The City of West Liberty is looking to learn and move forward on a proposed 28E agency agreement with the fire department and EMS.
The West Liberty City Council held a work session prior to its Oct. 3 meeting, engaging with government officials and members of the fire department and EMS from Solon. Mayor Ethan Anderson said he and the council wanted to learn more about how Solon’s city government and fire trustees worked together to create a successful relationship.
Solon is a similarly sized community located approximately 30 miles northwest of West Liberty.
Mayor Steve Stange gave a brief history of the town’s relationship with the fire trustees, saying there had been turmoil in the 1990s, particularly with regard to financing. Stange said it took several years for the city council and the trustees to work together, but eventually former mayor Rick Jedlicka went to the fire trustees and asked to contract with them for fire and emergency protection, rather than have the city be in charge of the department. “The city would continue to provide the location to house the equipment, and the trustees would manage the operation of the fire service for both the city and the township,” said Stange of the arrangement.
The discussions eventually led to the creation of the Solon Tri-Township Fire Department, which currently has 35 volunteer members. The department protects 112 square miles in Johnson County, including the city of Solon.
Stange said residents pay the same in taxation whether they live in the city or in the rural township areas. The agency has representatives from each township and from the city of Solon who manage the day-to-day finances of the department and the purchasing of equipment. The fire department recently built a new station, and Stange hailed the cooperation of city officials, department officials, and members of the community for working together on that project.
“If you can focus on getting people home safe, getting the best equipment you can afford, and all agreeing to work together to accomplish that, then it’ll make the rest of it a lot easier,” said Stange.
Solon city manager Cami Rasmussen described the department as a “treasure of the community.”
Rasmussen said many work sessions and meetings were required to create the agency, including meetings between the city attorney and a county-appointed attorney, who worked on behalf of the rural townships.
She said meetings were held monthly over the course of a year to hash out specifics.
“They weren’t all pleasant, and they weren’t all lovey-dovey, but we did have a collective mindset that we had to change, and we didn’t have a choice. We had to change, we had to find a better way, organizationally.
“We’ve made this work. And I think it turned out better than we could have imagined,” said Rasmussen.
Welcome officer Calderon
Mayor Anderson administered the oath of office to a new member of the West Liberty Police Department, Rusbel D. Calderon.
Calderon is a native of Los Angeles.
“I was super excited he took the job. It seems like a really good fit, and we’re happy to have you here,” Anderson said.
Department reports
Police chief Eric Werling provided his monthly report to the council, including a status report on all department vehicles. Council member Dana Dominguez asked Werling to define the total mileage for the vehicles.
Werling said that he broke down the mileage into driven miles and idle hours. “I checked in with the manufacturer about how idling affects engines. Every hour that the engine spends idling is roughly 30 miles of wear and tear on the engine.”
Council member Ashley Smith asked about the status of a transformer for the West Liberty Sports Complex. City manager Lee Geertz said the transformer was currently in inventory, and city had met with the school district. “We just have a couple of things to go over regarding the transformer cost,” said Geertz.
The council approved Vendor/Voucher Claims List #1 in the amount of $329,524.84, and Vendor/Voucher Claims List #2 to Cardinal Graphics in the amount of $315.
Rainbow/Maxson Street Project
City engineer Leo Foley gave an update on the Rainbow/Maxson Street project, saying that an intake system near the Simpson Memorial Home had been modified to be ADA-compliant. “It will function beautifully,” he said.
He said that progress on relocating power poles was moving ahead. “Getting two engineering firms and two construction companies on the same page sometimes isn’t the easiest challenge,” he said. The power poles are now staked, and All-American Concrete will be working to move dirt.
Foley added that he was working with property owners on the Columbus Street sidewalk project, but was planning to handle that later in the week.
Audit follow-up
The council approved a Resolution to Establish a Public Purpose for Certain Purchases. During the city’s audit, Taylor Johnson of Bowman & Miller P.C. accounting firm said food purchases for city meetings totaling $321 had been paid to JB’s Grub & Pub.
“The auditor wanted to see this policy,” said Anderson. “The auditor said that’s a gray area, because unless you have a written policy, it could be construed as using public money to pay for food which you have to eat anyway. That’s allowable if there’s a policy, but you just need to have it in writing.”
City clerk Shari Hoffert said the city had reviewed similar policies in other communities when coming up with the language for the resolution.
Trick or treat Oct. 31
The council approved the hours for the Trick-or-Treat Trail from 5-6 p.m., and trick-or-treating within the city from 6-7:30 p.m. on Oct. 31. “I think this is standard dates and times we’ve done this,” said Anderson.
Holiday open house Nov. 18-19
The council also voted to approve the closure of a portion of Spencer Street for a petting zoo during the Holiday Open House Nov. 18-19. West Liberty Chamber of Commerce director Charles Brooke said the owner of a petting zoo in Muscatine County had come to the WELEAD office and offered a deal for the entire weekend.
The petting zoo will be open from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Nov. 18 and from 1-5 p.m. on Nov. 19. Brooke said the animals would be in an enclosed area, which he described as a walk-in trailer. Brooke said he had spoken with vendors at the Muscatine Farmers Market, where the petting zoo also operates, and the other vendors said the petting zoo was very clean, so the city should not have to worry about clean-up.