FFA visits, school policies approved

Janesville City Attorney Jason Moran spoke to the city council during its Monday, November 28 meeting about an apparent heat issue with apartments at 138 N. Main Street.

Dan Murphy, an inspector with City Building Inspection Services, checked the structure at the request of the property management company that owns it. He determined that, although the main level had sufficient heat, six apartment units on the upper floors had no heat at all.

“I’ve been told two different things, that there is heat and that there is no heat,” Moran said. “I spoke with the property management’s attorney and the attorney for some of the tenants involved in the situation. The two parties are in the process of working things out.”

Moran stressed to the council that he doesn’t want the city to get involved with the disagreement between the property managers and the tenants. “I was told there were two weeks needed to sort things out, according to management. I reluctantly ask you to table this for two weeks.”

He informed council members that if the property does not get the heating situation under control within that time frame, they can do one of two things: revoke the owner’s rental license or suspend it until the units are getting sufficient heat and another inspection is passed.

The council approved tabling the matter until the December 9 meeting.

Other Business

Public Works Manager Joe Ziemke discussed the sanitary and storm sewer budget changes with the council. Both Ziemke and City Administrator Clinton Rogers noted only a few major changes to both.

“We added a few things for lift station repairs, pond intakes outside of town, and a line item for fuel which was taken directly out of public works in the past,” Ziemke explained. “We have four pumps on the southwest corner of town that have needed replacing for a while. We replaced two with new pumps, which have drastically cut down on pump times and have saved us money in electricity.”

The 2023 storm sewer budget has not changed much from 2022. The county is doing work on “Ditch 11” which will potentially affect Janesville’s storm sewer system in the future. “We’ll have to see what comes through and what that looks like,” Ziemke said.

Rogers updated the council on the state of the 2023 General Fund Tax Levy. The proposed amount was 13.3 percent; Rogers and Mayor Andy Arnoldt tried looking for ways to decrease the levy to 9.9 percent.

The city’s insurance numbers came back below budget amounts, which Rogers claims will help the city’s goal of bringing the levy percentage into the single digits. He suggested another way the tax levy could be decreased was cutting the salary of the community development director, a position currently vacant.

“We can give them 9 months of pay instead of a full 12,” he explained. “Just some food for thought.”

In a last-minute change to the agenda, the council decided to postpone looking for a candidate for the community development director position until after the new year. The city’s personnel committee reported it had not yet found the right candidate for the position. Council member Melissa Kopachek explained that the previous director, Marley Rohwer, left some big shoes to fill.

“We don’t want to sell ourselves short here,” she said.

The council voted to hold a public hearing to amend Chapter 51 of the city code concerning the sanitary sewer. It was recommended the language of the code be changed so when a property is transferred from one owner to another, the two parties record a video and ensure there are no sewer connections to be concerned about.

The proposed language change presented by Rogers, dubbed paragraph B, was taken out of Blooming Prairie’s city code. Attorney Moran said that Le Center had something similar to the language shown.

Janesville Boy Scout member Luke Cahill talked to the council about his Eagle Scout service project which was to collect Christmas trees on January 7. Ziemke confirmed that there is a spot for the trees to be dumped safely.

Other items approved were an $800 anonymous donation to the Disc Golf fund and supporting Waseca County in its goal to obtain a trial grant for Lakeview Park north of Janesville.

The meeting adjourned at 7:40 p.m.