Mayor Glas called the April 15, 2020, special meeting of the Alcester City Council to order at 6:00 p.m. with Councilwoman Linda Talbott, Councilwoman Melissa Kay, Councilman David Larsen, Councilwoman Darla Reppe, newly appointed Councilman Dan Haeder and Alcester City Attorney Sam Nelson present.

Upon recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, the council moved to approve the agenda for the evening. Motion, second, no discussion and unanimous Aye vote X5 approved the agenda as presented with no changes or amendments.

Agenda Item #4 – Public Input was called. Vickie Larsen (me) responded with suggestions for the Park play equipment location change for safety and isolation reasons. I remarked the play equipment located in the park should be located in one location for the safety of the children.   I noted that with the equipment scattered about the park the way it is now, children are vulnerable to attack or removal from the park by pass-through strangers and leaves no straight-line access or view from parents seated on park benches or in the shelter houses. This is a safety issue we had discussed many years ago in a SRTS meeting. I added with the pandemic we are currently experiencing, with the equipment scattered throughout the park makes it almost impossible to isolate the equipment for pandemic reasons.

Councilman David Larsen did ask the question, had the signs been posted concerning the social distancing as it relates to the park equipment and the shelters. The signs had not yet been placed in the park.

Finance Officer Patricia Jurrens noted that Loren Fischer had contacted the office wanted to make a permanent move to the garbage can placement on other peoples yards “…to save our city streets…by reducing the number of passes…” Loren Fischer Disposal STILL makes three passes down Lincoln Drive…tell me again how it save the streets? It appears that the Sooper Dooper Garbage truck cannot make the turn on Lincoln Circle. H-m-m I have a suggestion. To all the folks who have garbage on Lincoln Circle instead of moving your cans east, move them cross country just a bit south and a bit west to 410 Hyden Drive since Finance Officer Jurrens wants to save wear and tear. That street is concrete and the Sooper Dooper Garbage Truck can navigate the turn without ripping out the street. But from the vacant looks of things we are stuck truckin’ our cans all over the road.

One last notice in public input, the meeting of the HRC has been postponed indefinitely.

Agenda Item #5-Emergency Ordinance 2020-04 Second reading. Discussion continues noting the changes to Section 2 and Section 5 Amendments. Motion, second, discussion from Councilwoman Melissa Kay concerning local law enforcement actions once the Ordinance goes into effect. Effective date 04/15/2020 and unanimous Aye X5 vote.

Agenda Item#6-MidAmerican Gas line. Apparently in the rush to get Beck Drive on line by the Councilwoman Jurrens, something happened with the gas line. A conference call took place with a representative of Mid American Electric. I apologise I did not get the name, the acoustics sucked and Mayor Glas mumbles worse that Mr. Magoo.  Evidently MidAmerican is give the city 2 credits for the additional gas line. So we the tax payers of Alcester will only have to pay $4800.00 to lay gas line somewhere between Beck Drive and Lee Drive. Now folks most developers figure the cost of utilities into the cost of the lot but not here, nope not here. The rest of us get to pay the cost. No action taken, dumped into the May meeting. Wonderful!

Agenda Item #7-AMKO Bond Nothing happening. Apparently this is a bond to lower the interest rate so ‘we’ can save money on a bond payment. The AMKO Bond agent would like a meet with the local bank but the bank representative is on pandemic schedule so AMKO representative needs to reschedule the meeting.

Agenda Item #8-Executive Session-If I understood the mumbling correctly it is for Legal Counsel. LITIGATION? Motion, second, discussion none and unanimous vote Aye X5 at 6:20 p.m. Council out of Executive session at 6:49 p.m. NO discussion or action taken.

Agenda Item #9-Adjourn

Motion, second, discussion none and unanimously vote Aye X5.

Meeting adjourned at 6:49 p.m.