City of Fulton
Regular Council Meeting Minutes
July 5, 2017
Mayor Ottens called the meeting to order at 5:30 PM and directed the City Clerk to call roll. On roll call Ald. Randy Boonstra, Gene Field, Margaret Crosthwaite, Dan Nederhoff, Sue VanKampen, Barb Mask, Paul Banker and Keith King. Also in attendance Bill Shirk (City Attorney), Tammy Garibay (Deputy Clerk), James Rhoades (Police Chief), Dale Sikkema (Zoning Director) and Randy Balk (Interim City Admin.).
The pledge of allegiance was recited. Pastor Wayne Wiersema gave the invocation.
Visitors at the meeting included John Rohlf and Jerry Lindsey.
Old Business
Amending the number of liquor licenses issued under Chapter 111, Alcohol Beverages. Changing ordinance #1568 to reduce the number of available liquor licenses to 0. It was mentioned Nancy’s Slots LLC had 60 days to use there liquor license and that did not happen so in the case it will not allow them to renew the license. With no further questions Ald. Boonstra motioned, seconded by Ald. King to amend ordinance #1568, the number of liquor licenses. Roll call vote (8 yes).
Dale Sikkema is asking the council to have the Zoning Board of Appeals review the changes made to the Land Usage codes and permit forms by the Ad Hoc Committee. Council members asked to be able to see the changes, Dale did not print a copy of all the changes for each council member since it is a large packet that takes a lot of paper. Once the Zoning Board of Appeals reviews these changes it will come back to the council for final review and at that point they would be able to review all the changes made. Director Sikkema said the main changes were made to accessory buildings to include pole barn, pools and fencing. With no further questions Ald. King motioned, seconded by Ald. Boonstra to have the Zoning Board of Appeals review the changes made by the Ad Hoc Committee. Roll call vote (8 yes).
Kunes Chevrolet of Morrison would like to hold a tent sale in Fulton the end of July or first part of August. The location of the tent sale would be Drive’s Park and the City will ask for a rental agreement of $1500 to use the area. It was originally asked if Fulton would get the sales tax from each car sold, due to the fluctuation of cars sold previous cities asked for a set price. With no further questions or concerns Ald. Mask motioned, seconded by Ald. Nederhoff to draw up agreement for Kunes Chevrolet to use Drive’s Park for $1500. Roll call vote (8 yes).
City council was presented with prices from two other companies to purchase same laptop as originally presented. After looking at prices the company the city deals with still has the best price. Ald. Nederhoff motioned, seconded by Ald. Crosthwaite to approve the purchase of laptops for both the City Clerk and City Treasurer with funds to be used from Council Special Projects. Ald. Boonstra believes this specific computer is not going to be a good investment; it is cheap and will not last. Ald. Nederhoff suggested to look at purchasing a Lenovo, which will cost a little more but last a long time, it is a good investment. Tammy asked someone else do further research on the computers. Ald. Mask asked the City Clerk to do some further research on computers and present the information to the council at the next meeting. With that being said Ald. Nederhoff and Ald. Crosthwaite withdraw their motions until further research has been completed.
New Business
To have appraisal completed on RFCC to see how much the building is worth. Ald. Boonstra motioned, seconded by Ald. King to authorize $1600 from Council Special Projects to pay ARC for the appraisal on the RFCC. Roll call vote (8 yes).
To have asbestos removal appraisal completed on the Drives Building. Ald. King motioned, seconded by Ald. Boonstra to authorize $2465 from Council Special Projects to pay Morland Environmental Services for the Asbestos Inspection. Ald. Mask is not supportive of spending taxpayer money due to previous information Drives provided when the city took over the property. Mayor Ottens made it clear we are just trying to get numbers to see which way the city is wanting to go with the Drives Building, no decisions have been made yet. Roll call vote (5 yes, 3 no).
Ald. Boonstra motioned, seconded by Ald. King to enter closed session to discuss personnel and sale of property. Roll call vote (8 yes). The council entered closed session at 5:58 PM.
Ald. Boonstra motioned, seconded by Ald. King to exit closed session. Roll call vote (8 yes). The council exited closed session at 6:05 PM.
With no further discussion Ald. Boonstra motioned, seconded by Ald. King to adjourn. With voice agreement the council adjourned at 6:07 PM.
Minutes recorded by,
Lindsey Renkes
Fulton City Clerk
City of Fulton
Committee of the Whole
July 5, 2017
No input from the public
Dan Clark not present at meeting.
James Rhoades did not have anything to report.
Committee Reports
- Budget Committee- Bill Shirk reported 5% increase for ComEd should be available by next meeting.
- Public Property-nothing to report
- Planning and Records- going to do away with this committee and replace it with economic development, ordinance change to be on next agenda.
- Public Safety- Ald. King is still gathering information on leasing vehicles for the police department. After looking into parking in front of 3D Auto Sales it was a verbal agreement with Cousin’s. Chief Rhoades is to look into how wide road width should be and report back to council on this matter.
- Parks and Recreation- looking for direction as to whether or not Heritage Canyon is considered a city park. Also wanting to do something at the Steve Klooster memorial/Pleasure Park.
- Marina- no meeting, nothing to report. Council would like to see how much we are taking on marina parking. To have numbers at next council meeting.
- Zoning- the permit online is old and needs to be updated, asking who needs to be updating the website to make sure it gets completed. Mayor to find out who needs to be updating the website.
Interim City Administrator Report
- Provided hand out called “Road Repair Program Proposal”
- Budget Review-handout showing where the city needs to either budget more or less over the next fiscal year.
Mayors Report
- Change of Council Meeting Dates- Ald. Field has a conflict with the 2nd and 4th Monday of each month as he has Legion meetings; he still believes the city should have preference over other organizations. Council meeting to remain the same for now.
- IMRF Early Retirement Presentation- Jon from IMRF will be at the next council meeting to discuss early retirement for qualifying employees.
- Mayor Ottens asked if anyone from the Finance Committee or council members to be present July 11th in the morning to review with the auditor. A specific time has not been decided yet, will let everyone who would like to attend know.
With no further discussion Ald. King motioned, seconded by Ald. Nederhoff to adjourn. With voice agreement the council adjourned at 7:00 PM
Minutes recorded by,
Lindsey Renkes
Fulton City Clerk