In their first meeting of the new year, the Clarion City Council tackled several agenda items and held some heated discussions. A major agenda items was to hear a summary of the fiscal year 2018-2019 audit for CPA Larry Pump. Pump started out by saying that, in his opinion, the audit “does not show anything alarming.” He found “no improprieties” and would give the city a “clean bill of health.” One thing that he was happy to see compared to years past is that all city funds had a positive balance this year. Overall, Pump concluded, “the city is in a sound financial position.”
Pump also pointed out a few comments and recommendations that he has for the city moving forward. He noted that they are nothing of a serious nature and he is “really optimistic” that the city can improve in these areas. (See the story on page ## for additional information on these).
The council ended up approving a change order to pay Pump $1,920 for additional services beyond the scope of the audit. These additional fees were incurred when it was found out last fall during various staff changes that some payroll taxes had not been paid. Pump helped the city rectify the situation, including writing the IRS a letter asking them to waive the late penalties for cause. The council approved this pay change order.
The council also heard from Brian Meyer, a DGR engineer, about additional airport improvements. Meyer noted that the recent airport project went very well. However, additional work is recommended to upgrade the electrical system and lighting at the airport. Director of Public Works Jon DeVries noted that the electrical at the airport was installed in the early 80s. The updates are so crucial that the FAA will support another grant for the work, covering 90% of the cost with the city supplying the other 10%. Meyer said that upgrading to a LED lighting system will end up saving the city a great deal of money since the bulbs are much more energy efficient. The council will vote whether to move forward with the project at their next meeting.
Clarion property owner Stan Erickson appeared before the council at his request. Erickson who owns various properties in town, including a building at the 1400 block of Central Ave E, was concerned about various city ordinances that dictate what certain properties can look like. Erickson explained that last fall he had spoken to the ordinance enforcement officer about cleaning up around his Central Ave property, but then also received a certified letter from the city giving him only a few days to clean up, which he found unreasonable. Erickson also spoke up about what his concerns with Clarion businesses in general, including dwindling Main Street businesses. He noted he would like to see the city put more efforts into revitalization of businesses and aiding them. Both city administrator Clint Middleton and mayor Duane Asbe thanked Erickson for his concern. Middleton encouraged Erickson to come speak to him about any business or ordinance concerns in the future.
In other business, since it was the first meeting of the year, the council took care of various organizational duties. They approved the 2020 Employee Healthcare Plan. Andy Young was voted in as mayor pro-tem for 2020. The Wright County Monitor was again named as the official publication of Clarion. They again appointed Steve Terhark as police chief and Zach Chizek as city attorney. The council also welcomed Shayne Hennigar to his first official meeting as a councilman. He and incumbent Andy Young had been sworn in prior to the meeting.
A public hearing was also set for January 21 at 4:30 pm on a request from John Hagie to vacate adjoining Lots 13-15 of Eastman’s Addition to the south.
