tailored to him that the city requested from the department.
“When we reached out about that vest, they needed some equipment we had that was sitting in our garage, so we worked out a trade, of sorts, where we would give them some unused equipment that was sitting in our garage and we would obtain a vest so he could immediately start using that for work,” said Werling.
Library updates
Shiltz gave the board an update on the library. He said there have been several new hires, and that library director Allie Paarsmith has been working on updating policies. He added that there are plans for a new logo design. Paarsmith has also been working with city staff to go over the library’s financial reports, which she will take back to review with the library board.
Paarsmith was also present at the meeting, and said there were plans to discuss creating a policy on alcohol in the library meeting room. There is not currently any policy on the matter.
Mayor Anderson shared that he had been up at the library reading to first-graders. “It was cute. I enjoyed it a lot.”
Special meeting
Prior to the regular meeting, the council held a special meeting in closed session pursuant to Iowa Code Section 21.5 (i) to evaluate the professional competency of an individual whose appointment, hiring, performance, or discharge is being considered when necessary to prevent needless and irreparable injury to that individual’s reputation and that individual requests a closed session. Omar Martinez and Ashley Smith were absent from the special meeting.
Ashley Smith was absent from the regular meeting.