Jasper City Council meeting Feb. 22
The Jasper City Council Meeting featured a similar discussion heard in Monday night’s Utility Service Board meeting in reference to the legal services of Shaneyfelt and Bohnenkemper provided to the City.
The meeting was opened at 6:40 pm with two public hearings. The first on a change to the City of Jasper Ordinance Number 1993-17, entitled “Zoning Ordinance and Subdivision Control Ordinance and Flood District and Flood Damage Prevention.”
City Engineer Chad Hurm gave an update on the change and tells that it changes the bonding requirements for plats. It in essence tightens requirements for the application of surfacing to keep areas from accumulating standing water and causing underlying damage to infrastructure like streets.
Later in the meeting, the Council passed the amendment.
The second hearing was on a rezoning petition from Jasper Properties, LLC to change the zoning for the apartment complex on 36th Street behind Taco Bell from B-1 Business and R2 Residential to all R4. The petition was granted adoption by the council in a unanimous vote.
The Council also passed two conflict of interest disclosure statements from Kit Miracle and Kara Bodle, both with the Jasper Arts Commission. And they also passed an ordinance amending the train excursion fees with small increases for the upcoming season.
The two remaining items were the legal services contract for Shaneyfelt and Bohnenkemper and the Leadership Development and Strategic Planning program by Chorus, Incorporated.
The Council response to the legal services contract with Shaneyfelt and Bohnenkemper came from council members Kevin Manley, Ray Howard, and Greg Schnaar, who questioned the hourly rate of $120.00. Manley has a problem with going from a full time attorney at $60.00 to a part-time firm at twice the price.
Shaneyfelt told the council that they actually get more for their money using his firm due to the fact that they have access to two lawyers and the work that they provide actually brings the cost per hour down in the neighborhood of what they were paying for a full-time lawyer.
In the end, the council voted to approve a motion by member Randy Buchta that authorizes City Human Resources Director Charlie Schneider to advertise for a full-time lawyer to see what kind of applicants they get.
The second topic from Mayor Seitz was the formal introduction of the Leadership Development and Strategic Planning Initiative. Seitz says that private donors have come forward to fund Phase 1 of the project – without submitting the actual cost. Phase 2 and 3 would require an outlay of $52,520.00 for the City to complete the entire program.
Chorus Incorporated President and CEO Mike Evans made the same presentation to the council as he did Monday night that laid out what the program would do and how it works. The discussion after the presentation focused mainly on how the Council would fund the costs of $52,560.00 for Phases 2 and 3 of the program during a time when the City is under tight budgets.
Council member Ray Howard stated that he would have a difficult time asking departments to fork over the money when they were told to cut their budgets last year by several hundred thousand dollars.
Mayor Seitz told the council that the money for the training program would come from EDIT funds and specifically the line item for technology which has $100,000 in it.
No action was taken on the presentation by the council.
