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City holds firm on any change to town agreement |
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Wednesday, 27 February 2008 |
Alice Pickering
Wyoming Reporter
Wyoming City Council will take no action on a petition to amend the resolution of orderly annexation involving the city and Wyoming Township. The petition, presented to the council on Tuesday, Feb. 19, relates to the expanded city in anticipation of the orderly annexation being granted. The amendment was to elect a mayor (2-year term) and four council members (staggered terms) for the greater city of Wyoming, during the November election.
A basic plan for city government was proposed in November 2005 and formalized in the resolution.
For the city council to stay at five members, two members of the current council would agree to step down after the annexation, and the vacancies filled by council appointment with two members of the existing Wyoming Town Board.
At the time the appointees would be those whose terms have less than two years remaining, with three members at-large elected in 2007 by residents of the expanded city.
Town resident Russ Goudge presented the petition which was signed by 16 city and township residents. He asserted there are nearly 2400 residents in the city, but about 2600 in the township.
The argument is that current township residents would have a smaller proportionate representation on the council, even though they constitute more than half the population of the expanded city.
Discussion
Council member Gary Menne said it looked as if it was an attempt “to avoid legal (election) process.” Neil Gatzow, former mayor, asked about how votes he had from township residents.
No one wanted the petition to be seen as lack of confidence or support of either the city council or town board. Goudge said the “power to govern only granted by the vote. The formula now is not going to do that.” He said the “rights of the people (city and township) supersede the rights of elected officials.”
Menne said the petitioners were “unpatriotic to come up with such a farce.”
Council member Tom LaBarre agreed with Goudge in principle, but thought making a change in terms so late before the annexation hearings would be a bad move. LaBarre is up for election in the coming election.
Council member Blake Tiedeman said he could understand the arguments but it would be better to leave the documents as they are now.
Council member Joe Zerwas, who was elected in 2006, said he “intends to stay on council until 2010.” He supported the petition and disagrees with “forcing two people elected to resign.”
Mayor Sheldon Anderson said the groups had discussed the makeup of the new council, considering wards or increasing the council size to seven members. For the graduated tax base for township residents as the city and township merged there were trade-offs, including the council seats.
The agreement “has held together for three years through all the other struggles,” Anderson said.
Speaking in support of the petition, city resident Linda Yeager said the “merger is going to happen.”
Her concern is the “council has always been reluctant to name council members who would resign.” If all seats on the council were to be up for election, “experienced people can run for office, too.”
Water issue
Wyoming is doing a better job of accounting for the water it pumps out of its wells and in doing so is saving money, according to Bill Eisenmenger, maintenance supervisor. He summarized what the city has done over the past four years to improve accounting for water pumped from city wells, particularly non-metered water.
Annually, all public water supply operators need to fill out an annual report of water use and submit it to the Department of Natural Resources.
One item is the unaccounted water use or water pumped, for which the city is not paid.
Some non-metered uses are flushing hydrants, street sweeping, fire fighting and training, water main breaks, and leaking mains. Watering lawns in violation of the city watering ban could not account for the volume of lost water four years ago.
The DNR asked for an evaluation of unaccounted-for-water and for the city to come up with a plan to minimize the losses.
City staff set a goal of reducing unaccounted water use to less than one million gallons a year.
Where the city appeared to be losing water was through some faulty meters. There may also have been cases of meter by-pass. Replacement of residential water meters was a first step in keeping better track of the water.
Also, billing software was updated, well flow-meters were calibrated and replaced where needed, and spot checks were done to locate leaks in the water mains.
Non-metered water use has dramatically dropped from 13,164,699 gallons in 2004, to 9,200,485 in 2005; 5,170,497 gallons in 2006; and finally, 1,072,443 gallons in 2007.
The goal in 2008 is to further reduce missing water by installing 25 additional residential meters and four or five commercial meters missed in the initial installation.
Teen Center move
Council authorized $10,000 from the gaming funds to be donated to the Forest Lake Teen Center. The donation had been discussed at the previous meeting.
Sandy Standridge, a former council member, questioned the amount of the donation for the approximately 33 youth who participate in the activities. She thought the funds could be better used within the city for park improvements or handicap upgrades.
Often in the Central Learning Center in Forest Lake, where the teen center is housed, Standridge voiced the opinion that adequate supervision is lacking.
She thought there should be a better review of the teen center.
Money in the gambling funds can only be used for charity, not capital improvements, according to LaBarre.
Menne questioned the donation without representation from the Community Education Program.
He contended that the contribution was from government agency to a similar agency.
The vote was 4-1, with Menne voting against the contribution. There was about $33,000 in the gaming fund before the vote was taken.
Other business
In other b business the council:
•Confirmed City Administrator Craig Mattson as a regular full-time city employee.
During his 20 months as a probationary employee he has helped develop two city budgets, found a way to reduce health insurance costs for city employees by $4215 per year, and helped develop a pay equity plan. The vote was unanimous in support of granting full time status.
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