Contracts and Lease Committee Keeping Busy in Savanna

By MICHAEL MILLER |For The Prairie Advocate News

SAVANNA – A brief Savanna City Council meeting was highlighted by decisions on how to proceed with a potential contract between the City and iFiber, their current contract with Computer Dynamics and provisions for renewing its contract with The Meadows development group, at the Council’s November 27, 2012 meeting.

The half hour meeting was attended by Mayor Larry Stebbins, Bill Scott, Bill Robinson, Peg Haffey, Jeff Griswold, Toni McCombie, Carol Fosdick and Lois Hunsaker, with Merle Long absent. City department heads Sheryl Sipe, Shawn Picolotti and John Lindeman also attended, with Police Chief Michael Moon absent.

Most of the action seems to have taken place at the Contracts and Lease Committee meeting directly preceding the Council meeting. Committee Chairman Griswold reviewed the results of that meeting, telling the Council that the Committee was recommending a counter offer to Computer Dynamics for use of the City’s water tower of $500.00 a month for rent with a 3 percent annual increase.

Griswold also reported that the generator, HVAC and electrical services will need to be included in the grant for iFiber, and that someone in the City offices will look into this and potentially do a counter proposal.

Turning to The Meadows development group, Griswold said that in light of the apparent opening of the Thomson Correctional Center in the near future, the committee was recommending an extension of the current contract with the group. The City has entered into an agreement with the group wherein if ten houses were not constructed by April 9th of this year, the City was entitled to $2,000.00 for each house not constructed (only two have been built, leaving eight) or the remaining eight lots. Griswold told the Council that the Committee was recommending a reworking of the contract’s exit clause so that the City could choose which lots they want in the event that the group is not able to follow through on the proposed construction targets. The entire Council seemed to agree that this should be an essential part of the contract, and they approved the entire report.

Three ordinances received their first (and only) reading, and were approved with a waiving of the normal second reading. Ordinance #2019, dealing with the raising of fees for after hours water service call labor charges from $30.00 to $60.00 was passed in this fashion. More fees are going up; Ordinance #2020 was passed, which will hike the fees for various dumpster, tire disposal and dump truck rental charges in the following manner; disposal of garbage bags would go from one dollar to two dollars, sofas would go from ten dollars to twenty dollars, chairs would go from six dollars to twelve dollars, bathtubs would go from ten dollars to twenty dollars, mattresses and box springs would both go from seven dollars to fourteen dollars, a small pick-up truck load would go from $20.00 to $30.00, a regular pick-up truck load would go from $30.00 to $40.00 and a dump truck/trailer load would go from $100.00 to $150.00. Some fees, such as those for disposal of carpets, carpet padding and farm and construction equipment, would be determined based on quantity or size. Other charges related to tires also saw a slight increase.

A portion of Charles Street will be vacated, thanks to the unanimous vote of the Council (Ordinance #2018, in it’s second reading).

A Fond Farewell

The Council bid farewell to the unofficial “chaplain” of the City, with Pastor Mike Wey, who had delivered the invocations before the Council meetings for several years, departing for another area. Wey said that it had been “an honor and a privilege to serve Savanna” and he said that when he wrote his book Savanna would figure prominently in it. Stebbins thanked Wey for his invaluable aid during the two flood events had hit the City in 2010 and 2011, and remarked that Wey had been “a very important person for the City of Savanna.”