Kimball residents will again see a new face in the public works department beginning in Jan. 2004. As of Dec. 26, current Public Works Director Dan Dawson’s resignation will be accepted. Dawson accepted a new position working for the county. This is the second public works director the city has lost this year. Councilmembers discussed why the city is losing the workers. They also agreed to hire the second-place applicant from their last round of interviews. Newly hired public works employee, Ryan Bettenberg will be promoted to director. The council will discuss a pay increase for Bettenberg next year. In other business, the council: • Heard from a concerned citizen during the open forum. The resident was interested in hearing what happened with the annexation of Don Stein’s land. The city decided to accept the second option, listed by the city’s attorney, Rhonda Pagel. This option recommended the city to allow the developer, Tom Crouch, to purchase a parcel for residential use. According to the letter, “This parcel would be located next to the cemetery and extend northward. It would not extend all the way to Highway 15.” The resident was also concerned there would be no commercial area. “We still want to see commercial along Highway 15,” Mayor Karla Davis said. “We don’t want to put commercial by the cemetery,” Councilmember DuWayne Orbeck added. Councilmember Andy Maus said that there will be commercial land. “It will happen, it’s just not happening now.” • Received the monthly police report from Chief Todd Rohloff. • Discussed the planning commission applications. The board talked about having representation from the school board on the committee. Maus said Superintendent Scott Thielman approached him with this idea. “The school is losing students and they are concerned,” Maus said. The council then looked at applicants. Three people had applied from one family, and the council thought that it was a conflict of interest to have this many voices from one family. The board then looked at their other options. It was decided to table this issue to the next meeting, as there was no consensus on which applicants to select. The council also felt this would give them more time to review options. • Accepted the fire departments elected officers for 2004. • Heard about a grant option from Karla Davis. The grant is for multi-dwelling housing units. Davis and the council asked City Administrator Dianne Robinson to fill out this grant and send in an application. • Adjourned the meeting at 8:58 p.m.
