The Oskaloosa City Council met Monday evening, and the major topic of discussion yet again involved sidewalks.

The meeting began with a short public hearing regarding the resolution approving the vacation and sale of a section of the east-west alley adjacent to 1001 A Ave. West.

There were no public comments, and the council unanimously passed this motion.

The next item was to consider a site plan for the property located at 132 Pella Avenue to allow for proposed convenience storage. The owner of the land is going to adjust the land, but did not want to have to put sidewalks in or have paved entryways. The Planning and Zoning Board passed the item, but with the stipulation that both of those had to be done. The council initially tried to put together a motion that would eliminate the need for the sidewalks right now and the paved entryways, but it failed on a 3-4 vote, with Jason Van Zetten, Aaron Ver Steeg, and Joe Caligiuri voting for it.

To not allow the project to die, the council deliberated and put together some ideas to be able to pass this, since it was understood that if the sidewalks needed to be put in, the project would likely not occur. The council then adjusted the motion, to make the sidewalks contingent, and if the city has a continuing sidewalk installed, the landowner will need to comply with this. This passed on a 6-1 vote, with Aaron Ver Steeg the lone
no.

The next item was the city manager’s recommended 2015 Housing Action Plan for the city. City Manager Michael Schrock Jr. had this put together, but Council Member Jason Van Zetten, along with several other council members, stated they would like to see each and every one of the items brought back to the council before implementation.

After a couple of failed votes, the council settled on a 6-1 yes vote with every single item coming back to the council prior to it being implemented. Joe Caligiuri was the lone vote against, as he believed this was the council micromanaging the city staff.

The final item on the agenda was a presentation regarding the nuisance codes of Oskaloosa by City Manager Michael Schrock Jr. After explaining the process and showing examples of violations, Aaron Ver Steeg said he continuously gets complaints about small infractions that are reported by a Code Enforcement Officer, rather than a public complaint, which is how he believes it should go for smaller issues. Jason Van Zetten agreed, saying there needs to be some type of common sense. He said there should be a simple solution to fix the cases that do not make sense for large penalties.

Van Zetten said he would like to review the codes in-depth at a later study session, and the rest of the council agreed that was the proper action to take.

The next scheduled meeting of the Oskaloosa City Council is scheduled for Monday, September 7th, at 6 PM in the Council Chambers in City Hall.