| Ruanne Leeflang, City Recorder, swears in Courtney Cox and Kevin Reynold to their council positions. Not pictured is Jeff Tuttle who took the oath earlier in the day. |
The newly elected officials, Kevin Reynolds and Courtney Cox were sworn in by Ruanne Leeflang. Once that was complete the council approved the budget and approved the minutes from last council meeting. The time was then turned over to Joyce Law who expressed concern over the appearance of Main Street and asked what she could do, if anything, to help the city improve the appearance.
There was concern over a few properties on Main Street that the council felt they needed to start getting cleaned up. Dennis Tuttle read the ordinance regarding yard appearance which included items such as overgrown trees, shrubs and weeds, anything that could be a fire or safety hazard and obsolete cars. James Davis then stated there have been some ideas given to the council they will be looking at over the next few months and how the city can achieve the funding through grants in order to improve the appearance of Main Street. Joyce Law offered her help for anything that was needed. The council agreed they would contact her if any help was needed and this would be a priority over the next year to begin improving Orangeville’s Main Street.
The council discussed the new upcoming completion of the recreation center. Davis expressed there was some discussion regarding the delaying of the stuccoing of the outside of the building due to cold weather. If they were to apply the stucco now there would be no guarantee the stucco would not crack at some point. It was discussed that by delaying the stuccoing until the spring, there would be a better chance of the stucco not cracking. It was approved by the council to allow Stilsons two additional months to complete the stucco on the exterior of the building without any penalty or fees. All other items that are not related to the exterior of the building will still need to be completed by the original date in February.
The council approved to increase the amount that the city will pay for a water share from $400 to $750. Up until now the city was only allowed to pay $400. The cost of a water share on the market right now is $1,500. The city has not purchased any new water shares since 2006 and by increasing the amount the city will pay will make it a little easier for the city to acquire and purchase water shares that are needed. Carole Larsen stated they are still needing people from the public to be on the planning and zoning committee and she will be speaking with city members regarding this matter. The council approved to send Dennis Tuttle to an Ordinance and Compliance Training. Council meeting was then dismissed until their meeting in February.