During the Spring Valley City Council meeting on March 26, council members heard an audit presentation from Tom Wente, representing Smith Schafer & Associates. Wente said the audit includes an unmodified “clean” opinion regarding 2017, and reasonable assurance that financials are free of material misstatement. He mentioned that due to the small size of the city staff, this limits the city’s ability to segregate some accounting duties, but that this is a common issue for small cities.
Wente’s report included that public works expenditures were up notably in 2017, due to projects within the city, but he noted that general fund expenditures were under budget by $69,332. Wente also pointed out that, mostly due to higher expenditures, the unassigned general fund balance, as a percentage of GF expenditures, fell from 111% in 2016 to 95% in 2017.
Wente summarized that Spring Valley has a capital improvement fund balance of $370,173 available for future capital needs, and that property taxes provided $1,137,503 while LGA (local government) provided $872,388 in 2017, and he said this was the widest gap Spring Valley has ever had between those two revenue sources. He also noted that the city’s five utilities are generally keeping pace with rising operating expenses.
All council members were present for the meeting (Tony Archer, Todd Jones, Mayor Jim Struzyk Jessy Betts, Mike Hadland and City Administrator Deb Zimmer). No visitors had signed up to address the council.
Following the audit presentation, the council heard a presentation from Bev Sandlin, on the topic of tiny homes. She shared materials explaining the concept of tiny homes, and explained to the council that, “I’m not really asking for anything but networking and mentoring… I’ve talked to the county, and… they’re actually open to this.” She said if a spot is found for this to be tried in the Spring Valley area, tiny homes (on wheels) could be brought in to provide affordable housing for older folks and millennials. Her materials also state that “I am encouraging the city council just to consider the advantages of appropriate infill of tiny homes and how they could benefit Spring Valley. A thought: you have an under-used city campground on County 8. Why not open it for seasonal use to tiny homes also, with a monthly rate. Allow one tiny home in for free to manage the site.”
Mayor Struzyk replied, “I think we’ve already voted this down once.” Sandlin responded, “Well, that’s OK, it wouldn’t be in the city. All I’m asking for is networking.” Since Sandlin’s presentation was not an action item on the agenda, no action was taken at this time.
Next, the council discussed the idea of seeking to locate a veterans home in Spring Valley. Deb Zimmer pointed out that to get a parcel of land ready, a number of improvements would be needed, which may cost as much as $3.6 million. She also said if Spring Valley moves forward on this, and if the city is chosen, the actual construction would still be several years down the road. Todd Jones stated, “If the funds are there, I’d be in favor of it.” Zimmer added that, “It would bring jobs to town.” After discussion, the council voted to move forward with a preliminary cost estimate regarding the possibility of Spring Valley applying for the veterans home project.
The council approved a temporary liquor license for the VFW, as part of the Almonzo Race weekend. The council also approved a smoking policy, ambulance on-call pay policy, policy for bidding and/or obtaining quotes, fixed assets policy, and street department comp time policy, all as submitted.
Council members said they’ve heard from citizens asking when fire clean-up will occur regarding a couple of structures that have been lost to fire. Zimmer said the Ringo’s fire clean-up is set to start this week. She also mentioned that the council will have a work session on April 4 at 6 p.m. She pointed out the “Color Run 5K” scheduled on May 18, and the council voted to approve closing the dump road to cars during that event, from 6-8 p.m. The meeting adjourned at 6:50 p.m. The next regular meeting of the council will be Monday, April 9 at 6 p.m. As always, the public is welcome.