Last week’s Riverside City Council meeting opened at 6 p.m., Feb. 16, deviating from the usual Monday meeting time to accommodate for President’s Day on Feb. 15. Mayor Schneider requested roll call, with Council Members Andy Rodgers, Lois Scheider, Tom Sexton and Edgar McGuire present. Council Person Jeanine Redlinger was absent.

After adjustments to the meeting schedule, Rodgers moved to approve a consent agenda including La Chiva Loka’s liquor license renewal and four new fire department members. The motion was seconded by Sexton and approved 4-0. The council then opened the floor for a public forum before closing it with no speakers.

Council members began a discussion on asphalt seal coats before tabling the conversation to hear the Sheriff’s Report. Washington County Sheriff Jared Schneider presented a plan to raise the city’s contract law enforcement expenses, which was moved in a resolution by McGuire and seconded by Rodgers before passing 4-0.

The Council then began a discussion of Senate File 159, a piece of state legislation that would grant vouchers to students transferring to private schools and withhold supplemental state aid to public schools to do so. The conversation became a 30-minute back-and-forth on the merits of school choice, mostly between McGuire, Highland and Lone Tree Superintendent Ken Crawford, and Highland School Board President Nate Robinson.

“It’s tough for me because I can see both sides… if it’s their money to begin with, why not let them have the choice?” McGuire said. “If it’s a certain amount, let’s say $5,270 per child, and you take one kid out, then aren’t you saving $5,270 in a sense?”

Crawford disagreed.

“What I would say in response to that is our school hasn’t changed sizes, it hasn’t changed classroom space, we haven’t changed teachers… we still have a fixed cost that’s pretty high,” the Superintendent said. “From parking lots to the heating to the boilers to overhead costs, they’re all pretty high on that as well, so every kid that goes out, we don’t shrink those fixed costs.”

The council eventually elected to have members individually write letters to state legislators rather than formally endorse a letter as a governing body. It then resumed its seal coat discussion.

“I’m just looking for authorization now to approve LL Pelling Co. with their quantities pricing,” City Administrator Christine Yancey said. “Then they will come back with an actual bid for what streets need to be done.”

Sexton moved to pass a resolution accepting seal coat unit prices from LL Pelling Co. The motion was seconded by Rodgers and approved 4-0. Yancey said the company would have a total price estimate for the city by late March or early April.

The council heard the monthly water report from PeopleService Inc. before moving to a discussion on changing city engineering firms from MMS Consultants.

“Although I was disappointed when Chris told me, to be honest, I wasn’t shocked,” said Scott Pottorff, a representative from MMS Consultants, the city’s current engineering firm. “Even if you guys decide you don’t want to work with me at all, or you don’t want to work with MMS at all anymore, I’m still interested in hearing why.”

City officials have declined to publicly comment on the reason for the change.

Sexton made a motion to enter a closed session under Iowa Code Chapter 21.5 (j) to discuss real estate which was seconded by McGuire and approved 4-0.

After the closed session, the Council closed with the City Administrator’s report, including a discussion of snow removal and changes to the city sidewalk ordinance. Further discussion of ordinance changes will be on the agenda of the next council meeting at 6 p.m., March 1 at the Riverside Fire Station.