For the last Council Meeting of the year the Vader City Council met in the town hall at 6:02 pm on December 10th.
At the start of the meeting the Council had their roll call with all members in attendance other than Council Woman Ruth Crear who has been elected in the place of Justin Olson. It was brought to the Council's attention that Crear was running late because of her work with the fire department.
Following the Roll call Prayer and Pledge of Allegiance Mayor Kenneth Smith started his presentation to the Council Members who would not be returning next year. At this time Mayor Smith gave plaques to Justin Olson and Kevin Flynn for their years of service to the community. Following their recognition it became time for the swearing in of Mayor Smith and Councilor Mark Fenison. After these men were sworn in it was told to the public that after the first of the year Council Woman Judy Costello would be sworn into her position on the City Council.
Continuing in the Mayor's report the Mayor notified those in attendance of the "Tree Lighting Celebration" and the "Celebration of Life for Marie Chastain." The memorial is to be held on December 15 at 11 am. After this topic Mayor Smith told the audience that the next Council Meeting will be held on January 14 2016.
Before the Mayor concluded his report he assured the people at the meeting that the rain water and flood levels were being monitored but there was "no unmanageable flooding situation." Concluding his report the Council turned their attention to Public Comment.
It was brought forward that there were three people signed up with comments regarding the Rental Properties. The Council notified these community members that this topic would be addressed later in the agenda. The speakers agreed to hold their comments until the matter was to be addressed later.
Moving into the Agenda Items the Council first addressed the matter of "Council to consider Ordinance 2015-12 - 2016 Budget." With no discussion Councilman Fenison moved to approve. Seconding the motion was Councilman Kevin Flynn. With all members in favor the motion carried unanimously.
For the second topic in the agenda the council was "to consider Resolution 22-2015 - Sewer Rates." Councilman Flynn made the motion to approve as Councilman Joe Schey seconded. Before the motion passed Flynn made the comment that they were being forced to raise the prices and that they didn't want too. Fenison agreed with Flynn's statement and added that "the council wouldn't raise the prices if we didn't have too." As there was no opposition the motion carried.
Under the third item the Council was looking "to consider Nor Tec Pay request #2 for $37220.43." While there was no discussion of the matter Flynn made the motion to approve as Councilman Andy Wilson seconded. Once again with no opposition the motion carried unanimously.
In the fourth item the council was to address the matter of considering "LC Sheriff's Office agreement for services." It was brought to the public's attention that there was no official contract to approve yet. It was stated that there was a "copy but not a final copy." After a few questions were asked of the contract with no set answers the Council agreed to table the topic until January.
The council continued into the fifth topic about the "Council discussion about Rental Property Regulations." With this topic Councilman Wilson stated that he didn't agree and that he thinks it to be "running people out of the city." Council Woman Crear agreed with Wilson's opposition and stated that this was "overstepping the bounds." After the Council comments it was turned over for the public comments on the matter. During the comments it was stated that they believed the Council should regroup and discuss the conditions and matter of the inspecting and permits that the city wanted to set up.
As the discussions began to become heated Mayor Smith stepped in to remind the people that this was a discussion. Following this statement the discussion between Council and Community began to heat up again. Once again Mayor Smith had to remind them that no decisions had been made about this matter yet.
After shutting down the aggressive discussion Wilson moved to table this discussion until the next meeting Fenison seconded this motion. Moving to the vote Crear opposed the motion but with only one opposition the vote carried.
For the sixth and final matter Mayor Smith sought the confirmation of new park board member. After Mayor Smith discussed the new candidate for the vacancy Councilman Fenison moved to approve the new member. With a second from Crear and no opposition the approval of the new member carried. With the conclusion of this topic the meeting adjourned for the night and concluded the meetings until next year.