South English Appoints New Councilwoman

SOUTH ENGLISH – During the Jan. 14 meeting of the South English City Council, the council appointed local woman Andi Albert to fill the open council seat left by the resignation of Steven Bruhn. Albert is a lifelong resident of Keokuk County who relocated to South English a year and a half ago. She works for Financial Service Group, Inc in North English, as an Apartment Manager for USDA Income Based Housing. “I think that it’s important to be a leader in your community and this is an excellent opportunity for that,” said Albert, when asked why she volunteered. “I am looking forward to serving as a city council member for South English.”

Also at the Tuesday meeting, the council discussed the need to fix a leak somewhere in town, with Councilman Cameron Miller stating that the leak was getting worse and the city was losing more water than it sells, 348,000 gallons to 343,000. Mayor Ed Shafranek suggested checking shutoffs and Miller suggested checking abandoned houses. The council approved hiring someone to find the leak. City Clerk Stephanie Lown noted that the council needed to do a budget workshop soon. Lown also stated that the council needed to do a sewer rate study soon, because the city isn’t making any money, due to low rates, outstanding debt and people not paying their bills.

The council spoke with Nancy Janssen of the Midwest Assistance Program, a non-profit that assists cities with sewer debts, who is currently assisting Lown with getting the city’s financial reports and budget in order. Janssen stated that the city needed to address its water and wastewater rates and that, while fixing leaks would help, it wouldn’t be enough to make the city profitable. She noted that cities are inundated with increasing costs and recommended the council check the city’s old water meters, to ensure they give accurate readings, and replace ones that don’t work.

Janssen stated that there is no law saying the city needs to give weeks of leniency when people don’t pay their water bills and that they just need to give a 24 hour notice after a bill goes unpaid. She recommended turning off peoples’ water quickly when they don’t pay and requiring a $200 reconnection fee and people be paid up completely before turning water back on. She stated that the city was required by law to make a profit on water and wastewater and that it was illegal to use property tax money to make up the deficit for water and wastewater. She noted that there is low income water assistance that residents who need it can apply to. She claimed that 85% of people who don’t pay their water bills do so not because they can’t afford to, but because the city doesn’t force them to. She stated that city ordinances must be enforced equally, saying that the city’s unofficial policy of allowing people to be delinquent on their water bills for three months before a shut off was a bad thing to do, because it wasn’t mentioned in the codebook. She stated that the council can’t be lenient on bills if their own policies say they need to enforce them.

Shafranek stated that South English has a deal to supply water to Harper and wasn’t sure if they were charging enough, because the two cities didn’t do the math to check if it was a fair deal when they made the agreement. Jansen stated that South English legally cannot pay any amount of Harper’s water bill and that the city needs to charge at least as much for Harper residents as it does South English residents, preferably more.

Janssen stated that struggles happen with city governments because people don’t understand their roles and gave an overview of the authorities of the council and mayor, explaining that council members only have authority during meetings and that the mayor and clerk need council approval for most decisions. She recommended the city write out employee, safety, emergency response, conduct and ethics policies. She stressed the importance of looking over financial reports to ensure there is no embezzlement. She stated that the council wasn’t required to host a public forum during meetings, but that council members needed to treat any citizens attending meetings with respect. Janssen stated that QuickBooks, which the city uses as accounting software, was adequate, but not built for municipal government, explaining that cities need to track money split between different funds, which QuickBooks struggles with. She stressed the importance of council members attending every meeting.

Shafranek asked about nepotism, noting that two council members, Hope Frazier and Nick Frazier, are married, and that Councilwoman Emily Clarahan is married to City Employee Stephen Clarahan. Janssen stated that there’s no such thing as nepotism in terms of elected officials, because both Fraziers were properly elected. She stated that small towns often have to hire relatives of council members, but that council members should recuse themselves from issues involving relatives; for example, Councilwoman Clarahan should stay silent and not vote in any discussions involving her husband. Shafranek asked about the city hiring Councilman Frazier’s concrete company for work in the past. Janssen said this was fine, assuming the city got multiple public bids and went with the lowest. She stated that the city should always try to get three bids and is required to take the lowest responsible bid. She stated the council needs to document their reasons for not taking a lowest bid. She stated that Nick Frazier should recuse himself from votes involving his company.

Janssen explained to the council that it is illegal for three or more of them to discuss city business outside of meetings and that all meetings must have agendas posted at least 24 hours in advance. She stated all meetings should be open to the public, unless it is a specifically noted closed session, which can only be done under specific circumstances. She told the council they need to tell the public that they’ll have to raise property taxes and water rates soon. She recommended the council members speak to their legislatures about state plans to limit the ability of cities to tax, which she believes will hurt small towns and force them to cut services.

Lown stated she has sent five letters to local attorneys about the need for a city attorney, but not received any response; Shafranek recommended calling the offices directly, pointing out the city needed a lawyer soon to help with the deed for a property the city sold. The council denied a bid to clean the gutters at City Hall. The council approved an $800 bid from Exceptional Edge for salt and sand for the street.

Miller brought up a resident with a yard filled with garbage bags. Nick Frazier added that the trash bags are heaped up all the way to the door. Miller noted that the city can’t just send a letter to this resident specifically and needs to send letters to all residents with trash filled yards. Shafranek recommended sending a blanket letter along with water bills telling residents they need to pick up trash. Miller noted that the resident will likely just throw the garbage bags in a ditch. The mayor noted that there had been a DNR sanitation audit of South English, coming with several items that need to be addressed and several items recommended to be addressed. He stated that a proposal would be given at the next meeting.