City Council - Regular Meeting

reports. We had two of them uh one for the goal setting session that we did uh and then for the council workshop, but we will I won't read them to you for obvious reasons, but it is they are available online if you'd like to go out and review them for yourself. [snorts] Uh the other then we have the a mayor mayoral proclamation. This is for 2026 uh child abuse prevention month for uh April. So whereas every child deserves a ser safe nourishing nurturing and loving environment to thrive and re reach their full prof potential. And as whereas child child abuse and neglect are serious so societal problems that have de def de de devastating def de devastating consequences for individuals, families and communities. And whereas April is designated as national child abuse prevention month time to raise awareness, promote prevention, and support families in need. And whereas the community of Hampton, Iowa is committed to creating a safe and supporting environment for all of our children. And whereas uh collaborative collaborative effort involving mer families, community or organizations, schools, faith-based institutions, and local governments [clears throat] is essential to effective prevent effectively prevent child abuse and neglect. Therefore, now therefore, I Stephen B Steve Bertzell of Hampton,

Iowa, do do hereby proclaim April 2026 as child abuse prevention month in Hampton, Iowa. I I urge all citizens to rec recognize and the per importance of child safety and well-being. Be v vigilant and reports of suspecting suspected cases of child abuse and neglect to the appropriate authorities. support local organizations and [clears throat] initiatives that provide promite promote uh child abuse prevention and intervention. Work together to create a community where all the children are safe, loved, and supported. Join us in in making Hampton, Iowa a place where children can thrive. [snorts] and dated this 26th of March uh 2026. [snorts] [clears throat and cough] Thank you. Moving on. Next item. So if anybody got any public comment this evening? Okay. Not hearing any. We will move on. We have no no additional public hearings or old business to take care of this evening. So, we'll go to our our new business. Uh, and that would be uh consider awarding the TW March 2026 image of pride to Al and Janellefink for their property located at 17 76 First Avenue Northeast. Mr. Holmstrom. [snorts]

Thank you, Mayor and Councel. It gives me gives me great pleasure tonight to recommend the awarding of the immunity of Pride to Al and Janelle Frink, the owners of 716 1st Avenue Northeast. Janelle and Al bought this house in July of 2020 for their son Casey. And since Al grew up on a farm, he wanted a place with privacy and an acreage. And just to the north of this property, it had a lot of trees on the hill, but were they were dead and dying. A lot of malberry trees, which would eventually he would eventually tear out. There were also a lot of dead ash trees that he would eventually tear them out. Also, since Al was young, he has always was compelled to clean up and make the grove look clean. So, after he cleaned up the trees and all the trash from the last 50 years, he went ahead and landscaped the property by leveling the dirt and adding grass seed and spraying for weeds. I did have a a photo of his work. It didn't transfer out properly, but if you can imagine the back of this property and the 50 years of wild trees and brush that Al cleaned up on the hill that was similar, very similar to the sliding hill next to the old middle school. I don't know how he did it. I can personally attest that [snorts] Al worked extremely hard to clear that area up and it looks very nice behind his property there. The house served its purpose until 2024. In November, there was a fire in the kitchen that was started by a hot cooking grease. The total of the inside of the house was destroyed either by smoke, fire, or water damage. And they had to make a decision whether to tear down the whole house or remodel the inside of the home. But Alan Janelle saw the potential of keeping the house and remodeled it since it was in a great location and El put all that work on the outside taking care of the outside. The contractor and the family completely gutted the house. They put in new sheetrock, electrical, spray

foam insulation, flooring and windows. Also adding a bath, a new bathroom and a shower. Completely remodeled the kitchen with new appliances and had newly restored upstairs with carpet and a half bathroom. In the basement, Al added steel supports to keep the qu to keep the walls from ever bowing in. He also added new windows in the basement. On the outside, they replaced the damaged shingles from hail and the new with new and put on new gutters. The garage that needed a new door, El replaced it also. The front cement porch was in bad repair, so added a new front porch. And before the fire, Al had also put in new privacy fence to the east of the driveway. After all was said and done, Alan Janelle believed that they made the right decision and keeping in the house and hopefully beautify the neighborhood. So, I am very happy to recommend the awarding of the image of pride to Alan Janellefink tonight.

All right. Thank you. With that, I'd say we have a motion by Mr. Holstrom and we'd entertain a motion uh second to award March 22nd 26th 2026 image of Pride to Allen Janelle. I'll second a second by Mr. Davies. All in favor? I opposed. Motion carries. Thank you. Congrat [applause] Congratulations. up here. You got [clears throat] the photographers here. Oh, you don't want to be in it.

Thank you. How you doing? Exactly like that. How you doing? Congratulations [snorts]

thank you very much everybody [applause] No problem.

All right. That's great. Having woke haven't grown up in that neighborhood, I know that house very well. So, and they did a great job with it.

All right. Next item up. Uh there consider a street closure request for pit row for the street part to be held Janu Saturday Saturday June 27th. Uh I don't see Jennifer Rooney in town in here. So, um, we can kind of just go through their request. Uh, Pit Row would like permission to have another street party on the Janu on January Saturday, June 27th from 11 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Attack activities would be for the day would be lunch, be bang, bingo, and street dance from 6:00 to 900 p.m. with the Mighty Fitten Band. We'll be cleaning up the city street and area right after the dance. We will have the fence that will go around the area which we have included the letter uh showing where we would have the street closed. Um I've applied for my outdoor license for that day with only plastic and cans allowed in the street and thank you for your time of considerations. This is a a kind of an annual request. Um, so they're requesting that they they're closing the street in front of Pit Row there, which is Federal Street from First Avenue Northeast to the like the corner of the courthouse parking lot and kind of angling over to over there by uh Napa. And there's never never been an issue. They they very good with cleaning up uh afterwards. So if there be any discussion, any comments, Mr.

Yes, just speaking on behalf of the Windsor Theater, which I guess you could say is a neighbor. Um, we have absolutely no problem with that. I they it's very wellrun. They clean it up. I mean, it's a very nice event. And so I mean, I think it's it's great and I'm in favor of it. Okay. All right. Anyone else [snorts] hearing? No uh further discussion. I would entertain a motion to appro approve approve approve or deny the street clo s clos s clos s clos s clos s clos s clos s clos s clos s clos s clos s clos s clos s clos s clos s clos s clos s clos s clos s clos s closure request for pit row for the street department street party on June 27th. I would move we approve the request.

Got Mr. Davies motion to approve. A second by Mr. Lamos. All in favor? I

I opposed. Motion carries. The row is approved. All right. Next item we got considering consider parking parking space closure request from Brit Boutique for anniversary celebration to be held Jan Saturday March 28th 2026. Miss Lumley, would you like to come step up and and give us the details? Sure.

Okay. Good evening, council members, and thank you for your time. My name is Britt Lumley, and I'm the owner of Brits Boutique, and I'm here respectfully requesting approval for a temporary food truck placement during our third anniversary event on March 28th. The request is limited to both scope and duration. We are asking for two parking spaces on Main Street approx for approximately four hours along the stretch. There are 32 total parking spaces including four handicap spaces. Some that represents so this represents a minimal and reasonable use of available parking. From a particular standpoint, the impact on parking and surrounding businesses is limited. During the proposed time frame, Rustic Brew will be closed at the time the truck arrives. The pharmacy closes at noon and Christensen Jewelry closes at 1 pm. Of the three restaurants on Main Street, only one of them will be open during the food trucks operating hours, making this establishment available for food services along Main Street at this time. The indicated this indicates that demand for parking related to dining was not being negatively impacted. From an e an economic standpoint, the request supports the b the broader interest of downtown. The purpose of placing the food truck on Main Street spec specifically in front of the peace plaza in the direct foot traffic to the area where the majority of downtown businesses are located. Placing the food truck behind the plaza will not achieve the same outcome. Additionally, there is established precedent to this type of use. A food truck has previously been permitted to operate during business hours on Main Street in front of the wood seller. This demonstrates the temporary use of parking spaces for a food truck in this area has been allowed and managed without issues. This is not simply about one event or one business. It is an

opportunity to bring more people into Hampton to increase visibility of our downtown and encourage visitors to spend time and money across multiple businesses throughout the area. Approving this request supports the broader e economic activity and helps strengthen the vis vitality to our local businesses and community. For these reasons, we respectfully ask for your approval. Thank you for your consideration. All right. Thank you. [laughter] Yeah, you better wait there. All right. Does anybody have any comments, discussion f about this uh parking spot closure?

So, it Where's the location going to be in front of the Peace Plaza? Okay. Yeah, I did attach a beacon map. So to that might what are you going to do about garbage? Do you have waste baskets or is there any I in the peace plaza? Isn't that I'm not sure because I I thought that that's what it was made for is to have you know food trucks and people around. But I can bring dumpsters. I there are garbage cans in the piece. Definitely bring some dumpsters if needed. [clears throat] Plaza is locked currently. So, you would have to check with the chamber and the chamber did say that they were definitely okay with it. I just

You have to make sure the locks are removed so people can get in there and throw the garbage away. Okay. Alyssa said she was going to get it unlocked. Okay. Will this Will you have a generator running? Um, he has his I don't know. I'm not sure. Yeah, he has a permit. I don't know what he has. He probably has a generator in his Yeah. I don't know what he uses. Um it's pretty decent. Pretty good size trailer. Um 24. It's 24 ft. Yeah. And I tried to call him this afternoon, but I didn't get an answer. But he had an event in Iowa Falls.

All right. So hopefully he'll call me tonight, but I was just going to get an idea what what kind of generator he has. But, uh, every event I've been been to [clears throat] with where he's at has never been an issue, a noise issue. But all the businesses on that side okay with it? Yep. I did go through and um, sheet. There's a signature sheet also included in your packet or on the email. Mexican clothing store. Yep. Oh, there's nobody ever in there. I've gone in there and they're open right now. Yeah. Every time we've gone in there. Huh. There's not Nobody's even came out to talk to us. I've got in there before. Yeah, I've never been in there myself.

We've never spoke to anybody. Clothing store on the west. But on Saturday, um last Saturday, I did observe that there was four spots in front of that store. There was four trucks and I did include the photo as that. And it's the residents that live above that were there all day taking up those parking spots. Okay. One thing I would recommend is, you know, yes, there's garbage uh cans there, but I would recommend that because you're generating the garbage that you you or your vendor remove take all the garbage with you. Perfect. I can definitely make sure that happens.

And I I have some questions. Um, his trailer is 24 foot long and he's pulling it with a truck that's at least 10 foot long. Parking spaces are 8 foot a piece. So, he is going to be taking up four plus parking spaces, not two. He won't need his truck with it when he he'll detach his truck and

Okay. Then I and I discussed this. We I did check into the parking regulations and um it doesn't say how much time but it says dollying down no person shall dally down a camper trailer, semmit trailer or other such vehicle onto the street and let it remain there but it doesn't give a time frame on it. I will give you that. So but still even with his trailer he's going to need more than two spaces. It's 24 foot long. When I Yeah. When I asked him, he said he was three spaces with his truck. So, and he said he wouldn't need his truck there the whole time. But he's got a new trailer. Maybe he didn't

Yeah, I talked to him since he's had that new trailer. So, I'm not sure. [clears throat] I made sure I asked him. Yeah, that's my proposal was based on what the information he provided to me. And then if he doesn't have electrical hookup, he will have to run a generator, which is stinky. and noise producing. And again, looking at our parking regulations, it says you you can't run um that any longer than 2 hours. And you're proposing 4hour time slot, 11 to 3.

So, I don't know if he could check further into electrical hookup at Peace Plaza. They did install that for food trucks specifically. and there not bad continue. Um there are more than one restaurants open. BNC is open. Miierra is open. La Frontier is open. La Kosita those are all open on Saturday afternoon which but Mira is on Main Street. Right. Right. Right where I'm talking is just the one meier. Gotcha. All right.

And the wood seller did historically have a food truck there. They used to have the cupcake truck there and it interfered with somebody's parking spaces. I remember um and we we decided as a council that it's not written into the ordinance or the code, but we had the consensus that we were not going to allow food truck parking on Main Street because it interferes with other businesses. And if I remember correctly, when there was a time that they were going to bring in a clothing trailer, we decided that wasn't such a good idea because it took up Brits parking spaces.

I don't remember that. And at that time, you were in favor of stopping it. I don't ever remember that even happening. But so when was the the did you guys decide that before we created the peace plaza to have functions happening outside of it to it the peace plaza wasn't created to have functionings happening outside of it. The peace plaza was created to have functionings near not near it within it. the peace plazas for functions within it. And that's why we put that trailer food truck when when we had the the big grand event to open the peace plaza. There was food trucks.

That was the main street was a chamber event and they closed down the street. The street was blocked off and they got city council approval to do that. Okay. And that is also written in the uh code as far as blocking off the street. uh chamber events are do get that exemption. So I those are just questions and comments that I have and I wanted to share those with the council and it just it's up to a vote

and I then and I just want to make sure that we stay current and we're we're looking at um this situation. Um, I think council uh approval comes with comes with a lot of things. I mean I mean we we can we can if he needs to dolly down his trailer. I think we're okay. It doesn't say that. It doesn't say. I know it doesn't say that in that, but this is for council approval. So this is let's focus on this. I agree with [snorts] that.

So if if we approve it, then we're going to have to make make it work, you know. So, um, the other thing that I would say one on the electric, I don't know what power supply he needs for his trailer, but we've only got 110 at the at the Peace Plaza. If he needs the 30 to 50 amp stuff, then we don't have that yet. So, he would probably need his generator. Um, and the last thing I'm going to say is I would love to see every parking sparking spot full. Absolutely.

On Saturday, everybody come downtown, have pizza, and and have a good time, and let's let's benefit everybody, you know? I mean, it's just me. That's my only goal [snorts] is to bring people to town for everybody, not just my business. Yeah. Are you paying for the pizza? Are you No. Well, seriously, I mean, if it's your open house, are you providing that food, but you're not paying for it, right? So why why do you have him coming anyway? Just to bring other people like I have a couple pop-up vendors in my shop just to bring more people, you know. Okay. Yes.

Mr. Mr. Armstrong, I just have a a question. Um, from what I understand, the Peace Plaza is almost directly across from your business. And I guess I must have drifted off, but I you had mentioned it would negatively affect your business if it was sitting behind the Peace Plaza versus in front of your business. And I'm trying to figure out why that would be a negative impact when it's so close to your business where they could get their food and then walk in the Peace Plaza, eat it, and then walk across the street to your business.

I just I don't understand behind the Peace Plaza in that alley. It's hard to see. So, like if it's parked right there on Main Street, if there's people on Highway 3 that don't even know about the event and they could see it and then they're like, "Oh, cool. What's going on uptown?" If it's in the alley, people aren't going to be passing by seeing it. It's hidden back there. Okay. I guess Yeah, it's I just think from Highway 3 in your example, it I think if you had the proper signage, they could see it in either case. But, um Yeah. And we can't put up signs, I don't think.

Well, that that's could be too. Anyway, thank you. Thank you. I just didn't understand the difference in why you thought it was a hazard or a disadvantage to have it there. Not a disadvantage to her business. Anybody else? Um, go ahead. [clears throat] I wanted to applaud you for um making it three years. That's not not a um easy thing to do in this economy right now. So congratulations.

Thank you. Um, I do think that um the food truck is going to take up more room than expected because of it being angled parking. And I don't know if he realizes that it's angled parking downtown. And so he may be thinking, "Oh, well, two will work." But since it is angled parking, it's going to extend over more than the two and probably closer to four. Um even on your um beacon picture,

your box where you tried to mark the two um pictures with the square, it goes a little bit into one and a little bit further into another one. Um so I think that could end up being an issue with his truck as well. Um, I think that I drove by on my way over here. Sorry. Um, drove by on my way over here down the alley to because I hadn't been down there to see what the pad was back there.

Um, as far as a place to put the food truck. Um, it looked to me like it would be sufficient size for his truck for sure. Um, generally most most businesses and I don't know for sure with his or not and um if he has one or not, but a lot of these businesses will have a big banner that he could maybe put out on the front of the Peace Plaza to advertise where they're at and then people could walk through. My concern is if he did end up using the electric and parked in front of the Peace Plaza, then he's running a long extension cord all the way through and that becomes a tripping hazard for people. So, I don't know if those were all things anybody thought of, but my brain goes on overdrive and stuff. So,

my concern also about the [snorts] parking thing. So, if those four residents were parked in those spots all day, taking parking spots away from our businesses, why is that okay for them to be there on a Saturday during business hours if we're worried about parking spaces being taken up? Do we have restrictions for people that live in the apartments? [snorts]

I just my final comment is first, I'm not trying to be the badass here. I really am not. I just remember a couple years ago [snorts] the food truck issue came to a head. We worked things out on it. The big concern was protecting our brick andmortar businesses rather than having these transient vendors come through. We wanted to protect you. We wanted to protect our downtown

for sure. And again, like I said, the general consensus was we're not going to allow food trucks or other vendors taking up parking spaces on Main Street, taking away from our Main Street businesses. Um, and that's just what I'm trying to protect. I don't want to open that can of worms again and go back over that again. Hopefully, we don't have to. And I um that's why I did ask the businesses. I asked me Tiierra and they were okay with it. She said, "I would love to eat pizza." And then I asked Kathy

because and I told Kathy, I said, "If you were open for lunch, because I have so many customers every Saturday that complain that there's nothing to eat in Hampton." And that was my that's why maybe I should have a food truck because everybody loves pizza and Brandon and it's, you know, it's just for one day for four hours. Nobody else was opposed to it. Everybody that I've spoken to is excited for it and they I haven't heard any negative comments. Right. And I think the the the food truck two food truck thing, I don't think everybody hates them. It's just kind of a thing that happens now. This is what people do.

Um and that's why we ask that they come for council approval. You know, we can make the we can make an approval for an event uh if we feel that it's going to benefit our town. So, Mr. Lamos,

part of our previous discussion with food trucks mainly was with noise and uh [clears throat] if he could plug in, it would be great. Plug in next to Banshell. People would still see the business there and they tell them go down the street or you know, you could set up in the Dennis parking lot. Maybe that's close to downtown, but it's a like a two-edged sword. We got approval from all the businesses there and half of them are clo most of them are closed on Saturday. That's bad. You know, I'd like to see them all of them open on Saturday. Even the lumber yards closed on Saturday.

And you know, and that's why people don't come. Drives people out of town to buy stuff. That's all I had to say. All right. Anybody else hearing any? I would I would at this point and entertain a motion and a second to either approve or deny the par park parking space closure for Brit's pro boutique for her anniversary celebration on Saturday, March 28th, 2026.

I'll make a motion to approve it. Yeah. Motion by Mr. Lamos to approve. I'll second. We have a second by Mr. Davies. All right, we'll put it to a vote. All in fa All in favor? I I That's two.

And opposed? I I Okay. The with the vote of three to two, unfortunately, your request has been denied. So, um Kristen said that she would vote in favor. Does that count? Pardon me. Kristen did say she would in be in favor, but she's not here. So, we've got to go with the people that are [clears throat] unfortunately. Well, like I said, there's option there's options, you know, for him to be in another spot, I would say. Could I? Yes. Go ahead.

I was going to say, um, I think behind Peace Plaza, I mean, that was that area I think would be available, I'm sure, because the chamber would let you and that's what that area is for originally. Why we left it for parking as well as for food trucks, if that helps at all. Mr. Like I said before, this is a two-edged sword. We approved a street closure for Yeah. for a bar and then we denied and I'm just trying to run a business. I mean, it's But you're not limited to other spots. Yeah.

So, any other street in town is available for [clears throat] parking on this park in front of the courthouse? Well, it have to be approved, of course. We [laughter] don't have time to do that and we're not here and it's going to happen Saturday. So yeah, I think Peace Plaza is a perfect place. It's right there. It is. Yeah. I I just want to say I I'm public. I'm sorry. I'm going to say something, but it's going to be windy that on that day, so the noise will be negligible, as will the Could you tell us your name? Amber Oldenberg. Sorry.

So the the wind is going to cause enough disturbance that you won't hear a generator and neither will you smell anything if there is a generator running because of the wind. their parking, which you saw from the photographs that were submitted, showed that there's nobody parking downtown on a Saturday. Four parking spaces, if it would have been four parking spaces, would have been again negligible, right? Um, someone else in the in the downtown is is running a bit a special popup all day long where they are selling baked goods that will be competing with other businesses.

I'm going to stop you there. I'm sorry. We're not we're not going to go down that road. The vote has been taken and it was denied. So, I'm sorry. All right. [sighs] Next on the agenda, we name Miss Mason City Globe Gazette and Hampton Chronicle as the official newspapers for the city of Hampton. Mr. Dunt.

Yes. Uh with the there's a transition going on at the Hampton Chronicle and uh unsure of the exact timing of events for a transfer of operations. uh it's in the best interest of the city of Hampton in order to meet our publication guidelines and requirements to meet Iowa code uh requirements for our uh budget specifically our fiscal year 27 budget notice that's going to get published soon. Um I'm recommending that we name the Mesa City Globe Gazette and the Hampton Chronicle as official newspapers. So uh whichever if the Chronicle is is available then we'll use the Chronicle. If not we'll use the Globe Gazette. So we're covered either way. Any discussion around that?

I I have a couple questions. I mean, is the reminder considered at all? Is there a Hampton business? Uh, no. I I don't think they Iowa code has specific requirements. Um, and I don't think the reminder meets those due to um the number of publications and subscribers and things like that that Okay. I don't think they meet that requirement. And what about Iowa Falls? Are they would they be uh that possibly would, but I think that uh the citizens of Hampton, there's probably more subscribers to the May City Globe Gazette than to the Iowa Falls paper. We're trying to reach the greater number.

So, this will be published in both papers? Not necessarily. If we get conf confirmation that it that it will go into the chronicle, then that if it's iffy, then we're going to have to go to the globeette for this one. Right. Any other discussion? If not, I would entertain a motion to name Mason City Globe Gazette and Hampton Chronicle as official newspapers for the city of Hampton. I so move. Second. Moved by Mr. Davies, second by Mr. Holmstrom. All in favor? I I opposed. Motion carries. Thank you. [clears throat]

Next, we got approve the fi final draft of the fiscal fiscal year 27 budget and set the public hearing for April 30, April 23rd, 2026 at 6 PM and city council chambers. Mr. Dunt. Thank you, mayor. Uh your purple pages, this is the um final draft of the fiscal year 27 budget. Um these are the this is the state form. So it went you've been seeing it in our in-house accounting software format. Uh all the numbers have been uh transferred over to the state forms. Um this is what uh will get public or sent to the state submitted to the state after public hearing in April. Um and so the first page is the prop or the certification of city taxes and then the second page is the proposed property tax levy page that we just went over at the last public hearing a few minutes ago. Um and the last page is what was published in the or what's going to get published in the newspaper. and then all the supporting documentation, revenues, expenditures for the fiscal year. Um, tonight we look to [snorts] approve and adopt and then publish in the uh I think April I don't have in front of me April 23rd or no April 8th uh edition of the paper depending on which paper we publish in. So 8th or 9th. Any questions? All right. [snorts] Is there any other discussion around the vid the budget at this point? If not, I would entertain a motion to

approve the final draft of the fiscal year 27 budget and set public hearing for April 23rd, 2026 at 6 pm. the city council chambers and author authorize staffed city staff to public notice in the newspaper. I'll make a motion to approve. I'll second it. Final draft FY27. Okay. Not motion by Mr. Lamos. I believe the second was by Miss Griefy. Yep. Okay. All in favor? I I

opposed. Motion carries. Thank you. Next item we have uh consider increasing the rate of pay for police supply department reserve officers to $30 per hour effective immediately. Mr. Morrison, are [clears throat] you going to do the honors on this one? Really quick, I'd like to talk [snorts] to have Mark Crawford do it. [laughter] Yeah. I guess I don't really have anything to add other than what was said on Monday if there's other questions than that. Okay.

Um my only I I do have a question. I'm sorry. My only question is I do feel like kind of like we jumped from we doubled it. Jump from 15 to 30. And I do think 15 is an insulting rate of pay. Is 25 a fair consideration or I think that the um the pay amount of $15 was almost insulting to them. Yeah, I agree.

And it was long overdue. And so I do agree that the $30 is probably a fair rate of pay, [clears throat] especially this day and age and how hard it is to find officers. At this point, uh communities are battling each other over finding people. And right now we're in kind of a unique situation where we're down two. We're almost short a third of our department. And so we're trying to attract officers from other communities that uh maybe want to pick up a shift or two to come here and and and reward the ones that are here and get them to try to work more hours. And I do think the $30 is fair, but that's up to you guys.

Mr. I think this uh [clears throat] to me it ended up being a rubber stamp. We we didn't have hardly near enough discussion on it and I realized that that we're down to and a gradual increase would be better but you know it's insulting to the reserves but what about the guy that works at SUPS? [clears throat] He wants a 100% raise, too. Our I think our situation is unique from the guy that works at Sukups. Yeah. But

it's not as hard to find a somebody to work at. It's hard to find people all over. Look at CBS. They've had sign up for five years. Uh on you will find a a spot in this police department [clears throat] where it's very difficult to find people. But this is something that should have been handled way ahead of time. We're trying to catch up instead of all at once. It just looks bad. Yeah, I think this just came up quickly and we need to do something. We're trying to get ahead of the curve. We see the problem coming. trying to get ahead of the curve, trying to rectify the problem. And so we can encourage people to be here and want to work here and right

but but [clears throat] you know we talk about wages but we nickel and dime the budget. So how's this going to affect our budget? Well, if we work the same amount of hours that we did last year be 2500 bucks essentially roughly increase in the budget. Correct.

Okay. Mr. Don, did you have something? I was just going to say that um hiring a person to be a police officer or a reserve officer, reserve officers if they have no experience, they have to be trained and that costs the city money. They have to go to a reserve officer training. Um, so and the pool of candidates for whether it's a police officer or a reserve officer is a lot smaller than the pool of candidates for SUKUPs or Hampton Hydraulics. And so I don't think you can compare and an employee at Sukups is welcome to apply to be a reserve police officer at City of Hampton.

The sad thing is we hire local people and then they leave. uh you know and it happened in the business I was in. Things aren't like did they weren't like that 40 years ago. Once you got a job stayed at it forever and me too. I had that same I came here loved the job stuck with it. Love the community and that's why I've been here for 20ome years. Mark when you applied to be a police officer. How many applicants were there? There were nearly 50 applicants when I applied and it was very you had to have four years of college to even be accepted to be a police officer at that time. Yeah.

Now you're looking at somebody that's 18 with no college degree and people are hiring them. That's scary. The other thing that I think we have to remember is that not only are we down to officers, but the sheriff's department is too. So we're competing with them as well, not just for hiring new permanent staff, but also for reserves, if I understand.

Yeah. And and I really I'm asking you to trust me to know what the correct steps are to rectify this situation. And if we don't get ahead of it, we're going to be further behind. And if we uh by having the wage at $30 an hour, it might attract a certified officer from Iowa Falls or a neighboring county, a deputy who is willing to work a shift on a weekend if they're not working. Uh at 15, they're not going to do that. At 30, that catches their eye. And several communities are even going to paying their overtime rate, which would be 45 sometimes higher. Mr. D.

Oh, yeah. I was going to say I think it might be a little different if we weren't down two officers to have a discussion, but I think this is a really critical situation. Plus, I think we did have adequate time to discuss it. We were at the workshop on Monday and I was under the impression we, you know, we talked about it, asked questions, got the answers, and I was under the impression that we sort of had reached a consensus to go with 30. So, what's changed between Monday and now? I don't know. But I I am in favor of the 30 I think going with your recommendation. Yeah. And I think the C being getting certifi certified O officers that can fill shifts that are already trained that we don't have to

put through school. I think that that is a big thing. Mr. Homestrom. I I had a question, Mark, and this isn't specifically about the wages, but I know we're in desperate need of this this certified officer to take the place for our vacancies, but what kind of stipulations do we have as far as who can who we can attract to come in? For instance, a truck driver, you're limited to so many hours that they can drive without taking a break. Is there something similar to that for police officers? I mean, can he finish a job at the sheriff's department, the midnight shift, and come work at 8 o'clock in the morning? Is there some type of a break they they're required to take or can you just take a body? They can go straight from one to the other. Yeah. So, there's no stipulations whatsoever.

No. So, we could have Okay. Yeah. Something that you're hoping you're we're picking up their days off essentially is what [clears throat] we're hoping. Yeah. I ideally I just wondered if there was something where we could say, "Well, we thanks for applying, but you have to take an 8 hour break before you come back or something." There was anything. Yeah. No, I don't think anybody wants somebody working 16 hours. That wouldn't be responsible. No, no, it wouldn't. But I Yeah, we're desperate times goes through desperate measures. So, we don't want to fall into that. No. No, I agree. All right. So, one more question. Did I hear correctly that raising it to $30, it would increase our budget by $2,500?

It depends on how many shifts are covered. Okay. So, we don't know. he's estimating from the past year. Yeah. So, if we attract more people, you know, it could go up, I would say to 5,000 if you got people to come in from other communities and filled some more shifts, especially down two offic not paying those two officers. So, [clears throat] it's not going to be a net increase on our budget. We'll still have a net decrease on our budget. Yeah. And I'm I understand that totally. I just kind of wanted to emphasize that that's not much of a jump in the budget if we had to do that. Right. And one other thing is

this by no means is going to fix the issue, but it's hopefully going to be a tool in the tool bag to at least work on it. Correct. Hey, one more one more question mark. Again, it's not about the wages. A while back, I had talked to you about reserve officers to take care of the nuisances problems in the city to to relieve you so that you had more time to focus on more important issues. And you had mentioned at that time that the other officers weren't real crazy about that idea. Mhm.

So what would be your impression of the other officers feelings towards this move to because you're avoiding overtime of course so that's taking overtime away from these other officers. Is it is this going to create an issue with your force? No, I think they're all very welcome um and wanting this. Okay.

They've been excited about the fact that we've raised it. They've called some of the part- timerrs say, "Hey, um this is what's happening." Because they want them to come work. Um there's plenty of o overtime opportunities in law enforcement, whether it's picking up a shift or court or special projects, um that they never really have a we're always riding 480 on most of the guys that have been here a few years. That's good. That's what I wanted to hear. I No, they're very supportive of the whole thing.

Thanks, Martin. All right. Any other discussion? I feel like we we didn't spend enough time talking about it Monday. We've spent more time now talking about it now than we have Monday. And that's why [clears throat] we had it on the agenda Monday. Right. Right. But Right. That's why I said it was I felt like it was a rubber stamp. Yeah. Well, with that, I would entertain a motion and a second to approve increasing the rate the rate of pay for the police department reserve officers to $30 per hour effective immediately.

So moved. A motion by Mr. Miss Fay. I'll second. Second by Mr. Davies. Okay. All in favor? I. and opposed. Motion carries. Thank you. How many eyes was it? Unanimous. Unanimous. Okay. Okay. Next item. Got to pay some bills. Go ahead. I entertain a motion uh to approve the claims as submitted by staff in the amount of $139,126.90.

So moved. Motion by Mr. Holmstrom. I'll second that. Second by Mr. Lamos. In favor I

opposed. Motion carries. Thank you. All right. Next, we have a resolution 2026-03. Again, this is a regular res resolution ordering bill bids, approving plans, spec specifications, form of contract and notice to biders fixing amount of bid security and ordering clerk to publish notice for a period public hearing on such further concret construction of the of the fuel farm improvements at the Hampton Municipal Aer Airport. Mr. down. Do you have that or Joe?

Oh, we got maybe is Joel on Zoom. Okay, Joel, can you hear us? I got you. Okay, can you take over?

I can. Um, so you guys have an item before you to set the uh public hearing, set the dates for the project. This includes construction and this project is for construction of a gas fueling improvements at the airport which includes a new dispenser and tanks um and removal of the old underground tanks um and dispensers for agrass as well as removal of the underground and dispenser tank and tank for jet fuel. Um this item uh what's included in the plans and what will go up for bid does include a retaining wall around the outside of the tanks along with dual wall tanks as well. Um the dispenser is also drained inside the retaining wall and can be capped uh for the purpose of retaining any fluids if they do leak out um or do spill. So you can do that. Um, uh, the bid date is, um, hold on, let me look it up. The bid date is April 16th, 2026 at 2:00. And the public hearing would be Let's get past it. Um, it is April 23rd, 2026, which those dates are listed in the resolution.

Joe, I have a couple of questions. Yep. On the uh concrete containment with the curb and the drain and a plug. Um, if the council at after bids come in, the council, you do have an alternate to remove that. uh depending on the decision of the council at that time. Is that correct? That is correct. And uh can you tell me uh grading? So in heavy rain events when rain is has accumulated in that containment area and needs to the the plug needs to be pulled. Uh it's going to be a sidewall plug, right?

Yeah. So what you would do for normal operation is there's an outlet pipe going out the back of it. Uh you would leave that open during most events. There would be a cap um there would be a cap in the back in case you had a spill. Um there's an overflow where it overflows in the front um to um if you get a large rainfall event um it goes out the front. But the intent of the wall around it is to capture u minor spills and keep those minor spills within the area so that can be capped off in that event. If you close it off and it's completely closed off in a wall, you will have a moat and floating tanks and destroyed dispenser cabinets because you will now have a one foot wall of water around it. For example,

so if you get 6 in of rain, it's going to drain out on its own. It will drain. Yep. It will drain out. And that is correct. Is what is the grade in the area such that the water will get away?

It looks pretty flat just by looking at it. Yep. The grades out there are pretty flat. Uh so the water drains out the pad to the to towards the parking lot which is the east direction and then the overflow is out the west across the apron. Okay. So it's not a situation a design where the airport manager after uh an inch rain or two inch rain is going to have to go out and and manually pull a plug to drain water out of it.

That is correct. It's set up such that the time of intervention is when there's an issue and it's left in a certain status while uh under normal operations. And so that includes rain andor normal use. And when you have a spill or something that happens, you are able to go and then close off the outlet uh to contain that spill.

Okay. Uh, another thing you mentioned uh, in your summary uh, that we were um, removing two underground tanks. I think the plan is to leave the jet A tank in place and to fill it in place due to its close proximity to the airport hanger foundation. Uh, just wanted to clarify that

that is correct. I meant out of service. Um, but you are correct. We are physically removing the AG gas tank which sits in the grassy area um currently and the jet fuel tank um is right next to um a hanger and we are taking off um any of the piping, the venting um removing the dispenser and we will fill in the jet tank and abandon it in place with fill in the ground because of its location to that hanger. That's correct. And we will only be installing a new ABG gas tank, one above ground tank.

That is correct. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions for Joe? I'd just like to say I'm I'm glad that we're taking care of this issue because it's in the wellhead protection area. you know, the wells are a thousand feet from there. And with Iowa's cancer rates, you know, and groundwater contamination, it's just a good idea. Yep. I'll make a motion to approve 20 6-03.

All right. My next question. I got a motion by Mr. Lamos, second by Mr. Davies to approve. Resolution 2026-03. This will be a roll call vote. Mr. Davies. Hi. Miss Fay. Hi. Miss Griefy. I. Mr. Lambos. Hi. Mr. Holmstrom. Hi. All right. Five. Five to nothing. We uh approve resolution 20263. Thank you. Thanks, Joe. Thank you. Thank you. [snorts]

All right. Next to our item, uh, ordinance number four 410, an ordinance a mind amending chapter 5 55 of the Hampton City Code for the prop purpose of adding regulations regarding the keeping of chickens within the city limits. Mr. Dunt. Thank you, mayor. Um, now therefore, be it ordained by the city council of the city of Hampton, Iowa, that uh section one code amendment city code u be and hereby amended by adding a definition for chicken in 55.01 to be inserted in correct alphabetical order as follows. Chicken means a member of the subspecies gallas galas domesticus uh domesticative bowel. Section two code amendment the city code of Hampton I will be in same is hereby amended by deleting 55.05 05 in full and replacing the language as follows. 55.05 livestock with the exception of chickens. It is unlawful for a person to keep livestock within the city except in compliance with the city's zoning regulations. Uh 55.17 shall read as follows. Notwithstanding any provisions of the code to contrary chickens may be kept within city limits only where such keeping is in compliance with the following. One, permit required. No person shall raise, harbor, or keep chickens within City Hampton without a valid permit obtained under the provisions of this ordinance. The permit shall require each permit holder to register with the Iowa premises identification program. The permit fee shall be established by resolution of the city council. Permits shall be valid for a period of two years from the date of issuance. Permits are not transferable. requirements. Requirements uh to receipt to the receipt of a permit include written request for a permit shall be made to the Hampton City Council for their approval or denial. An inspection of the property where chickens are proposed to be uh kept by the code enforcement officer shall be completed.

There shall not have been any undocumented nuisance violations at the property within the 12 months prior to submitting the request for the permit. The property must be a minimum of two acres in size. The property must be owner occupied. Rental properties are not eligible for a permit. The maximum permissible number of chickens is eight hens. Roosters are not allowed. A chicken coupe must be provided. The chicken coupe must be standalone structure located in the rear yard. No lean twos can be used as coups. The coupe must be located a minimum 25 ft from any property line and a minimum of 100 ft from neighboring dwellings. The chicken coupe must provide a minimum of three square feet of floor space per chicken, be well ventilated, well drained, offer adequate protection against all weather conditions, and ensure access to a daily source of fresh water. The chicken run must be provided. The chicken run must be fully enclosed by fencing up to six feet in height. Uh provide a minimum of eight square feet of space per chicken, be well drained, and designed to prevent entry by other animals. Ongoing obligations. After permit issued, the following ongoing requirements shall be met. Code enforcement officer shall be allowed to inspect the property upon reasonable notice to the property owner. Chickens shall remain confined to the coupe and run. Freeranging or keeping chickens inside the home is not permitted. The chicken coupe must be used exclusively for chickens. Eggs must be collected daily. Slaughtering chickens is prohibited. Revocation of permit permit issued under this section shall be revoked under or upon any violation of the requirements herein. All chickens must then be removed from the property and the permit fee shall not be refunded. Any permit holder who has their permit revoked shall be barred from requesting another permit for two years. Appeals. No permit may be revoked or not renewed without notice and an opportunity to be heard being given to

the applicant or holder of the permit. In any instance where permit is revoked or not renewed, the applicant or holder of the per permit may appeal the decision to the city council within five business days of receipt by the applicant or holder of the permit of the notice of the decision. The applicant or holder of the permit will be given an opportunity for a hearing. The decision of the city council shall be deemed final action. If a annexation if a property is newly annexed into the city limits, the owner or possessor of chickens has 90 days from the date of annexation to bring the property into compliance with these regulations. Thank you, mayor.

All right. Thank you. So, I think we've we've talked chickens to death. Um we we've got an ordinance. Um I'm going to uh entertain a motion. I'm going to give you two motions. Um first of all if you want to pro approve the first reading of ordinance 10 for 410 because that takes three or I may give you option to another motion to uh to dispense with the one or more readings of a prop ordinance ordinance and move right to the uh the final reading this evening um to to make that uh to make that vote. So, I would entertain a motion to either just, you know, move to the third reading or do you want to Doesn't that have to be on the agenda?

No, we just have that's an option that you can do. I mean, we can we can go to the first read reading and do it again and again or we can dispense with two of them and do I'll make a motion to wave the first and second and go to the third reading. Okay. Second. Motion by Mr. Layos, second by Miss Fay to move to the third reading of the the uh ordinance [snorts] for this will be a roll call vote to get this part. Um Mr. Lamos I.

Miss Grey I. Mr. Holstrom. Just to be clear, Mayor, if if I say no, that means we're going to read it three times. Is that correct? That's correct. Yeah. Yep. Okay. I'm going to I'm going to say no. Mr. Davies, I and Miss Fay. Hi.

Okay. Since we need a super for super majority majority for the ordinances. This does this does motion does fail. So we will move to a motion to approve the first reading of ordinance 410. I move we approve the first reading. I'll second that. Motion by Mr. Davies, second by Mr. Lamos. And I I need a I'd like to make a request. Yep. When Ron reads that ordinance again, I'd like to have him do it a little faster. [laughter] We'll have him work on it before our next planning on reading it. I think you were struggling there a little [laughter] bit. Yeah.

All right. So, we got a motion by Mr. Davies, second by Mr. Lamos. This is also a roll call vote to approve the first reading of ordinance 410. Miss Fay, I. Mr. Holmstrom, I. Miss Grefy, I Mr. Davies. Hi, Mr. Lamos. Hi.

Okay, first reading of ordinance 410 has been passed. Thank you. Next, we have this consent agenda. This is going to include uh previous m minutes for Thursday, March 12th, 2026, regular session. schedule the regular sess next regular session for Thursday, April 9th, 2026 at 6 pm at the ch council chambers. This also approve alcohol licensing for Hi dollar fresh at 808 4th Street Southeast in Hampton and approve temporary outdoor service for Pit Row 193rd North Federal Street on Saturday, June 27th. I could entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda.

I'll make a m motion to approve the consent agenda. Motion by Mr. Lamos. Got a second by Miss Griefy. All in favor? I posted. Motion carries. Thank you. [snorts] Brings us down to our staff reports. Chief Morrison, we'll let you go first.

Uh, I'd just like to thank you for the approval of the reserve officer, uh, pay. I think that that will be a good investment into the police department. So, just one more time, thank you. Um, on other news, we had uh, nine cases in court today and reference nuisances. Uh, four of those were cleaned up and five of them got court orders. Um, we have two previous orders already sitting out there. So, we have a total of seven uh that we need to get cleaned up here in the near future. We'll get a hold of uh Doug and line those up for April, it sounds like. And then again, we're currently accepting applications for police officers and anybody's welcome to apply. That's all I've got unless there's questions.

Mr. Lo, [clears throat] in the claims, there was a ticket for uh to hire someone underage [snorts] to go around try and buy booze. Yep. How how many places did they go to? Uh I'm not sure. Th this year everybody was supposed to be hit. Um so even like restaurants. Um so there was more this year than there has been in the past. Is there any failures? There was I'd have to look up exactly which ones they were. There's two. So what's the consequence for that? There's a fine associated and then there's licensing rules and regulations that also come into play. They have a that uh alcohol and backup.

We're we're we're setting the RA wage for reserves, but I noticed that was only $15 per place. Isn't that kind of low? Who sets that wage?

Uh that's been the we actually moved it up a couple years ago. It was $10 and then it went to 15. But it's usually typically a high school kid or an officer's kid or somebody that somebody knows that we just come in for a night. Thank you. Any other questions for Chief Morrison? Hearing none. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Mr. Tar. Thank you, Mayor Council. Sorry, [clears throat] my voice is leaving me. Um, the big news is cleanup days are scheduled for April 17th, April 18th, April 20th, April 22nd, 24th, and 25th. Um, I want to thank Kelsey. She did a great job helping put all this together. There's flyers back here. I recommend that you guys grab one and then you'll be able to explain if people have questions of you um for it. It's gonna be very very much the same as last year except for new location at our new facility. So that'll be nice. Uh we're looking forward to getting that um as with this snow's gone. So now the nuisances are very visible and I think we're trying to make some hay on that. Um, and that'll obviously help some folks with the cleanup days coming to get rid of some things. Um, the other, uh, scheduling in good news is, uh, Saturday, April 4th, next Saturday, will be the opening day at the compost site, weather permitting. Um, so that will get things kicked off for the year. give them a couple of weeks until the cleanup kicks off and then uh we'll really go into high gear.

Um, also keep in mind I believe there is a hazard cleanup as well that's scheduled for this year out at the airport again and that's our year to have it. So, um I apologize I don't have the date right away here on that, but I can get that out here before too long. It's I think it's in June sometime. Um, other than that, I'll just entertain questions. Been a long meeting. All right, Mr. Lamos. Uh, so have they decided what they're going to do with all that booze? That ain't up to me. County attorney's working on it. I'd like to drink some of it. Uh, as I drive around rubbernecking. Yep.

The compost gates been open all the all all weekend and people are dumping stuff in there. Oh, okay. So, it's good to know. You know, I thought we were supposed to control what I'll try to find out who that is. One of the I mean, it's just looks like just leaves, but you know, nonetheless, it's open. If it's open, I'd like to go out there tomorrow. Yeah. No, don't do that. Right. No. Uh um I'd also request at some point in the future probably putting a camera out there at some point. I like I said, I'm rubbernecking. Yep. So when the brothers starts cleaning that up, are they going to clean up the engines, the tires, and the whole property? Okay. I'll make sure the whole property gets done. Miguel's been really good to work. Two blocks from my house.

Right. Miguel's been really good to work with. I don't think it's going to be a problem. Okay. Not. I hope something else can get built there. Yeah. Looks like they got construction started on the house that was on fire. Yep. We need more construction. Thank you. You bet. All right. Anybody else? All right. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Mr. Dent.

Uh, I was notified this week that we unofficially have been awarded the $100,000 emergency catalyst grant for the four and six First Street Northwest project, the old pharmacy project. So, I look for a grant agreement that will be coming soon that the council will review and that we'll enter into uh for official uh for the official grant. And I would just answer any questions if anybody has any. Could you tell them to put that in high gear? Yeah. Can't be can't can't get done soon enough. Right. [clears throat] All right. Any other questions for Mr. Dun?

Okay. Thank you, sir. Kristen is absent this evening, so we'll just start with Jerry.

Oh, Joy. [laughter] Um, we had a chamber uh meeting last Monday or this past Monday. And just some highlights from that meeting. We are losing our renters, NYAK and the uh Franklin County Development Association in June. Um, so we are looking either for either a new location for the chamber or hopefully maybe bringing somebody in to help us share that rent. Um, so if you hear anything or have any great ideas, let us know. June, uh, Lisa will have been with us for a year, which is hard to believe it's been that long already, and she will be up for, uh, review. Uh, Main Street Awards are happening in May down in De Moine. Um, we also talked about the cleanup days and uh on the 19th I believe the chamber board and hopefully the city council members will work together in in picking [snorts] up the downtown area and Banshell Park. Remember we did that last year and it was fun.

Y um our appreciation celebration we ended up in the hole 50 bucks but hey that's [laughter] could have been worse. you expect to at least break even. But and then we also have our flower baskets, downtown flower baskets coming up. We need people to volunteer to water or help water and you can also support that project by actually purchasing a flower basket. Last year the price was 50 bucks and we did have [snorts] some people step up and do that and it was great. Our next uh quarterly coffee is June 5th at First Bank. Our last one was this this past month and it was at Reborn Ranch. It's really a nice facility

and um we're working on developing a Main Street committee. So if anybody's interested in something joining something like that, step right up. Thanks. That's what I got. Thank you, Miss Fay. Um, I have been training a new person at work all week and so I had hardly any voice left, so I'm gonna pass. All right. Thank you, Mr. Holmstrom. No [snorts] report tonight. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Mr. Lamos.

I'd like to make a request. We had our goal setting meeting and I had some things that weren't on the list like selling excess equipment, vehicles, and scrap and uh selling empty lots. How many empty lots do we have? Uh I don't know the number off the top of my head, but

we shouldn't be in the real estate business. If we even sold them for $500, we wouldn't have to mow them or do snow removal and then they'd back be back be back on the tax rolls. It's just a hit and miss deal. And I would also like to have a a blight study. I think uh you know the south end of town is south of 12th Avenue is pretty sad. That's all I have. All right. Thank you, Mr. Davies.

Well, to add to what Jerry said, I met with Alyssa Vanworth, the director of the chamber, and we are going to move forward with creating a new committee called the Main Street Hampton Committee. It'll be composed of 7 to 10 people and uh to guide the implementation of the local Main Street program that allows the chamber board to focus on a countywide mission, which is the mission of the Greater Franklin County Chamber of Commerce. uh one of the first priorities will be to identify transformational strategies and develop detailed work plans to align with those transformational strategies and this is uh per the recommendation from Main Street America is why we're doing this. That's all I have.

All right. Thank you. I don't have much for mayor's report this evening. Uh I do want to thank everybody for their discussion this evening. I knew that we were going to have some um and that's a reason that's why we have six council people. We have five tonight but generally six so that we can work together and and come up with the best thing that we need to do for Hampton. So with that I would entertain a motion to adjourn the regular session of the Hampton City Council. So move second most miss grief second by Mr. Lamos. All in favor? I I

opposed. Thank you. That's pretty cool.