Jefferson council approves project contracts during latest meeting

By RICK MORAIN

JEFFERSON HERALD

The Jefferson City Council on Tuesday approved contracts for three city projects.

One contract, not to exceed $40,000, is with Cemetery Information Management Systems for data collection and creation of a public search portal for Jefferson Cemetery. The online project will make record keeping and grave location searches much simpler both for city officials and for the general public. Cemetery records going back many decades are currently maintained in paper form.
Another contract, for $9,300, is for additional roof replacement expenses on the VFW building on the east side of the square. Materials for the project have increased in cost, and when roof workers were removing the existing roof they discovered several more layers than they had expected.

The third contract, for $9,920, is for short term repairs to the Jefferson water tower. The work will remove rust and repair holes, and reseal a hatch on top of the tower. More major repairs will take place later, as well as repainting the tower.
In other action, the council also approved the sale of three infill home lots in the city. Two of the lots, at 206 South Maple and 500 North Oak, were sold to Thielen Home Construction LLC of Madrid, at $500 each. The third lot, at 507 South Locust, was sold to Rowland Real Estate LLC of Clive for $550.

Under the contracts, the buyers must start building a house on each property within a year and complete the project within two years. Approval of the sales followed a public hearing on each project, with no oral or written comments received.    
The council also approved an amendment to the current city budget for the 2021-22 fiscal year, which ends June 30. A budget amendment takes place every year about this date.

Revenue reasons for the amendment include a change in the expected property tax backfill funds from the state; the use of service fees, licenses and permits; and federal American Rescue Act (ARPA) funds. Expenditure reasons include decreases and increases in the need of several items, such as fire drills, street repairs, principal bond payments, and maintenance of buildings, grounds, and equipment.
The net change to the projected fund balance on June 30 is a reduction of $132,201, going from $9,773,263 to $9,641,062. Revenues were increased by $795,267 and expenditures were increased by $927,468.

Approval of the budget amendment followed a public hearing, with no oral or written comments received.
Greene County Development Corporation’s (GCDC’s) $12,500 quarterly request for funds was also approved. GCDC executive director Ken Paxton presented the quarterly request and updated the council on the organization’s activities.
The council approved Pay Estimate No. 5 in the amount of $29,064 in state Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds for the building improvement project at 200 East State.
Also approved were a Class C beer permit for Oly’s Corner, a Class C liquor license for B.P.O. Elks Lodge No. 2306, and a special Class C liquor license for History Boy Theatre Company.

 

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