The Owen Common Council held their regular meeting on Tuesday, November 11, with Mayor Scott Jalling and Alderperson Jason Thornton absent.
A proposed Standard Operating Procedure for finances was handed out for the council to look over for possible approval at the next meeting. There are items in the policy that don’t match the handbook according to Alderperson Ray Kilty. He said that Clerk Tracy Rau is technically liable for everything that goes through city hall. He said that she should be a signatory on all contracts. Kilty said that there should be budget overruns on some line items and adjustments should be made at the end of the year with the auditors moving money from accounts that were under. He said a procedure needs to be in place on how to train the next person, on how to do a budget. He said that Rau didn’t get proper training when she was hired. Kilty said he had a lot of questions as he had never done a budget before. Chief of Police Patrick Fehlman asked if Rau needed to sign police contracts also. Kilty said they are just looking to put a procedure in place so it doesn’t matter who is here, they will know how to do the job.
Under the Abatement Update, the council learned that there is a December date set for information on the abatement. Chief Fehlman met with the property owner and walked around the property with her. He felt the meeting went well and that she has made some progress, but not enough to stop the abatement. He will have to give the city attorney some updates before the court hearing.
The 2024 audit was approved.
Under the Public Works Report, DPW Chad Smith said that in the water department, they are getting everything ready for winter. For sewer, they have done some sewer jetting. The work on the standpipe at the Wastewater Treatment Plant has been started. They had some issues at the Withee Lift Station with pumping sewage into trucks, but got it figured out. They are running trucks 24 hours a day and public works is working in six-hour shifts. He said they were hoping to be able to use the standpipe by late on Wednesday, so they no longer had to pump. They are also getting things at the wastewater plant ready for winter. For Streets, they have been picking up leaves. Green Grove Supply is moving forward and have water and sewer stubbed in. Public works is also getting the plows ready for winter. For Parks, everything is shut down for the year in both Crowley and Mill Pond parks.
Mayor Jalling had provided a written report in his absence. He would like to increase meeting per diem by $10. He would also like to look into hiring an accounting firm to look at city accounts to make sure everything is being done correctly and maybe alleviate some paperwork. He asked that these items be placed on the next agenda.
Under Other Reports, it was noted that Prevail Bank is donating $5,000 toward the bike trail. Smaller donors have donated over $3,000. The soil samples are done for the bike trail project and paperwork has been submitted to the DNR.