Leverson appointed to Lime Springs Council

LIME SPRINGS - “I’ve lived here my whole life. I’ve been on the fire department for 11 years. I’m willing to step up and help out and better the town,” Michael Leverson answered after being asked why he wanted to be on City Council after a seat became open. “My wife and I have talked about it before. You can’t make the town better if you are not willing to help out.”

That statement was good enough to convince the other four council members that Leverson would be a good person to fill the seat.

• In other business, Spring Ahead Learning Center Director Jodie Hubka said she had a letter from the center’s insurance agent, Darrel Elsbernd of CIA, saying he could not get special insurance as requested by the City Council for a “Not Responsible For” clause. They were waiting on letters from Cray Insurance and V&V Insurance.

Council person Richard Cottrell asked to see the financials of the non-profit. Hubka said, “The town isn’t paying for anything. It’s a wash.” The rent paid to the City of Lime Springs covers incidental expenses associated with the building.

Hubka added the storm shelter part of the building is used during storms. Former fire chief Nate Schwickerath agreed. “Every time we open it, there are people who come.”

Mayor Brian Johnson told Cottrell he had asked to see financials and was told anyone can look at them, but can’t get a copy or take pictures, per SALC’s lawyer.

Cottrell stated the city could get more money for rent from a different business. Hubka said, “The learning center provides a service.”

The discussion ended with Hubka agreeing to turn in letters when received from insurance companies that there is no clause for “Not Responsible For.”

• Representatives of MiEnergy Cooperative and Alliant Energy were present to discuss some issues in December with outages. 

MiEnergy’s CEO, Brian Krambeer explained MiEnergy has 24,000 members, 11 cities and 75 employees. He said in 2015, 11 coops acquired the service distribution line from Alliant. Those lines supply power to Alliant Energy, which is the power company for both Lime Springs and Chester.

He noted that although Alliant takes care of Lime Springs, MiEnergy also responded on Dec. 26 when a person was in danger after hitting a power pole. MiEnergy was first on the scene and disconnected the power.

Schwickerath said, “We appreciate you guys coming. Both companies showed flaws in the communication. I don’t want to see that happen again . . . a one-and-a-half-hour response time. It was an extremely stressful situation.”

Current fire chief Scott Osmundson added, “The patient was fading quickly.”

Krambeer said mutual aid is difficult between electric companies because they each use different systems.

“MiEnergy and Alliant have been talking. We are looking at options on how we can improve service and reliability,” he added.

• The allocation of who pays utility bills at the library/city garage was discussed since the library will have more space when they add a meeting room.

• The premium for city insurance raised 22% from last year. CIA Insurance quoted $21,030, compared with $17,219 from last year. The City is still waiting on a quote from Cray Insurance, but paid the CIA bill to stay insured.

 

Reports

• Fire Department: Osmundson noted the department went on two calls, one a mutual aid house fire in Chester and the other a possible car fire.

“The dance held in January was phenomenal,” he said.

The chief added the FireFighter 1 Class being held in the fire station was set to wrap up in March.

The department applied for a Howard County Community Foundation grant for a back-up generator.

• Library: Eddie Miller noted there were several events taking place. In addition, there were a total of 431 patrons served in November and 331 in December.

The library applied for several grants.

• Park & Rec: Sharla Lieder  reported a grant for paint was applied for. In addition, the board discussed raising punch card, family and single tickets for the year. “The prices haven’t been raised in a few years.”

City Council approved Laney Frazier as a board member to replace Brian Johnson.

• Community Center: No report.

• Public Works: Director Tyler Smith said he was busy the past few weekends plowing snow. He added Dan Murphy has made some truck repairs and driven the snow truck.

“I haven’t heard from the asbestos company. They said they’d be back in mid-January. I’ll call them later this week.”

The shop space was cleaned out, and each pond at the lagoon has a working aerator. 

Smith told council a salesman from Municipal Pipe approached him about their services and prices. He said one of the services was a camera to be used in the mains. “The south end of town needs the most attention,” the director said.

City Engineer Brian Malm of Bolton & Menk was in attendance and told council getting a camera through the pipes would be a good idea.

The next meetings will be a budget meeting on Feb. 16 and the regular council meeting on March 1.