Rock Island Today

City of Colona City Council met March 25.

Here are the minutes provided by the council:

CALL TO ORDER: 6:00 p.m.

ROLL CALL: Mayor Ropp, Aldermen Painter, Swemline, Jones, Shady-Dahl (In late - arrived during Mayor's Report and before vote on approval of Consent Agenda items), Stablein, and Goodrum were present. Alderman Dooley, Alderman Lack, Kristina Medrano (Deputy Clerk) and Mike Swemline (Police Chief) were absent. Staff present: Ryan Erichsen (Public Works Director). Jen Legare (Finance Director)

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE:

PUBLIC COMMENTS: None

MAYOR'S REPORT:

Mayor read Junior Achievement proclamation. Proclaiming April 4, 2024 and every first Thursday hereafter as Junior Achievement Day in The City of Colona.

Mayor received a correspondence on March 22nd in regards to a cyber-attack in Henry County on network infrastructure. This attack was and is no direct threat to the public.

Public Works has been doing a lot of work out at CSFP. Public Works has ground over 200 stumps. Also working on Tree and dead limb removal.

Public Works got two new grinder pumps and railings for the Carroll St. lift station. One pump was inoperable and the other pump will be salvaged and used a backup.

Mayor had a meeting with Moline on WWTP. There were some issues with high copper levels. Working on tracing that down.

Mayor attended meeting with The Friends of the Hennepin Canal. Talked about doing some work on the canal. Mayor appreciated being invited and it was informative.

Mayor and Alderman Swemline had a meeting with the owners of Grease Monkeys in regards to outdoor events. Working on an agreement to work on the issues we have had in the past.

Teamster contract went for ratification. Mayor hopes to have this on the agenda for 4-8-2024 City Council meeting.

Mayor met with Dan from ABN and he indicated that he can't help us at this time, but hopes to do business with The City of Colona in the future.

CSFP-Staff back out there taking reservations and cleaning cabins. Mayor, Finance Director Legare, and Public Works Director Erichsen have been working on job descriptions for seasonal employees with hopes of getting some help for the upcoming season.

Statement of Economic Interests are due again. Available online or contact the Mayor with any questions.

There are about 42 people on the delinquent list for water to be shut off. Public Works Director Erichsen and Mayor Ropp have been looking at doing something different because the way we have been doing it isn't currently working.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

PUBLIC SAFETY:

o Met 3-15-24 at 9:30 AM. Present were Alderman Goodrum, Chairman Painter, Chief Swemline, and Laura Lamantia. Absent Alderman Dooley. Also, present Mayor Ropp.

o Public Comment- NONE

o Old Business-

Chief Advised an officer had resigned. Discussed staffing shortages and the need to hire.

Chief advised a squad car listed for sale on public surplus website. It did sell but the buyer fell through. Squad has since sold for $9000.00. Chief advised once sale is complete the other squad will be listed.

o New Business-

Committee reviewed need for new squad car to keep in replacement rotation.

Nuisance abatement ordinance needs revised. Spoke with City Attorney to follow through with Henry County to see what we need to do to move forward with this.

Chief has a draft/proposal to bring before Council next time he is present.

Chief advised he would like to raise lateral pay scale to offer incentive for Officers to laterally transfer to Colona. Will attract trained quality candidates by making Colona competitive with other Departments in our area. This will also save The City money in the long run on training. Motion to put on City Council Agenda. Chairman Painter seconded. Motion passed.

CONSENT AGENDA:

1. Approve Closed Session minutes from February 26, 2024 City Council Meeting

2. Approve minutes from March 11, 2024 City Council Meeting

3. Approve payment of bills/Claims by Vendor report for the period March 12- 25,2024

4. Approve payroll for the period March 11-25, 2024

Alderman Stablein made a motion to approve Consent Agenda Items 1-4. Alderman Goodrum seconded. Discussion offered, hearing none. Roll Call: Alderman Stablein, Swemline, Jones, Painter, Goodrum, Shady-Dahl voted yes. Alderman Dooley and Lack were absent. Motion passed with 6 ayes and 2 absent.

OLD BUSINESS:

1. Clerk's position- There has been no interest as of yet. Mayor offered the Council needs to discuss options. Either make The Clerk an appointed position or raise the pay, which we cannot change during term. To change to an appointed position a referendum has to be done ahead of time.

Alderman Stablein offered, before we can make any changes to the Clerk's position the staffing of the entire office needs to be looked at as a whole. Distribution of duties etc. Finance/Admin Committee has gone over duties in the past but with so many changes this needs to be looked at again and discussed further.

Mayor Ropp offered we have one full time Admin Clerk, a part time Utility Billing Clerk and Treasurer Legare is full time as well.

There is a need to have a clearer definition of the job duties of the Clerk's position, after discussing, the consensus is that the Council needs to pin point duties of all the different office positions and see what changes we can make from there.

2. Building Inspector-

4-30-2024 is Tom Lupinski's last day with Colona.

Need to look into possibly piggy backing off another City. Building season is coming up.

NEW BUSINESS:

1. Lateral Transfer Ordinance- New Language in Ordinance as follows:

The officer will be eligible to transfer up to 7 years of their years of certified law enforcement experience for payroll purposes.

o An officer with 7 years of certified law enforcement experience would start would start at the 7-year step, and remain there until they reach year 8 on the pay scale. The officer would still get contract raises every year.

o This would be for payroll purposes only, and not seniority on the department.

Any Officer receiving the lateral bonus must remain with the Colona Police Department for 3 years, or the officer will be required to pay back the full amount of the lateral bonus.

ADJOURN: Alderman Swemline made a motion to adjourn. Alderman Painter Seconded. Discussion offered, hearing none. Roll Call: Alderman Stablein, Swemline, Jones, Painter, Goodrum, Shady-Dahl voted yes. Alderman Dooley and Lack absent. Motion passed with 6 ayes and 2 absent. Meeting adjourned at 7:04 PM.