This information is provided to 921 News courtesy of Councilwoman Heather Diehl and Mid-America Live
From the Butler city council meeting last night
-Tiffany Fugate from Butler Public Library was a scheduled guest. She thanked the council and the City for the support they give to help keep the library in service. She gave a quick overview of all of the different services and patrons the Library serves throughout the year and when she calculated the approximate “value” (if put in actual dollars) it came to over $600,000 per year. That is pretty amazing and I am very thankful we have this Library available in our community! They run off of donations and occasional grant money, so if you are looking for a place to help out this year please keep the Library in mind!
-Kermit Kauffman with the Bates County Fair Board was also a scheduled guest and he updated Council on the progress of the new building at the Fair Grounds. He said the weather has been interrupting the process and it has been slow, but they are hopeful to get moving soon! He also announced that another “arena” would be taking shape out there as well, and it would be where the Truck and Tractor Pull and other activities would be held. The Fair Board has been working hard to keep building our County Fair back up to be an exciting event each year. So, keep watching for updates and announcements regarding the planned activities for this coming summer!
-Planning Commission- Met this week and worked on changing an ordinance regarding tow lots, etc. More to come on this.
-Airport Commission- Met with Burns & McDonald engineers. They are working on the Airport’s 5 year plan which keeps them eligible to receive federal grant money for projects and improvements. I have also caught wind of a potential upcoming ‘Airport Day’ hopefully in our future with some fun activities and events for families…. Stay tuned for more information on this!
-Neighborhood Advisory Committee- Met and discussed preparing for Spring Cleanup! They are working on getting some volunteer groups together for different areas within the City to make it easier for anyone needing help cleaning up their property. This will be taking place right before the City Wide Garage Sale at the first of May. So, if you are interested in volunteering to help Butler “Shine” Again please contact Gayle Alexander at City Hall!
-Council voted to adopt an ordinance amending the Personnel Policy for Employees that would eliminate “compensatory” time. This has been debated for several months now and due to comp time being built up and not taken, sometimes, it requires a significant payment to the employee at the end of their employment that is not particularly budgeted for. This amendment will eliminate those lump sums and keep the budget on track.
-Jerret Wheatley with the Butler Police Department reported that the Sheriff’s Office had donated 5 used tasers to the Police Department. We thank them for that! Wheatley also reported they are still down two officers, so if you know of anyone wanting to be a part of a local Community oriented Police Department please contact them!
-Council voted to endorse the City’s property and casualty insurance policy to amend building coverage amounts to better align with current needs, which will result in a small annual decrease of roughly $1800.
-The City Administrator brought it to Council’s attention that there were currently still 16 businesses that have not renewed their City “Business License”. Council asked our attorney to put together an applicable fine schedule for enforcement on these.
-The City Administrator showed Council a 3 year plan for our Sewer System(that our Public Works Director helped him put together) highlighting which areas of town needed to be priority. This should help our DNR requirements down the road. He also showed Council a plan for this year’s street improvements.
-The Butler Fire Department has applied for a grant for a new storm siren. This is a 100% grant that we are eligible to apply for based on our EMPG participation.
Thank you to all who attended the meeting! We hope to continue to see more faces each time!
Heather Diehl, Councilwoman
