City of Colfax fills code enforcer position

COLFAX – At Monday night’s city council meeting, the city leaders made several decisions in regards to its personnel. One of those decisions was to contract Ed Leedom for code enforcement services, a position which has been vacant for the last four months.

In November, city approved the resignation of part-time building inspector/code enforcer, Charles Hainer. Since then, city leaders have been hard at work to fill the position, which was held by Hainer since 2007.

Leedom will be contracted at a rate of $50 an hour, which includes travel time. His contract is set to expire Dec. 31, but will automatically renew for another six months unless terminated by either the city or Leedom himself.

Last week, Leedom shared his past experiences and process with the city leaders at the March 7 work session at Colfax City Hall.

“I talked to a guy the other day and he had an old trailer in his front yard, and a couple months ago, a junky car in his front yard. When I stopped by the other day, he burst out of the house screaming ‘why are you picking on me’ .... I listened to him for a long time,” Leedom said. “When I started to walk away, he said, ‘where are you going?’ I said, ‘I think you made up your mind. You won’t let me explain what is wrong and why this is happening ... (he apologized.) You just got to be patient with them.”

Leedom, a Des Moines resident, has worked as a code enforcement officer for the City of Des Moines for 20 years. He is currently certified as a property maintenance and housing inspector with the International Code Council and is a member of the Iowa Association of Code Enforcement.

He also has worked with the National Academy of Public Administration in Washington, D.C. and has done presentations for the National League of Cities in Nashville, Tenn., Des Moines Area Community College, Drake University and police academy cadets.

According to the city, Leedom will not perform any duties in regards to the building inspection position at this time.

Also during Monday’s meeting, the city council approved the following:

• The hiring of Dayton Spears as a part-time police officer on a salary of $20 per hour. This followed the approval of the resignation of officer Charles Sickels, who served part-time in the department since 2011. Spears previously served as a police officer in Keokuk.

• The approval to contract city council member Bryan Poulter as the certified pool operator for the city. Poulter, who has filled the position for the last several years, will have an annual salary of $2,499.99. This is the same amount as last year.

• The hiring of Judy McBride to continue park facility cleaning at a monthly rate of $300. Since 2008, McBride has cleaned the restrooms at Kelly Field and Mineral Springs Park. Under this contract, she will also clean the concession stand at Kelly Field.

Mowing Services

The last few months, the city has been in discussions with Colfax-Mingo Community School District to share mowing operations.

The talks began in December after the two entities held a joint meeting to discuss potential sharing options. Now in the final stages of the agreement, one obstacle remains – who will mow the school properties in Mingo?

The city leaders discussed the options during a workshop session March 7, but when the scheduled city council meeting began, the joint-mowing service agreement was not on the agenda.

“We still have to finalize who is doing the Mingo work. (The agreement) is not totally ready yet,” Mayor David Mast said. “We are still looking for people to man the mowers.”

Although the costs associated with the agreement are yet not finalized, the district will be responsible to pay half of the cost of the mowing equipment, which includes lawn mowers and weed eaters and reimburse the city for any costs directly associated with mowing the district properties, such as fuel and labor. Under the agreement, the district is billed for the number of sit hours – or the actual time spent mowing, trimming or weeding – the mowers accrue working on C-M properties.

If the city decides to pick up the properties in Mingo, the agreement may change as travel costs and other expenses used to transfer equipment and personnel to Mingo are not included.

“I’m more interested in doing the part that is in Colfax, and not so much in Mingo. Travel time and so forth is out of hand. If that can come out, I’ll be happy,” Mast said. “If it stays in, it needs to be an adjustment on what the cost is for that part. They have to load up. They have to drive up. The part-time people we hire may or may not be the ones we want driving with a trailer behind it.”

The district has been in communication with the City of Mingo about potentially mowing the properties in the town of 300. Mingo City Council will discuss sharing lawn services March 13 and may take action that evening.

According to city documents, the city requires about 80 hours of work in a two-week period. The city said this translates to about two part-time mowers. If the city decides to operational share mowing with the district, the city would require a third employee. The city has been advertising that the part-time workers will be paid at a rate of $12 per hour.

City officials said they have not received enough responses to fill the three positions, receiving only one applicant as of presstime.

The school board is expected to vote on the agreement at its regular meeting March 19.

Other Business

• Approval of $13,500 purchase of 2003 John Deere 5240 Tractor. According to city documents, to help fund the purchase, $7,500 will be transferred from the road use fund and $1,000 from the solid waste fund. Colfax Park and Auxiliary Board will also contribute $5,000 for the tractor. The previous tractor was purchased in 1981, with 600 plus hours, and has a trade-in value of $6,000.

• The decision to receive property and liability coverage from Iowa Community Assurance Pool for FY 2018-19 at a cost of $54,808.24. The city also moved to receive workers’ compensation coverage from Iowa Municipal Workers Compensation Association for $23,737. In previous years, the city was insured under Employers Mutual Company.

• Adoption of the budget for FY 2018-19.

• Approval to create subdivision on the lot located at 518 W. Pleasant St. The owners plan to divide the lot in order to build another home.

• Proclamation of marking April as Keep Iowa Beautiful Month.

• Proclamation recognizing the 50th anniversary of the municipal Home Rule in Iowa, which allows municipal governments the flexibility to make decisions on the local level.

Contact Anthony Victor Reyes at areyes@jasperocountytribune.com