With nearly a month having passed since the last meeting, the Lisbon City Council discussed various topics on Monday, June 8, including a road closure, a change of date for a public hearing, and reports.
The Southeast Linn Community Center (SELCC) will be hosting a barbecue on June 18 as part of their Community Eats program. With the barbecue in mind, SELCC requested a road closure and the use of city picnic tables so that community members could eat their food outside.
Initially, SELCC had requested the Washington Street be closed to provide the ability to dine outside. However, after some discussion by the council, and a request from police chief Jason Blinks, the council voted East Main Street would be closed for the event.
According to Blinks, the closure of Main Street would allow farm traffic and semis to continue to pass through Lisbon without taking a detour to avoid the road closure.
The closure would include only the portion of East Main Street that houses the Lisbon History Center, the Lisbon Public Library, and Bill’s Tap, stopping just before Indulgence Salon. The rest of East Main Street will be open to regular parking so that businesses remaining open throughout the night will not be affected.
The same cement blocks that are used during Lisbon’s annual Sauerkraut Days festival to close off the street will be used to close off East Main during the SELCC barbecue.
Financial Discussion
To keep the balance at zero, the city council voted unanimously to pay Wendler Inc. $165,239.50 for their work on the Well No. 5 project thus far.
According to the Lisbon city engineer, Dave Schechinger, the work completed since the last payment includes, but is not limited to, putting the well in casing pipe, getting the motor in place and running it up to the pond, and getting the building foundation in.
Additionally, the council took a vote on whether or not to adjust salaries of city workers based on this year’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) increase.
Yearly, the city council discusses their Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) for city employees. This year, the CPI increase was 3.8%, to which the council discussed a COLA of 4%.
The Lisbon City Council voted 4-1 to make the adjustment. Council member Rick Scott voted against it but made no comment as to why.
Change of Date for Alliant Energy Franchise Fee Public Hearing.
Following the suggestion of both Alliant Energy and the Lisbon City Attorney, the council voted to move the public hearing regarding the Alliant Energy Franchise Fee Ordinance.
Initially, the ordinance had been in place for June 22. However, to provide ample time for the city attorney to look over the ordinance to determine if there are any potential issues, and for Alliant Energy to look over and approve it on their end, the council voted unanimously to move the public hearing to July 13.