The WL city council met Tuesday, Feb. 6, at the WL community center, and while no single issue dominated discussion, council members covered quite a bit of ground.
To begin, the city is dividing financial duties among several different city workers in order to have more eyes involved with the money, always a good thing for a city.
“The new job descriptions, along with the chart of duties create dual control in all areas of the Financial Administration Office,” states the council action form.
Basically, the duties of the Treasurer have been broken down among the city clerk and deputy city clerk, along with the utility billing clerk and administrative clerks.
This comes after city administration has gone through major transitions in the last six months, most notably the hiring of Lee Geertz as the City Manager.
“In our audit we got a lot of comments about segregation of duties so I took the time to go through and figure out how I could segregate those in order to minimize those comments,” said City Clerk Shari Hoffert.
Every year a private company audits West Liberty and its finances. Part of that process is leaving comments about changes they’d like to see.
In this case, it was dividing financial obligations among more employees. With the council’s approval, the new job descriptions will do just that.
“It’s very organized and it’s nice to see all the different things laid out for each position,” said Council Member Josh Schlitz.
Lumber Expansion
Next, Ken Morrison Construction and Lumber, known to most as the Morrison Lumber Yard, is looking to expand its storage space at its location on E. A Street.
It plans to do so with aid from a $25,000 economic development grant through We Lead and the City of West Liberty, which will cover nearly half of the $60,000 project.
The council approved the economic development grant, which is aimed at helping local businesses improve their façade, buildings, and infrastructure.
Morrison Lumber has two storage buildings, they plan to tear down the smaller one and build a bigger one to match the other storage building.
Reconstruction will also include a facelift on the front side of the office building, as well as a handicap accessible ramp.
In Other News…
After a closed session, it was moved and approved to give the city manager direction to gather information regarding the potential acquisition of land by the city.
-The City is moving towards improvements at the Wastewater Plant, which will primarily include bringing the plant ‘s equipment up to today’s standards.
-The West Liberty Fire department will dispose of several obsolete adult and child manikins, since they can no longer be used.
-Police Chief Houser is currently working on upping the department’s activity on social media, on that note the department has sold its 2015 Dodge Ram.
-The city approved a $375,000 mortgage for a building located at the Dutton Sport Complex, to be paid by its owner Bells Kids, which promotes youth’s activities.
-The council approved an update in fees associated with the West Liberty Police Department and the Solid Waste Department.
-The city council approved several payments to ongoing reconstruction projects in West Liberty, including improvements to the pumphouse, Maxson Ave. and Knotty Circle Dr.
-The City Council is planning for the upcoming yearly budget season, during which time they examine all upcoming expenses for the city’s various departments.
-A Work Session to Review City Council Rules of Conduct was set for Feb. 20, at 6:30 p.m. before the regular city council meeting.
-Separate public hearings regarding rezoning N. Elm St. and Wiele Chevrolet have been set for March 5, at 7:30 p.m. during the regular city council meeting.
-A Class B Retail Alcohol License was approved for Dollar General.
-The application by Jay Simon to join the Board of Adjustments was approved by the council. The board decides on special exceptions/conditional use permits and authorizes variances from the Zoning Code.
-The Council approved a Vendor Voucher’s Claim List (City Expenses) totaling $361,283.20; however, it tabled a separate payment of $120 due to the lack of council members present at the meeting.
-The city will continue to work on cutting down the population of wild cats in downtown West Liberty through the use of live traps to rehome the cats.
-Just a reminder, signs in the right-of-way are considered a nuisance under the city code.