Council - Regular Meeting

I pledge algiance to the flag [clears throat] 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. Amen.

Amen. All right. I hope there's any changes to the agenda. It's kind of resolution. Um, is there a motion to approve the agenda? All those in favor signify by saying yes.

Post motion carries. Agenda item four is a time that we allow for citizen comments on um from Orange City residents with um non-aggenda items. I don't think that there's anybody here. Are you here to speak on anything, Mike? Okay. Okay. [laughter] Okay. I didn't want to overlook you as you came in. So, we'll go ahead and go on to um agenda item number five, which is exhibit one in your packet, and it's approval of the minutes um from January 5, 2026. If you had a chance to review those, I would entertain a motion for approval. All those oppos I

motion carries. Good. Agenda item six, the fiscal year 2425 comprehensive annual report. Do you Yeah. No, Justin. Justin is here. So, he's already been warned about the three minutes. No, I'm kidding. But welcome, Justin. Thanks for coming.

Yeah, you bet. I'm just here to present the FY25 U audit report um performed by Williams and Company. I'm going to high level uh so if you have questions outside of this meeting, I work tomorrow. So don't be afraid to give me a call. Um I might not have all the answers today as well if you do have some questions, but I'm just going to start on page 10. Uh second paragraph there on page 10 is where we issue our opinion. uh and we're saying in our opinion based off of our audit procedures um that the financial uh statements are materially stated. So there's a clean opinion on on page 10 noted which is what you want. Then I'm going to move forward go to page 29 and 30. This is the balance sheet of the governmental funds. So this does not include the enterprise funds of the city. Okay. But if you look on page 30 there, you can see total assets as of June 30, 2025 of just under 15 million, 14.9. Of that amount, 7.4 was cash as of June 30. And then I want to draw attention to the general fund back on page 29. If you look at the unassigned fund balance at the bottom there, one thing I I always present to city council is how many days of general fund expenses do you have in that unassigned fund balance?

Okay, so if you if we like take your total ex No, I'm just

if we take your total general fund expenses for uh FY25, uh that was $7.3 million. Um so so basically that $4.1 million of unassigned fund balance could run the city for around 27 days. Okay. So FY25 it was $19,995 per day of expenses in the general fund. In FY24 it was $16,817 per day in the general fund. um the unassigned fund balance on FY24 was had enough uh enough in there to cover 202 days. Okay. So, I like to see, you know, 90 to 120 days because that gets you into property tax time uh from the county. So, you know, Orange City is around 200 days currently. Any questions on that? If not, I'll move forward to uh page 32 and 33 real quick. This is the um statement of revenues and expenditures and changes in fund balance again for the governmental funds. So this is just going to show the total revenue. You can see on page 33 there in the governmental funds uh 9.7 million. You can see the total expenses as well there. Uh the city in the governmental funds had excess expenditures over revenue. So call it a loss of just over a million dollars there on page 33 you can see. But if you go down a little bit further on page 33, you'll see $2,74,000. Well, that's the net change in fund balance. So, there was actually an increase in the in the uh governmental fund fund balance after factoring in some debt that was issued. Uh there was some street projects going on in FY25 and and the city issued some bonds and

you can see that also on page 33 of the issuance of debt of $2.6 million. So that increased the city's um net fund balance for the general funds, but there's probably some expenses that will come in play next year and reduce that that governmental fund balance as well. So any questions on that? If not, I'll go to page 37 and 38. Uh this is the uh statement of revenues and expenditure expenses and changes in net position for the proprietary funds. So these are your utility funds. Uh page 38 you can see the total of the operating income between all the utilities was 2.4 million. Uh and if you go down on page 38 you can see the change in net position was 1.9 as well. So was uh you know the net position the operating income was positive for for the utility funds for FY25. Okay. Then I'm going to move ahead to page 76 and 77. This is the I call it the budget to actual, but this just shows what the city budgeted versus what actually was spent. And same on the revenue side. Just want to point out under the expenditure. So on page 77, the the furthest over to the right, that column there, you can see um there was three functions that the city was over budget on, and that would have been culture and wreck, uh community economic development, and then business type. Those are the negative balances you can see in the middle of the page on 77. So the 123,000, uh the 14,000 and the 2.1 million. Um this is common to see and based off what we do, but it's still um important to try to get that budget amendment amended so that you can stay under um you know

what you budget it for. Uh but it's not uncommon to have uh this issue. Uh there is a finding in the audit report related to that as well, but again it's it's it's hard. It's easier said than done. So any questions on that? I'm going to move uh well starting on page 90 and I'm not going to spend any time on this but I would just encourage you guys um in your leisure to look at this stat section because there is some really interesting information in there. It shows uh like prop revenue for the last 10 years, expenses by by function for the last 10 years. It shows your your guys' top 10 property tax payers uh you know for the city in here and some demographic information as far as number of employees this city has and so forth. So just again not anything I'm going to go over but some interesting information in there and then I'm going to go move ahead. Last thing I'll cover is on page 114. When we audit, we're looking for perfection. So, when we audit a city, uh if we come in and we have to propose some journal entries, uh we're going to have what we call uh internal control finding. Um and and we've had it before for the city of Orange City. This isn't new, but again, it's when we audit, we're looking for perfection. So, we did propose some adjustments to the city of Orange City uh that that were made, but as a result, we just have a a material weakness noted um from some of the adjustments that we proposed to the city and and they corrected. So, uh again, it's very high standard. We're literally looking for perfection. Um but I just want to point that out as well that that material weakness is noted in there on page 114.

Any questions?

We have a couple new council members, too. So, if they look this over and then have questions, they can give you a call. Absolutely. Yep.

And one other thing I want to hit on and then I'll I'll get out of here so I don't get tased. Um, [laughter] that city of Orange City does what we call an ACTUER. It's an annual comprehensive financial report and not every not every government does that and it takes extra effort to to do that. There's additional disclosures in here. The stat section for example that I I talked about um it gets submitted to an organization called GFOA and and someone reviews it and then we'll make comments to Kent and myself as far as changes they want to see in the report. So, I just want to point that out that you know the the city goes above and beyond with this uh act for I'll call it doing this act for um you don't have to do it. There's not a huge benefit from doing it but um you know it's just something the city has done for a number of years. Kent and I had a discussion last year. I'm like, Kent, let's stop the actor for But he wanted to to keep it going. And and I just give him, you know, give the city, I should say, praise for for doing that because it just shows a little extra effort and we enjoy working with with clients that, you know, want to do um doing things the right way. So,

so overall, we should keep Kent, [laughter] I suppose. Yeah. Because I think he's the best. So, he does. I know he works closely with a individual Rachel. Um she's a CPA out of Spencer that actually comes over and in charge of this audit and they've been working together for a number of years, but it went really well this year. I'd say one of the the better years um honestly for both parties. So Yep. Yeah. All right. Well, I'm sorry to be long-winded. Oh, you're not. You're fine. Jim, [laughter]

I got a thick coat on that. But no, I appreciate you um and [snorts] all your work. So, thanks for coming. All right, coming here. Thank you. Y Thank you. This for your nighttime reading tonight. You You really probably will really enjoy it. Some people really do. Okay, where are we? We Oh, we need a motion. Do we need a motion to approve that? Please, please. Okay. So, we just need a motion to approve that annual report. All those in favor signify by saying I. I post.

Motion carries financial report. So, we'll call you up here, Kent. All right.

Exhibit two, cash balance on December 31, 2025. And this month biggest thing that we do is we do a lot of transfers that we talk about at budget time and we do those uh in December and June. So uh these are [snorts] all budgeted transfers but just to review uh we take 300. So if you look under dispersed you'll see under the road use tax 300,000 comes out of road use tax. Um 12,000 comes out of cemetery fund, 50,000 comes out of gas, and then what we call our kilowatt hour transfer, that's the number of kilowatt hours uh times 3.5 cents gets transferred back to the general fund as well. So those and that was 161,290. So if you add the 161, 290, the 50, the 12, the 300, we transferred funds into the general fund for $523,270. Again, these were all 50% of what was budgeted. So, and then the last thing is on December 1, our go bonds, we pay uh bond interest. And so that's another big uh uh one of the bigger checks that we write during the month. And that was for $536,000. Uh, of that 205 was come out of debt service, 219 out of water fund, and 112 out of sewer. And then just another uh clarification, if you look under electric dispersed, that 929 obviously is operations plus the 161,000 for the kilowatt hour transfer. And then also you acted on we made the check to animal family animal care for the Dutch front

for 166. So that's another take a couple of those off of there then you're back to the normal operations of the month. That's all I got unless you guys have any specific questions. Any questions for Kent on the financial report? Not I'll entertain a motion for approval. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Motion carries. Monthly bills is agenda item number eight and that's exhibit three.

Yeah. Um just to get couple spots. Uh first page there's Cooney Door. That's our attorney in De Moine. They help us a lot uh with our geo financing and for our tiff plans. And so it's uh Access Holdings, North Wland, Quickstar, and Geo Bond that we're working on currently. That's part of the all that is part of that uh $10,25 fee for this month. Page two, um Beck Engineering, uh some engineering here. The big the bottom two numbers is the 15,000 is work done for Madison Place. Uh, one above that is Canal Second Edition and the one above that is 7th Street that we're working with the DOT for the overlay. That's the 29.996 um, Catalyst Solutions halfway down uh, 9474. We bought three computers on rotation. So, three of them came up for rotation. So, that's the 3378. We had to renew our firewall license. Um, and that was the 2236. And then we have uh IT support every month that you usually see for that 3686. And that's like um you know patches and overseeing our website or our servers and uh malware and and all that. So uh I know it's a big number [clears throat]

that is the 3686 is something that we painted them.

Okay. And then uh that's all on that. Next one I have is page four, Ferguson Waterworks. This is an annual uh budgeted item, but it's software with Neptune for the upgrade for our water and gas meters for that 4840. And another one is on page eight. S&P Global Ratings. This is standard or I don't know if I mentioned this verbally or not, but this is a company that we used to get our rating for our bond issue that's coming up here. We got an uh [clears throat] double A minus issued again. So, which is what we were at before. It's it's about the highest standard you can have for our size with our tax base. Um but yeah, there's a fee that goes into that of course and that's them uh doing the analysis and all that. So that's that for this month in regards to our uh bond issue. And then on page nine, Swift Air, you guys are aware of this. Earl has mentioned this to you before. This is a quarterly fee that we pay to Swift Air for our HVAC system here at city hall.

Sounds like it should be our airplane. What's that? It sounds like it should be our city. Yeah. And that's all I have unless you guys have anything specific. Otherwise, for Andrew and Mark, I usually just hit the high spots, but if you have any questions that you'd love to be looking at over the weekend before you get here, feel free to holler. Otherwise, give me a holler by phone, too. So, wherever you That's all I got. And any questions for anybody? Don't go too far, K. [laughter] Oh. Um, if not, is there a motion for approval? Move. All those in favor signify by saying I.

Opposed. Motion carries. Agenda item number nine is North Wland Urban Renewal Plan. And this is time for a public hearing. It's exhibit four in your packet. So, I'll go ahead and open the public hearing. And is Kent going to talk about it? Are you? I can talk about it if you wish. Yep. This is uh we talked about this at the last meeting with the plan. This is now the public hearing for

this is in regards to tiff monies that we're giving to Skyman Volink for the North Island six lots. Um it's a 10-year uh tiff agreement. Uh Jay has signed that agreement and this is just for the plan. Uh but this is uh those same area, those six lots north of town. So just an open hearing. I'm not sure if anybody's here to speak on that. Do you have any questions? I don't have questions. I'm just here to listen. [laughter] Okay. Then we'll go ahead and close the um public hearing. And we need a motion for the resolution um to approve that. So

and it is a resolution. So, we'll do roll call. We're going to be doing this a lot. See how good I am at your names now. Andrew, yes. Mark, yes. Brett, yes. Olivia, yes. And Derek, yes.

Excellent. Okay. And then um is that the next? Oh, it's part of nine is the um first reading or consideration of ordinance for the division of revenues under section 403.19 for Iowa for North Island urban renewal plan. So, this is one where you can do we need to approve the first reading if there's um I asked Matt if there'd be any reason to hold on for the second or third reading. Um there really isn't. So, if if the council wants to, you can wave the second and third and then we'll do the approval. So, right now we need to start with just the um approval of the first reading. [snorts]

Does that make any sense to anybody? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. And then if council so chooses, you can wave the second and third um reading. And uh I don't think there's anything that would give me support. Okay. Any questions on that? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. And then we need um approval of the um consideration of ordinance or we need approval of the ordinance under section 403.19.

So is there a motion for approval of that ordinance? Um I should probably maybe abstain from that is in in that sixth lot. That's fine. That's that's okay. Yep. Yeah. And um that makes sense. That makes sense. So, is there um Did you make a motion? No, I will. [laughter] Um is there support? Okay. All those in favor signify by saying I I [clears throat]

and opposed. And we have one. So, that's good. Thanks, Mark. All right. Now, that takes us to agenda item 10. And this is also the North Wland urban renewal plan. This is time for the public hearing on the development agreement. Correct. Um between the city and Skyderman Volink real estate development. So I'll go ahead and open the public hearing. Is Cat talking or are you or No, this is really a development agreement that um we put in [clears throat] that were really required as part of the TIFF process. Now that our attorneys have advised us to Okay. a little more deeper agreement what we have done

another hoops to jump through kind of right [clears throat] anybody here to speak on that out of those six lots how many of them are sold and being built on already of those six um they are all sold except the one we're building a spec house on so of those six they have all moved and they're all sold That's good. It's a great addition to the city. It really is. It's Scallan's kind of out of our neighborhood. So, [clears throat and laughter]

there's such a loud No, I miss I'll miss watching the girls walk by. Um so uh we'll go ahead and close that public hearing and then we need a resolution approving and authorizing the execution of a development agreement um with the city and Skyderman. So um is there a motion for that move? And I don't know if that's some Mark. Okay. Yep. You bet. Brett, yes. Olivia, yes. Darren, yes. Yes. Excellent. Didn't think you'd have to be abstaining the second meeting, right? [laughter]

Okay. Agenda item uh number 11 is our go bonds capital loan notice and that you would need to talk about that. Cat, I can make a quick comment. Make a quick comment. Yep. So, I emailed it out to you because of the size. I'm sure you read it page for page, but I'm just teasing you. Yeah, there you go. It's a good It's 150 page document. That's why we emailed it to you.

A lot of information in there. Uh, like I said earlier, this is just the um approving the preliminary official statement to let bond buyers know about Orange City. Uh, one of the steps that we need to go through in regards to the GEO issue for the uh, fire truck. At the next meeting, we will be locking in those rates and uh, but this is just the official statement. uh like just kind a lot of information, employers, tax base, financial condition, and uh yeah, just [clears throat] appreciate it. You got any questions about it? I'd recommend approving that.

What was covered in there again? That was the fire truck and was that so it's the it's the fire truck and then it's some possible refunding and the canal second edition uh as well the street for that that we're helping out with. [clears throat] Okay. And how soon do you know about the refunding? I mean once it so close to the end

Yep. So on Monday that on the sec on the second when we lock in those rates, I'll be working with DA Davidson at the last just to see where those rates are for the it's right on the bubble. I think I mentioned that. So we're going to kind of see if we do it or not, but we're covering ourselves on the public hearing portion and we really we can do it or pull it out at the last minute before we lock. It'll be called a note purchase agreement and that's where we it's kind of like signing your mortgage so to speak and that's where we find out. But um I'll work with Michael Maloney a couple days before the council meeting and then it'll be I'll let you know if we act on it or not.

That's why I just appreciate him so much. [laughter] So we just um need a motion for that resolution. Correct. So move and resolution. So roll call. Brett, yes. Livia, yes. Yes. Andrew, yes. Mark, yes. All right. Excellent. And then agenda item number 12 is a resolution approving tax abatement applications and minimum assessment agreement. That's exhibit five in your packet. I think Janet's going to speak briefly on that.

Uh we just worked through the building permits for last year to prepare possible abatement applications that will qualify. So you guys approve them. The list goes to the county. They determine whether or not they qualify based off of our criteria. So the list Yeah. is the ones that we came up with and have signatures and they're ready to go. So we just have to have a resolution to approve that. Yes. Quick question on that. Maybe it's just me not understanding how it works. So I understand the new builds or new homes,

but then like couple month like renovations or pool. I mean, how does that work? They just if there are remodels over a certain dollar amount, they apply. Yeah, we just we kind of analyze the application and look at their current assessment amount and see if it will meet the criteria possibly. I no guarantees if they will, if the county will. Well, it just depends on what the county is going to assess their improvements at and then base it off of if that is enough to qualify for a program. Gotcha. So, just because they're listed here, it's not a for sure. Sure. Unless you're a new list goes to the county. Yeah. Because they are going to determine what they're going to assess the new value at.

Okay. So, is there a motion for that resolution? Once again, it's a roll call. So, I'll start with you, Olivia. Yes. Andrew, yes. Mark, yes. And Brett, yes. Excellent. 13 is exhibit six in your um packet. And that is an airport property lease. And Matt's going to bring us up to date on

Yeah. So, we've had um Brad Dion Young prepare a lease agreement for us um between us, between the city and ZOMR. the um they've been storing some campers on the runway. Uh the runway uh with with the movement movement of the airport number of years ago, it's been quite an asset for us to um to use for city things, but then also to help uh as a kind of a a temporary incubator space for some businesses or for storage of had some contractors store some equipment out there. Um just kind of been a a nice benefit. that we can offer here and there. Uh with with more and more requests and certainly with the use of the the large tree pile out there, we wanted to more formalize what's what's happening and and specify things like insurance and liability and

I think the those that have used it have included that, you know, that that site as on their own liability policy, but just wanted to more formally um put that into place. So Zmer is the first one we'll be working with. Uh there's other uses out there that we'll continue to some of them will be moving off shortly or or whatever, but um so we recommend going with uh with this this lease agreement. It has a u excuse [clears throat] me a a term of um we have to give notice within 30 days. So if we do have some activity happening out there for future development, we can act pretty quickly on that. or if we have a um another event where we might need the runway for city use, we can recommend moving forward.

We just need a motion to this is for the [clears throat] How many? It's I would say it's probably pretty close to half a mile if not a little further. We took off quite a bit with that 18th Street project. So I think roughly half a mile left. It's probably considered, but yes. Okay. Any other questions? So, a motion to approve that um airport property. Okay.

I posted motion carries. Um agenda item 14, retail encouragement loan program application, and that's exhibit seven. for our mold to fire and lube. Yeah, Ryan is um is out today at a funeral, so I'll be taking care of that. Um they applied with Moulder Moulder's new space, which is looking really good, and I understand it's it's going well there. And so, you sold one CR the first day, so that's good. Keep going. [clears throat]

Um this is a program we have to to encourage retail space, and it's based off of square footage. Um after 3 years the the loan is forgivable. So the uh the cost per square foot is $5.70 and total um loan to Moulder would be uh 10,6470. So recommend approving that. And we have just busy little new council members on here that have to. So is there a motion to approve that um loan pro program for Moulder? All those in favor signify by saying I

I opposed

and one abstain from from uh so excellent. We'll go to agenda item 15 which is um the seventh street reconstruction and resurfacing project and we have to set a public hearing date for that. Correct. Yes, that um we've been working with the DOT on that for a number of years. We applied for some grant funding and that was awarded I think three or four years ago. uh bids will be taking uh the DOT will be taking bids this week on that and uh they'll go through their process to evaluate those bids, but we also need to um have the council officially order construction, sets a public hearing date on the um hearing of the plans and specs and form of contract and potentially if the DOT gets things in place, we'll we'll we'll award the bid at some point to

So, do we know when we want that public hearing? Uh, February 2, right? February 2. Yeah. Matt, does the DOT handle the bid for the whole portion [clears throat] of it? Cuz isn't there a portion that they're doing resurfacing or portion that they're doing? So, it's it's one total project. So, um, it'll be concrete on one half and asphalt overlay on the other half. And that's all one project that they'll be handling. So, and so the the DOT funding will apply for the entire piece of that. Yeah. Any other questions? Yeah, we've been working on that one. Yeah, it's been out there. [clears throat]

Yeah. So, we just need um a motion for that resolution to order um the construction of the seventh street reconstruction and resurfacing and also setting the public hearing date for February 2, 2026. Yes, sir. Okay. And that again is a resolution. So we'll do roll call. I'll start with Darren. Yes. Andrew. Yes. Mark. Yes. [clears throat] Yes. Okay. Brent's just right on the Don't even have to say anything.

Okay. Agenda item 16, Lansir Golf Course Board member approval. I don't know if Darren or Matt want to talk about And I'm um so every year we have two outgoing board members and so we have to um get approval for the two that are uh coming on to the um Lance Golf Course Board. So this year is Paul Jansen and Jameson Guth Miller and they're replacing Austin Wrights and Aaron Auberson. Correct. Correct. [clears throat] And those terms are threeyear

three-year terms. So, we just need a motion to approve the appointment um of Paul Jansen and Jameson Gthm Miller. So, move. All those in favor signify by saying yes. Yes. And we'll move on to number 17, which is a renewal application for class C retail alcohol license from Lansmir Golf and also renewal application for class B from Dollar General. And I think everything's in order. And can we do them together? You can do them together. Okay. So, is there a motion to approve that those two alcohol license renewal?

All those in favor signify by saying I oppos. Motion carries. Okay. Administrative reports. Matt. Uh yeah, got a couple things here today. um with [clears throat] some new staff and new council be scheduling some time for um some photos for for a website and so if anybody else wants to retake I think it's 2022 since we did that last so high pressure yeah [laughter] we have a makeover before right before so just so you know yeah

yeah so I'll keep keep you informed on that um had a project meeting last week with our engineer and had list of great things going on. It lasted quite a bit longer than what we thought it would. Just a couple high highlights of that. Uh the windmill park um that is coming along pretty well. And actually Diamond Vogle is looking to have a ribbon cutting likely this spring. Uh so how close are they to [clears throat] hard to tell? You know, it's hard to tell. I think there's some things with turf that need to be there yet. Um um I think most the bulk of the work is done. And I think there's some additional things to to finish up there, but um

different in May than it does in January, won't it? Yeah,

it will. It will. So um and of course consider [clears throat] our continued construction on the R Perry development. Um some of the I think there's uh footings are are work on four buildings being done and um the the developer and contractor is working through some of the the unknowns that we anticipated happening up on that location and they're they're able to fortunately they're able to work around that. I think they had to move a detention pond. um doesn't really impact future building of what they have planned so far, but um so far nothing to you know eliminate one building or shut the project down. So it's big. It's just some trying to shift some things around which they're able to work through. So that's that's been fortunate. Um working with the uh canal second edition be closing on that property next week. So that I think the vision builders wants to hit the ground running this spring. um also working with Grunowick on on their development as well. Um getting closer on that. Uh several things that we've talked about have have dealt with detention and drainage and of course that that's uh that's an issue um as we've seen with more pronounced um intense rains the last number of years and u working through with with Beck Engineering on a detention ordinance basically making it a reasonable effort for not only new construction but um but additional construction for instance New Hope is looking at a at a building addition. What what can a project like that do even though they are are kind of landlocked there but want to expand protect those downstream? So things like that that we want to be able to um really put into place but have a reasonable approach for certainly for existing buildings as well.

Do we have any sort of ordinance now?

So we we adopted the Iowa SUDAST standard. So that's statewide urban design and that that does have have some detention requirements um particularly for new development uh like Madison Place will be incorporating um a detention pond into that. So um so just that'll be coming. We're going to do some additional work and study on that. So um had a Sou County Regional Airport meeting this afternoon and u a lot of good things going on out there. did ask about a report to council at some point and suggested that uh could do one better and have a meeting out there someday. So maybe we'll look at perhaps doing that. I don't know if anybody's had a tour of that facility, but it's it's pretty neat what happens out there. So

yeah. So impressive mind. So that's all I had. Okay, no cat. Jim, no. Okay. Council Andrew, do you have anything? Nothing. Nothing. Mark, no. He was at Lion's Club today. He was the He and Andrew, you go next week, right? We should go. Yes. I don't care about you guys. You're old. Old old. [laughter] Brett, do you have anything? Nothing. Olivia, no. There. Nope.

No. And I don't have anything either. This is the time that we'll take a little break and then we go into our fun and budget discussions with Kent as the main star. So, anybody's welcome to stay, but you um sure don't have to. So, we don't really do we don't do it a No, but I'm going to we're going to we are going to um turn off the camera at this time just because it's I don't have long enough to do it. No. So, we will be going off the air. Thanks everybody. Hi.