City Council - Regular Meeting

Ready when you are, Chris.

Okay. It's 5.30. I'm calling this meeting to order. For those that would like to participate, rise for the invocation. And then we will go to the Pledge of Allegiance.

1 Chronicles 11, verse 4. David and all the Israelites marched to Jerusalem. The Jebusites who lived there said to David, you will never get this city. Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion, the city of David. Father, we know that there are many powers and many forces that are working against the things that you have planned for this city. Yet we are reminded, God, that with you, all things are possible. And so, Father, as David of old stood in faith, believing that the city belonged to you, that he pressed forward, that he did the impossible, Lord, and that against all the odds, against all the naysayers, against all the people who said the city would never be won, the city would never be restored, you showed yourself strong. So we call upon that God tonight. We call upon the God who is faithful. We call upon the God who does the impossible. Father, that you would help soften all of our hearts with the spirit of humility, that the division, the personalities that clash at times, Lord, that it would all be placed to the side, that a true spirit of humility would rest upon each and every heart that is in this room, every leader that is present tonight. Father, that we would lead with grace, that we would lead with compassion, that we would lead with boldness, that we would lead with a kingdom mindset. Father, I speak blessing over our mayor, over each of our council members, over the police department that is represented tonight, and over each of the city department heads that is here. God, that you would bless them. that you would help them to overcome any weakness that is standing in the way of what needs to be accomplished for us to capture this city and to take this city to the next level. God, we are people of faith. We believe that you can. And tonight, Lord, we declare your will be done in Ottumwa as it is in heaven. In Jesus' name, amen.

United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

You may be seated. Chris, if you would take the roll.

Council Member Dupre? Here. Council Member Kavanagh?

Here.

Council Member Reid?

Here.

Council Member Galloway? Here. Council Member Hoffman?

Here.

Mayor Foote?

Here. First item would be consent agenda part one. Do I have a motion to approve consent agenda? Motion to approve.

Move to approve.

Okay, any questions, comments? Chris, if you would take the roll, please.

Council Member Dupre? Yes. Council Member Kavanagh?

Yes.

Council Member Reed?

Yes.

Council Member Galloway? Yes. Council Member Hoffman?

Yes. Next, we move to consent agenda part two. Do I have a motion to approve?

So moved. Second. Second.

Chris, take the roll, please.

Council Member Dupre. Yes. Council Member Kavanagh.

Yes.

Council Member Reid.

No.

Council Member Galloway. Yes. Council Member Hoffman.

Yes. With that, I would entertain a motion to approve the agenda.

So moved.

Second. Chris, take the roll, please.

Council Member Dupre. Yes. Council Member Kavanagh. Yes. Council Member Reid.

Yes.

Council Member Galloway. Yes. Council Member Hoffman. Yes.

With that, I'll turn it over to Administrator Rath for his report.

All right. Thank you, Honorable Mayor. So I just wanted to mention the end of last week, I was at the Iowa City Manager Conference. And I plan to do, as part of my report, monthly report, next meeting, or the August 4th meeting, more of a thorough investigation report, especially on one particular, the keynote speaker was talking about civility in government and civility in kind of just the world today. And that was a very interesting and timely one that I'd like to take a little more time to collect my thoughts on that and present some of what they had. The rest of the conference was just different work sessions that talked about some of the other things that were going on, changes to legislation with respect to the TIF laws and what used to be perpetual TIFs that now will have a sunset period, changes with how school taxes or school levies are taken out of that. Just a variety of other other topics, so I'll plan to present them that a little bit more at the next meeting. Tonight, one of the things that was set out with goals about a month ago, one of the things I was talking about was hoping to have priority-based budgeting finalized in a presentation to you tonight. A number of things have happened outside of expectations since talking about that. But I wanted to at least give a little bit of an overview of where I'm at with that process so far, plans ahead for expectations for accounts for a city to look at. And then I also have a little bit of homework for the elected officials. Part of what priority-based budgeting is, the key word there, the priority, is helping to establish what those priorities are. And so I'm going to hand these out to you, and I'll go through it just a little bit so you have a little explanation of what to do with it. And I'll get one for you, Chris, so pass it all the way down. So there are two sides to this, just to be wary. And one side is the governance criterion and the other side is the community criterion. The difference there when looking at the different programs or services that we provide, you have some that are internal facing that support staff will provide to internal that the public doesn't necessarily see the direct benefit from, for example, payroll. This public will see the benefit of paying staff, but they don't see that direct benefit on a daily basis. compared to patrolling the streets. They're going to see the squad cars out there. They're going to see officers. So when you're evaluating those or scoring those, there's going to be a little bit of difference on the internal versus the external. The governance are the internal ones. And so what I'm asking for each of you to do is when you look through this, There's what the criterion is in the left there, and then a definition to help better define what that is, is rate those as important to you from one to eight. So one, the most important, eight, the least important, and then you'll go through. And so it should be one number for each of those categories and don't duplicate those. Same thing with the community, although there's only seven of those. So obviously they'll go up to seven, one through seven and score those. Again, based off of what you feel is the most important to you today. Turn those into me, I will then calculate those, tabulate them and based off of the averages, we'll identify the top three to five from that. That will then be used to help with scoring once the work with staff to get the programs identified, the costs associated, both the personnel and non-personnel costs to determine what that cost is for each of the different services that are provided in the general fund. Then a score will be assigned to it and that's that priority part. So in the end, what you'll get is all of the various services in the general fund that have been identified with a cost associated with it and then a score, what's most important to least important based off of that. And we'll break it out into quadrants essentially. So now, as far as where I'm at, what I've done is I've started working on the ones that I have the direct oversight for within the general fund so that I can, when I go to the different employees, show them here's an example of what it should look like. So I'm working into the programs that I have. I'll assign the cost to it. And by the end of this week, I plan to have all of that done with mine. Next week then I'll be going out to work with department heads, show them what I'm expecting, illustrate how to do that, and then give them the tools to do that themselves. And then hopefully have all these responses back from you and be able to tabulate those next week. And then the following week, be revisiting with department heads, finalizing anything that hasn't been completed yet, and begin scoring those programs. And then the following week, finalize the scoring and prepare a report for city council. just to give you an update on where I'm at with that, because I know it was something that is important and want to keep tabs on.

Administrator Rathman, would you like this back, like a hard date?

What was that?

A hard date on when you would like this back.

Well, hopefully. Sometimes with these, if that's just a quick thing, I would say if I can get them by Monday of next week would be ideal. If you need more time, let me know and we'll work out a new hard date. And that was all I had under my report for tonight.

Okay, I guess I would, is there any other questions from Council on your homework? Or my homework?

Thank you, it's a nice report.

Yes. Okay, with that, I will, anybody who would like to speak on any of the items on the agenda, I would like you, if you could, to fill out a little slip of paper. They're in the basket on the banister. And then that way they can get those up to me and I can get you plugged in on the right item on the agenda. So I would encourage you to do that. And with that, we'll move to public hearing.

This is the time, place, and date set for a public hearing on the proposal to convey certain real property at 340 North Marion Street, Ottumwa, Iowa to Alma Perez.

So with that, I would declare the public hearing open and turn it over to Planning Zoning Coordinator, Mr. Rush.

Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, Council. The city accepted bids on this property until two o'clock on June 18th, 2026. We received one bid submitted by Alma Perez in the amount of $7,777.77. And the staff recommends accepting this bid. So any questions from Council?

Okay, since this is a public hearing, I would open it up. Is there anyone in the audience that would like to speak on this item? And seeing none, did we receive any other form of communication, pro or against?

No, I didn't.

Okay. With that, I'd entertain a motion to close the public hearing.

Motion to close.

Second. Chris, take the roll, please.

Council Member Dupre. Yes. Council Member Kavanagh. Yes. Council Member Reed.

Yes.

Council Member Galloway. Yes. Council Member Hoffman. Yes. Resolution number 164, 2026, accepting the bid and approving the sale of 340 North Marion to Alma Perez for the sum of $7,777.77. Recommendation pass and adopt resolution number 164, 2026. Move the recommendation. We have a second. Second. Second.

Any other questions or comments from Council? Chris, take the roll, please.

Council Member Duprey? Yes. Council Member Cavanagh? Yes. Council Member Reed? Yes. Council Member Galloway? Yes. Council Member Hoffman?

Yes. Thank you.

Appointment of Director of Finance for the City of Ottumwa. Recommendation, confirm the appointment of Michael Lee as the Director of Finance for the City of Ottumwa effective on or before September 1st, 2026.

Do I have a motion to approve?

Motion to approve.

Second.

Administrator Rath.

Thank you. Mike Lee has worked in the area of finance for over 20 years, including some time with municipal departments. Additionally, he has achieved recognition as a certified public accountant. Based upon his prior financial and leadership experience, the starting salary was recommended to be set at a step five on the grade 14 scale for director of finance. In accordance with the compensation policy, Lee's CPA credits him additional two steps as long as he maintains that status, resulting in a starting salary at step seven, which equates to the $142,812. That figure is currently within the fiscal year 27 budget. The posted range for the position of finance director was based upon the compensation schedule for grade 14. That range for fiscal year 27 is between 124,174 to 161,426. As noted in a previous meeting, we received a total of six applications. Of those applications, three met the criteria for the position and were offered an interview. One of the three withdrew prior to their interview and of the two remaining, Lee was selected and confirmation of the appointment is put before you at this time. The proposed salary of $142,812 reflects the responsibilities of managing approximately $60 million in public resources and aligns with the market for similar sized Iowa municipalities. The finance director is responsible for safeguarding taxpayer dollars, oversees the budget, financial reporting, debt management, investments, audits, and compliance. The position directly influences the city's financial stability and long-term planning. Offering a competitive salary helps the city attract and retain qualified leadership while protecting a much larger public investment. I am aware of concerns related to the compensation and the budget shortfall. In response to those concerns, the amount is within the current budget and the position is covered by internal administrative fees, meaning a reduced salary would not positively affect the budgetary shortfall. I've also been asked, can we hire someone for less? And while that could be possible, the posted compensation affects the size and quantity of the applicant pool. Offering a salary that is in line with comparable Iowa municipalities increases the likelihood of attracting candidates with the experience needed to manage the city's finances effectively and reduces the risk and costs associated with frequent turnover. If City Council opts to reject the request and re-advertise it at a lower salary range, the pool of six applicants will very likely shrink, as will the pool of qualified and or experienced individuals. Finance director for a city of our size with a $60 million budget is responsible for financial stewardship, which extends beyond accounting. For example, managing approximately $60 million in annual public funds, developing and monitoring the city's operating and capital budgets, cashflow and investment management, debt issuance and long-term financial planning, financial reporting and audit oversight, grant compliance, internal controls and fraud prevention, supervising the finance staff, and advising city council and administrator on financial policy. Additionally, an experienced finance director can often produce savings that exceed the cost difference between salary levels through better investment returns on public funds, lowered borrowing costs through sound debt management, strong internal controls that reduce the risk of fraud or audit findings, improved purchasing and budgeting practices, successful grant administration, and avoidance of cost compliance penalties. A single well-managed bond issuance or successful grant can offset years of incremental salary costs. Because we are asking this position to oversee tens of millions of taxpayer dollars, ensure compliance with state and federal requirements, support long-term financial planning, and advise elected officials on complex financial decisions, I believe the request of compensation reflects the level of responsibility and the market for a professional with the skill and experience Lee brings to the position, and I respectfully request the confirmation.

Okay, thank you. Is there any questions or comments from council?

So it's definitely a position of a lot of responsibility and it's not the kind of responsibility you just get to throw it down at the end of the day and you kind of take some of it home with you to think about and be concerned about. So it's that kind of a job, excuse me, that it's just kind of always with you, I imagine. It's a big responsibility. There's a lot to it.

Yes, I would agree.

I guess I would comment to in the last four or five years, we've gone through for this would be our full fourth hire, but fifth person's acting in that role. Am I correct in that? So we do need some stability in that area, especially with if we're working on shifting to priority-based budgeting and different budgeting tips or ways that the mayor has spoken about too. We need consistency because bringing a new finance director in every few years is not working for us.

I understand the process we're going through, but I just, I need to be transparent. I have nothing against, I don't have a problem with the decision-making process. I don't have a problem with Bill and Barb and the committee narrowing down to the best candidate. I do think about the salary though. I mean, because we have been scrutinized, we're with a shortfall. And, you know, just to be honest with the public in my mind, I, I kind of get frustrated with myself when I think this way, because I understand that you have to pay the money to get the talent, but I also understand we don't have the money. I mean, you know, we're, we're in an extreme shortfall. So I am still actually like up in the air on this. And I just want to say that to be transparent, it's nothing against the applicant. It's nothing against their process. It's not that I think they didn't pick the best candidate. It, it revolves all around financial stability.

yeah and that was the the point i was making with the internal administrative fees this isn't on the tax levy this isn't going to help shorten that or shrink that shortfall at all um whether we pay the 142.8 that's requested or you paid 80 000 that 60 000 is not going all it'll do is change the potential of that administrative fee internally and shrink those dollars it's it's similar to like the road use dollars that are collected for the administrative fees are used for that internal operations, same as the road use taxes for roads.

And so everybody knows I didn't throw Phil a curveball. We discussed some of this. So I just want people to know I'm not attacking Phil here.

Well, I think you bring up a good point as to how it deals with general fund. It also comes down to public perception. And I think we're all, like you said, we're under a lot of scrutiny, and rightfully so. One of the questions that I had come to me recently in regards to this, and it was someone who had read the staff summary, obviously. because they had asked about the steps and how all that worked and how come, you know, in some instances, you got to start on step one. When you come work for us, you start on step one. Everybody starts on step, you know, and then now we're seeing, okay, they're starting on a step five and then a seven. And how does that work and how is that justified? Because if I go in and apply for, say, a streets position as a utility worker, And I get that while I come in wherever grade that is on a step one, correct? And then I got to each year I move up a step based on how many years I've been working here. And so part of the question there is how do we get to a step five right out of the gate?

Yeah, so with the compensation plan, and this would be if you ever see a posting, and we'll say it's not the city, it's anywhere else, and it's got your salary depending on qualifications. That's what this is. So there's a range, and the range is posted. Somebody could start at step one if they have no experience, whether it's no municipal experience or no finance experience, they're right out of school. They're starting most likely on that step one. Somebody coming from in the finance world might be a couple steps up because they have experience there that they can. You're not starting from ground zero. They have a base of experience of skill of information that they're drawing from somebody with municipal experience. even further because maybe you're grabbing them for example with our finance director o'donnell he went from here to another municipality i'm going to assume i didn't ask him but i'm assuming he didn't start at step one because he has a number of years of experience similar with this um and and that's where somebody uh could potentially start steps ahead um Police officer, if we draw a police officer from another community or fire or even streets, when you're talking about that, if they have some experience that's relatable into the position, they may start now investigating. With the union setting, it may be a little different as far as where we can get them to start. But if they have experience coming in, then we'd want to accommodate them for that experience and pay them appropriately to give them that incentive to leave wherever they're to come here.

Yeah. Okay. No, that's good. I just wanted to get that explanation out there because it can be hard to understand.

I'm in agreement with everything that everybody has said, and I've been struggling with this as well. And being the first new one, and this is the first appointment we've had, I struggled with it. So I wanted to write it out to make it truly clear on what I was thinking about as far as the recommendation for Michael Lee for our open financial director position. First, let me say, I think Mr. Lee is very qualified CPA. He has ties here at the City of Ottumwa, which I think is a plus, and a strong background in the aviation facilities and private industry and academia accounting. And I'm sure his experience would be a benefit to anyone who he works for. He's been exposed to many... different types of work in some municipality accounting at the airports he's worked for, but not for an entire city, which I have learned in the last seven months is a more complex than any large facility or corporation with several entities. Having said that and giving it some thought and doing my own research as to the duties of the financial director, I went to our own city ordinance for information. And that was when I read chapters two administration, article four, section two dash 80 B3 with the following passage. And it said the office of the finance director and treasurer may be combined with the office of the city administrator by resolution of the city council. And based on that, it made me think that, Maybe our current extremely high shortfall this year with our budget, it might be better off if that we withheld hiring a new financial director and combine the position with our current administrator. Mr. Rath is fully aware of our budget shortfall problems and has been working on the new budgeting plan, which you explained this evening. He's aware of our current accounting system and how the city functions with its multiple layers and the abilities of the current staff. If we were able to do this, it would save us not only in salary, but the benefit package expenses. I'm aware that Mr. Rath may have to hire another employee for the finance department to do some of the accounting functions that Lauren is currently handling. but that employee would be someone at a much lower cost and not only to the department, but to the city and the citizens. So I would like to propose that maybe we table this recommendation at this time so that we as a council can discuss it as an alternative and a possibility with the mayor and Mr. Rath.

I'll second that.

Is there a motion?

So she ended with a motion to table the decision. And now we have a second. Obviously there's discussion. I have someone here that did wanna speak on this and I'd like to hear from them before we go into discussion about the tabling, if that's okay. It's fine by me. Okay, so Katie Howard.

Good evening. Katie Howard, 15477 Eddyville Road, Ottumwa. Much of what I prepared to say tonight has been changed by the additional information which Mr. Rath presented. None of that was in the packet. So I'll skip forward. I just would like to say I do not know the applicant. I don't know anything about him or his qualifications. My concerns are process related. So this is a director level position. It is a crucial position. And I've been in your situation before. You're anxious to get it filled. You want to have a qualified applicant. It appears you may have one. If he's truly interested in the position, he'll hold. He'll hold for a bit. I think with only six applicants, and from what I could hear, I'm sorry I couldn't hear it all, but from what I could hear, not all of them were actually very qualified. So with only that few applicants, I would encourage you to either reopen the recruitment or look very, very hard at the people that you have. We don't have to look very far back in local history to see what happens when a recruitment is lax or rushed with Dr. Ian Roberts. So I know the temptation is to fill the position. I understand that you need work done, but you need to have a good fit. I don't know if this individual has interviewed with the people he would be reporting to yet, You need to have a good fit. You need, clearly, based on the resignation from Mr. Cole, he was dissatisfied. He was unhappy with the environment. And so, obviously, it was not a fit. I realize the council changed during that time, but it was not a fit. And I think it's critical that you take the time to get a fit this time. Okay. As far as the salary, the administrator's recommendation is very short, states only that the applicant has over 20 years of experience in areas of finance and has worked, spent some time in municipal departments It appears that perhaps the council has been given information about this individual's background that was not in the packet. So if that's the case, I withdraw my comments. But to me, looking at this, it wasn't even clear that the position had been advertised. It wasn't clear whether other candidates had been considered. It wasn't clear. There was no resume attached. There was nothing specific about his job history There was no proof of credentials. There were there were just so many gaps that it was it was very troublesome. So at 150,000, I would think you would want to close to 150,000. I think you'd want a very competitive process. And I thank you for your time.

Thank you. So with that, we do have a motion to table with a second. And so I would open it up for comments or questions on that.

I guess I would just ask what that looks like. I mean, you had Cole was doing 40 hours a week, that'd be 80 hours a week than working then with no additional compensation is what I'm assuming. I don't know that that works for the points I was making.

To be fair to Phil and Mr. Lee, I agree with the table and I don't want to make a rush of judgment. Can we do a special work session?

Yeah.

Well, we haven't voted on the table yet. Sorry, I didn't want to put the carpet on the horse.

I guess, yeah, let's go through the conversation and what that looks like to make sure you know where your vote is.

Because even though I agree with the comments.

That's why I wanted a table was so we could have a discussion so that we could see if it was possible. I was just going by what was in the ordinance that said that this would be something that you can do in combining positions. and it would be a savings. I just was asking if we could table this and discuss it openly amongst all of us and see if it was possible, if it made any sense. I'm just trying to save the city money.

Right, and that makes it fair to Mr. Lee, since we can all talk about it, and we. We don't want to overload Phil, city administrator. And I know that's not what she meant. That's not what I'm saying. That's the reason for the discussion.

So I'm understanding then where your position is, Mr. Hoffman, is if we do table it, that we would bring it off the table as quickly as possible. Absolutely.

Right. And of course, with a special work session in between.

Yeah.

Okay. You're good with that?

I'm good with that. I don't want to hold it up for Mr. Lee, but I also think that we have to do our due diligence for our community to look at all aspects to see what makes sense.

Chris, was our meeting scheduled next Tuesday? Could we get it in as quick as that?

Yes, we do have one scheduled next week.

We may shift the agenda a little bit. If that's the case, I would propose we shift the agenda from what we were going to talk about to this and just focus on this.

So it does seem to me like it's really a non-starter for Administrator Rath to do both jobs. I don't see how that could possibly work in my idea. And the city needs a finance director, so we need to be very, we need to expedite as best we can for sure.

When was Mr. Lee going to start? September 1st.

Right.

Okay. On or before? On or before. September 1st. So I guess I'm asking that, is it unreasonable to wait another week to make sure the decision is correct?

Yeah, that may push that time out. I mean, if he's still interested, it would be, you know, he has to give notice for his other current position. And this was one of the reasons why I had kind of requested the compensation question of counsel before to get a sense. Now this is out publicly. I would say I don't know it's fair to the applicant to have this conversation at this time. Now that it's out there publicly that I wanted to offer that to him. I can't say that's necessarily fair to me to have that dumped on. It's an operational, yes, council has that authority under the code, but typically that'd be from a recommendation, operational recommendation from myself or a city administrator to consider that for a variety of reasons. I don't know that to the points that were made that operationally that gets the city the best, myself or the finance director.

well and you know a lot of constructive things have been said but i i do go kind of with councilman reed about we don't want to load you know what i mean we don't want to load too much on i mean it's just when somebody's over that much there's a lot of room for error and we're talking about getting our our money is worth but what council member dupree said it makes total sense i you know that's why i'm kind of frustrated i'm up in the air like i said i think we all understand we need to have the money to attract the talent but then when you're in a shortfall um it's we're in a position where we have to answer to the public and the people who put us up here and I know we've been charged with making decisions, but they're not easy all the time. This one's kind of a difficult one. It really is. So I just want to make sure that everybody knew it's not an attack. We talked about it. I want the special meeting just to get this all out so we don't have to decide somebody's fate in 10 minutes.

Yeah, so I just want to comment. So back when we were looking for, oh, I think it was my, I don't know, I think I'd been here not very long, but we were looking for the next finance director, and that was a long process to find. To the point of like where we went out multiple times because we were not getting qualified applications. So we had applications come in. We're like, these don't these are not qualified and we put it out again. So that is something that I do commend Barb and Administrator Rath on doing often. But I will say Administrator Rath was in the position where he was acting also as the finance director too, and that was a lot. There was things that... He was having to do, and then other things were getting put on the back burner, and then things were having to get rushed to get done because it's a lot, as we all know. And so I just very much caution us if we go in that direction to understand that things could get dropped, balls could get dropped, and right now we're talking about really trying to transform how we're doing our budget, and I don't know if that's... going to be great with just one person when we're also when he also has other responsibilities and goals that we've put on him too and we don't have a full finance staff right now too which i think um council person dupre said you know looking to hire that position too so but just um putting it out there that we have seen this um in an interim and it wasn't the best

I'd just like to make two quick points. One, as I mentioned, saving dollars in this area doesn't help the shortfall. In fact, it may hurt it in the long run without having somebody that's qualified to be able to manage the dollars. For all those points I made earlier, I think it's penny wise and pound foolish to go this route. This is where having two people that are focused on solving the financial issues is much better than one trying to do two jobs.

If I can add some food for thought as well, just kind of not only maybe answering some of council's concerns, but also Katie that had spoken. So in a lot of cities, our size, yes, we can combine the finance director with the city administrator. It is not a common thing. It is more common in smaller cities. And so just food for thought that that is not typically as common. One of the other things being in HR and talking with HR around the state, the finance director is one of the toughest positions to fill. There is a city that's out there that just filled their finance director and they sat for 18 months without one. Last week, I got an email from a city administrator asking us, they have a finance director position open and they're not getting applicants. And the question was, hey, I saw you had yours open. What did you do? How did you do this? How are you recruiting for this? Because we can't find somebody. As far as the application process, it is open for all internal applicants. We had actually spoken internally with some of the people that are in the department to see if there is interest that's there. They have the ability to apply just like anyone else. Reopening the application, again, I really have a concern that we're not going to get that applicant pool. We have a qualified person. It is someone that we have interviewed. We have spoken with him. We have done reference checks on this person. And before the person actually comes on board, we do all of those other checks. So we would not get into an Ian Roberts situation. We utilize E-Verify, and we have utilized that for many years now. So there's still a level of checks that is done that has been entrusted to us as HR as part of our hiring process. There is very specific within our hiring policy. These are very specific steps that we have to do. As far as the steps and everything, that's part of our compensation handbook movement through there. It's very clearly, it's outlined within there. I am happy to sit and talk with anybody and we can... go through anything, whether it's council, whether it's employees, whether it's the public, and we can go through each and every one of those policies and take a look at it to provide just that information, just to be open with everyone and so they can see why we do the things that we're doing.

Your Honor, I'd like to bring to your attention that there is a motion on the floor.

That's correct, yes.

And I think we should follow through with a vote and then we can have all the discussion that anybody wants.

Yes, I am reminded by Mr. Cavaness, we do have a motion on the floor to table. And my understanding is that if we were to table, we would put this on the agenda as fast as we could, meaning next week. So that's the motion, it's been a second. There's no other discussion about tabling it. Chris, take the roll, please.

Council Member Duprey? Yes. Council Member Cavanagh?

Yes.

Council Member Reed?

No.

Council Member Galloway? No. Council Member Hoffman?

Yes.

Okay. Motion carries.

So with that motion, we would be tabling this and we'll put this on the agenda for next week. And then I would ask that this would be the only thing on that agenda.

What was the other one? What was the other item?

What's that?

What was the other item?

There were two items. There was one where we were going to review a goal that had come up in discussion for the administrator. And then I can't remember the other one.

No, that's not yet.

No, it wasn't e-bikes. I'd have to look again.

Yeah. Yeah.

It was, yep. It was salary schedule if I remember right. Okay.

Yeah.

So, but now those will wait. And yeah, my understanding is we can move on then.

Resolution number 160-2026, designation of official location for posting public comment, public meeting notices per Iowa code section 21.4. Recommendation pass and adopt resolution number 160-2026.

Is there a motion to approve?

Move the motion.

this is yours chris all right during the iowa legislative session for 2026 house file 2490 an act relating to public meetings and records including public notice requirements for meetings of a governmental body supervision and fees associated with examining and copying public records employment separation information for certain government employees contractors or appointees and injunctions to restrain vexatious requesters was passed and signed on May 15th, 2026. Iowa code section 21.4 as amended by house file 2490 effective July 1, 2026 requires governmental bodies to annually designate an official prominent and conspicuous location where notices of public meetings will be posted and visible to the public. We have identified this as on the first floor of City Hall located at 105 East 3rd Street next to the handicap accessible entrance. And we do have it labeled there as notices. And this is where we post all notices for the City of Ottumwa. Agenda notices are posted there along with all of our civil service items. And I would entertain any questions because this will come to you every year.

Chris, is it possible we could post that in the elevator as well? for those of us that use the elevator on a regular basis?

We used to post the meeting notices actually on the glass doors. That way you can see it even if city hall is closed, which is nice, but we are meeting the requirements as opposed to smaller cities, because we are posting it on our website as well. So we are having it out there. you know, a physical copy as well as an electronic copy. So we're kind of going above and beyond, but if you would like to have one posted in the elevator, I can absolutely do that. I don't know if I would include that necessarily in this resolution because we are meeting requirements contained in it. But if you want one posted there, I absolutely can do that.

I think that's fine. You don't have to include it in this resolution, but I would appreciate having something posted in the elevator.

Okay.

I can do that.

So it's good. It's by the handicapped entrance and stuff. It makes it easier for folks that way. But it's online. That would be the easiest way to see it for some anyway. And so I think it's good.

Any other questions? Okay. Chris, take the roll, please.

Council Member Dupre? Yes. Council Member Kavanagh? Yes. Council Member Reid?

Yes.

Council Member Galloway? Yes. Council Member Hoffman?

Yes.

Resolution number 163, 2026, approval of an agreement for the development and construction of pickleball courts at Traeger Park and authorize the mayor to sign. Recommendation passed and adopt resolution number 163, 2026.

Is there a motion to approve?

Move the resolution.

Second. Mr. Hathaway.

Thank you, Your Honor. The Friends of Otomo Parks desires to build nine pickleball courts in Traeger Park. The old tennis courts have been removed by the Parks Department and the site is ready for construction. The agreement is attached and this agreement was approved by the Ottoma Parks Advisory Board at the meeting on April 14th, 2026. David Nino Leo is present to make a presentation regarding the agreement and the Pickleball Court project.

Okay, any questions or comments? Oh, we got more.

sorry good evening mayor and members of the city council this is the second time i have the opportunity to speak to you regarding this project and um i'm here representing this evening friends of otombo sparks and also the traeger park pickleball ad hoc committee I would first like to acknowledge that our organizations have entered into memorandum of understanding with the city of Ottumwa that outlines how we will work together to bring this project to completion. And I appreciate the city's legal team and the parks department for working with us through several revisions to develop an agreement that clearly defines our respective responsibilities. I'm also pleased to report that the first major milestone identified in that agreement has already been completed. The former tennis courts at Surrogate Park have been demolished, and I would like to thank the city for providing that important in-kind contribution to the project. I would also like to recognize parks director, Jean Rashi, who also serves on the Friends of Otombos Parks Board of Directors, and also thank the city's engineering department for visiting the site and providing valuable feedback on the proposed court layout and design. The memorandum of understanding also specified that construction will not begin until all project funds have been secured. And we are committed to honoring the requirement. As some of you may remember from my first presentation, our original fund raising target was $205,000. Since then, it has increased approximately 6% due to rising construction costs. And our current phase one fundraising goal now is $218,500. To date, we have raised approximately 75% of that goal. We only have approximately $57,000 remaining to raise before the construction can begin, only $57,000. The funding we have secured so far has come from the Ottumwa Regional Legacy Foundation grants, generous contributions from local pickable players and support from several small businesses in our community. So we are all grateful for the confidence in this project and all contributors will be appropriately recognized when the facility opens. We currently have one grant application pending, and we are actively reaching out to major employers, businesses, and community partners throughout the region to help us close the remaining funding gap. $57,000 is not a lot. Our goal is to complete phase one this year. So the target dimension, the $218,000 is for phase one. That's our 2027 phase. So imagine phase one includes everything inside the fence playing area. So that includes the courts, the inner fencing, the nets and the surfaces and not infrastructure needed to open the facility for public play. That's phase one, phase one public play. In the base case scenario, we hope the course will be completed and open before the end of 2026. Phase two will follow in 2027 as a separate fundraising effort. Phase two includes improvements outside the fence course, and that includes benches, bleachers, walkways, landscaping, seating areas, and hopefully beautiful native wallflower plantings. So we look forward to taking on that next phase with the same community support that has brought us this far. And I'll be happy to answer any questions. Otherwise, I thank you for your time this evening and for your continued support for Otomo Public Spaces.

I have a question. So I think the first time you presented, it was eight courts were talked about, but now we're moving up to nine.

It has always been nine. It's going to be a three by three configurations. I think that comment may have come from, for once we thought that the center court could be used as a staging or social area, but it looks like we're going to use all nine courts. That will make this space more competition and tournament friendly, which is what will bring people to Tomboy to play.

Perfect. And then I just have a question too. So you all have, you're doing a fantastic job with fundraising and that's really awesome to see. So if people like you said, generous donations from pickleball players and other people have been a big part of this. So if people wanted to continue to donate to like a maintenance or a reserve fund, would they do that through the foundation or through the city?

um i would need to refer to one particular um paragraph in the memorandum of understanding as far as i know once the project is completed and open i mean phase one and phase two in 2027 then um the city will take the responsibility of maintaining the the public space If we're looking at something more specific like mulching or weeding or help with the maintenance of the wildflower beds, that's something that our nonprofit could organize when it gets to that point.

And then I just want to just confirm. So in Section 5, Part E, it says that the site will be ready for construction by June 30th. So I'm just confirming that it has been completely, like we have met this.

the completion of the demolition. I don't remember if it was exactly done by June 30th. I think it was more recent.

I just didn't know if we need to change this date because it does say June 30th and it's July 21st now.

Yeah, we had all the asphalt and fencing and the entire course removed about two weeks ago. So they have a clean site to work with.

So what is the actual completion date? so it can be used.

We don't have a precise completion date yet. I understand right now the courts are ready to have the next step, which will be the construction of the new surface, but we are not going to move to that yet until the funds are all gathered.

Okay.

So once that's completed, I understand that the pouring of the new surface takes only two days. And then there will be several weeks of work for the fencing and for the protection or for the coating of the surface for playing and installation of nets and all that. So we're trying to get all the contractors in line. We have a lot of flexibility. I understand from the contractors that will be building the surface, but some of the others will need to, you know, they need to be aligned closer to that day to get them open this year.

So how close are you to having your finances complete?

Oh, that's difficult to tell. We have done so far since December, we have done most of our fundraising has been passive. The most active moments have been when applying for the grants with Legacy Foundation. So right now is when we have to really close the gap and really start making phone calls and reaching out directly to businesses. And some members of our ad hoc committee are already doing that. And I have also part of that responsibility too. So I don't have a precise date because that basically is what would take us to raise $57,000. Okay.

Thank you.

It could be a week. It could be a month. We don't know.

So you said 7,000 is what you have left?

57,000. 57. Yes.

Okay.

To get to completion of phase one.

Any other questions? Okay, Chris, if you would take the roll, please. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Council Member Dupre? Yes. Council Member Kavanagh? Yes. Council Member Reid? Yes. Council Member Galloway? Yes. Council Member Hoffman?

Yes.

Resolution number 166-2026, accepting the work as final and complete and approving the final pay request for the Oxbow Lagoon Trail behind Church Street project. Recommendation pass and adopt resolution number 166-2026.

Do I have a motion to approve?

Motion to approve.

Second.

City Engineer Bergmeier.

Thank you, Mayor. So this project reconstructed 650 feet of asphalt trail behind Church Street. There was 500 feet of resurfacing in the original project, which was removed for budgetary reasons. So change order number one decreased the contract sum by $44,821.20. minus previous payments, the final amount due is $2,274.23. It's hard to see. There is an outline in red for right here going up along the edge of the lagoon from the building down here up to just past Taco John's. It's like two buildings down. That's where the project ended. This is some side by side pictures of the trail. Again, it was 650 feet of five inch thick asphalt trail. We widened it to 10 feet and made the cross up ADA compliant. So this is what it looked like before. And this is the after picture. I got one more picture here. Nice. Again, the total cost, $75,807.60. The funding is from a legacy grant, which is obtained by the Buffalo Trails Council. So no money from the city budget other than inspection costs. And again, you got a before picture here. That tree right here is the same as that tree right there. So you can see it's in a lot better shape than it was. you had to acquire some ground or property to get this complete this one no this one is entirely on city-owned property that's why it got done first was because we had the property for it and we could get it done it's the next phase that's that requires um property easements not acquisitions but easements okay thank you it looks very nice

Any other questions? Okay, Chris, take the roll, please.

Council Member Dupre? Yes. Council Member Kavanagh? Yes. Council Member Reid? Yes. Council Member Galloway? Yes. Council Member Hoffman?

Yes.

Resolution number 167-2026, approving the agreement for professional engineering services between the City of Ottumwa and Calhoun Burns and Associates Incorporated to conduct a feasibility study for the Jefferson Street Bridge. Recommendation passed and adopt resolution number 167-2026. Is there a motion to approve?

Motion to approve. Second.

Mr. Bergmeier.

Thank you, Mayor. So the Jefferson Street Bridge is considered a historical structure, which requires multiple agencies to be involved in the approval of construction work that will affect the structure. The first step in any approval process is a feasibility study. This is also required for most of the funding sources that we could go to is to get a feasibility study first. So anyway, as part of this feasibility study, they'll do an alternate analysis to determine the feasibility of replacing the structure along with different alternates that will not replace the structure or adversely affect the bridge. There also need to be extensive reviews of the bridge profile, taking into consideration the levees, trails, railroad, river flooding, and access roads, and also the bridge view center. This may lead to considering multiple span configurations or even multiple structures. At this time, we are assuming that any work will basically be kept in line with the existing alignment in order, all right, but since our earlier discussions for realigning it to coincide with any DOT work on Highway 34 was done, kind of rejected by the DOT. It didn't fit with their scope of work.

Are you saying that the DOT has now changed their mind and they don't want to change the cross street?

They are, but when we were first doing it, the bridge is so close to Bridgeview Center, we'd actually looked at realigning the bridge away from the Bridgeview Center, in which case they'd have to redo interchanges and stuff on Highway 34. But the way the DOTs were, that project didn't include right away acquisition and to realign anything outside the existing footprints of the road was not, wasn't on their, wasn't part of their plan. So if we rebuild this bridge, it has to go in basically the same place it is now and intersect highway 34 at this pretty much the same location too.

So in the future, if we do this feasibility study and we approve to do what's on the chart, if the DOT changes their mind, will we have to go back in and redo some of what we've already done?

The Highway 34 project is already on their five-year plan. So at this point, there's very little, and this will only do the study. So we're not gonna expend any funds on design or construction until much later in the process. But there's no, I'd say virtually no chance that DOT substantially changed their Highway 34 project now.

There is an expense for the feasibility study, correct?

Yes, yes.

So we will be spending some money.

Right, on the feasibility study, but we won't be spending any money, whatever, alignment and and concept that this city council approves we won't be taking any further steps on designing or constructing that in the immediate future we just want to have this feasibility study in our back pocket because once that bridge does start deteriorating more we have to have the feasibility study before any you know federal or state money can be allocated to the bridge okay thank you

So this just came up. It wasn't something that we knew was going to happen, that we were going to have to do this feasibility study last year?

We've known for a while. We actually budgeted for it last year. Didn't get responses and couldn't find time for the engineers to do it last year. So it's a little bit late in the process. That's what the budget amendments for us is to roll the money from last year to this year.

I see. So it was budgeted for last year. We want to just now roll it forward to this year and do it.

And I had informal discussions with the engineers for a couple years now, and they're telling me, you know, when you replace this thing, you're not going to have the money to replace it in-house. You're going to have to go out for funding for it, and you have to have a feasibility study first before anybody will even talk to you about funding because you have to know what you're funding before you can.

Yeah, I think one other meeting you said that it's already beyond its life, expected life, the bridge itself.

Yeah.

or kind of implied that it was beyond its years.

Yeah, it's getting real close. So we've had, I think it's been eight to 10 years of a useful life left for the last, like eight to 10 years.

So it's, it's holding my attention. Cause I go over that bridge a lot.

Yeah. And so it's kind of holding at that condition, but it's, you know, pushing 90 years old now. So it's, uh, there's gonna come a point in the not too distant future where it's gonna be beyond its useful life.

So this is kind of off topic. I suppose, because it is historical, we're gonna have people that will wanna save it, but is it gonna cost more to try to save it than to rebuild something newer?

Most likely, yes. Again, informally asked about even saving the piers or anything like that, and they're like, it's usually cost more to design a bridge around existing substructure than it does just to build new ones.

Okay, thank you very much. I thought that's what you were going to tell me.

Yeah.

Phil, will this feasibility study project the additional life that may be in that bridge?

No, we inspect that bridge every year. It gets a full inspection every year, and we get a new update every year on that bridge, which is separate from the study.

Yeah, we spend about $150,000 a year to study it, so maybe not that much.

Not that much. I think you might be thinking that's our two-year... Contract with them for all the bridges in town is about that much. But just the Jefferson Street Bridge isn't that much.

If I remember right, I was misstated there. It was around $50,000 to do the general inspection.

I can't recall the exact number off the top of my head, but you're probably in the ballpark there because it involves closing the bridge and getting a super truck and inspecting every single beam and every pier. So you're probably in the ballpark there.

I remember back in the day when we had to take down the Vine Street Bridge and everybody had a heart attack over that, but it was able to be removed and we've gotten along just fine without it.

That's the other alternative too is to not replace it. I guess that's something else we can look at when the study comes back with alternatives.

If there's no other questions, Chris, if you would take the roll, please.

Council Member Dupre? Yes. Council Member Kavanagh? Yes. Council Member Reid? Yes. Council Member Galloway? Yes. Council Member Hoffman? Yes. Resolution number 168, 2026, accepting the work is finally complete and approving the final pay request for the 2025 RFP number one, highway 149 cross-country sewer repair. Recommendation pass and adopt resolution number 168, 2026. A motion to approve.

Move the recommendation. Second.

Okay, Mr. Bergmaier.

Thank you, Mayor. So this is a shallow cross-country sanitary sewer comprised of multiple types of pipe near Highway 149 that had a history of blockages. The entire section from main hole to main hole is replaced with 8-inch ductile iron pipe. The pipe crossed two ditches, one of which required encasing the sewer pipe in concrete. Change Order 1 increased the contract sum by $270 to pay for additional riprap. D.C. Concrete Construction of Dowds, Iowa has completed the above-referenced project. According to the plans and specifications, this will authorize change order number one, along with final release of payment and retainage. So the total contract ended up being $46,680. Previous payments at $42,693 leave a final amount of $3,987. location of the project was, this is 149 right here. That's the, if it used to be farm services, I think it's the historical museum now down here and Woodshire drives over here. But the repair was that little white circle right there next to highway 149. This is the old sewer pipe that was just corroded away, rusted. I think that's PVC right here. I think these are ductile iron. I believe there was some clay by the main holes too. Then the new pipe right there. And this just shows one of the crossings. So on the left-hand side, you can see, or I really can't see it, but that ductile iron pipe has some U-shaped rebar over it, and they're getting ready to pour the concrete encasement over the top of it. And then this picture over here is looking northbound. You have a larger crick right here that... Highway 149 and then coming up this way is another small little creek. So the main hole starts up at the top right here by that skid steer and it comes down to the base of the picture. You can see the main hole that it went into right here. So those are the two little small ditches that it crossed. Like I said, we've had problems with this thing constantly. So hopefully this solves some of those issues.

the funding for this is out of the sewer fund 610. okay there are a lot of people in our community that don't realize how old these pipes are some of them are up to 100 years old so if they look like they failed a little early well nobody guaranteed they'd last 100 years i think this one's probably a

Some of the erosion from the water flow probably did that too, and it's shallow. So freezing and thawing did a number on it as well. So it probably didn't last as long as it could have if it was very deeper. I think this fix will last quite a while.

Okay, Chris, if you would take the roll, please.

Council Member Duprey? Yes. Council Member Cavanagh? Yes. Council Member Reed? Yes. Council Member Galloway? Yes. Council Member Hoffman?

Yes. Okay, so we are in the section of the agenda for public forum where I would invite anybody who would like to come from the audience and speak on any of the non-agenda items, you are more than welcome to do so now. And then I would just ask you to state your name and address.

Travis, I'll get your timer up. John Lloyd, 260 in West Alta Vista. Just want to say thank you. Just appreciate working with you, working for you, having you guys come out, do the tours. For those of you who don't know, my last day was Friday. Why am I here? Because I'm a glutton for punishment. um but just to thank you thank everyone here there were quite a few uh staff members that were not here friday um so i was not able to say goodbye to them as well but i just appreciate working for the city for the last four and a half years um you guys have a tough task ahead of you you really do i i hope you're able to work together as a to a common goal. I know that there are going to be differences, but I hope you can work through them. I wish you all the luck.

Good luck to you too.

Yeah.

Thank you for what you've done here, Mr. Lloyd.

Thank you.

Is there anyone else? If not, we're gonna move to the Mayor City Council report. I get to actually do a, we're gonna have a presentation. So I would ask Colleen Decker and any of the, yeah, Mr. Decker, I should say Pastor Decker and anyone else that you're having up here for the presentation. I'll just turn it over to you.

thank you so much for letting us share this it was exciting it was an adventure i appreciate the mayor coming up with the idea of the patriots week and adding the 5k to that was a lot of fun for us um so with that i'll start um my husband and i so go into the first one like that okay So my husband and I had the opportunity to organize a 5K walk run to honor our veterans on the 4th of July, our country's 250th birthday. The mayor came and gave the proclamation honoring Patriots Week, of which the 5K was able to be a part of. And then he began us off with the Pledge of Allegiance. Council Member Dan Reed led us then in the National Anthem. And Council Member Joella Dupre passed out water to thirsty runners. Council Member Keith Cavaness and his wife helped with our sparklers race. This was for children 10 and under, and it was a 100-yard dash, and they loved it. Coach Davis Idol and his wife came over from Pekin School and headed the start and finish of the race. And we had some really serious runners with some really good running times. And then we had also some less serious joggers and walkers. But all in all, it was a really fun time for the whole family. And we had a really good participation and a really good spirit. And it really kicked off our 4th of July. We had a lot of volunteers with wonderful support from our community. Local businesses donated tons of prizes for the runners. These are our sponsors on the back of our shirts and Katie, Katie didn't come up here, but she has on one of the shirts from the race. Domino's Pizza donated 100 pizzas. So that was a really big draw. And all of this was done to honor our veterans and to show how we care about them and appreciate them and the sacrifice that they have made for us. And we do appreciate our veterans and we thank all of you out there and also the city council members and mayor for coming and being such a great part of that. The highlight of it was that we raised money for our veterans and my husband will do that part.

I also want to just thank Mr. Rathje for coming out and cleaning up the pavilion there. We almost called the race the wild goose chase because of all the geese that you encounter along the way with that. But I was just super glad that the community came behind it so much to support veterans and just people really participated well. And so we have a check for the Wapello County Veterans Commission for $3,100 from this race to help the veterans.

I can guarantee you we will put this money to good use. We have a donated funds account. where we can provide almost immediate assistance to veterans. There are over 1,800 veterans in Wapolo County. I don't have a city-county breakout, but that's 1,800 people. Over six or close to 600 veterans and spouses are receiving benefits in Wapolo County. That amounts to well over a million and a half dollars a month. coming in to this county and this city because of the work that the veteran service officer does the work that veterans administration does. And while I realized a hundred percent disability means you don't have to pay property taxes. They do spend their money in other ways within the county. So on behalf of the Waffle County Veterans Commission, And I must apologize, my fellow commissioners could not be here because they're interviewing for a part-time position. They're interviewing people, and some of you know who they're interviewing. I won't mention their names because I have to recuse myself from a couple of them. And I want to personally thank council, the mayor, the people of Ottumwa, and this county. for a Fourth of July to remember. I'm hearing from people outside the city and I'm hearing from people outside the county that they're amazed at what Ottumwa was able to do for the Fourth of July. You did good, thank you.

I did just want to say as well that we had 62 runners in the race, and the whole thing started with the mayor about one month before July 4th saying, do you think that somebody could organize a 5K? And it's like my wife said, I'll do it. And I'm like, you're insane. But she did, and it went well. But 62 runners, and then we had another five or six people sign up just to make a donation. They didn't actually do the walk or run, but it went very well. We appreciate the city's support for it.

One part of that program you had, which should be brought to light, was the two-year-old runner that you had. He just did a fabulous job. Two years old. He was spinning his wheels when they said go.

Well, I would like to say thank you for the 5K, yes, but we had a bunch of things happening that entire week, and the 5K was a really good part of that. I also want to thank all the veterans in Wapello County that are here paying property taxes or not. If you're not, you deserve not to because of the gifts that you have given us as citizens of the United States of America. So to be able to celebrate not just any 4th of July, but the 250th anniversary of our country, and then to honor veterans, that's just only fitting. So thank you for all that you continue to do for our country each and every day. So with that, I would open up to city council.

I do have a quick question. So if there is a veteran in our community who does need assistance, who do they go to or how do they get assistance? So the veteran service office at the Waplow building. Great. And that's Tim Evans. And they can go, you can go to the Waplow County supervisor or Waplow County page to find his information too, if they want to call. Correct. Perfect. I just wanted to make sure we got that information out for those who may watch this or see this. Thank you.

I'd like to just take an opportunity. First off, I want to thank all the veterans. We owe everything to them. And I had to work that week, and I was out protecting Indian Hills campus. But I do want to say this 5K and everything they put together that weekend was phenomenal, phenomenal. On a short notice to have a successful event like that. I'm actually kind of at a loss for words, but that's the part of it. That's the kind of Atomo I want. That's thank you for everybody for what you've done. So great event. Served all the people. Phenomenal.

So I guess on behalf of some veterans, if you are having a hard time finding time to meet with somebody, I highly recommend va.gov. They have made so many advancements on that website over the last few years that it's very easy to use and you can get all sorts of things taken care of.

Oh, good. Thank you. Anything else from council?

Oh, there's a ribbon cutting August 1st. The Market Street Landing is having their ribbon cutting. I believe it's at noon.

Did we confirm that time? Is that at noon?

Yeah, it's the all-inclusive playground, and it's at noon on August 1st. Okay, good.

They're making good progress. It's looking great.

Yep. Nothing else, I'm going to call for a short recess in which time the council will be going into closed session. So right now I'm calling for, I'm gonna say a three minute recess. That doesn't mean you have to get there in three minutes, but we can start outside of three. So three minute recess and we will reconvene on first floor downstairs.

I know that Christine said she's gonna call in so we'll be downstairs in five minutes.