Council - Regular Meeting

us in opening ceremonies. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Join me for a moment of silent prayer. Amen. Thank you and welcome to everybody here. I'm seeing our God, I saw Andrew here, too. Boss, good to see you. Let's see the um electes are showing up, so not running away, so that's always a good sign. Um but we first of all, we need a motion to approve tonight's agenda. I don't think there's any additions or changes as far as I know. Mhm.

All those in favor signify by saying I

opposed. Motion carries. Agenda item number four is a time that we allow for citizen comments. Um it's suggested if someone wishes to speak on a non-aggenda item to uh come forward and and try to limit it to three or four minutes. I'm not sure if anybody's here for that. I don't see anybody. I'm just going to um we'll just go on. Um, agenda item number five is exhibit one in your packet and that's approval of the minutes of the December 1, 2025, December 2, 2025, and December 3, 2025 council meetings are enclosed. And then if you had a chance to review those, I would entertain a motion for approval.

All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppos. Motion carries. um department reports. Uh we every year we get reports from different departments that we fund and house and it's exhibit two in your packet and we welcome fire chief Dan Roger [clears throat] here to give us a report on the fire department. Welcome Dan. Thank you very much everybody. Are you going up on that thing? Y

just a majority of the information but we'll do a quick kind of year and review. Um we started out this year doing uh training. We did what we called incident impact. Uh we considered tornado and deratio. We had business leaders um clergy um almost everybody represented in the community. Uh the the council as well as others were invited and we had about 70 people at the station and we um talked about the impact of a tornado or deratio. What not necessarily tactics of what would go on but just the thought saying that our services, our emergency are tied up and what are the businesses what are they going to be doing? How would they react depending on what actually happened? We had no idea that uh kind of like Gary Brown and some cities that 232. We had no idea that we'd be hit with a datio later on. But um anyway, that's we spent a whole afternoon talking about that. We had n we did a lot of training in the station as well as elsewhere. So we had a national fire academy training class. We had auto extrication as some of our training going elsewhere. Again, some pictures of that. And then we had ragbry this summer. Uh we operated the station for 24 hours or 48 hours straight. Um and uh had a lot of fun. uh great influence with Orange City, did a lot of participation with other departments and things going on. Uh with that, we housed the ambulance. We had rigs there and so we had the police, fire, and EMS during that 48 hours while we were operating and we stayed overnight at the station doing that, some more rag pictures. Okay. And then [clears throat] our duratio damage again um impacted a lot of departments, a lot of people and community itself. So work through that. Okay. Uh automatic aid. This was last

year over in Alton. Okay. Um helping our neighbors. And then we also have mutual aid where we're actually uh having other people come and help us and or we're helping other people. Okay. Um the two pictures on the top there, that's Lamar's fire. That house was 5 years old. Um [cough and clears throat] Sheldon. We responded to Sheldon. They had a fire in their elevator over in Sheldon. And then down lower right, Lamar's fire actually staffing our station while we had a large call here. Okay. We have delivery of tower 61 coming in 2026. Uh we're looking forward to that. A lot of uh features and benefits of that truck that's coming to our community. Again, thank you. Thank you for that. And that's uh we're long expecting that. Okay. Um with uh with that we also had an opportunity that came up through the state of Iowa length of service award at LOAP. We'll be discussing that very soon. But it's an encouraged uh firefighters to stay dedicated to what we do and we're fortunate for that and we thank the state of Iowa for doing this. This has been in the process for a number of years. Uh I believe 8 to 10 years. Um they've looked at this particular program um to do that. We'll discuss that later. [clears throat] And then I have this alignment for those of you that are married, have spouse and stuff. How do you get aligned with your marriage and what goes on? This happens to be two of our firefighters. They are going to get married next summer. Okay. But much like within the department, not everything goes swimmingly well, okay? We have things within the department that um uh we want to do. Uh we have different levels of interest. We have different levels of training. uh things within the department as well as we have the same thing with neighboring departments. Okay, how do we interact? What do we do? What needs to be done? How do we interact? Again, same way with the city council, right? How do we align

our priorities? How do we align things that are going on? And I just use this slide as as representation. Um um it's it's fun to uh have new firefighters and stuff, but we start aligning them with our training and with with different things that we need to do. And it's not always easy. Okay. brings new opportunities and new challenges. So, with that being said, our current roster, we have 34 firefighters. We have three students, high school students. Um, you have it listed in your packet. We have three from MOC. They're all seniors. So, next year, again, we tell them they have to recruit new people for the following year. We'd like to have some juniors. We'd like to have some members from um Unity as well, but we happen to have uh three from MOC Floyd Valley, but um we'd certainly like to have more representation. And then we also had listed a number of people um um that had different service awards this year. Um again, our priorities, we want to be ISO compliant, demonstrate a commitment and accountability to our community and continuous improvement. Again, you hear that in business, but continuous improvement is really important. Uh we reviewed our our SOGS, standard operating guidelines and rules within the department. And again, we want to recruit new members. And uh we're looking at um [clears throat] again our new members, I'm not sure how long uh the police academy is, but for firefighter one, that's 140 hours that they spend. So, it's almost uh um you figure three three hours a night. Divide that 100, that's 40 almost 50 hours plus testing and everything else that they're going to uh train to become fire certified firefighter one. And then they have the testing and everything on top of it. So, um, that being said, um, I have kind of a outline of different things that we've looked at for strategic planning over the next years, what we're looking at, and I would draw

attention to the, uh, 2028 requesting replacement of the engine 60. And again, that that spreadsheet is there. This is um, what we present with with the council every year, the the current status, and we have it laid out there. So again, um, gives you an idea of time frames of of what we're looking at longterm to help plan [cough] ahead for the city and, uh, for the department and replacement costs. So with that, that being said, I would entertain any any questions. I do have to say alignment like during tool festival we uh with EMS and fire and police and and the community and stuff um doing a lot of things during the different events and again community projects and again our future progress is built on past commitment. We are standing on the shoulders of those that have come before us. So it's not just the fire department. We have that within the community. So um too bad Earl's not here but his little white truck that got converted. The little white truck there got converted. For those that you don't know that parks and wreck, Noah, that would have been your unit there, the little white one. So,

and then uh actually at 64. Yeah. Well, no, that Okay. So, mayor, that was the next spread truck that Products donated to the city. The one that your brother Mark as we'd go down the road, it would sway back and forth. If you go around corners, you tell everybody on the one side to get to the other side. So it was counter counter darl you remember that you know so and then the center tanker there that's tanker 64 actually Breen Bumgar now has that and he takes it to different events so he's clean that up and and uses that so [clears throat] anyway any questions

to be a you have to be 21 so you need to be it's It's 18 years old. It's based on the city policy. We follow city code as far as employment. And the the students are guests of the chiefs. They are not members. They are guests of the chiefs themselves.

And then I guess if there's no no questions, I would like to request the council to give approval that I establish a truck committee to look at the replacement of engine 60 in a couple years. I'm not asking for approval for funds. Just um we've done that before. We that with aerial saying, okay, can we establish a truck committee to start looking down the road? [clears throat] It it takes two years, at least two years to get a truck anymore. So, so you're not looking for a motion, just direction, correct? I don't know how that was ever in the minutes before, but we would always come to the the city and say, "Hey, we will you allow us to start looking and seeing what that would take." [clears throat] So,

give us some information. So, I think that's good. Darren, come up in strategic planning session. Yeah. Yeah. Well, how much appreciate the fire department and everything you do to keep us safe. So, I just represent 34 other but I I I appreciate that and I will convey that to the department that we do appreciate that. Yeah, [clears throat] we are supporting you in any way we can. So that takes us to agenda item number seven which is length of service award program. I don't know if you or Matt if you were u yeah I can kick it off.

John Heler, why don't you come up here? Well, John is going to fire our department. I know Kent has been working through this too and and everybody come up

recently, but uh the length of service Dan kind of kicked it off. It's a it's a matching funds program that the state of Iowa has has uh initiated to [clears throat] encourage longer term volunteer participation on on the fire departments. So, the the state of Iowa has committed uh 1.5 million to this program. Um it it is it could be likely that that is tapped out and then it would be prrated down to less than uh if it's at that rate or or less it'll be $500 per person. But if there's more requesters then it could be uh lesser than that depending on the participant. So, um to to participate, uh they'd like to have everybody with interest to to pass a resolution saying that we would like to uh our community would like to participate. And so that that's what we're um uh we're recommending. Now, we met with the uh administrative community protection committee uh regarding this and the um the amount of participation where the funding comes from uh the matching funds. Um and uh yeah, that that's point of discussion there. Part of it was having some skin in the game for the fire uh department and and uh as well as a city participation. So, that's that's really, you know, I think there's a couple couple things. First of all, I think we want to capture the the matching funds. So, participating is first of all, we want to um say our intention there, but then um also uh where does the $500 come from, I think, is probably a bigger bigger question than that. So, um and I I know Dan and John have talked about um adjusting budgetary numbers to um to to lessen, you know, just have more efficient operations on the fire department that way to to do that. So

when does the state program start like what fiscal year is it in the current one or not?

Yeah, it's the current one. So that that's that's the one thing that we you know they they talked about it late summer. We we had some uh webinars and stuff on it, but they weren't even sure on funding. And then all of a sudden, um not all of a sudden, but they were able to aortion $ 1.5 million. And so they say, "Okay, the program's going to start um basically you know, in December, if you can get your your your rosters and everything else in, get a resolution, it's it's almost going to be like first come, first serve. And so, um, to have that 1.5 million available, we don't know where that would break out or how many departments or if departments say, "Hey, we're not going to participate." Um, they have it that smaller communities there's a 3:1 match rather than a onetoone match, which is really, you know, a huge incentive for smaller communities to participate. we fall into that onetoone match. So 50% of the funds, but we don't know, okay, is that going to be $300? Is that going to be $500? We are not sure. But that being said, we think it'd be wise for us to participate. And at what funding levels or or levels it is, not sure. At the same time, we also recognize on on the firefighter side, you know what, this is an opportunity that they want to put some money aside. some of these younger ones may not have any type of savings type thing that it would be a way for them to to incentivize them and have some skin in the game. And so I think there's again this time frame, this short squeeze of this initial year, we're just not sure how how it's going to shake out.

Is that calendar year or is that the state budget year? The [clears throat] fiscal year. So that's where right now this is the push to get done by January 30th, the resolution and so forth for this fiscal year. Then it start again July one for another year. Yeah. January 30. You need to have some resolutions guidelines if if we want to participate this year. How many out of the uh 34 students do? They probably

students cannot um and again so how it how it is on the time frame is let's say somebody comes in um somebody joins a department in March they can't they can't participate in that first year. um if they come in November, they only have to wait like a month and then they could participate. It's it's just a timing thing. It's kind of like um kind of like a lot of businesses with different different roles or whatever. You have to have a waiting period. We wouldn't have any choice with these. It's like a fiscal year. It has to start. So, we're going to we're going to have like uh 31 that would be eligible. So, all the current members that are doing all the training and stuff and that's the other thing. You have to come up with rules of participation and it's based on each and every department. The state does not come out with one set of rules. But again, we want people to participate. We want people to train. We want people to be certified on the department. And so we're trying to set a threshold where it encourages that. At the same time is I don't want to as chief I don't want to establish dead wood on the department that's not trained, that's not doing this. And I don't want to reward that in having them put into a program just to stay on. Uh the state of Minnesota used to do a pull tab thing. There was people that were getting $1,500 $1,800 just for being on an apartment, but not not doing anything. And we don't And that's that's not the idea of this.

When will we find out how much the state's going to all lot based on the participation? But when will that number come? Uh sometime after January 30th or 31st. Yeah. cuz that's your deadline. Okay.

So, I think they would set they said within 45 or 60 days and after that date is when we would know a number. Unfortunately, we don't know the number and kind of go. We know what the maximum is if we if it's chosen to go that high. But, yeah. Yeah. Our our max cap is $500. We're not we're not asking for that. We don't think it'd be be that amount. John did some calculations probably in the $300 $350 type range if based on a the rules of averages or whatever. That's approximately what we think depending on the number of departments they have a number of departments that have pre-applied that said they would be interested. Now how many of those departments actually actively participate? We're not sure.

That's the matching funds have to come from the city. Correct. Yes. Yeah. So, at the max of 500, we'd be looking at 15,000 for the Yeah. And and we I wouldn't recommend that because I don't think I don't think the funds are going to be there from the state that would support that. You don't think they're going to get to 500 per person? It'll be a lesser amount. I think it'll be a lesser amount based on the number of people that would participate. We had talked about in our group about um those funds could come from the siphon that is given because those stipens are up to

2500 2,000 I don't couple thousand bucks maybe I would I would encourage you to get your ass to do it employers match well no that's That's why we're saying I think it's wise for us to have some of the skin in the game.

But again, the the very ones that would have that $2,000 are the very ones that are participating the most. And if you were going to advertise that over the whole department, right? The ones that aren't could get funds from the other ones, right? I mean, that's it's it's shared funds. So So that's why as a budgetary thing, I think I think it's wise that that the firefighters have skin in the game. And again, if you know, it's it's coming out of the city type funds. So, I mean, it's they are they are benefiting from it. Yeah. Whether it's the existing funds we're paying through the stipen or there would have to be new money if we're going to do it, correct? Yeah.

We talked about using the existing I mean that they have skin in the game. I mean, it's Yep. Why wouldn't they want to grab? Only trick this year is going to be that the stipens already gone out. So, Right. Right. this year will be a little bit different, right? And that's why if you look at the budgetary numbers and working with Kent, I've reduced budgetary numbers to reflect that as well as some savings this year to help offset that from the city. So that, you know, our discussions before, that's what we said we we could, you know, work on something like that. So So if we do that this year and then next year it comes out of the stipen, we could do it that way. Yep. Or take a look at those options. I guess for today's purposes really the main thing is the resolution

to establish the program. The guidelines can be established later. We can continue to work with your committee to do that. But but for today, it's it's more or less the resolution to to participate in it. And yeah. Yep. And so there's a degree. There's a sample resolution that the Iowa Firefighters Association supplied us. And I think Matt, I don't know if you shared with everybody or you've got it, but um yeah, just it's establishes the program and then the guidelines can be established working with you guys or whoever after that. But and when I say after that, I mean probably by January 30th we got get to work on something here. Yeah. I'd make the motion that we participate. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. I would support that.

Okay. And since it's a resolution, we'll do roll call and we'll start with you, Brett. Yes. Zero. Yes. Darren. Yes. R. Yes. Excellent. Thank you. Thanks, guys. This is [clears throat] that resolution, guys. So, that takes care of seven then, right? We did that. Okay. Um, [clears throat] agenda item number eight. Um, every year we ask different organizations of the city to present and renew their request for funding. And tonight we're happy to have Lisa Johnson here, our library director. And I guess Kent's Are you trying to help her or get out of her way here? Oh, PowerPoint. Okay. Welcome, Lisa. Thank you for coming.

Thank you for having me. Ready? All right.

All right. Thank you. Thank you for having me. I'm just going to jump right into it. 2025 was a very busy year. Our fiscal year goes from July to June, [clears throat] but um the current year of 2025 was really busy. Um if you look at the numbers of things checked out, you're going to see that nearly 160,000 items were checked out both in physical and electronic format. 65% of those were children's materials that were checking out to children. Um you can see that reflected in our popular materials in the top category of uh in the library that's checked out are kids readers. If you'll remember those maybe some of them will remember those that see Dick Run see Jane jump those kinds of things but they get into reading by themselves after the picture books. That's our top category of books. And in our top titles we have three, four and five are children's books. The top two are adult books. Um, you can see Ariel Lahan's Frozen River over there. That was also our one book County Read, which I'll get to. But we have other kinds of materials in there that kids can check out, too. For um games, we had the Sneaky Snacky Squirrel uh for children and then for adults, Dude Perfect. Um our top authors, two by the way, are children's authors except for Lar Ariel Lehan. Barbie is number one. Dave P uh Pilky, which is the Dogman series, Mo Williams and Jeff Kenny. Um when you look at things like Flex Share, Flex Share is our inter library loan program that we started a few years ago. It's the consortium in Sou County where patrons can directly request materials from seven of the eight um libraries. That has more than doubled our interl loans. So that 2100 is actually more direct requests than the interl loans we do throughout the state of Iowa. By the

way, the state Iowa uh interl loan numbers is over 380,000 books are transported throughout Iowa every year from library to library. Um card holder renewals, we had over,00 card holder renewals and new cards issued. Um, and we've checked out uh 1,295 items from to residents of rural Sou County. I just recently talked to somebody who grew up here in Orange City and he told me that when he lived in the country, he couldn't get a library card because he lived in the country. So now we are checking out to rule Sou County and as a collective um in rule Sou County I think it's over 85,000 items is are checked out by our public libraries to rule county residents. Um the money that you give us has a return on investment of five times you know the the money the value added to our communities [cough] $3 million that our programs [cough] and services our big annual event is the author event that we do as one book one county if you remember that's the eight public libraries here in Sou County along with the three academic libraries of Northwest Iowa Community College Dort and Northwestern Uh we happened to check uh pick Ariel Leah Han before she became known. Um right after we picked her, she was on Suland Reads, Costco reads, Library Reads, Amazon Spotlight, and many other book groups and nationwide things. So we did have a very uh robust checkout of books. Um we had two 499 readers of that book. We had 120 people show up at the author event where she talked about her writing process, her what how her life influenced the book and the story behind uh Martha Ballard who was actually the

main character of the book and she was a a real life midwife in the in the 1700s 18th century and uh incredible fact that she had a very low mortality rate of both children and mothers for that time that I think even doctors today would be envious in some cases. Um you can see that we have a high computer use in terms of internet and Wi-Fi. We're having um about 321 computer uses a week. Um so that's a a good number. Um we're answering about 200 questions a week. uh we have 280 programs last year which these events are read sometimes drawing in 50 100 and even 500 participants. Um so we have 56 website visits a day and visitors on average are taking three books every time they leave the library. We have a door count of almost 55,000. As I was saying, um our programs are how we have a community impact. Um just one of the one of the things that we had um 500 participants was Blueie um story time in our community. We're going out and the summer reading program um had let's see 26,810 books checked out in June and July alone. So that's a really big program in our community, but we're trying to get outside of our own four walls and into the community to have [cough] better income impact. And we're making that concerted effort to be visible. Um our story time out in the community is meeting people where they are. For instance, we went to the fire station and that was a really big hit with kids and I believe the firefighters. Um, we have partnerships in the community that

allow us to bring classes on nutrition and literacy into the library from the state library ex uh Iowa State Extension Service. We've been to the fair and we're also doing out and about story times or programs for adults, flowers with friends. We're partnering with local businesses, getting people to connect socially and do crafting together. We have puzzles, pizzas and pop both for uh teens and adults and those have been very successful. Um this not only makes us more visible but is allows us to do events in a in a place that we cannot do ourselves. Um like I said Louisie was very popular because of Tudit Festival. It was a little bit of a a jury day that day. so many people came into the library that we had to bring her back again so that our community members could enjoy her. I hate to think what the fire um department code would say about how many people were in the library that day. Um but it was jam-packed. Um on our events, you can see in the left lower corner, we have animals from the zoo coming in and um no thank you for the snakes, but good for the kids. Um, we have lots and lots of art programs going on throughout the year. Uh, because [clears throat] they're creative in nature. Um, you wouldn't think of art in the library going together, but art develops a vocabulary around the discussion um, that's going on in the class. The kids develop narrative skills. You know, they get to tell the why behind what they're making and what it means. It increases reading interest because of the illustrations and draws them toward those K2 books with illustrations. Plus, it's a very low pressure entry point into reading. Um, and it makes those who feel intimid intimidated by heavy texts so that they will, you know, interact with books in a

different way. Um it's especially um effective for neur neuro neurodeiverse learners and it helps them build confidence as it transfers reading and writing into discussion. So going forward, we're looking to be out in the community for even more. Um we have a book bike on the way. It has been ordered and delivery is scheduled for late January. Um we are really excited about this. Um, the exterior graphic vinyl of the cargo area is going to reflect the city and the Orange City Public Library. Um, think Dutch fronts. Um, we're going to have an interior bookshelf where we can bring bring materials along, a brochure holder. It has a fold down shelf and a chalkboard. It's electrified so we're not having to struggle with all that weight on there. Um, we were very fortunate to get $1,300 for safety equipment and accessories to make this a fun and safe event from the Kowanas. Um, we were also able to raise $1,400 from our book sale. And, uh, we have a couple more grants that we're looking into to help offset the costs of this. a timeline is in effect and we're starting in late January with the delivery and a roll out at Tula Festival in the in the parade. Um we're hoping to use this in our summer reading programs and for out and about story time as well as for popup crafts as people like to call them and yard games and the ideas the staff are coming up with are going on and on. Um, of course there will be a schedule for the book bike, so the adventures as we go out into the community, people will will know where to meet us. Why a book bike though? Um, because it's a spontaneous way to spark interest in reading, especially among children and

families that can't come into the library. And it's also a key driver in early literacy and and development the development of lifelong readers as they explore that. During the last year, we have developed a new strategic plan for the library and it goes from 2025 to 2035 for a 3,5 and uh 10-year plan. Um we've come up with a new mission statement lifelong learning through literacy. Um that mission statement advances lifelong learning uh by nurturing the literacy and the love of of um reading for every generation. Um this will connect our community to each other through shared access to information and resources as well as promote discovery with inspired programs and services and collections that advance individuals growth and exploration of new ideas. We didn't have a vision statement before, but we do now. And it is a place to be and a place to become. What we mean by that is we're going to provide a welcoming space for people to read, learn, and connect, and to just be who they are, regardless of background, age, or any other kind of demographic. That's what we're offering, a place of belonging. As an information agency, we empower people to gain knowledge, skills, and pursue growth opportunities that will inspire and shape their future. We help people become who they are meant to be. We also had no values. So, we worked hard on that. We came up with some values. Respect, integrity, service, and equality, which be with which is rise. Um, in terms of our values, respect and we believe that respect is the cornerstone of thrive a thriving community and that every individual has the right to dignity, kindness and empathy.

For integrity, we believe that integrity means doing the right thing even when no one is looking. And we are committed to honest, responsible, and ethical service. In terms of service, we believe that service is the heart of our work and are dedicated to meeting the needs of our community in a way that empowers individuals and strengthens relationships. Equality. We believe that every person deserves equal opportunity and treatment. And we are going to actively work to make fairness a lived reality. In our strategic plan, we have the three goals of institutional capacity, information access, and lifelong learning. [clears throat and cough]

We have action um plans for each of those at every level three, five and 10 years. I've provided that full mission with to all of you. Uh our strategic plan in terms though of institutional capacity, we're looking at how the library is as an institution. So we're developing and strengthening by building staff and know and board knowledge through ongoing training and professional development. We'll be enhancing the library infrastructure to ensure safe and accessible and modern space and we'll be including our internal processes and procedures to increase efficiency, accountability, and responsiveness to community needs. In terms of information access, the library will strengthen information access by providing our customers with easy access to information resources across all formats and platforms. We will be developing outreach initiatives that extend the library services beyond the walls to engage and serve our broader community, hence the book bike. But we're also looking at the possibility of implementing home delivery as an expansion of the delivery that we already do to the living communities in the area specifically for those who are aging in place in their homes and can no longer get out as easily as they once could. In terms of lifelong learning, the library will promote lifelong learning by enhancing literacy skills from early childhood through all stages of life. And we will be supporting them through the development of general knowledge and practical skills so that they can see in their personal, educational, and professional lives. One of the areas that we're really already succeeding in is in our in my communities who are coming into them. I've recently had the opportunity to bring Anna Bartlett online and we have a lot of Spanish services going on in our library. Not just helping them to learn English and people to learn Spanish in

conversational groups, but also helping them find homes, medical care, a part uh job applications, and just the services that you need to daily live in in and around Orange City. Now, this gets us to our funding. We have six line items. The Sou County funding reflects our current condition. The 44,494, I'm expecting that to stay flat as a funding as it was not ex uh um this was not expected previously. Um enrich Iowa is also going to stay the same. This is related to our interl loan reimbursements. Think flex share. Um, like I said, there was over 380,000 items transferred within the state of Iowa. And that pot of money is is divided between the different libraries based upon how many inter library loan transactions we do. Um, it also includes our direct state aid aid which is based upon accreditation standards which we're going to be going through and is due by the end of February of 2026. Um this is a per capita amount that's based on city population and in compliance with these quality standards. Um last year um we used these funds to uh provide digital purchases for online libby. Um grants are also being sought but supplementary resources of income. Uh but these are highly contingent so I left that a line item blank. I were hoping to get some money, but I didn't want to put it into the budget as a as a yes. Um, other revenue comes from fees and donations. Much of that is offsets for print printing costs. We do a a large amount of printing at the library. Um, most of the income in other revenue comes from that and a large portion came from our book sale. Um, we do have some

donations like if people would buy five copies for 50 cents, they'll leave the whole dollar. So, that's then donations. Um, we're also selling our weed books, the thrift books and BB books. So, we have some income coming in for there. Um, and that's good because we have no direct shipping costs added to that. In terms of gifts, we have a a legacy gift from the DeFi family of $1,000 that we get every year. And you can see that um I've asked for a little increase in our city of Orange City funding. I think that's a 3%. In terms of salaries and wages, um I figured the budget at a 5% increase max per person. That is a max. I'm trying to overbudget for that. Um I've also figured that FICA wages are at 7.65% and IPER is at 9.44%. 44% of wages. Um you can see that insurance has gone up by 30%. Um so that's a big hit in the budget. Salaries and wages there increase um of 15% as we've shifted over the years from two to four full-time staff. The previous year's budget is under reppresented in this area because of that shift. Um this change is also reflected in the decreased number of part-time help. Therefore, we have a 12% decline in part-time health. Um, overall, there's an 11% increase here. Um, salaries and wages are always and benefits are always the biggest part of the budget and this is at 75%. Um, this may limit our flexibility, but is in large part due to the insurance costs. In terms of operating and capital expenditures, we're facing some challenges that will require the use of our reserves. Um, building insurance is

once again expected to increase in 202. In 2022, it was at $13,500. So, you can see that there's been a large increase in building insurance. Um, maintenance technology is also increasing. That is our IT services. have already been informed that um it's going to be increasing by $6,300. Um our software and integrated library systems are expected to increase as well. That is a 50 that is 100% increase since I've been here in terms of IC services. Um so unfortunately um it was so it was 16,000 two years ago. Postage is going to increase a little bit. I've heard on rumblings about postage rates going up, so I budgeted for that. Um, books, we're leaving that as flat. I you may have heard that our biggest vendor went out of business, but we do have other vendors that way we can that we can get books from. We're transitioning now over to Ingram, which is another large distributor of books. So, we use Amazon. We have now Barnes & Noble as well online as as well as the specialty vendors that we have for children's books. Um I've [clears throat] reigned the periodicals. Um I had previously cut it in half but I budgeted it to a return to the full subscription services in this area significantly because of the the newspaper use in the library. um DC high use, but the subscription rates have increased dramatically uh over the years. Wall Street Journal is now $800. The Argus Leader and Sous City Journal are just right at $600. And we cut back on magazines in order to keep those things. But magazines have a real value in that they deliver timely information that's factual

[clears throat] um on topics that are almost sometimes difficult to curate in terms of books. Um so I'm hoping this is a draft budget bringing it up to the very top of what we're going to need. We'll look at this later. In terms of capital equipment, um we're looking at getting new furniture in different areas of the building, tables for the meeting rooms and seating in the periodical area. We had upgraded some seating in the previous year in the YA area. Um and it the furniture we have now is really starting to show its age. So, um we need to do that. In terms of capital improvements, we're looking to improving our security systems. Um providing access doors with key fob access on a couple of the other doors as well as um implementing Wi-Fi and internet cabling hubs and upgrading those. Um I am hoping to apply for to help maybe offset some of those costs. Um, but that's why we're looking at a new budget drafted at this point, but not approved of of a little a little bit over budget. [clears throat]

Any questions? What kind of fun balance do you carry? I'm sorry. What kind of fun balance do you carry? Roughly about 300 to 325. Okay. Any other questions or comments? I love the library. So, thank you for everything you do. And

we had family festive fun on Saturday, even though it was so frigid. And so, we had 140 people come in and it was so much fun. We had Elf on the Shelf and games and crafts and Santa Claus and they just had a wonderful time and just to see all the happy faces and the skeptical ones about Bill plays a great Santa and it's like you know it was just so much fun. Do you partner with the arts council for some of your craft type things or We are going to be partnering more and more with the arts council to do art types of things and yes we do we have and we have been partnering with them for several years now.

That's good. Yeah. Anything else? Thank you so much.

You're welcome. Thank you. Okay. Agenda item nine, GO box. It's time um now for a public hearing. So, we're going to um Kent's going to come up and talk us through that, but I'm going to go ahead and open the public hearing. Um and take it away, Kent. Yeah, this is uh uh there's a few steps involved in regards to doing a geo bond and uh this is the time to have a public hearing on it. Uh basically, like I say in the notes, this is largely 3.3 million largely is in regards to aerial uh ladder from the fire department, some infrastructure costs for canal second, and some possibly refunding of 2019 bonds. Uh again tonight is the purpose of the public hearing and then uh if no comments from the public uh we would ask the move to the next steps and that next step for us if this is approved tonight after the public hearing would be to approve official statement on January 19th. there would be no action on January 5th, but that would be the next step and then actually uh then uh first meeting in February, possibly lock in the rates and then have a closing towards the 1 of March. But for tonight, just having the public hearing and explaining again those three parts are the aerial ladder, some infrastructure uh costs that we're doing through RECC uh because it's in REC electrical territory, and then some possibly refunding Thank you, mayor.

Yeah. Have you had anybody ask any questions or of the city or anything? Anybody here to speak or ask questions on that matter? Council, do you have anything? Move that we go ahead with the proceedings. Yeah, I'll go ahead and close the public hearing then. Then we need a resolution to that effect. Daryl. And that is a resolution. So I'm going to start with you then, Darl. Yes. Yes. Yes. Brett. Yes. Excellent. Thank you all.

It is public hearing time. So agenda item number 10 is a time and place for public hearing on the um development agreement with OCDC regarding the quick trip um property. And are you talking about that too? Just a couple quick statements. So we'll go ahead and open the public hearing. Yep. Sorry.

No, you're fine. So, [clears throat] yep. Commercial centrum. This is in regards to uh a development agreement that we're entering in. The city is with Orange Development Corp. in regards to uh tax increment financing, giving them their TIFF rebate. And like I say in the notes, um it's going to help reduce their the TIFF dollars will go directly to OCDC, help reduce their loan costs for that development out there, and thus saving us some interest costs that were in regards to the NOU agreement. It's a 10-year reimbursement. Okay. Any input from anyone in our audience or council? Any questions?

Then we'll go ahead. If not, not not hearing any, then we'll go ahead and close the public hearing. And then we need a resolution approving and authorizing execution of a development agreement by and between the city of Orange City and Orange City Development Court. And that is a resolution. So I'll start with you, Darren. Yes. Yes. Brent, yes. Darl, yes. Excellent. Now we'll call Kip back up for agenda item number 11 for our monthly financial report. That's exhibit three. A year.

Thank you. Just a couple comments. Um December 1 and June 30 are when we pay our uh principal and interest. So December one is just interest on our bond issues and June is usually our principal, but December one is when when they're due. And so I wrote a check on November 30. So that out is included in these numbers. So, uh, what I want to point out is, uh, we wrote a check for debt service for 205,000, water revenue bonds for 219,000 and change, sewer revenue bonds of 112, which reflect in the dispersement column, sorry. And then the last interest payment is in regards to the downtown Hawkeye uh uh tip area. Small debt there. interest is only $2,250. Yeah. So, we had about a Yeah. So, that's the biggest thing that happened at the end of the month for December 1. Other couple other comments are if you look under the capital projects, um under the housing capital project 304, the received dollars is some lot sales. Kurt sold some lot sales and puddle jumper. And then we did have some expenditures in regards to uh Beck uh in regards to that 44. for there's some engineering that costs and then Graves construction for the final payout of the shelter house. I think that was like 11. And uh so and then the last comment I have is under the electric under dispersed we did have uh bond and interest there as well and that was 161,000 in that number. And then another larger one is we had the switch gear material come in for the less sub and that was 521,000 and that's in regards to that project we've had for 18 months. This is now part of it has shown up. We had to pay for it. We have a transformer come in

spring summer of 26. So that'll be another million but that's part of the project that we talked about. So so the switch gear material came in and that's part of the dispersed. Any other you have any other questions? I'm open to it. That's all I got. Questions on the financial report motion to approve. All those in favor say yes. Motion carries. [clears throat] Exhibit four, which is agenda. N item number 12 is our monthly bills. Stay up there, Kent. Yes.

Um, okay. So, page one, we'll kind of go through this. Hopefully, you have some time. If you have questions, Aller, I'll hit some of the highlights. Uh Allers, Cooney, Dooreiler, we had some legal services. This has to do with some of the urban renewal areas and some of those development agreements that we've took action on. Um all couple more down from that. All funeral services in regards to what Janet's been working on with the cemetery. We're about 95% complete. This is another installation invoice for about 14. We got about about 40,000 is what we anticipate. So, and then on the bottom, Beck Engineering, uh, the total goes to the next page. It's just shy of 20 grand. This has to do with Seventh Street overlay that Mass talked about in regards to, uh, with the DOT. Uh, those are the first two numbers. Uh, the 3822 has to do with some engineering getting ready for Madison Place in our puddle jumper. Uh, the 62 is in regards to canal second in regards to engineering. Uh 1272 at the very end bottom there has to do with Walster Park and then on 3231 has to do with Delaware and second this has to do mostly with uh being special assessments ready I think is the biggest thing. Okay. Uh what else do we got? Uh Dakota Mainstream at the bottom of page two is a membership dues. This is an annual membership that we're paying in regards to uh having them look at uh some water uh resources for the future for us. Jump in. Any questions on page one or two? Otherwise, I think my next highlight is on page eight unless you have something in between there. Go ahead. Page eight, new vendor onsite. It's the second one down. It is in regards to a new security system that we put in at

the street department. So it's uh in regards to the yeah by the fuel pumps as well as the back uh where they have the aggregate city rock and all. So we're monitoring that and then that was a budgeted item as well. Next thing is on page nine the bottom annual payment to the sou county communications. This has to do with communication share with our local fire and police and ambulance. Um, so it's basically the cost for some of the dispatching to be done there. Of those dollars that you see, the first so the total is 44,949. Uh, the first number, the 89 is for ambulance and the hospital does reimburse us for that. 31 is for police and 40 just shy of 45 is for fire. And that's how we budget it to is it's a 70 10 20% split. Um page 11 page 11 is is Unity Christian High School is the last installment payment of that 250 the last 50,000. And then right underneath that, Vanderwent and Suns, it's the final payment, I believe, for the pickle ball courts there of 55276. And then at the bottom, uh I was going to ask you, Matt, we bought some transformers. You can see there some 500 some bigger transformers, three-phase.

Yeah, that's for the project there. Thank you. That's what I That's all I got. Unless you guys have any other questions. Um the uh Vanderwint and Suns that pickle ball court was that did Earl have an update on that last time that we have to redo some surfacing. Is that with Vanderwin or is that with another company that did the I think it's Vanderwin. So we did there is some retainings that we're withholding there yet. Oh yeah. Because of some surfacing that we're having them [clears throat] help us out with as a general contract. Clean up yet? Yeah.

All right. Thank you guys. Thanks. Is there a motion to this? All those in favor say I. I motion. Thank you. Um agenda item 13 is the North W urban renew renewal plan and that's exhibit five in your packet. Guess who?

Yep. Last one. Sorry. Uh so this is in regards to uh ers helping us establish a urban renewal area. This has to do with tax increment financing. This is a you know island is a residential uh urban renewal plan that we're establishing and tonight we're just starting that process. It is a process that we have to go through that will get wrapped up if everything goes accordingly uh in February. So there's this is the start to have a public hearing. Uh the setting of the date of the consultation what it says in your agenda has to do with the other government entities which is part of the process that the state requires. So we are establishing that meeting at December 22 at 1:00 here in the council chambers and who will be invited is school county and CC. and we've done that before and we just explain to them the plan, what our purpose is and then um yeah, and then it's in regards to the development agreement is the is the next resolution. So, this this urban renewal plan is in regards to North Wland. Uh it, like I say, it's a TIFF that we're entering into with the developers. It's a 10-year TIF. Ryan's been helping me out with this as well and uh we're just starting this process and so the development agreement is between us and the developer in regards to them getting some tiff dollars to incentivize them with that

that capture the whole project or just what just part of it is 6040 split is that right we need two separate resolutions we do Any other questions? Otherwise, thank you very much. Anybody have questions for Kent? [clears throat] Okay, so we need a resolution determining the necessity and setting date for a con consultation and a public hearing on a proposed North Island urban renewal plan for proposed urban renewal area in the city of Orange City, state of Iowa.

Work the resolution. So, I think I'm at you, aren't I, Rod? Yes, [laughter] you shook your head. I didn't know I didn't know if you were starting with Rod. Sorry. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, Darl. Darren. Yes. Excellent. And then the second resolution is fixing the date which is um the 22nd. No, January 19, I think, is a hearing. January what? 19. 19 is a public hearing. Yeah. On the proposal to enter into a development agreement with Skyrim Ball Real Estate. So, is there a resolution to that effect? No. I'll start with you, Brad. Yes. Darl, yep. Darren. Yes. Yes. And Rod, you thanks for answering. Yep. Good.

I don't know if I could remember your name anymore. Yeah. Okay. Agenda item 14 is Dutch fronts, which is exhibit six in your packet. And Mr. Kurt, welcome. We talked a little bit about this last

We did, right? So at the last council meeting, it was advised that uh the council wanted the Dutch front committee to revisit the front and give their opinion on the percentage of what they considered was Dutch architecture or design. Um in that discussion they met on December 10th. Um Brad can fill in I mean at any time but [clears throat] the front itself could get 100,000 for the west side and 50,000 for the north side the adjacent front with the new ordinance that was put in place Dutch front committee decided with the process um the design the stone that they were recommending that City Council considered 25,000 25% of the max 100,000 um allowable for one side. They didn't think the north side was enough feature to it. So they were recommending 25,000 from the city for reimbursement for it.

RTI was in the meeting with you or they were not. Were they aware of this? Not yet. So, are they expecting a larger percentage? They really didn't know going into it. Um, they said that they understood where they were in the process and they were just asking for some financial reimbursement of it. So, I thought before I went back to them and then see once what they thought of it and then they could always come back and um

so we're going to get guidance from the city going forward. I mean, the city still can give up to whatever you guys want. I mean, this is just their recommendation that with what they do. I mean, obviously, they're they say they're not the financial people behind it, so they normally don't have to cuz they approved it and letting it up to you guys, but then you guys came back and said when their input, so they came up with 25%. I you know I I think Darl it was unfortunate the Dutch front group wasn't able to meet with them at all during the process. Um so really we were just looking at what we see today as being up there and and the things that the committee looks at. Um, while there's some things that resemble what the Dutch front committee would look for, there's a lot of things that weren't included. And that's where they just said we would view it as 25% of a of a Dutch front

and they gave you the cost of the 330,000 for the front. That was the estimated cost for the for the front of what they estimated the front to cost. And that would include the the stone, the siding, windows, and all that. I mean, everything that obviously the art the exterior of the building. Seems like we're less than 10% of the total then of what they put in. Well, you're saying the 330 was the total cost to cost and we usually just look at the the Dutch dark art. Yeah. Yeah, the Dutch features of it and that's what they were recom that's what they provided was the 330.

Yeah, they not with an itemized list. Yeah.

How does the process usually go? I mean whether it's an in town builder, out of town builder, they usually once they want to start a project in town, they reach out to Dutch front committee or how can we I guess avoid this going forward? We typically will ask that at the time of the permit if they are going to look at a Dutch feature um for reimbursement which downtown they have to do it. So if there's any building permits it gets brought up to them at that point and then that's that starts the ball rolling. Well we did the same thing with this project and then it's not in a place that they have to do it or ask for funds or do anything. they can do what they want and then there's conversations are back and forth then some of those conversations got lost and then so that's how we ended up in the situation we were so it's kind of a 50/50 kind of a mixup on trying to do things through email and not have a very good face to face talks um and they understood that um they thought it was actually at the end when they met in our first meeting we had with them you know back yeah I don't remember when that this [clears throat] I don't know if you were you that was terrible

I was I don't think you were there so so yeah they didn't really know the whole process and then got behind the eightball and then it started so it really started when the sign went out front and it looked orange and then people really started talking so then they wondered if that was the approved front so

and I think it's important to remember that the committee is just looking at it from the Dutch part and saying this is what we would view so based off a 25% Dutch uh emphasis that would be 25,000. It's up to the council to decide what number they want to give. Uh but we had asked them could you come back and tell us how much of this is would you classify as Dutch? So that's the work they did. I hate to go against a committee too that we put in the place of hey this is your job. So [clears throat]

we want to continue to encourage investors like that. I mean that's a multi-million dollar facility. Um but they could come back and ask for more again. They could Yeah, they could not be in favor of what the offer was. I mean, like I said, it's city council's up to 50% of the first front and then 50,000 max on the second front. So, I mean, there's that range with the max [clears throat] of 100 and then the max of 50. So, and there isn't anything else that they can change at this point.

No, no, we actually asked them to change the north side of the building to give more of a, you know, design look to it so it looks a little more presentable. Um, and they came back with an awning over the drive-thru that was probably going to be there anyway. So, um, so yeah, I know there's a little communication in our meeting about 25% of 100,000 or 25% of the 150,000 and then they came up with 25,000 flat number. So, and again, they they were just trying to look at it from the Dutch standpoint, knowing that this group ultimately picks the number. Do you think it would change out I mean, if they if they were thinking it was going to happen at the end, do you think it would change any of the committee's thought process if we waited until it was done and looked at it once the building was complete? No. you look at just as what we're at right now with how far the building is along. It's pretty much to the point where it's being done. It's done with what the features are going to be to the building because he made they made that comment when they gave suggestions was well the stone was bought, the siding's bought, the we start now. You know, he made well it been cheaper actually if I had met with you guys earlier because stone was more expensive than what the brick would have been and you know that they picked and and stuff. So it's yeah so yeah really in essence I mean it really comes down to what

what you guys that was their suggestion and you can give up too whatever I mean 25% number was given out there and in the end they came down to 25% of 100,000 right that's where that 25,000 came in not saying that you can't do 25,000 or 25% of the 150 I mean that's your discretion too So if you wanted to enhance that at all and the council doesn't have to decide today. No, I mean if you wanted to mold this over a little bit and I can on that I mean you can do that if you want this will be here next time. Darl [laughter] oh now I see

you can take and I can have a conversation with Brian likely saying this is where we're at. I'm not trying to pawn it off. I I am saying though if you want to think about it, I mean I don't know that there's a I don't know that it's going to get better. will be the bad guys. [laughter] people why don't we talk to them that that this is what the committee is recommending and get their reaction at least we can say the discussion that's had and I mean I I just think this is a little bit on the light side but um I want to respect the Dutch front but I want to encourage

more investment in our cities if there was an expectation that they were going to get 150 potentially. We're a long ways away. I don't know if there was that expectation. I don't think there was at the beginning. I don't think it was that. But and we've never had anything like this before, have we? Not to this not to this magnitude. Yeah. now with where we're at in the project and what they're asking. So,

if you did 25% of what their estimated costs, that would put you at about 80, which is about half of the max they could have gotten. [clears throat] Have we had people in the past come back and say they aren't okay with the number and then we readjust the number? I never think so. Yeah, if I know but care to do more to add on. Yeah. Then we ended up adjusting, right?

I'm just thinking if we go to them with that number, they don't, you know, then how do we come to a, you know, we would pass or agree on the 25 today? I mean, then how do we change it eventually? You know, if they aren't happy with it. [clears throat]

Got you. Yeah, [laughter] I think the hard part is right this, you know, speaking to what Daryl's talking about, everybody's loves the loves the investment that the group is making in Norn City, right? That's not but they're looking at it from the Dutchness of the building. Um, and that's where the 25% came. I mean, and and that's not a hard I mean, that was their best estimate. Be crabby if we No. What what did we use for for start for their two entrances?

Uh we haven't got any final invoicing actually from them. So we have not but I think at the time it was going to be I think the estimated cost for their front was only like $30,000. Mhm. And they were paying for two entrances.

But I think that number is going to come back higher on Quickstart because I don't [clears throat] think they estimate how big they were going to make those things. and the cost of I know just the material alone cost them a lot more money if they turn something in. I mean, we have a few of them hanging out there that people haven't turned their final invoices on, but I know that one ended up taking more labor, more material, and everything by the time they didn't have it in when they drew it up, they didn't really have it drawn up to attach to the building. So, that made a difference. What do you guys table and I can talk to I can be in contact with them if that's what

this the last time we do this broad soul [laughter] or you can throw a different number out there. Yeah. I think 25 is light. But I is light. Light. Yeah.

Other thoughts?

I'd say table it and talk to him. At least we know. Yeah. No, that's fine. I'm going to have it at the next Yeah, we'll put it on the next agenda then. Yep. Yeah. Go from there. Okay. Go ahead. Thank you, Kurt. And then you're going to talk about family animal care approval, too. I am. Good.

So, we received the invoicing for that. Uh, first off, in the notes, I believe the notes are not right on the reimbursement for the project from the city. Um, so I'll explain the east side of the Dutch front for that building along Albany was 194,860 and the south side was 176622. Uh, so the investment was 371,482. Um it [clears throat] says in here the city's portion would have been 132 uh 061 uh with uh 50% of the east side building and 50,000 for the southside build uh front actually comes up to 147430 for reimbursement from the city. Um in the ordinance I'll states the city council can at its discretion uh grant additional matching fund for the engineering drawing fees for the for the fronts. Um their design fees for the building were 23,574. Um and you can give up to 5% of the overall cost of the project. Um, which would be 18,575 for with that with that approval. And the 147430 would be 166005 for the fronts.

We have any input? Nope. No. I mean, this has been we worked with them extensively and yeah, this is Yeah. [clears throat] And we've had a lot of comments about that building, how well it looks downtown and fits downtown. It was a very good investment, you know, on their part along with the city helping with it. Yeah, I agree. Make a motion. All those in favor sign motion carries. Excellent. Thanks. Um Kurt and then committee agenda item 15 is committee appointments. [clears throat] Um planning and zoning. Terry Hoffmire's 5-year term is up, but he's willing to

he's willing to run another term. Run another term and I would recommend that to the for the council's approval if you're okay with that. So motion to approve Terry. All those in second by saying

I posted motion carries. And then for the board of adjustments and appeals, Gary Cleveringa has resigned from the board of adjustments and appeals um on December 2 uh after 42 years of service to the city of Orin City. So um we uh commend and thank Gary for his investment uh in that capacity. He's he's been a huge asset and I think very very good to work with that. and we've staying with the name. We um I would recommend Gary Yeltth to fill that uh position um to the city council. So, we just need a post.

Thank you, Darren. Any other questions or comments? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. Thanks for working on that, too. You bet. Um, agenda item 16 is exhibit seven in your packet and it's real estate purchase and Noah's going to has been working on this and he's going to um fill us.

Yeah. So um we have an opportunity at um Dunlop Wildlife Area um for a uh purchase of 1 acre of land um at $18,000. So, if you look on on your your piece of paper, um the uh on the west side of of Dunlop, the property line um is owned by uh Standard Family. They own um almost directly up to the trail where we currently have the the trail. Um and so, um looking at at how we can develop out there and and add some different things. Um, one of the things we could do is we could um put a trail extension um out there on the top edge. So, if you've ever been on the trail out there, um it's pretty steep on that west side. And I've had um people tell me that they get a little nervous going down that chip red rock. It's so close to the water. Um, and so, um, by purchasing this 1 acre of land, we would be able to complete a trail on the top side, but also have a trail on the bottom side, um, as well. Um, and I think that that would add not only an ease of access for for us [cough and clears throat] um, doing maintenance out there, but also an easier access for for people um, to enjoy that area as well. Um, so uh, I can answer any questions um, for you if you have them. Um, but I'm I'm looking for a approval of a purchase agreement uh for for the one acre of land at $18,000.

That trail's needed. Yeah, I would agree. Yeah. Yep. That's a sketchy spot. It's it's it's kind of scary, honestly. Um, you know, it's it's nice if you're um, you know, a little gutsier and and feel like you want to go down it, but you know, it it needs to happen, I think, on that on that top side as wash outs and so [clears throat] this is a project you're working on for budget, but the working up now. Yeah, I should I should clarify. Yeah, I should clarify that the the the um

trail extension is for I have quoted out um for the upcoming budget um 2627, but we're looking at purchasing um this piece of property um for once the purchase agreement comes through and talking with with standards, they were thinking it would be a 2026 sale. Um, so but from the city perspective, um, I think we're planning to purchase it as soon as we can. [clears throat] Any other questions for Noah or Matt? All those in favor signify by saying I move. Opposed? Motion carries. Thanks, Noah. Thank you.

Retirement health insurance reimbursement. Matt and Janet are going to talk about that one.

Yeah, you bet. um the city as a benefit for long-term employees who 25 years or more would pay for one year of health insurance after retirement. And um that is good uh prior to somebody turning 65, but once they turn 65, our health insurance plan does not allow them to to uh to do that type of arrangement. So, um, some time ago, we we worked out, uh, uh, an alternative plan that we would pay for, uh, basically give a a, uh, a dollar amount to the retired employee to cover any Medicare um, premiums, deductible, um, prescription that's better deal than our health insurance plan. So, basically, that was $400 number. And, [clears throat] and just, uh, chewing things up, um, feel that this should be up to $500 per month. So, that to cover that. Um, so don't run into that very often. So, we looked at ways to build maybe some automatic somehow to tie it in a Medicare so we don't have to um adjust this, but it doesn't happen that often. So, just unknowns with insurance and Medicare. We're going to um recommend just moving up to 500. So,

questions. All those in favor signify by saying I. Opposed. Motion carries. Agenda item 18 is um we received a renewal applications for a special class C retail alcohol license from 88 Chinese restaurant. And I think everything's in order according to Janet. So um just need a simple motion to approve that. Support. All those in favor signify by saying I.

I. post. Motion carries. We'll move to administrative reports. But before I go to Matt, I'm going to jump in here. You were here last meeting. It caught me off guard that Earl was responding. So, I was a blubbering mess. So, I'm a little bit more organized tonight with my thoughts. I actually wrote it down. So, then that way Rod and I were talking about the older we get, the more emotional we tend to because things come to an end. And uh it's not all you think, wow, where did that go? But tonight um so I'm going to read this. Tonight we have the honor of recognizing two individuals whose service has helped shape Orange City in lasting ways. Rod, I think 16 years of faithful service on the city council. You leave a legacy of steady leadership, thoughtful decision-making, and a deep commitment to our community. For more than a decade and a Rod gave his time, wisdom, and heart to the work of this city. His willingness to listen, his consistency, and his servant spirit have made Orange City a better place. We are grateful for the many sacrifice you and your family have made along the way. And Darl, he served our community for an extraordinary 14 years and 6 months on the city council. you always got to be a little bit different. But when we had a um uh we needed a replacement on the city council, um Daryl very willingly uh um stood up and and took that on and to fulfilled that term and then ran for two years and eight years as our mayor. Few have given as much of themselves to Orange City as Daryl has. Throughout his years of service, he has been an outstanding ambassador for our city, leading with humility, vision, and a genuine love for the people he served. His leadership helped guide Orange City through growth, challenge, opportunity,

and it's always led with integrity and care. Both Rod and Daryl exemplify what it means to be selfless leaders. They serve not for recognition but out of a deep desire to see or city thrive and remain vibrant. We are reminded that scripture calls us to serve one another humbly in love. And that spirit has been clearly reflected in the lives and leadership of Rod and Daryl. Their service has strengthened not only our city government but the sense of community that makes Orange City such a special place to call home. On behalf of the city council, staff, and the entire Orange City community, we thank you for serving so well. May God continue to bless you and your families. And may the seeds you have planted through your faithful service continue to bear fruit for our community for generations to come. And remember, we have your phone number. We know where to find you. So, thank you, gentlemen.

Matt, that's hard to beat. Um, thank you. See, it's much better when it's written down there and uh celebrate Gary Clay. Um, and along those lines of Mark and here tonight and thank you and congrating along those lines, I received a uh an is retiring the end of the year after 45 years, 45 and a half years roughly. So, another long-term service there. So, um, that I don't have anything else really. Janet, do you have anything? I think Oh, there's Kent. No. Yeah, we heard enough from you today, right, Jim? No.

Anything. Ryan, [clears throat] Chief Dan, anything else? Okay. Council Brett, I would just echo what the mayor said. Thanks for answering my questions. He's putting up the past few years. Pleasure. Darl, thank you for letting me serve. Appreciate it. Yeah. Thanks, Roger. Just it's been a pleasure to serve and um hopefully you guys who are starting, you'll look back someday and say, "Yeah, we're a few things that were right." So, um but yeah, it's been it's been a fun and very much a privilege to do. So,

good. Good. Um before we adjourn, we have we are going to go into um close session for Iowa code section 214.5.1 I considering a hiring [clears throat] position and I um don't believe there will be any action taken when we come out. So um is there a motion to go into close session? That is a roll call. Where did I lead off? Is it Daryl? Darl, yes. Dearest. Yes.