City Council - Regular Meeting

How's the game going?

We are ahead 3-0. Nice. Awesome. So it's... Yep, 3-0. We finally just scored again. We are playing Carlisle to go to state.

Oh, yeah. Oh, wow. All right. Let's beat Carlisle. Yes.

Yeah. So... They haven't had a shot yet.

Wow. Good.

We've got 30 minutes left in the game.

All right. All right.

diane and i always emphasize the p and did you hear that my daughter just scored our fourth goal all right that's officially 40 too yeah that's awesome yeah i'm pretty far away so i couldn't tell that it was her you'll probably hear about it later though okay I will.

That's good. I talked to him today.

I saw him today. Long time ago, today this morning.

We were waiting for a council member.

I guess a guy could always check.

Send him a message and say, you didn't get another accident, did you?

Would that be too soon? Text message, he said.

But at least it's nice and cool in here.

That's right. We're going to overheat. Probably don't rain outside.

Looks like it's coming.

Looking dark out there.

I found out today, Moffett Reservoir, which is where the LD McMullen water plant gets the majority of its water, it's half.

Really?

It's down to half. Oh, wow. We could use some rain to help fill that up.

Because that's one of the non-nitrate or one of the more clean sources of water that they use to mix in from the Raccoon River. They blend that? They blend it. And that helps knock down the nitrate levels. As soon as they run out of enough capacity in that lake, then they have to pull more from the ground. Since we have that extra pipe that comes down from coming.

Squeeze the valve coming out of the divine side and opening the valve further coming out of the That would be wheeling a lot of water through. There he is.

All right. I didn't get it on.

Hey, George. Out of curiosity, what time does this meeting start? I just got back from Boston, so I was on Eastern time. Oh, there you go.

I tried. He had me. Good one. 602.

all right not bad so i'll i'll let you get logged in we'll go ahead and call to order city council regular business meeting for thursday june 4th 2026 it is 602 uh lindsey would you please call a roll council member bourgeon brown here cool Here.

Meineke. Here. Porter.

Mayor Phillips. I'm here as well. We do have a quorum, so we will move on. Item number two is Pledge of Allegiance. Would you please rise? Say the Pledge of Allegiance.

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.

don't love standing with the stadium talking and hearing the back going here uh item three is approval of the agenda would anybody like to move any of the consent agenda items to the regular agenda hearing nine can i get a motion to approve the agenda motion second uh motion by cool seconded by meineke uh all his favor say aye aye all supposed same That motion carries. Item number four is welcome to get some public comment. Thanks for being here and participating in the meeting tonight. We appreciate everybody being here. We'd open up the dice at this point in time for non-agenda items. We'll give you three minute time limit. Realize we can't take action on those things tonight because they're not on the agenda and that would be a violation of open meetings law. So we'll go ahead and open it up. Also, if you'd like to comment on any item in the consent agenda, now would be the time. Who wants to talk first? Come on up, Mel.

Would you mind if I talk first?

Yes.

Mel Guance, 1043 Sunset Drive. I just wanted to share that we're getting ready to launch the Norwalk Area Volunteer Network. So I don't have anything to show you today, but I just wanted to share with you that we finished the landing page at the chamber and it has all the organizations that typically are looking for volunteers and we'll push it out to the residents so people can sign up who are interested in volunteering. And then we'll send out emails saying, hey, volunteer opportunities in your area, but also share organizations in our area like NAMA, the Lions, Rotary, who else do I have? Warren County Conservation. There's a nice long list. And so there's this lovely landing page. And so we're going to connect the organizations with the residents because I still get hopefuls. And everyone was like, where are the volunteer opportunities? Well, I've got them for you. So we're going to bridge that and that'll be launching soon. And I'll get on the agenda and share more about that soon. I'm going to share it with the volunteer organizations first and get feedback. And I will shut off the Zoom process and then we'll roll it out. Awesome. That's good.

Thank you. Anybody else? Take your name and your address first.

Hi, my name is Gary Cook, 1400 Park Hill Drive. I have lived in Norwalk for 32 years. I have a portion of my four foot wide sidewalk that needs repaired and I got quotes from a contractor. The contractor informed me that replacing the sidewalk would require to change the portion of the sidewalk to be five foot width. We inquired with the city about this and the city confirmed the five foot requirement. In addition, it sounds like the sidewalk that needs replaced in this section of the driveway and approach would require us to cut up our approach, which is in perfect condition in order to make the sidewalk five foot. I'm bringing this to the City Council because we have found around a dozen examples of sidewalks replaced recently that have not been replaced to five foot. For example, a residential sidewalk that has been replaced in the last week, as well as several residential properties in our surrounding neighborhoods from our home. The Norwalk Family Dentistry on Chatham sidewalk was replaced to four foot. The City of Norwalk did maintenance work at the intersection of Richard George Drive and Cherry Parkway. Those sidewalks were replaced at 44 inches and 47 inches. Finally, the Norwalk Public Safety Building sidewalk on the north side along Chatham was recently replaced, and it is four foot. In closing, please answer this question. How can the city require a homeowner to replace a portion of their existing four foot sidewalk to now be five foot when the city and local businesses are not being held to this requirement, as well as many other homeowners? Thank you for your time.

All right. Thank you. So there's an item at the end of the meeting that where council members can ask to have stuff put on an agenda. If they want to talk about this at a meeting, they can make a motion and we can talk about it. They can add it to the agenda at that point in time. You got anything else?

I guess I'll say council really can't discuss it right now. This is not on Jen to me, but what I can say is that as far as building standards, it's correct that they're requiring a five foot now. And from my knowledge is when sidewalks are replaced, along the length of a property. We have traditionally required it, even if it was four foot, to go to five foot. I don't know the specific examples you're talking about, Gary. But the council does have the ability, if they want to change the ordinance, to have flexibility. They say, okay, if you have a four foot, it can be replaced with a four foot. I think there's been some differences if it's a single panel versus the entire length. These are all, once again, I haven't looked at the examples, but right now the code says what the code says. So the proper approach would be an ordinance change if the council's interested in looking in that. Because I do know I've heard of other property owners in the past that have been required to go from a four foot to five foot where they do have to change the whole structure. You know, with their driveway, which also makes some driveway change beyond just making the sidewalk a little bit wider in the yard. So I have heard of difficulties that people have run into as a result of that. So this isn't the first time I've heard of the issue. And staff, I think, probably feels that their hands are tied because it's controlled by ordinance. And so city council can certainly consider that. Besides that, my house is about the same age as yours, Gary. I'm surprised you have to replace it, and I hope I don't have to pretty soon also.

I just want free ball. You know the whole thing? Half of it. Okay. And my biggest concern is the fact that I have to tear up the approach. It's going to cost me more money for concrete that's in great condition as it needs to be replaced. And others aren't following. If others would follow, it would be better. I didn't want to be that guy. but I want to be that guy.

All right. Anybody else? Hearing none, we'll move on. Item number five is the consent agenda. Can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda? Motion. Second. Motion by Kuhl, seconded by Meineke. Lindsay, would you call the roll? Council Member Kuhl? Yes.

Meineke? Yes. Brown?

Yes.

All right. That motion carries. Item 6 is old and new business for consideration, discussion, and possible action. Item A is a final reading of an ordinance submitting the official zoning map of the City of Norwalk, Iowa by rezoning parcel number 6. It's in the R160 single family residential to AR Agricultural Reserve. So this is a property that was under an annexation agreement. They sold some of the land, which ended that annexation agreement, but the land in question has not changed hands. So original owners still have it. The owner would now like to build a horse barn on the property, so the zoning needs to change back to Agricultural Reserve for that to happen. Anything to add, Luke? Nope. Can I get what comments, questions, discussion from council or any public input?

I think it would be good to have the horse barn back there.

Yeah. Potions? I got a motion by my seconded by cool. Uh, Lindsay, would you call roll?

Don't remember my Nikki. Yes. Brown.

Yes.

Cool.

Yes. All right. Motion carries. Item eight B is a final reading of an ordinance amending the official zoning ordinance of the city of Norwalk, Iowa by amending chapter one 75, a dot 21 regarding exceptions to yard requirements. Uh, this item has to do with property in residential zoning. That really isn't residential. This particular instance involves the main street school. and the need for them to put in a fire escape. But putting that in would go into the setback, so there's some requirements there that we're needing to change. Anything to add, Luke? No. Any discussion, questions, comments from council or public input?

Motion.

Second. Motion by Kuhl, seconded by Meineke. Lindsay, would you call roll?

Councilmember Brown?

Yes.

Kuhl?

Yes.

Meineke? Yes.

All right. Motion carries. Item 8C is a final reading of an ordinance amending Chapter 177 rates and fees of the Norwalk Code providing for amended building permit valuation fees. So we're changing some of the fees for building permits and to provide up-to-date rates for the service. Chris, anything to add? No. All right. Comments, discussion, questions from council or public input?

It's my only question would be the multiplier rate that they use there. Is that like a standard rate across the I don't know, I'm just asking. Say that again? The multiplier that they use to determine the fee, is that a standard multiplier rate that's used across the metro?

It is standard. They're using what is recommended by the, the name escapes me of the national organization, but there are standard multipliers that they use. they adapt that then for our local community. Thank you.

Yeah, I should have asked you, not Carissa, about this because I was thinking this was for the whole, but anyway. All right. Other questions, discussion, questions?

I'll motion it.

Okay. We got a motion by Kuhl, seconded by Meineke to approve final reading. Any public input? Lindsay, would you call the roll?

Council Member Kuhl?

Yes.

Meineke? Yes. Brown?

Yes. All right, motion carries. Item 8D is the final reading of an ordinance amending and replacing in its entirety Chapter 92.12 of the Norwalk Code providing for a water use plan. So Central Iowa Water Works is renaming the water shortage plan to the water use plan. They've also made some adjustments to that plan. Central Iowa Water Works is asking all of the member cities to standardize their response to If we have to implement water usage restrictions, as we're under stage two right now, we had an ordinance that addresses the key components of that new plan. In fact, the Norwalk's ordinance was the model for the regional approach that they took. This new ordinance aligns Norwalk with Central Iowa Water Works region so that all cities are similar in our strategy for water emergencies and uses. Anything to add?

No.

Any discussion, questions, comments from council or any public input?

Great idea. Motion.

Second. Motion by Kuhl, seconded by Meineke. Anybody else? Hearing none, Lindsay, would you call the vote?

Council Member Meineke? Yes. Brown?

Yes.

Kuhl?

Yes. All right, motion carries. Item seven is future agenda items. So the purpose of this is for council to give direction to staff by way of motion to have items placed on future agendas. It's not for the discussion of the merits of the subject matter. It's just to get it on an agenda so that we can. Anybody want to do the sidewalk? Yeah. Sure.

OK. Yeah. Let's take a look at the sidewalk requirements and a little bit maybe about how that's been enforced here in the recent past and be able to weigh a few things.

Yeah. I think I would give some of the examples as far as the residential properties that they had mentioned. I think it might have been unpermitted. So not always do we see sidewalks get properly going.

Right.

Right. True. Okay. So I got a motion by Meineke. Seconded. Seconded by Kuhl. All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Okay. That will be, that motion carries. That'll be on a future agenda. We can let them know. Somebody will let you know when it is. Okay. Anything else for future agendas? All right, item eight, council inquiry staff updates. Luke? I don't have anything. George? Nothing. Lindsay?

I sent out an invite today for the July 28th work session meeting.

So I'll do it.

OK, that's all. Awesome.

Carissa?

Nothing. Chief? Nothing. I got nothing. I don't have anything. OK, Jason?

The score is now 5-0.

All right.

And Pearl scored another goal.

Wow. How many minutes left in the game?

We got 17 and a half minutes left.

All right.

Are you playing in Norwalk?

We are.

Are you dry?

I'm dry because I'm in my car. see there was an advantage to being and it happened to be in the meeting tonight yeah yeah i got in just before the rain started and i've enjoyed being in here since and it does help me stay focused so i literally did not see either one of the goals the announcer just announced that she scored okay so uh the only thing i have is is

Realize that we are in the stage two water warning. So that's a half, 50% reduction, voluntary reduction in irrigation. Please follow that. Otherwise, we're going to go to stage three sooner than later. So that's all I have. I take a motion to adjourn.

Are we going to have discussions with Sunset Deal, or is that just for our information? No. Oh, is it for information? Oh, it's for information. Oh, okay. All right.

Motion. Okay. Motion by Kuhl, seconded by Meineke to adjourn. All those in favor, say aye.

Aye.

All opposed, same. We're adjourned, 6.17 p.m. Thanks.

Good meeting. Thank you, everyone.

Thank you, Jason. Yeah, congratulations.

Of course.

Go watch the hat trip.