The Jefferson city council at its Aug. 11 meeting set Aug. 25 as the date of a public hearing on granting a pair of easements to Red Lion Renewables for solar installations. One will be a canopy installation on the property just south of Jefferson Telecom that the city purchased recently from Alliant Energy.
The other will be north of the city’s lift station on N. Wilson Ave. The city doesn’t own the property where the lift station is located, but has an easement with the property owner for it. The solar array will be on the city-owned property, not on the land under easement for the lift station. That previous public hearing regarding easements for Red Lion Renewables did not include the site adjacent to the lift station.
The council did some ‘housekeeping’ to close out the 2025-26 fiscal year, approving 30 year-end transfers to and from various funds. All but two were previously budgeted. The unbudgeted transfers were $300,000 from the water capital impro0vement fund to the downtown building fund to pay for Jeffersonian renovations, and $500,000 from the water capital improvement fund to the tax increment financing fund to pay for urban renewal projects.
City engineer Jim Leiding reported he is reviewing contracts, bonds and insurance for the Westwood sidewalk project. A preconstruction meeting will be held the week of Aug. 24, and property owners will receive more information about the timeline for the project. Leiding also said the water tower has been inspected. The report will be available in 4-6 weeks.
The Aug. 25 council meeting will start at 5 pm in the fire station with a demonstration of the fire department’s new piece of equipment that allows one firefighter to “run the truck” from the end of a firehose. Announcing the earlier time allows all members of the council to be present without open meetings concerns.
After the agenda items were taken care of, council member Matt Wetrich mentioned that he hears and reads comments on social media that show “a lot of confusion and misunderstanding.”
He encouraged residents to call city hall and ask questions to get clarifications. “There’s factual information available. Call and get it from honest, friendly people at city hall who want to help you understand things. There’s a lot of transparency here,” he said, referring to city hall.
Council member Luke Winkleman asked building/zoning officer Chad Stevens about the number of notices he posts or mails regarding unmowed yards, derelict buildings, and dead trees.
Stevens said he usually puts more notices about mowing on people’s doors early in the mowing season than later in the season, with 10 or so notices typical. He said he typically mails 4-6 letters about derelict buildings.
Winkleman said he understands “there’s a balance between enforcement and being understanding of residents,” and said he’s interested in the issue and would appreciate monthly numbers.
Stevens answered, “You’re more interested in it than I am,” but told Winkleman he would email him numbers monthly. Council member Darren Jackson serves on the public library board of trustees. He reported the number of pages read by children in the library’s summer reading program increased by 87 percent this year. He suggested the improvement was due to incremental rewards rather than waiting until the end of the program to reward students. He also said the Library Foundation will start a concerted fundraising effort for the expansion project in the next couple of months.
