Although they switched to monthly meetings, the Janesville city council didn’t have much business to handle to start 2024 on Monday, January 8. Most of the items on the agenda were things they had to take care of at the beginning of every year
Every year, the council makes its yearly appointments, such as official newspaper and city engineer. Not much — if anything — changed for 2024. The Janesville Journal is still proud to call itself the official city newspaper. The council also kept its positions on all the city boards, like the EDA and Whispering Creek Nursing Home.
An appointment that the council did make was approving Mark Vanderwilt to become the Janesville Police Department’s second sergeant in its history. The two candidates considered were him and Sheila Jewison, who currently serves as a School Resource Officer at Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton. Police Chief Sergeant Steve Johnson said both had great interviews and that, ultimately, the city’s personnel committee selected Vanderwilt.
The council also approved its master fee schedule, including permit fees. Council member Ivan Maas suggested that since the city had decided to require stickers for golf carts, they should include them on the fee schedule but keep them free. “If we require them, they should really be an official fee,” he suggested. “Then we can still choose not to charge for them.”
Since not having a sticker on a golf cart would be considered an ordinance violation, Andrea Moen suggested putting the fee under the police and administration portion of the schedule.
The council then agreed to the Law Enforcement Support Notice. The executive order from the state requires the city and its police department to “notify the public of any grants or federal programs to look into if interested.”
The city created a new fund to track $106,644 in public safety aid received by the state of Minnesota. Janesville Fire Department received a bid of about $15,000 from Massachusetts for its retired 1991 Ford pumper truck.
With the council only meeting monthly, the city staff will have to pay the normal bills promptly before they can officially approve them. With Resolution 2024-04, the staff received the council’s blessing.
Reports
City Administrator Clinton Rogers was happy to announce the city received the second half of its local government aid from the state, amounting to $430,324. The city also received a $5,300 dividend check from the League of Minnesota Cities’ Insurance Trust for property insurance purposes.
He reported that the building permit numbers were down in 2023 compared to 2022. However, they were still above the three-year average. A new development on the north side of the town by Sam Borneke might boost permit numbers in the future. “Once Borneke’s development is complete, we’ll get more permits,” Rogers said.
With Andrea Moen taking the position of Utilities Manager, the city is continuing to look for someone to replace her at the deputy clerk position at City Hall. Applications have been submitted already, which the personnel committee will review.
Council member Ivan Maas updated the council on the status of Park Road Plaza. The elevator is officially being fixed and updated and will be under repairs soon. The next concern, according to Maas, is making sure the residents on the upper three floors of the building can use the stairs in the case of an emergency. “We’ll need to address if those residents are mobile or not,” he said.
The project will take 4-6 weeks to complete. “Because of that, we’ll look into getting volunteers from the school and within the community,” Maas shared. “These residents we’ll need groceries. They’ll have to reach the main level for medical calls. Once we get a hand on what we need, we’ll look for those volunteers to help with some of that.”
The meeting adjourned at 7:26 p.m. The next meeting will be on Monday, February 14.
