OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Mason City City Council Regular Meeting - December 19, 2023

City Council — Tuesday, December 19, 2023
BodyMason City, Iowa
SessionCity Council
DateTuesday, December 19, 2023
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 24:16

Transcript — Verbatim
0:14

And good evening, everyone.

0:16

Welcome to the regular meeting of the Mason City City Council.

0:18

This is the meeting for December 19th of 2023.

0:22

I'm Mayor Bill Schickle.

0:23

The force first order of business is the roll call.

0:26

Diana, would you call the roll?

0:27

Latham?

0:28

Here.

0:29

Lee.

0:30

Here.

0:30

Adams.

0:31

Present.

0:31

Simmons.

0:33

Present.

0:33

Ms.

0:34

Son.

0:35

Here.

0:35

Yes, yes.

0:36

Here.

0:37

Let the record reflect that all members are present.

0:40

The next item of business is the adoption of the agenda.

0:44

Do we have a motion?

0:45

So move.

0:46

Second.

0:47

We have a motion and a second discussion.

0:50

All those in favor signify by saying aye.

0:53

Aye.

0:53

Aye.

0:54

All those opposed, same sign.

0:56

Next, we'll move to the public forum.

0:58

If there is public comment that you would like to make, the podium is yours, or you can use the raised hand feature to comment on items that are on the agenda tonight.

1:13

Mayor, no one seeks to be recognized via Zoom.

1:16

We'll close the public hearing and in a moment we'll move to the city administrators' monthly report.

1:21

But first of all, congratulations to Councilman Joshua Mason in the third board, John Lee in the first board, and at large Councilman Paul Adams, all sworn into office tonight upon their re-election.

1:34

And also congratulations to Jay Lala and Troy Leevenhagen who are sworn in tonight as members of the park board.

1:42

Congratulations and thank you for your service.

1:50

Next up we'll go to City Administrator Aaron Burnett for the monthly report.

1:54

Aaron?

1:55

Thank you, Mayor.

1:57

A lot of exciting development happening throughout the town.

3:09

O and M is working uh diligently to keep equipment running and keep it in good shape until we can get the replacements here.

3:16

Uh if you remember those trucks are a few years behind uh on delivery.

3:21

Uh hopefully we will receive those soon and be able to use them for next year.

3:26

But through this year, we will continue to operate the equipment that we currently have uh that is uh beyond its uh expected life expectancy, but uh we're continuing to repair it and try and keep it out there and and operating as best as possible.

3:42

Uh wanted to mention that uh with the recycling agreement that was passed uh I guess a few months ago now, uh the information is going out in utility bills and also uh being put out on social media and all of our other platforms, the newsletter, et cetera, to try and inform folks about the recycling changes.

4:02

The reality is for the end user, there's there's not a lot of significant change that's occurring.

4:07

There's a few new things that are added, but it's also a good refresher for everybody to know what's uh recyclable material material and what's not.

4:15

And so I'd encourage folks to take a look at that.

4:18

We'll continue to push information out.

4:20

Uh there's a nice graphic on there that shows uh what each material is so that you don't even have to really look at the number.

4:27

You can you can look at the item and the uh the examples of what those items are and uh and figure out whether it's recyclable or not.

4:35

And then also wanted to mention we continue uh our aggressive blight enforcement uh city staff is is working hard on that as a goal of the council.

4:47

Uh we're in the middle of moving those three homes to vacant lots that were uh created by Blight Enforcement and Blight Remediation.

4:55

Uh that's a great step forward, but also continuing those efforts to make sure that we remediate uh issues within the community.

5:03

I'd encourage people to reach out, use you know, text text my gov or call or email or any of the different ways that you can reach out to city departments.

5:13

We'd be happy to follow up on concerns that you have within your neighborhood and uh and work to to clean those areas up.

5:22

And then lastly, I just wanted to mention that uh we went through uh goal setting.

5:26

We actually have uh goal setting on the agenda for tonight, um, or not goal setting, recognizing those goals on the agenda for tonight.

5:34

Uh a great step uh forward in in recognizing what uh priorities exist for the upcoming year or two years, and uh with that, that really kind of kicks off the budget and CIP season, so uh the capital improvement plan season where the the city goes through its efforts to allocate those resources and figure out which projects it wants to push forward for the the upcoming year.

6:01

So with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Budget Equity Analysis██████████████████████████████████34%
Procedural██████████████████████████26%
Engineering And Infrastructure███████████11%
Technology and Innovation███████████11%
Personnel Matters██████6%
Zoning Regulations██████6%
Economic Development██████6%
Summary of Proceedings

Mason City City Council Regular Meeting - December 19, 2023

The Mason City City Council held a regular meeting on December 19, 2023, at 7:00 PM at the Mason City Public Library. Mayor Bill Schickle presided, and all council members were present. The meeting included a public forum with no comments, a city administrator's report, a consent agenda, a public hearing on a budget amendment, and a final reading of a zoning change. Several key decisions were made, including approvals of appointments, resolutions, and a significant budget amendment.

Consent Calendar

  • Approved minutes of the special meeting of November 22 and regular meeting of December 5, 2023.
  • Approved claims dated December 7 and 14, 2023.
  • Approved permits and November 2023 financials.
  • Appointed/hired Emily Carolan and John Laurin as Firefighter/Paramedics at a starting wage of $25.24/hour.
  • Appointed/hired Will Almendarez as a Police Officer at a starting wage of $30.16/hour.
  • Adopted Resolution designating the Mason City Globe Gazette as the official newspaper for 2024.
  • Adopted Resolution adopting the City Council Policy Agenda Work Plan for calendar years 2024 and 2025.
  • Adopted Resolution levying assessments for charges on certain properties and certification to the County Treasurer for collection with property taxes.
  • Adopted Resolution authorizing the purchase and execution of a real estate purchase agreement for property at 1444 North Federal Avenue (two lots, making five total for development in the historic North Village).
  • Adopted Resolution awarding a contract to Tom Crowley of St. Ansgar, Iowa for broadcasting and recording of Regular and Special City Council Meetings.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • No members of the public sought to speak during the public forum.

Discussion Items

  • City Administrator's Monthly Report: Aaron Burnett reported on O&M equipment maintenance delays due to supply chain issues, recycling program changes (information distributed via utility bills and social media), aggressive blight enforcement (three homes being moved to vacant lots), and the completion of goal setting for the upcoming budget and capital improvement plan (CIP) season.
  • Public Hearing – Budget Amendment #2 (FY 2023-2024): Finance Director Brent Henson presented a $23 million budget amendment, with $20 million allocated to capital projects that overlapped fiscal years. The largest project was the airport terminal. Other significant items included $90,000 for increased street equipment maintenance due to delayed replacement of trucks (ordered since 2021), $35,000 for unanticipated costs related to the county IT interface for law enforcement (caused by the county moving servers without notice), replacement of a fire command vehicle damaged in a deer accident, and establishment of a drug task force equipment fund. Councilman Paul Adams asked about the impact on reserves (total reserves across all funds were approximately $11.2 million, general fund balance at $8.7 million, projected to end fiscal year at $8.5 million or higher). Councilman Yesheski inquired about the $90,000 for street equipment, confirming that the costs would not have been incurred if new equipment had been delivered on schedule. The council discussed the ongoing supply chain issues and the need to keep older trucks operational. The resolution approving the budget amendment passed unanimously.
  • Action Item – Zoning Change (2nd/Final Reading): Ordinance amending the City Code to change the zoning classification of recently annexed land to Z6-O (Open Industry Zoning District) for economic development in southwestern Mason City. The second reading was approved unanimously.

Key Outcomes

  • All consent agenda items were approved unanimously on a single roll call vote.
  • The resolution approving Budget Amendment #2 for FY 2023-2024 was approved unanimously (roll call: Adams, Latham, Yesheski, Simmons, Lee all yes).
  • The ordinance for the zoning change to Z6-O was approved on final reading (roll call: Yesheski, Adams, Lee, Simmons, Latham all yes).
  • The meeting adjourned after the final action.

Meeting Transcript

And good evening, everyone. Welcome to the regular meeting of the Mason City City Council. This is the meeting for December 19th of 2023. I'm Mayor Bill Schickle. The force first order of business is the roll call. Diana, would you call the roll? Latham? Here. Lee. Here. Adams. Present. Simmons. Present. Ms. Son. Here. Yes, yes. Here. Let the record reflect that all members are present. The next item of business is the adoption of the agenda. Do we have a motion? So move. Second. We have a motion and a second discussion. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. All those opposed, same sign. Next, we'll move to the public forum. If there is public comment that you would like to make, the podium is yours, or you can use the raised hand feature to comment on items that are on the agenda tonight. Mayor, no one seeks to be recognized via Zoom. We'll close the public hearing and in a moment we'll move to the city administrators' monthly report. But first of all, congratulations to Councilman Joshua Mason in the third board, John Lee in the first board, and at large Councilman Paul Adams, all sworn into office tonight upon their re-election. And also congratulations to Jay Lala and Troy Leevenhagen who are sworn in tonight as members of the park board. Congratulations and thank you for your service. Next up we'll go to City Administrator Aaron Burnett for the monthly report. Aaron? Thank you, Mayor. A lot of exciting development happening throughout the town. O and M is working uh diligently to keep equipment running and keep it in good shape until we can get the replacements here. Uh if you remember those trucks are a few years behind uh on delivery. Uh hopefully we will receive those soon and be able to use them for next year. But through this year, we will continue to operate the equipment that we currently have uh that is uh beyond its uh expected life expectancy, but uh we're continuing to repair it and try and keep it out there and and operating as best as possible. Uh wanted to mention that uh with the recycling agreement that was passed uh I guess a few months ago now, uh the information is going out in utility bills and also uh being put out on social media and all of our other platforms, the newsletter, et cetera, to try and inform folks about the recycling changes. The reality is for the end user, there's there's not a lot of significant change that's occurring. There's a few new things that are added, but it's also a good refresher for everybody to know what's uh recyclable material material and what's not. And so I'd encourage folks to take a look at that. We'll continue to push information out. Uh there's a nice graphic on there that shows uh what each material is so that you don't even have to really look at the number.

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