Riverside City Council discusses Welcome signs

RIVERSIDE ? The Riverside City Council met Monday and zipped through its agenda in under an hour and a half. Monday marked the first meeting attended by the city?s administrator, Rusty Rogerson.

The agenda item that generated the most discussion was the expenditures. The expenditures are normally approved without incident but councilor Bob Schneider took exception to a bill from the firm of Hart-Frederick Consultants of Tiffin. The firm billed the city $270 for engineering designs of a welcome sign about one mile west of town. At a recent meeting, the council approved a bill for surveying the site of the welcome sign from the same company for $777. Schneider objected to the bill because he believed the council had not approved the welcome sign.  

Councilor Christine Kirkwood said the Visioning Committee had come up with the designs for the welcome signs on the edge of town, and that the council had approved those designs. She said the other welcome signs around town have already been built and they were all part of the Visioning Committee?s project, so she didn?t understand why this most recent welcome sign created any controversy.

Schneider said that the public hearing on purchasing the property for the welcome sign had not yet occurred and that the city should not spend money on a project that is pending approval.

Kirkwood said the money the Visioning Committee uses was given to them in a grant. In February, the council voted to accept Community Visioning?s hotel/motel tax grant application of $25,000 for the 2012-2013 budget year. Schneider agreed that the committee is using grant money but said it is still taxpayers? money.

Schneider was also curious about whether the Visioning Committee was a city-sponsored committee or if it was simply a group of volunteers. The Visioning Committee is not listed among the city?s committees or commissions on the city Web site.

Councilor Nate Kasdorf said he believed the council approved the Visioning Committee?s welcome signs a year ago.

Rogerson said the city had already set a precedent by allowing the earlier welcome signs to be built. He referred to that precedent as ?lousy.? He recommended to pay the $270 bill to Hart-Frederick and make it clear what the expectations are for the next project.

Schneider said that, rather than spend money on another welcome sign, he would prefer to spend money improving the landscaping around the existing welcome signs on the east edge of town.

?The signs look great but the landscaping leaves a lot to be desired,? he said.

The council voted 3-2 to pay the $270 bill from Hart-Frederick. Schneider and Ralph Schnoebelen voted against the motion while Kirkwood, Kasdorf and Kevin Kiene voted in favor.

At the end of the meeting, Rogerson made a number of suggestions that would save the city time and money. He said it doesn?t make sense to bid projects as small as replacing the roof on a bathroom at Hall Park, which the council has done. He said the city nearly spends more time and money advertising the project than what the project costs.

Rogerson said he plans to stop sending resolutions to the county recorder because the recorder charges $9 per resolution to keep them on file. He said the city was not legally obligated to do that, so he would stop doing it. He recommended the city eliminate its credit card and switch to a debit card, the reason being that auditors charge extra to trace credit card purchases. He also suggested the city should adopt a logo to use on its letterhead and the business cards of its employees.