The Jefferson city council plans to assume responsibility for construction of a new animal shelter, including issuing up to $400,000 in general obligation bonds. Even with the new debt, the tax levy rate for bonded indebtedness will decrease in the coming year.
The council opened the meeting with a pair of public hearings needed to issue up to $6.5 million to pay off $4.5 million in urban renewal bonds issued in 2012 and 2015, and $2 million in general obligation bonds issued in 2015, in effect refinancing the debt. The city’s bond counsel, Tim Oswald of Piper/Sandler, estimates savings of up to $300,000 over the next 15 years because interest rates have decreased since the original bonds were issued.
No one spoke at either hearing and no written comments were received. The council then approved a resolution of the council’s intent to sell the bonds and to call the outstanding bonds for early redemption.
The next agenda item was an update on the potential for issuing another bond to finance a portion of the construction of the animal shelter. Council member Dave Sloan, a member of the council’s animal shelter committee, raised the subject at the Jan. 12 meeting.
According to Oswald, the council can issue up to $400,000 in bonds for that type of project without a referendum. The new debt would add 25 cents (per thousand dollars of taxable valuation) to the levy rate for bonded indebtedness. However, the increase would be more than offset by a decrease allowed by refinancing existing debt. Even with going forward with the animal shelter debt, Jefferson property owners will see a decrease from $2.71 (per thousand) to $2.50 for FY21-22. Oswald said the levy rate will decrease again for FY22-23.
Because the city needs the site of the current animal shelter for a state-required expansion of the wastewater treatment plant, some of the cost of relocating the shelter could be attached to that project. Oswald said it would be the council’s discretion how to handle that.
During the fall of 2017, the city council agreed to assume ownership and operation of a new animal shelter if it were turn-key ready. Volunteer Don Orris spearheaded a small committee that obtained plans and raised $634,000 for the project. (The funds include $200,000 payable over three years from Grow Greene County and a $34,000 IDALS grant for equipment.)
The city now intends to “take the reins” for the project, including dealing with the bid process. According to city attorney David Morain, the project has been handled as a public improvement project, with the city handling the architect’s contract.
Orris was not at the Jan. 26 meeting. The council hopes he will continue to be an integral part of the project with continued fundraising and consultation.
The low bid on the project when it was bid out in November was $1,007,000.
Council member Sloan also reported conversation with Jefferson resident Don Labate, who is a structural engineer for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Labate said the DNR has found a new building product for park shelters that is considerably less expensive than what has been used. Sloan will get more information about using that for the animal shelter.
City resident Jeff Cunningham addressed the council with questions about the proposed shelter, calling it a “Trojan horse” in that the city’s participation was contained inside the larger bond refinance. Most of his questions have been previously answered in the media in recent months.
Among his questions was whether the city would pay staff for the shelter. The council in 2017 approved a little less than $36,000 from city funds for operating expenses. The county supervisors agreed to $15,000 per year at that time as well.
Council member Harry Ahrenholtz said at Tuesday’s meeting that it’s the hope People for Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) volunteers will operate the new shelter as they have the current shelter.
“We’ve been fiscally responsible. The alternative is we won’t have an animal shelter at all,” council member Darren Jackson said.
The council at its Feb. 9 meeting will set a public hearing for the bond issue needed for the animal shelter.
The question of what building material should be used does not need to be answered for the public hearing to take place.
In other business, the council approved police chief Mark Clouse’s proposal to promote officers Jason Kroeger and Jeremy Behrens to the rank of sergeant. Both are now Grade 6 patrol officers, the highest rank for patrol officers.
There is currently no police captain, the rank between chief and sergeant. Clouse explained that having two sergeants would provide a supervisor for every night shift. He said he may promote one of the two to captain at some time in the future.
Each will receive a $3,081 bump in annual salary, putting them in the “mid-$50s”, Clouse said.
The council held a hearing on the appeal of a nuisance abatement issued to property owner Ted Herrick for four junk vehicles he has on his property at 407 S. Olive St. Herrick agreed the vehicles are a nuisance and said he plans to remove them, but he was unable to meet the city’s deadline.
The council upheld the finding of a public nuisance and set a deadline of March 15 for the vehicles to be moved. Herrick agreed.
The council approved an addendum to a professional service agreement with Bolton and Menk for an additional $14,000 for the wastewater treatment plant plan, as well as agreements for professional services in preparing an EPA risk and resilience assessment and emergency response plan ($19,500) and for preliminary design, final design and construction services for the wastewater treatment plant ($127,500).
The council set a public hearing for Feb. 9 on an interim loan and disbursement agreement with Iowa Finance Authority for the wastewater treatment plan upgrade project. The loan will cover the cost of administrative, legal and engineering services for the project. The loan will be from the state’s revolving loan fund at 0 percent interest for three years. The loan will be repaid after the city eventually sells bonds for the project. (The amount of bonded debt needed has not been determined, as the city has funds on hand for a portion of the project.)
The council set March 9 as the date for a public hearing on the FY21-22 budget. The council will hold a budget workshop on Feb. 9.
