Bronson City Council Minutes — July 9, 2019

Bronson City Council Minutes
July 9, 2019

The Bronson City Council met in session on Tuesday July 9, 2019 at the Bronson City Hall.  Meeting called to order at 6:00 PM by Mayor Thompson.  Council members answering roll:  Chad Merchant,  Jason Garnand, Dave West, and Jamie Amick.  Attorney Metcalf was present.

Visitors:  Lt. Charles Hertz, Woodbury County Sheriff’s report.  During the month of June, in the town of Bronson, deputies conducted direct patrol totaling 31 hrs. and 19 minutes and responded to 0 calls for service.  School is out, so no deputies performing school related activities in the Lawton-Bronson district.

Reports:
Ambulance:  Dylan Hinds was present for the ambulance report.  He reported they only have 6 EMT’s on staff.  Dylan would like anyone who is interested, to please contact him.  Clerk Jessen was asked to put a note in the water bills.  Dylan needs to order ambulance supplies at around $220.00.  There was a motion from Councilman West and a second from Councilman Garnand, with all council present voting yes, to approve him ordering the supplies.

Maintenance:  CJ was present.  Reported that there is a used 20 ft. Titan heavy duty trailer for sale that would be able to haul the mini excavator around for $3400.00.  After much discussion, there was a motion from Garnand and a second from Councilman West, with all council voting yes, to purchase the trailer.  Discussion on taking flags down off the poles.  A couple will be left up, but Councilman West said he could take the rest down.  There is a FEMA meeting on July 15th at 10:00 that Tony and Clerk Jessen will be meeting with the FEMA people that will look over the damage of the flood.  CJ was asked to also be present and he said he could.

Water/Sewer Operator Report:  Nick was present at the meeting.  The City’s 3-year water inspection was on June 13th at 1:00.  Councilman Amick was also present for the inspection along with Nick.  Recommendations by DNR were read to the council by Nick.  Nick would like to pump 3 septic tanks with one being the school.  Council approved.  Nick would also like to order his annual supplies.  This was budgeted for, so council gave approval.  Nick discussed the matter that there are only 70 working water meters out of 129 properties, with 37 meter pits that will fail soon.  The City is losing a lot of revenue.  After discussing the matter, there was a motion from Councilman Garnand and a second from Councilman West, with all council present voting yes, to have Clerk Jessen apply for the MRHD grant to replace and update all meters in town.  Nick and Clerk Jessen will work on the application.  Nick said he is in the process of doing lead and copper testing right now.

REVENUES       DISBURSEMENTS
  BY FUND                 BY FUND
Interest earned
134.23
General
1156.55      35,718.32
Garbage
2021.27     1630.42
Road Use Tax
2630.63     2286.16
Ambulance
1273.64     201.70
Water
6188.75    36,423.52
Sewer
1502.44     1837.08
Local Option Sales Tax
3437.71      1583.33
Insurance
0.00          1316.00
JUNE TOTAL REVENUE
$18,345.22
JUNE DISBURSEMENTS
$80,996.53

There was a motion from Councilman Merchant and a second from Councilman West, with all council present voting yes, to approve the Treasurer’s financial report.

Minutes:  There was a motion from Councilman Amick and a second from Councilman West, with all council present voting yes, to approve the minutes for the June 11th regular meeting.

BILLS FOR APPROVAL FOR JULY 2019 MEETING:
CHN  garbage    $1520.42
CHN  spring cleanup roll-offs    $900.73
City of Bronson  water bill for city hall    $76.00
Siouxland District Health  bacterial testing    $14.00
WIATEL  telephone bill    $57.61
Moville Record  publication of minutes    $141.97
Metcalf  attorney fees    $1280.50
Bronson Fire Dept.  donation for fireworks 2019    $1000.00
S&S Equipment      old mower maintenance    $759.74
Bomgaars flowers for park..$78.93
SIMPCO  dues    $636.40
Do It Best Hardware  halogen bulb for flagpole ballfield    $24.59
LP Gill  1st qtr. 2019/2020 landfill    $1563.31
DNR  Annual water supply fee    $36.83
Dave West reimb for flags    $21.29
Ahlers Cooney  water revenue loan notes    $1257.24
Nick Lahrs  reimb. water/sewer license renewal    $120.00
Jackson Pumping  221 Maple pumped sewer    $150.00
MET  water testing    $15.00
Agrivision  weed eater    $76.18
American Underground  water supplies    $82.26
Postmaster  PO box rent    $46.00

Last 2 bills were approved and initialed by council individually:
Chad Merchant  reimb. for park rake    $63.17
Jason Garnand  reimb. for flags    $956.13

There was a motion from Councilman West and a second from Councilman Merchant, with all council present voting yes, to approve to pay the aforementioned bills.

Business:
1. Ash Borer ordinance:  Attorney Metcalf did not bring the ordinance.  He will bring to the next meeting.

2. Update on Municipal Codes:  Attorney Metcalf worked on the code recodification and had some questions on what the council wanted to change.  Some modifications would be raising building permits from $10.00 to $40.00.  The charge for turning off water from non-payment would go from $12.00 to $50.00 to turn it back on.  The City would start enforcing licensing dogs and cats in town.  Attorney Metcalf will work on it and bring changes back to the next meeting.

3. Councilman Amick on brush pile:  Discussed that the land has been planted in crops.  After much discussion, Clerk was asked to send the farmer a bill for cash rent.

4. Results of 4th of July:  was very successful.  Discussion on how much to pay the Reserves was not brought up, so Clerk Jessen will put on agenda at next meeting.

5. ICAP grant:  Clerk Jessen said she applied for it.

6. IMT Insurance Community Contest:  Clerk Jessen said she entered the contest for a new welcome to Bronson sign out by 141.

7. Discussion on new tractor:  Council will bring quotes to the next meeting.

8. Upcoming election on Nov. 5, 2019:  There are 2 council seats for 4 years and 1 mayor seat for 2 years open.  If anyone is interested in running, you can ask Clerk Jessen for the papers by leaving a message on City Hall phone 712-948-3354.  First day to file papers with the Clerk is August 12th and last day is August 29th.

Anything from Councilman Garnand:  no

Anything from Councilman Merchant:  no

Anything from Councilman West:  Owners of the house at 114 Maple is planning on splitting up part of the house as an apartment.  Question was asked if they needed separate sewer and separate water meters.  After much discussion, Attorney Metcalf said they did not.

Anything from Councilman Amick:  no

Anything from Clerk Jessen:  no

Anything from Treasurer Junge:   no

Anything from Attorney Metcalf:  Talked about the town passing an ordinance on time of sale inspections of the owners’ sewer tanks.  He will bring the ordinance next meeting.

Since there was no further business to discuss, there was a motion from Councilman Merchant and a second from Councilman Garnand, with all council present voting yes, to adjourn the meeting.  Meeting was adjourned at 7:55 PM.

SIGNED BY:
Tony Thompson, Mayor

SEAL:

ATTESTED BY:
Lindy Jessen, City Clerk

Published in The Record
Thursday, July 18, 2019