City Council meeting
But another topic of discussion was at the top of people’s minds as the meeting began with the new Council including incoming Council member Becky Curtis.
Several individuals stepped before the Council to express their anger and frustration with the way code enforcement is done within the city. One citizen said he understands the codes need to be enforced and said if they are enforced, it should be equally. He went on to state he watched a code enforcement officer stand in front of a pile of brush on his neighbors property while taking photos of brush on his property and then cited him for the brush when his neighbor was not. Two other citizens stepped before the Council with similar stories of the unequal enforcement of codes. One of the citizens said he has considered legal action against the city, but understands the city may be protected by sovereign immunity.
The parking on hard surfaces was also addressed by several citizens which had a bill with a first reading on the agenda that evening. The citizen said he will be going to court this month about the parking on hard services, in the ordinance as it is currently written there is language that says unless there are deep ruts and proof mud is being tracked into the street, the citizens cannot be prosecuted for it. That language has been removed from the bill the Council would have been voting on that evening.
One final citizen stepped before the Council to say she was dismayed at the hard surface rule for parking on her property, saying she had a camper parked on her property she had to put gravel down to park it on and she and her husband now would like to hook their truck up to the camper and leave it that way so it is ready to pull whenever they would like to go, but to do so would leave the truck parked on grass and so the city codes say she is not allowed to do that. She expressed it is her grass, she pays taxes on it, why can she not park on it. The citizen said all her vehicles are licensed and well kept, she doesn’t understand why they cannot be parked where they like.
The Bill 2018-20 concerning an amendment to the property maintenance code regarding parking on hard services later in the agenda, failed without a motion to even discuss it. Members of the Council said they will need more information before being able to make a decision or vote on such a bill.
Tim Wymes, Economic Development Director came before the Council during the miscellaneous portion at the end of the meeting to express he has heard many times since beginning his job with the city the phrase, “this was never enforced before.” Wymes said the codes should have been being enforced all along and it is the city staff’s job to enforce the codes as they are written, regardless of what was done before.
The City Council meeting began with Mayor Darlene Breckenridge reading two proclamations, one declaring the week of May 6 – 12 as City Clerk’s week and one declaring the celebration of Arbor Day in Cameron to be Monday April 30.
Drew Bontrager, Director of Public Works, explained to the Council the city staff plant a new tree every year in or around Recreation Park with the Kindergarten class and brings each elementary class out to visit the tree their class planted as Kindergartners, talk about Arbor Day, and talk about proper tree care. The tradition began with the Class of 2020 as Kindergarteners and Bontrager said he will be excited when that class is seniors and they will bring them out to visit the tree they planted to see how much it as grown in all those years. This will be the 11th year for this tradition.
During the City Manager report, Manager Mark Gaugh said the e-Trucking project is nearing completion and is about ready for the company to move in. There are many construction projects around town that are going well and staff expects this to be an extremely busy year.
Terry Rumery was on hand to present an update to Council on various economic development projects. Several of the projects are still in the working stages with Cameron still possibly an option for them to move to and others have moved on to other markets for reasons out of Cameron’s control. Councilman Feighert asked if there is more Cameron can be doing to be attractive to businesses to move to the area and Rumrey said having ground was a good step forward, but until the infrastructure is in place – sewer, water, electricity – the prospects will likely remain what they are. Businesses want to know there are utilities available on the sites before truly considering them.
A tabled resolution to support the Dollar Tree project was removed from the agenda and replaced with a new bill to support the project now that many of the problems and issues the project was facing were alleviated. The Council voted to approve the new bill unanimously.
The Council had a second and final reading on the bill to sign a 20 year lease agreement with On Site Corp for the lease of Lot 3 at the Cameron Municipal Airport. The bill was passed unanimously.
Second and final readings were had on three conditional use permits, two of them were for Susy Salcido and Amelia Machetta, respectively, to allow additional dogs and one for Dina and Drew Lamison to allow a community garden. All three were passed unanimously.
The Council had a first reading on a bill to enter into an agreement streetscape project on W. Prospect with CP Excavating. According to manager Mark Gaugh, this project is beyond the scope of what city staff would be able to do and so it was placed out for bid. CP Excavating came back with t a bid of $145,276.87. The bill was passed unanimously.
The Council passed a resolution unanimously to approve the contract for the position of City Clerk, as it was presented after review and revision by City Manager Mark Gaugh and City Attorney Corcoran.
The Council passed two resolutions to quit claim deeds on the sale of two vacant properties which had been owned by the city and were placed up for bid. The winning bidders were Wayne Evans and Toni Grubbs.
The final business before the Council was the certification of taxes and approval of the abatement list. The Council approved the list for publication unanimously.
Utilities Director Zac Johnson reported during the miscellaneous portion of the meeting that the reservoir levels are at 50% in a time when they should be at 100% because of rains, so the city remains in drought conditions.
The next meeting of the City Council will be Monday May 7 at 6 p.m.
On Wednesday April 25 the city will be holding an open house for the public to meet with city staff and discuss zoning, animal control, property maintenance, public infrastructure and utilities. The open house will be at City Hall from 5-7 p.m.
