Published: August 21, 2008 10:08 am      

Camanche to raise fines at boat ramps

CAMANCHE — The Camanche City Council discussed a proposal to raise parking fines for passenger vehicles parked in boat trailer stalls during the regular council meeting held Tuesday night.

Council member Trevor Willis said he has received many complaints from citizens regarding small passenger cars at the Swan Slough boat ramp vehicle lot parking in slots designed to accommodate vehicles coupled with boat trailers. Willis said a sign at the site designates that violators will be towed and urged the city to enforce the law or take down the sign. He asked Police Chief Bob Houzenga whether vehicles have been towed from the lot previously. Houzenga said he was not aware of vehicles being towed from the lot recently, but said that typically, vehicles are ticketed and fined $15 for violating city ordinance.

Public Works Director Dave Rickertsen suggested the council could raise the fine from $15 to $50. He remarked the sign could be changed to state tickets would be issued. City Attorney Tom Lonergan said a higher fine for the parking violation would serve as a deterrent to motorists. Houzenga questioned whether all parking fines would be raised to $50, or the higher fine would apply only to boat ramp parking violations. Many council members expressed concerns that higher fines across the board for parking violations would garner resounding complaints from citizens. Willis suggested the higher fine only apply to boat ramp parking violations. Lonergan said he would draft a resolution detailing the increased fine for the infraction for the next council meeting to be held at 6 p.m. on Sept. 2.

The council approved a motion authorizing city staff to proceed in a proposal from ACS to upgrade and add memory to the city’s computer server at a cost of $5,721. City Administrator Tom Roth said the IBM server was purchased in 2002 and has had nothing to improve its operation since. City Clerk Sheryl Jindrich said the software program the city uses for utility billing, budgeting and accounting is two versions behind. She said if the city opts to upgrade the software now, it would give office personnel three years to research what hardware and software similarly sized cities use and what might work best for the city of Camanche, as well as budget for the expense.

Willis urged the city to look at having software written specific to the city’s operating needs, saying the move could save the city a great deal of money and keep the server usable for a longer period of time.

Jindrich said that the company will not guarantee updates to the operating system after the end of the year if the hardware and software are not up to date. Roth noted that the city’s budgeting and billing information is contained on the server and losing viability of the server would be a nightmare.

Willis said hardware and program-specific software with data transfer capabilities could be written to meet the city’s budgeting and billing needs at a significantly lower cost than upgrading the current software or potentially replacing all hardware and software in three years at an estimated cost of more than $20,000. Jindrich urged the council to approve the upgrade, saying the new software would meet the city’s needs for the present and immediate future, while offering her time to look into new systems. The council approved the motion authorizing the proposal by a vote of 3 to 1 with Councilman Ron Wehde absent and Willis voting against the measure.

Later in the agenda, the council approved a motion adopting a proposed Development Concept Plan. Roth said the plan was suggested by Bob Josten, informal advisor to the city regarding economic development and Tax Increment Financing Districts.

Roth said Josten advised the city should create the plan which outlines areas city leaders would like to see development in and what areas the city would consider for economic development projects. Roth said the plan gives potential developers an indication what the city would like to see happen in specific areas, but noted the plan is not concrete and there is plenty of room to negotiate with those interested in exploring development options.

Under the time reserved for communications from department heads, the council agreed on a general policy regarding soliciting bids for city equipment or projects. Roth said developing a formal policy could work against the city and remarked that he feels city department heads do their best to get the most “bang for the buck.” Council member Ken Fahlbeck stated he feels a purchasing policy is needed to protect the city taxpayer.

Fahlbeck said many residents question new equipment purchases wondering if bids were solicited for the item. Mayor Jim Robertson said the general city policy has been that single purchases less than $5,000 each are at the discretion of department heads, while purchases costing more than $5,000 need approval of the council. Roth suggested city officials simply may need to provide more information about the purchase, such as the number of qualified suppliers or specifications of the item or project, in an effort to better inform council members. Robertson agreed that if members of the council are aware of the projects, they can explain the purchases in more detail when residents pose questions.

In other communications, Fire Chief Dave Schutte thanked the community for attending the fire department’s annual pancake breakfast for the Muscular Dystrophy Association on Aug. 10.

He said the breakfast served nearly 1,500 people, up 200 to 300 from the prior year. He reminded the audience that the door-to-door drive would be held Aug. 27, beginning at 5:30 p.m. and commented that 2008 should be another record year for the fundraising-total.