A regular meeting of the Wykoff City Council was held on June 12. Members in attendance were: Mary Tjepkes, Rocky Vreeman, Mayor Al Williams, Clerk Becky Schmidt, Mary Sackett, and City Attorney Dwight Luhmann. A large crowd of citizens was also in attendance.
Vreeman asked about the minutes of the previous meeting, since he noted surprise that the council was now being given a summary rather than a complete, verbatim transcript of the meeting. Schmidt said she’d checked with the city attorney and was told the minutes are to be a synopsis rather than a word-for-word transcript. Vreeman asked, “So if I wanted to prepare for this meeting, if I wanted to look back, who said what, or how something was settled, how am I going to do that?” Luhmann answered, “That should be reflected in the minutes.” Vreeman asked the reason for the change, and Schmidt answered that she’d been spending four to five hours creating the written transcript of each meeting, and that it’s very challenging, especially when more than one person speaks at a time. Luhmann said that he’s not aware of any other cities that use a full transcript instead the standard type of meeting minutes, and he said this change will make it much easier to look back through prior meeting minutes to find how a specific issue was settled, since a reader won’t be sifting through every statement made.
In the Visitors section of the meeting, Missy Musel addressed the council, stating that after living in Wykoff for 20 years, she first attended a council meeting earlier this spring, and “When I heard what was happening, by just sitting in the council, I was absolutely appalled,… appalled that our city had come to such a low standard of holding people accountable for their actions… It’s time that we all need to come together as a community and figure out what’s best for everybody.” She shared financial figures related to the city’s costs related to the recent termination of Mark Arndt and the subsequent contracting with Peopleservices to manage the Wastewater Treatment Plant. She pointed out her concerns with how the city’s Human Resources issues are handled, and said that Arndt had done many tasks for the city which Peopleservices will not do.
Shari Gartner also addressed the council, saying she’d requested to get audio recordings of council meetings, but was told she’d need to pay $375 up front for these. She asked why the cost was so high, and asked if cheaper alternatives could be considered. She also pointed out that Schmidt had been allowed to stay in a closed meeting of the council, and said that was improper.
A citizen (Ernie) asked the council if his water/sewer bill could be adjusted, since he’s been using a large amount of water to water his garden, and that means it’s not going through the sewer. Vreeman replied that in the past, the city has given adjustments at times when a citizen has a water pipe break or similar situation, but not when someone chooses to use water in this way.
Dan Grabau then spoke to the council about the situation at 125 Centennial Street, where he said the sewer sometimes backs up, causing “raw sewage” to back-up into the basement. He said after the most recent back-up, he’d had Roto-Rooter come in and check the pipes, and, “The pipe was clear all the way to the street” so he feels this is the city’s responsibility to fix the area where pipe is broken or crushed. He showed a plastic baggie of the sewer water, and said, “We had to tear all the carpet out, and it soaked up into the walls. We’re going to have to gut the whole basement.” Darin (WHKS) suggested flushing the line weekly for now, and said a “spot repair” in that area may cost under $25,000. The council will look into getting this done.
Jeremy Comstock voiced his concerns about how Schmidt’s position and wage were set. He said if it’s true that her wage was decided via emails, this appears to be a violation of the open meeting law. He also asked if the city had advertised the full-time city clerk position, and if so, when that occurred.
Vreeman asked about the process for filling positions on the zoning committee, saying, “So for the zoning, those names go to the zoning committee and we go through them, and then we make a recommendation to the council? That’s the way we’ve always done it in the past.”
The council voted to accept the resignation of Brody Mensink from the council, as he has moved from the city. Kingsland Community Education has requested to use the community hall for a painting class. After discussion, the council agreed to allow this. The council’s next regular meeting will be Monday, July 10 at 7 p.m. The public is welcome.