City Council Rundown For 01/06/2021

The first Dillon City Council meeting of the year was held last night, and in true fashion it was a long one. As Council Members debated the purchase of a copier and who should pay for a City Road.

The council started out with the mayor’s report and recommendation on continuing to be with the County Health Board. This was approved unanimously. Council person Don Hand stated this was a way to show how government could work, Council person Wassall disagreed with this and stated it was a complete waste of time. Especially during a pandemic that is on the rise. Council person O'Rourke also stated she was not clear on what his intentions where in doing these actions. The exchange starts at the 8 min mark of the video.

At the 37 min 30 second mark the discussion to purchase a fax and copier machine for the City Attorney’s Office. The current equipment being used is old and outdated, they are unable to get parts to fix the machine there for it needs to be replaced. Council person Wassall had questions on if the machine they are purchasing was "used" or "used refurbished". The machine is one that was used at the state government and had roughly about 6,000 copies a year. To see the whole question and answer session you can go to the 37 min mark and runs for about 30 minutes.

1 Hr 5 min mark the motion to approve the infrastructure agreement between Eric Wendland and the city of Dillon. Council Person Wassall wanted to table the notion stating they needed more information and wanted more supporting documents, this was seconded by Council woman O'Rourke. The main problem is with the cost of the city's portion of the agreement. The section in question is 1200 ft of old road that is on the city's map as a road the city owns. This road has never been improved and was basically a dirt road running through cow pasture.

The agreement as it stands in the documents is the city will pay for the engineering design and construction of Rife street, Kent Street, and Franklin Street up to a gravel overlay which includes all necessary storm water systems as per design.

Owner agrees to grant easement on their land for a possible storm drain retention pond, as each site is built the sidewalks will be constructed in accordance to the Rife street plan provided by the city within one year before occupancy of each site. Once 70% of the platted properties utilizing Rife Street are complete the owner agrees to the creation of and execution of a SID created for the sole financing and construction of curb, gutter, and preparing of the streets of Kent, Rife, and Franklin for asphalting and completion of asphalting.

The major problem with this agreement is that they do not have a cost or budget lined out on this project. Certain council members objected to the cost this would incur on the city, they believe that it is the developer’s responsibility to bring the road back to usable standards. The whole discussion can be seen on the last portion of the video provided below.

Main road in question from last nights City Council Meeting along with the draft of agreement between the Wendlend's and the City of Dillon