The Stuart City Council met last night for its April session.

Numerous items were discussed, but new Stuart Fire Chief Mike Renslow kicked off the meeting by introducing himself and his new officers to the Council. Renslow stated to the Council his belief that his young, active Board will be “pushing safety more so than ever before,” and Council members thanked him for his visit.

Next, members of Stuart Rescue addressed the Council to discuss the resignation of Jeff Howard as Director of Operations for the organization.  After the Council unanimously approved Howard’s resignation, Councilman Neal Crawford outlined a few a ideas for changes that could be made to Stuart Rescue, such as increasing the size of the Board from four to five members, and making one of those persons a sitting member of City Council.

Members from Stuart Rescue then asked for permission to advertise the open director position to the public, with the hopes that a new hire can be made at the next Council meeting.  Councilman Bryan Belden voiced his opinion that the advertisement cast a wide net so that a large pool of interested persons might apply the position, saying the next hire “has to be the right fit.”

Interim Director Kelly Surber said that the next hire has to be willing to adopt the fact that directing Stuart Rescue “is not a job, it’s a life.”

To conclude the discussion, Mayor Dick Cook publicly thanked Jeff Howard for his years of service and called him a “great asset to the Stuart community.”

Following Stuart Rescue discussion, the Council unanimously voted to table the next payment to Priority Excavating for work done on the Wambold Project.  The estimate was for almost $35,000, but Councilman Belden says “the City needs to see progress toward completion (of the project) before more payments are made.”

The Council then unanimously approved payment of building inspector fees and a pay estimate of about $45,000 to be made to Roy Sargent for work done on the Rock Island Depot Restoration Project.

Forrest Aldrich of Veenstra & Kimm Engineering then addressed the Council to give an update about the Downtown Restoration Project.  Aldrich says architects will be on site for two meetings with business owners, one on April 30th and the other on May 7th, to discuss concepts and ideas for facade improvements.  Each business owner interested in having restorative work done on their building will have 30 minutes to meet with architects during either meeting.

William Page was also unanimously approved to hired as a public historian and preservation planner for the facade improvement project.

The Council then had two lengthier discussions to conclude its meeting.  The first pertained to the old athletic complex and the expectation that the City will eventually take ownership of that property.  Councilman Neal Crawford, who also sits on the West Central Valley School Board, told the Council that School Board is looking for a clean change in ownership by the 2015-16 fiscal year.  Crawford says the School Board is willing to go half-and-half with the City for the payment of legal fees regarding the transfer of land.

Crawford says the School Board does not foresee using the old complex in the future, but just in case that ever becomes a possibility, City Administrator Ashraf Ashour suggested that the City and the school district enter a 28-E agreement voicing such a stipulation.

No action was taken by the Council pertaining to the old athletic complex issue but legal questions will be formulated in the months ahead pertaining to the transfer of land.

Then to end the meeting, Councilman Belden again addressed the rest of Council to talk about entering a formal partnership with SEED regarding numerous ideas.  The main one being Belden’s desire to hire an economic development liaison for the City of Stuart that would be responsible for “grant and business recruitment.”  It would be a paid position, with Belden citing the system currently in place in Greenfield as a good example of the job responsibilities.

Belden will meet with an area attorney to help set up the legal structuring of the City’s partnership with SEED, saying he wants to see “better synergies” between the City and SEED solely for the purpose of more efficiently propelling economic development in the area.

No items were discussed in public forum at the conclusion of the meeting.

Stuart City Council will next convene on Monday, May 12th at 6:30pm in City Hall.