by Dave DeMars
At the Oct. 1 regular meeting, the St. Joseph City Council took up the issue of a noise violation at 31 Second Ave. NW. on Sept. 8. City Administrator Judy Weyrens informed the council the property has had several incidents in the past with warnings being issued. Usually the noise problem occurs in the spring of the year and anytime there is a major event at St. John’s University such as homecoming or the Tommy-Johnny football game.
Property owner Ryan Gaebel addressed the council, admitting there has been a problem at the address but that she was attempting to address the issue. Gaebel said she and her husband have owned the property for just more than two years and they take the noise issue seriously.
“We’ve met with the police chief to see what we could do to prevent this from ever happening again,” she said. “We do plan on removing the fire pit in the backyard since that is a point where people seem to show up and contribute to the violation.”
They have also talked to the rental applicants about the problem and plan to initiate a more strict policy relative to rental of the property. Gaebel asked the council take into consideration there have been steps taken to mitigate the problem.
Councilor Bob Loso commented he lives not too far from the named property and he hears the noise every spring and every fall. Loso called it a “problematic property” with the noise problem being an ongoing issue for years. He went on to say the renters have been totally disrespectful to neighbors, the city and its residents. Loso described screaming and yelling at all hours of the night and wondered how the landlords would not be aware of such behavior and take care of the problem.
“I have to close my windows at six o’clock at night because of the noise that comes out of that piece of property,” Loso said.
Gaebel replied she was not aware it was as bad as Loso stated but added she hoped removal of the fire pit would help to alleviate the problem. She did not think the renters were purposely trying to disturb the peace but would address the situation more strongly in the future and inform renters they would be subject to forfeiture of their deposit should noise incidents occur.
Police Chief Dwight Pfannenstein said he met with the renters and had a good meeting with them. He felt confident the issue had been addressed and there would be little or no problem for the remainder of the year.
After hearing all parties, the council levied the standard $200 fine plus $50 for associated costs for officers and administrative meetings.
Bill payment issue
During the consideration of the consent agenda, payment of the bills, Loso asked to have the bills payable pulled from consent agenda and considered separately. Specifically he questioned a $280 payment to the law firm of Flaherty and Hood for a personnel issue. What was it all about, Loso wondered? Because the city has an appointed law firm, why not use it?
Mayor Rick Schultz explained the firm had done some work for the council regarding the staff. Loso pressed for a more thorough explanation.
“Can I ask what came out of that $280 bill?” Loso said.
“I can’t, Bob, at this point,” Schultz said. “I can tell you there will be some further additions to that, and we will have a conclusion by next week. I can’t tell you about this now.”
Loso replied since it was a personnel matter, the council should have been informed so they knew what was going on. He asked that the check, number 3903, not be approved for payment until further information was provided to the council members.
Schultz then asked for approval of all bills payable excluding check number 3903. Council approved the payments.
During the public hearing regarding final assessment roll and delinquent accounts, no one from the public addressed the council. With little discussion, the council approved the adoption of resolution 2018-41.
Other items
The council heard from St. Joseph City Engineer Randy Sabart about the possibility of revising the speed zones on the west end of the city from the Park-and-Ride location and coming into St. Joseph. Speed limits would be lowered to 35 and 30 mph. The speed is dependent on the density of housing along the road leading into town. No action was taken.
A second report from Sabart dealt with the proposed improvement of streets in two areas: one block of Elm Street, and Birch Street.
The dilemma on Elm Street revolves around replacement of a water main or merely improving the surface improvement of the street putting the water-main issue off until sometime in the future. The issue was shelved once before back in 2013.
Council member Dale Wick pointed out Elm Street is not on the list of street-improvement projects for the 2019 planning year and wondered how that happened. No definitive answer was found. It seems it was simply overlooked. Part of the problem seemed to stem from the fact the replacement of the water main is a capital improvement, while street resurfacing is part of pavement improvement.
The problem surrounding Birch Street is similar with several options for the council to choose from:
1. Proceed with pavement rehabilitation and leave the water main as is. 2. Proceed with the pavement rehabilitation and upgrade the water main, 3. Delay pavement rehab, and consider an alley resurfacing project 4. Delay the pavement rehab. No action was taken.
Weyrens reported the Economic Development Administration has been in meetings about the Industrial Park and trying to secure a right-of-way from the owner of a 2.75-acres property for creation of a roadway onto the industrial park site. To date there has been little progress, and the EDA is requesting the city start eminent-domain procedures. The council approved initiating eminent-domain procedures.
Ryan Gaebel addressed the council on a noise ordinance violation at her property.
