...in other Sac City Council Business

The following items were discussed or decided on October 26, 2009.


Norman Lewman was appointed to the Fine Arts Council to fill the unexpired term of Ron Nelson.

According to City Administrator Adam Ledford, he has received some hesitancy from the entities named at the October 12, 2009 Sac City Council meeting, in regards to the establishment of a City Public Health Officer. He did seem hopeful that at least two of the entities discussed at the previous meeting were interested in serving in that capacity but did not name them.

According to Mayor Barb Powell, she and Mr. Ledford attended the Northwest Iowa league conference in Spencer Iowa. Apparently the conference did not offer the Mayor anything she could use in terms of governing Sac City, BUT the Mayor did say that she discovered a wonderful little club house adjacent to a golf course that was built with volunteer labor.


City Administrator Adam Ledford brought back information a little more useful than our Mayor, (not that I don’t like golfing) saying that he discovered a town that is going to be bypassed by highway 60. They have apparently discovered a cheaper alternative to full annexation and he promised to share a full report with the council at a later date.

According to Councilman Jim Frederick, his Waste Water department, (to which he is the city council’s liaison,) met with a potential bidder for the Waste Water Treatment Plant that will be cheaper than the current estimate. According to Mr. Frederick, the details aren’t worked out yet.

There was a meeting on the morning of October 20th with 25 potential bidders for the Waste Water Treatment plant rebuild. Some concern was expressed by those contractors regarding the “buy American” clause attached to the stimulus money.

According to Councilman Bill Brenny, the fire board is trying to bang out another 28E agreement and is again experiencing difficulty with the Wall Lake Township. He said that he thinks those difficulties, which primarily involved a perception of disproportionate fees, have been resolved and that the 28E will be passed at the next Fire Board meeting.

According to Mr. Frederick, the park board will now switch its focus from the Chautauqua building to updating playground equipment in City Park. They will attempt a community fundraiser to finance building a core playground that they can then expand on every time they find more money with which to do so.

The Planning and Zoning Board is planning to host a training forum on specific zoning issues facing Sac City. The training will take place on December 2, 2009 at 6:30 PM in the city council chambers. IT WAS NOTED THAT THE TIME AND DATE FOR THIS MEETING IS NOT FIRM. It will be finalized at the November 2, 2009 Planning and Zoning meeting


Because it is a training that deals with specific Sac City business, all of the open meeting requirements will have to be met, UNLESS the members of the Sac City Planning and Zoning Board continue to act in the usual underhanded way that has become a trademark of that institution and show up in less than quorum numbers with the intention of “passing the information on” to the other members so that they can keep what they discuss a secret.


Mr. Ledford asked that the members of the City Council RSVP the event in the case that THEY have a quorum interested so that they can comply with Iowa’s open meeting laws.

Other groups that were invited and will have to post agendas and minutes should they attend are the Sac County Supervisors, the County Planning and Zoning board and Board of Adjustment, the City Board of Adjustment.

Mr. Ledford asked that the finance committee begin to meet next month to start working on initial budget plans.

Mr. Ledford reminded the members of the council that the sac City Library turned 20 years old in September.

According to Mayor Powell, the new director of the Sac Community Center (whose name she did not mention, [Chelsea Bengford… ed]) is due to begin on November 2, 2009. She has apparently had experience working in the area of “heart rehab”. Said Mayor Powell, “I’m looking for cooperative efforts with different areas of our community.” Apparently Director Bengford is interested in initiating an after-school exercise program.