City of Fairfield Council met Jan. 8.
Here is the minutes provided by the council:
Meeting called to order by Mayor Brent Maguire at 6:00 P.M.
Prayer led by Mayor Brent Maguire followed by the pledge of allegiance to the flag.
City Clerk Tina Hutchcraft called the roll:
Mayor: Brent Maguire
City Clerk: Tina Hutchcraft
City Treasurer: Julie Duncan
City Attorney: Darrin Rice
Aldermen: Ralph Barbre; Mike Pottorff; Jim Griffith; Tyler Lampley; Eugene McGill; Jerry Lisenbee; Terry Stahl; Ed Prince
Also Present: Kyle Ellis, Wayne County Press; Ken Otey, WFIW Radio; Andrew Miller, Fire Chief; Kevin Leonard, Water Department; Tyler Lashbrook; Flo Simpson, FADC; and other citizens from the community.
The minutes of the meeting of December 27, 2018, agendas and bills of January 8, 2019 were sent out to those entitled to receive them. Mayor Maguire asked for approval of the minutes for the December 27, 2018 meeting. Motion by Alderman Stahl, seconded by Alderman Prince to approve the minutes of the meeting of December 27, 2018.
Vote yes: Stahl; Barbre; Griffith; Lampley; Lisenbee; McGill; Pottorff; Prince
Vote no: none
Mayor Maguire declared motion carried.
Mayor Maguire asked for approval to pay the bills for the January 8, 2019 meeting. A motion was made by Alderman Barbre, seconded by Alderman Pottorff to approve the bills for payment.
Vote yes: Barbre; Griffith; Lampley; Lisenbee; McGill; Pottorff; Prince; Stahl
Vote no: none
Mayor Maguire declared motion carried.
Ordinance No. 19-0108-169 - Authorizing the Sale of Municipally Owned Real Property – The City advertised three separate tracts of property for sale. Robert Kamp submitted a bid for Tract 1 in the amount of $1,101.00. No bids were received for Tract 2. Jewel Poole submitted a bid for Tract 3 in the amount of $1,200.00. We need to adopt this ordinance to officially approve the sale of Tract 1 to Robert Kamp and Tract 3 to Jewel Poole. A motion was made by Alderman Pottorff, seconded by Alderman McGill to approve this ordinance.
Vote yes: Griffith; Lampley; Lisenbee; McGill; Pottorff; Prince; Stahl; Barbre
Vote no: none
Mayor Maguire declared motion carried and Ordinance No. 19-0108-169 approved and duly adopted.
Ordinance Allowing Authorization to Eliminate Wildlife Nuisance at the Golf Course – We received a call from Park Board President Jay Fyie about a problem with geese at the golf course. They are causing a lot of damage to the course. In 2009 Mayor Borah authorized a list of qualified individuals to shoot the geese to eliminate this nuisance. This was all coordinated with the IDNR. This was not brought before Council at that time. Mr. Fyie has asked for approval to do this again. City Attorney Rice felt an ordinance to amend the Fairfield Code of Ordinances would need to be approved by Council since we do have a section in our code that prohibits hunting, shooting or killing any game in the city parks of the city with any weapon. If the Council would want to allow this the ordinance would need to be changed. Mayor Maguire stated that if this would be allowed this would only be done with the authorization of the Mayor. If the problem came up again in the future he would recommend that other courses of action be taken to eliminate the nuisance and shooting of the geese would be a last resort. Golf course officials have tried many different ways to eliminate the problem with the geese but so far nothing has worked. Alderman Lisenbee made a motion to table the proposed ordinance and this motion was seconded by Alderman McGill.
Vote yes: Lampley; Lisenbee; McGill; Pottorff; Prince; Stahl; Griffith
Vote no: Barbre
Mayor Maguire declared motion carried. Mayor Maguire will appoint a committee to meet with the Park District and golf course officials to find a resolution to this problem.
Appointment of Electric Distribution Leadman – Ed Garrett is retiring after working for the city for 40 years. Mayor Maguire thanked Ed for his many years of service. The mayor would like to appoint Tyler Lashbrook as the new leadman for this department. A motion was made by Alderman Barbre, seconded by Alderman Pottorff to approve this appointment.
Vote yes: Lisenbee; McGill; Pottorff; Prince; Stahl; Barbre; Griffith; Lampley
Vote no: none
Mayor Maguire declared motion carried.
Update on Payment Services Network – Mayor Maguire said we started accepting credit and debit card payments for utilities beginning this past June. That month we had 44 transactions and this past month that number had increased to 300. The Mayor will begin a marketing campaign to make more residents aware of these payment options. He may also provide training for residents who would like to learn how to use this payment option. The transaction fees are being absorbed by the city. Since we started using PSN we have collected approximately $380,000 in utility payments and the transaction fees we have paid is approximately $4,127. That is equivalent to 1.09%. We will look at this again after we have been using PSN for 12 months to see how this has worked for us. He also asked those that have used this payment option to give us feedback on how it has worked for them.
Adjourn Meeting – Motion by Alderman McGill, seconded by Alderman Stahl to adjourn the meeting.
Vote yes: 8
Vote no: 0
Mayor Maguire declared meeting adjourned at 6:21 p.m.
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