The Houston City Council met at 6 p.m. on Monday, January 9, 2017. Following the Pledge of Allegiance, City Administrator Chris Peterson administrated the oath of office to David Olson, Houston’s new mayor, and to Emily Kage, a new council member, along with returning council member Matt Schutte. The council welcomed its two new members and opened the meeting to a period of public comment. A question was raised from the gallery regarding the new mayor and council members’ opinions on the city’s Off-Highway Vehicle, or OHV, trail. City Administrator Peterson clarified that the city is already moving ahead with the paperwork on an easement purchase, and both mayor Olson and council member Krage were in favor. Peterson mentioned that there were more steps ahead for the council regarding the trail, and after attending meetings with the Community Advisory Committee, the new mayor and council member will be prepared and informed for any OHV trail issues.
The city moved on to a public hearing regarding the Small Cities Development Program. The city has submitted an grant application for funds relating to water treatment plant construction and housing rehabilitation. Cindy Viste from Semcac was in attendance to speak about the housing rehab program, which would total $300,000 of the $880,000 applied for in the grant. Viste made mention that an application from the city has already been submitted for renovation, and the application is due by February 23. Viste stressed that the program is not for home renovation, but housing rehabilitation; the two examples given for rehabilitation were lead based paint and home safety. Semcac will be conducting surveys to determine waiting lists when the funds come in, and will be administrating the qualification, inspections and dealing with the contracting for the rehabilitation. Viste also mentioned that local contractors can talk to Semcac about acting as a general contractor for the program. The council then voted unanimously to approve the resolution to act as legal sponsor for the project contained in the Small Cities Development Program application.
The council also approved its second resolution for 2017, accepting all donations given to the city from January to December of 2016. No donations came with special conditions. Next, the city council approved all appointments for 2017 of council members to standing committees and boards, along with appointments for positions such as city building inspector, official city newspaper and bank, health officer, fire chief, weed inspector, civil defense director, animal control, election judge, finance director, city engineer, and city attorney, among others. The city also voted to approve the 2017 meeting calendar, which schedules meetings for city council, planning commission, park & rec, library board, tree board, ambulance and fire department meetings. The city appointments, donations and meeting schedule were approved unanimously.
The city then moved on to an issue far removed from a winter’s night: the watering of city flowers. The city is planning to utilize volunteers, summer employees, city employees and city council members to make sure the flowers are watered daily. Following that, the city dealt with a damage claim from a van claiming tire and rim damage after driving over a city manhole. The council voted to pay the damages, but also to speak with the contractors who had been working in the area and who may have possibly moved or failed to replace the manhole cover correctly. The city then approved a gambling permit for a May 10 event by the Sheldon Valley Sportsman’s Association, and approved all consent items, minutes and reports. The city moved to adjourn at 6:45 p.m., and will meet again at their regular scheduled time of 6 p.m. on February 13, 2017.
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