Approves new contract for city administrator, hires a new police officer, and gives the green light to councilman’s girlfriend’s pet chickens
Jefferson city residents will be able to receive emergency notifications, city notices, and general community information on their cellular phones. The city council at its June 25 meeting approved an agreement with TextMyGov for mass texting services. Residents will not only be able to receive messages, but to send messages to city departments.
TextMyGov will assist the city in acquiring cell phone numbers. The system will be geographically based, so residents who need to know of a water leak, for example, would be notified, but those who were not affected would not receive the message.
A plus is that residents will also be able to easily interact with city staff via text message. City administrator Scott Peterson used as an example a resident reporting a pothole. The resident would answer a series of questions and the information would be relayed to the correct staff person.
The addition of text messaging is part of the city’s citizen engagement initiative, with a goal of better informing residents. Cost is $4,200 annually, which will be split among city departments, including utilities.
Residents can opt out of receiving city text messages if they desire.
The council approved a new contract with Peterson, who has now completed his first year in the city administrator position.
The council’s personnel committee – Harry Ahrenholtz and Pat Zmolek – recommended the new contract. “All in all, we had a very good year with Scott,” Ahrenholtz said.
“We’ve thrown a lot at him and in a big hurry, and it’s been done in a timely manner and we’ve gotten a lot of things done in the last year,” Zmolek said.
Peterson’s annual salary was increased to $120,000, or about 4 percent. Ahrenholtz said the raise is comparable to what other salaried, non-union city employees received this year.
The council approved a forgivable loan application from Jennifer Badger for $116,426.87 to allow her to complete renovations to the building at 104 E. State St, one door west of her current location. She explained she got a Small Business Administration loan to help with cost, “but as things go when you’re renovating a 127-year-old building, there were a lot of expenses we didn’t anticipate.”
Badger is renting the building at 106 E. State St for ShineOn Designs and More Time and will move both businesses to her new location. She said the building she’s in now doesn’t meet the needs of her businesses.
City council member Chad Sloan abstained from voting on a request he made to be allowed to keep livestock at a property he purchased at 1217 W. Wall St. The property is west of Grimmell Rd, and two other property owners between Grimmell Rd and his property have horses and a penned deer. Sloan plans to have ducks and a goat along with his girlfriend’s “pet chickens.”
The council approved Sloan’s request.
The council approved the conditional hire of Trevor Hansen as a police officer at a starting salary of $60,341.47. Hansen is a graduate of Carroll High School and Des Moines Area Community College with a degree in criminal justice. He worked at the Polk County jail for 1-1/2 years, where he said he had “a lot of great experience.”
The condition of his hiring is that he must go the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy within his first year. He will start work July 8.
The council approved the purchase of three exterior and two interior security cameras for the Community Animal Shelter and dog park. Total cost is $13,565. The city budgeted $10,000 for that expense; the remaining $3,565 will come from the city’s allocation from Grow Greene County.
The council mirrored action taken by the Greene County board of supervisors a day earlier in approving a 28E agreement for an administrative assistant at the Law Enforcement Center. The employee is a county employee; the city will pay the county $15,000 toward her wage/benefit package. According to county auditor Billie Hoskins, that package is about $60,000.
The council approved a development agreement for the CDBG grant for the second story residential development of The Centennial.
The council also approved the FY2022-23 audit and the final reading of the schedule of assessments for nuisance abatement.
The council tabled a decision about a determination of an animal as illegal at its June 11 meeting. City attorney David Morain said it will be on the July 9 agenda.
