Still no name for animal shelter
Jefferson mayor Matt Gordon presided at his last council meeting Tuesday, calling his time serving in city elected positions “a great experience.” He said he wishes the best for incoming mayor Craig Berry when he returns as mayor in January. “He’ll be very familiar with the job so we’ll be in good shape,” Gordon said.
Council member Dave Sloan was also at his final meeting behind the council table. “It’s been a pretty good eight years,” he said. “I’ve gotten to work with some really good people, and I’d like to thank people in the city of Jefferson for helping me get through this.”
The council voted to cancel the regular meeting that would be Dec. 26; the next meeting is Tuesday, Jan. 9. Berry will be sworn in as mayor and Chad Sloan will be sworn is as a council member. Matt Wetrich will also be sworn in for his second full term on the council.
Gordon and Dave Sloan are leaving elected office at a contentious time. A workforce housing project planned by Kading Properties of Urbandale and championed by Greene County Development Corporation has a significant number of vocal objectors, several of whom have been at the council meetings since August. The group routinely takes up to 30 minutes of meeting time, either in connection with a Kading-related agenda item or during the open forum at the beginning of the meeting.
The Dec. 12 meeting started with resident Sue Bose, who ran unsuccessfully for a council seat, speaking against the project for 10 minutes despite a 3-5 minute limit on open forum comments. Five other residents also spoke against the project for a total of 32 minutes.
Ryan Baugh, in his first time at the podium regarding the project, said a 10-year property tax abatement is “insane” and asked, “how many of these immigrants, or whatever, are going to bring kids? Are we going to overrun the schools?”
He said KCG of Indianapolis, IN, has an option on property north of the Union Pacific tracks and west of Elm St with the intention of building senior housing. With Rowland Construction’s project near the water tower, the Kading project, and the KCG project, Baugh questioned if Jefferson will become a sanctuary city. He also questioned if the city of Jefferson or GCDC has an agreement with Tyson Foods of Perry for those workers to live in Jefferson.
Jane Finch, also new to the podium, suggested it would be better for the city to build a road into the plat intended for the Kading project and to give lots to small businesses rather than give them to Kading. (Note: The city does not own the property; GCDC owns the property and has offered to give it to Kading.)
Gary Turner suggested the council should call for a public vote on the matter.
Rental property owner Larry Saddoris said he has looked at the webpage for every other Kading rental project and found that the company accepts renters receiving Section 8 rent subsidies for low income persons, and that a Kading representative told him over the phone that Section 8 is accepted at all Kading projects.
Council members Harry Ahrenholtz and Darren Jackson both said they had been told by Kading reps that there would be no Section 8 units in Jefferson.
The council approved a letter of support for the project in July. The letter did not commit city funds to the project.
There is also contention over the new animal shelter, with council member Darren Jackson, the council’ representative on the animal shelter board, threatening to resign from the board due to the council’s continued “second guessing” of the shelter board.
Motions to set a name for the facility, set a policy for access to the adjacent dog park, and set a maximum length of stay for an animal at the shelter were tabled at the Nov. 28 meeting partly because Jackson was not at the meeting to explain or lobby for the policies.
Members of the animal shelter board are appointed by the mayor and currently include police captain Jason Kroger, Jackson, veterinarian Amy Klauer, Samantha Hardaway and Bonnie Silbaugh. People for Animal Welfare Society appointed Ann Wenthold and Greene County appointed assistant county attorney Laura Snider.
At the Dec. 12 meeting, Jackson told the council volunteers had put a lot of work into the shelter and that the board members have passion for the project. He said members of the board varied in their thoughts on the maximum length of stay from six months to indefinitely, and that the 18 month limit suggested by the board was the result of a lot of discussion and compromise. “It’s rather frustrating… Everything we’ve come up with has been second-guessed,” Jackson said. “Maybe people don’t want law enforcement or PAWS or others to be involved with this.”
Council member Matt Wetrich suggested maybe the newness of a board running the shelter rather than PAWS is part of the problem.
Ahrenholtz asked about PAWS’ experience with lengths of stay for dogs.
Ann Wenthold, who has been a driving force in PAWS for decades fired back. “PAWS has dealt with this for 30+ years with no concern from anybody in the city or the county. Now all of a sudden we get a nice, fancy building and everybody’s concerned about the length of stay of an animal, which I find ridiculous. What we strive to do is find homes. Occasionally, one is a little harder to adopt, but there is no unadoptable animal,” she said.
Jackson reminded the council that it is rare that the council not accept and approve the recommendations of committees, but that he thinks the council has second-guessed everything the animal shelter committee has said.
After 20 minutes of discussion the council approved a motion in line with the animal shelter board’s recommendation for use of the dog park – that any dog licensed in Jefferson or in any other town may use the park, and that the annual pet license fee will increase by $5 to help cover cost of maintenance. The council also approved the policy that includes the 18-month maximum length of stay. The policy does not say what will be done when a dog can’t be adopted out in 18 months.
A decision on the name of the shelter was tabled for a second time. The board recommended “Community Shelter” as the name. Council members said “Community Animal Shelter” would be more appropriate. Jackson asked the council to hold off on the name until he can discuss the council’s name choice with shelter board members.
In other business the council held a public hearing and then approved an expanded easement for Hardin Hilltop Wind LLC. The council approved a resolution in support of Greene County calling for a special election for residents of unincorporated parts of the county to approve a 1 percent Local Option Sales & Service Tax (LOSST), with revenues dedicated to any lawful purpose of the county. Jefferson residents will not be eligible to vote in the election and the city will pay no election costs.
The council approved the report from a strategic planning and goal setting session held earlier this month.
