The Stuart City Council met in regular session Monday night.

The Council approved a plan put together by Public Works Director Jim Henderson on a possible path forward regarding improvements to the City’s sports complex, the 2023 Tax Increment Finance (TIF) Certificate, then moved on to discussion on a traffic enforcement cameras agreement with the company Jenoptik.

In discussion, the Council let the public know that the Utilities Board was happy with the agreement, and then discussed what the agreement meant for the city. The language in the agreement allows for cancellation of the agreement, should legislative changes be made that wouldn’t allow the cameras to be where they are, or should the Iowa Department of Transportation decide that the City could not place the cameras where they were asking to. Councilman Cory Kirkpatrick voiced that most likely, the DoT would not allow the cameras to be placed on the overpass like the agreement was planning, but that the City would be able to place them on poles instead.

Kirkpatrick also mentioned that should the poles be placed in the median, guardrails would most likely need to be erected, and asked who would be in charge of that, as it would cost roughly $10,000. After the Council reviewed the agreement some more, it appeared that Jenoptik would be the entity to absorb the cost of damage to a pole and their equipment, and believed that the guardrail would also be covered by them. Councilman Kirkpatrick made a motion to table a decision until after the first of the year, so that more information could be gathered, but the motion died for lack of a second.

Councilman Kristina Renslow then motioned, and later amended her motion, to accept the contract, but to include language stating that Jenoptik would be responsible for installation of a guardrail, should it be needed. The motion passed in a 4-1 vote, with Kirkpatrick as the lone vote to reject, as he believed there was a large gray area on what the Dot may do, and he would have liked more information. The Council then approved to consider the acceptance of the agreement as the first reading of an ordinance for automated traffic enforcement, and approved waiving the need for the second and third readings to adopt the ordinance immediately.

The Council then approved an ordinance to establish policies and procedures regarding allowing debtors to the City to have the opportunity to contest the debt, and entered a lengthy discussion about being in talks with the Guthrie County Emergency Medical Services Advisory Council, with Stuart EMS Director Sean Bovinett stepping in for Guthrie County Health Services Director Jotham Arber to share information. The Council approved the fifth pay estimate to McAninch Corporation for $810,633.50 for work on the third Wambold Addition, and Stuart Economic Development Director Matt Funk provided an update.

The Council also approved to use Panora Fiber for information technology services for the City and Utilities, then heard an update regarding Stuart Economic Development from Matt Funk, before entering into a discussion on an article published by Bovinett.