Ellendale City Council
By JIM LUTGENS
Publisher
The Ellendale City Council approved a 12-percent increase in the 2020 tax levy at its second meeting of the month Thursday, Sept. 26.
But that’s not bad new for taxpayers.
Because additional properties have been added, people will actually pay less in local property taxes than they did in 2019.
Councilman Steve Engel explained it after the meeting, which included mayor Russ Goette, all council members, city clerk Tiffany Krueger, maintenance man Josh Otto and Frank Thompson from Thompson Sanitation.
Bond payments, wages, building repairs and Community Economic Development Association are the biggest reasons the tax levy has gone up, according to Engel and councilman Scott Groth.
Otto, who got the go-ahead to have a plow mount installed on his new Ford F-350, asked about some fencing that’s been sitting around since the tennis courts on the west edge of town were dismantled some time ago. He said somebody asked if they could have the fencing.
Krueger noted that there’s an official process the city must go through when getting rid of any assets.
Krueger gave an update on a house the council would like to see condemned. She said city attorney Mark Rahrick got in touch with the property owner, who didn’t think he still owned it because he accepted some money from a buyer.
“But it’s in his name,” said Krueger, who gave the man a week to clear things up.
Krueger did her best to clear up some misconceptions involving usage of the fire hall. The confusion came when the Star Eagle reported that the fire hall cannot be used for free by city employees for personal events.
“Some of the firemen took it that they had to rent the fire hall for official use,” said Krueger.
That’s not the case. Official use of the fire hall is free. Personal use costs money, for any city employee.
Thompson was there to check on the city’s contract with Thompson Sanitation, which expires at the end of the year.
“I think our best deal is to go with a six-year deal,” said Goette.
It was approved.
The council again discussed the city’s compost site and ongoing issues with its use by non-township residents.
“We just need to figure out what we want to do,” said Goette. “I think we should just open it up and tell people to come to the city office and get a permit.”
Goette suggested a $25 cost for the permit and a $50 fine for those in violation.
Otto said there are at least two businesses wanting to use the facility.
“If I had my way, I’d chain it up and give the (lock) code to permit holders,” said Otto.
“Maybe we could get a couple people to work with Tiffany and Josh over the winter, figure out a plan,” said council member Steph Kibler.
The issue was tabled.
Again on the agenda was the Tobacco 21 initiative — for the last time.
“I think, listening to the news, the government is going to handle it,” said Goette.
The council again talked at length about automatic withdrawal for utility customers. It was agreed that more investigation is in order before a decision is made.
Engel and Kibler had a little back-and-forth about the city’s proposed new logo.
“Why are we changing the logo?” asked Engel.
“It doesn’t represent the city,” said Kibler. “It has pine trees.”
The council agreed the new logo is fine, but Engel wants to make sure it’s compatible with city letterhead.
“The one we have now, we had trouble getting it on the letterhead,” said Engel. “We had to send it to a printer and it cost a lot of money.”
Kibler assured Engel the logo would work fine.
Engel said he wanted to see for sure.
Kibler said she would do a mock-up and send it to Engel.
There was a 3-2 vote to approve the new logo, with Engel and Groth voting no.
The purchase of new software for the city office was approved, continent on consultation with an IT professional.
The council approved spending $2,500 for 10 hours of accounting software training.
Goette said Floyd Davidson agreed to join the fire department’s Building Committee, which also includes Engel, councilman Duane Goebel and two firemen.