FULTON – At last night’s Common Council meeting, October 6, the council unanimously approved all items on the agenda, including the appointment of three city employees – the reappointment of an administrative aid to the mayor, a new executive assistant to the mayor and a new Parks and Recreation director.
In the agenda, Mayor Deana Michaels did something a little different than in past meetings. Before the councilors voted on each item, she explained to the public what it meant.
The mayor reappointed James Thomas as her administrative aid, who has been working with her since she began her term. She explained he had to be reappointed to follow guidelines after retiring from the state.
She also appointed Heather McCoy as her executive assistant to fill the role of Elizabeth Canfield who recently left the position due to health reasons. She said there has been no addition to the budget or more positions.
Michaels also explained that an employee for the DPW and police department has been working in her office due to pandemic related adjustments in work location.
“Now that we’re getting those replacements and the seasonal [workers] are going to be leaving, you’ll see a big shift in the mayor’s suite,” Michaels said.
The council also approved to appoint a new Parks and Recreation Director – Chris Waldron. The position was left empty after Barry Ostrander retired this past winter. Since then, the mayor’s office has been running the Parks and Rec Department as well as the Maintenance Department. The new director’s starting salary will be $58,000.
Also in the agenda, the minutes for the September 15 meeting were approved, and the City Clerk’s report for September in the amount of $4,962.25 was approved to be placed on file.
The council approved to add two new streetlights on the 600 block on Ontario Street. Michaels explained that during the 6th ward’s code enforcement walk-through, the council found the area to be poorly lit, and decided it would be better and safer to add more LED streetlights.
“One of the key things we noticed was it’s dark,” Michaels said. “We want to light it up because we think if we bring light to it and we make it a safer place for the residents who are doing the right thing – it’s a start.”
The Department of Public Works Commissioner was approved to sell through public auction unneeded equipment. Michaels said these pieces of equipment are dated and no longer serve the DPW in the manner it needs, so in an effort to recoup some of the money from the equipment, they will sell them.
The council approved to move next month’s meeting from Tuesday, November 3 to Wednesday, November 4 because that Tuesday is Election Day. The council typically meets on the first Tuesday of the month and will go back to this for December. The time will not change – 7 p.m.
The council approved the sale of 6 North Sixth Street, a single-family property, in the amount of $16,500 to Renee Catherman. Michaels explained that properties come into the ownership of the city when it goes two years without paying property taxes. The city then assesses the property and makes the determination to sell it to get it back on the tax roll. The sale price is not the assessed value of the property. While in its ownership, the city pays the taxes to the school and the county, and the city does not receive the revenue from the property taxes to the city. She said there are six new properties up for sale and 12 are currently being assessed.
“[This property] is neglected and certainly needs some TLC to get it back to where we need to be,” Michaels said. “Right now, it attracts the wrong type of activity and it attracts the wrong type of people.”
The city has awarded the 2020 Tree Maintenance contract to Onsite Development LLC for the amount of $19,900. The other company, Mid-State Lawn & Tree Service bid $70,525. The DPW Commissioner also received bids for stump removal but denied all of them because the department bought its own stump grinder so the city can do it itself.
The council authorized the acceptance of electronic documents and signatures.
The council approved to move $25,000 from A. 1990 contingency account to A. 1420 law account to cover the cost of various legal fees.
Before the agenda, Michaels made a proclamation to observe the week of October 5 to October 12 in honor of the Knights of Columbus. Council #254 is celebrating its 123rd anniversary and Assembly #748 is celebrating its 110th anniversary. The organization is a global Catholic fraternal service order.
“I, Deana Michaels, mayor of the City of Fulton, on behalf of the city common council, congratulate the Saint Joseph’s Council #254 and Saint Joseph’s Assembly #748 Knights of Columbus for its 123 and 110 years of service to the community,” Michaels said.
There was also a public hearing scheduled in regard to amending Chapter 253 Section 253-1: Growth and Maintenance Restrictions of the city code. The proposed change is to not allow for weeds, grass or brush to grow higher than 6 inches. The current limit is 8 inches.
No one from the public stood to speak on the matter. Michaels said the council will further discuss the change and then vote on it at a future meeting.
At the end of the meeting, Michaels said the city is going through the process of a city-wide reassessment. This was decided in 2019 before she began her term as mayor. She will be holding virtual public information sessions to further explain the process and what it means.
The next scheduled meeting will be Wednesday, November 4, 2020 at 7 p.m. at the Fulton Municipal Building, the day after Election Day.
The agenda and its documents can be found here.
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hey michaels when are you going to do something about animal control??????????? Quit ignoring the problem
AAH,yes Reassessments.