With the city administrator and one council member missing thanks to the Washington County Fair, the Wellman City Council got down to business Monday night, spending most of their 30 minutes in session discussing the purchase of a new mid-size truck.  

Tim Garrett, Water/WasteWater Superintendent, explained to the council that the city has two trucks from the 1980’s and 90’s that “don’t work, really,” and that need to be replaced. Quotes were considered for a Ford F600 and a Chevy 6500, both cab/chassis with dump body, snowplow and spreader.

The main drawback of the vehicles was that they may not be able to brine the roads before snowfall, but they could dispense sand.  “We’ve seriously thought about going with straight salt,” Garrett said regarding that issue.

Garrett’s recommendation was that the city purchase the Ford F600 with the gas fuel option, which would save almost $10,000; the Chevy was only available in diesel, a feature Garrett said was not needed.

The council approved the purchase of the Ford truck, to be purchased via a five-year municipal lease.  The city expects to sell the two old trucks.

Other Action

In other business, the council set a public hearing for August 7 at 5:30 p.m. to amend provisions of Section 170.16(5)(B) of the Code of Ordinances.  This section concerns setbacks for the M-1 (Light Industrial) District.

The council approved the Outstanding Debt Report, which will now be submitted to the state.  Mayor Ryan Miller noted that the city’s debts have fallen from 13 to six, and the city is now at 14% of its debt capacity, giving it room to borrow if needed.

Also approved was the purchase of a grapple bucket from Rexco Equipment to be attached to the skid loader for cleaning up large items such as fallen branches or furniture on city clean-up days. 

Finally, the council agreed to move the Goodwin Dining Center’s $101,000 balance from a CD up for renewal at Federation Bank to Hills Bank, where it will earn an additional 1% interest over 11 months.

Downtown Assessment

Before adjourning the meeting, council member Angela Stutzman noted that the Iowa Downtown Resource Center conducted a downtown assessment last week that was “quite an eye-opener.”  

The assessment revealed that about half the buildings downtown were vacant, and those conducting business had inadequate signage.  The IDRC recommended more signage on Hwy 22 directing people downtown.  

Miller said, “We’ll probably bring in an ordinance at some point for approval,” to prompt owners of vacant storefronts to sell or lease their space.  

“There’s some good things, but [also] things we need to work on,” he concluded.