The Jefferson City Council met Tuesday night in regular session.
Resident Denny Lautner addressed the Council in open forum. He asked why the city needed to have a golf course that costs taxpayers lots of money to operate, not needing a new school building because the ones that were built were not at capacity and about the Forge and Gravitate Coworking being failures. The Council did not respond following Launter’s comments.
The Council then heard from resident and local landlord Margaret Saddoris before they approved resetting the public hearing for a proposed housing project with KCG Development for the February 13th meeting. This was due to not having representatives present with the developer. Saddoris presented a memo from a former city Carroll official about the negatives of a similar sized project in Carroll.
Next, the Council approved purchase of sanitation and recycling trucks, as well as 1,600 45-gallon recycling bins not to exceed $728,000. The Council also approved a resolution to engage with Piper Sandler and Company as the underwriter to assist with general obligation bonds and set the public hearing for February 13th to issue $1.7 million to fund the purchase of the trucks and finance the East Lincoln Way road project.
The Council also approved paying $14,000 from the city’s allocation of Grow Greene County Gaming Corporation funds for the library readiness study to decide if they should expand their facilities, and they approved being the fiscal sponsor for a GGCGC grant application for two pickleball courts. Additionally, the Council approved an ordinance changing the makeup of the Parks and Rec Board for four city residents and two outside residents to be on the board, as well as renaming the partner school district from Jefferson-Scranton to Greene County. They also approved amending another ordinance to continue to charge at the same fee rate for oversized water meters. Both ordinances also had the second and third required readings approved.
The Council then approved a contract with Sebourn Video Services because there was no contract established, and streaming services will continue. They also approved Community Animal Shelter as the official name of the facility, a resolution for a $150,000 economic development agreement for Greg and Shirley Hacker of Courtyard on State Street. Another resolution for a $93,000 forgivable loan was approved for Jacob Keller after the previous owner Philip Heisterkamp sold the property at 105 North Chestnut Street for Keller’s martial arts business to relocate there. The Council approved an engagement with Bolton and Menk for a renewal of the general engineering contract as presented, and they heard an annual report from Thomas Jefferson Gardens of Greene County.