The City of Fairfax Board of Aldermen held a special meeting Wednesday, June 5, 2024. The meeting was called to order by Tabitha Wintz, alderman, at 6:00 p.m. Also in attendance were: Debra Wyatt and Kamron Woodring, aldermen; Christy Stevens, City Clerk; and John Brown, Water Superintendent.

The tentative agenda was approved.

The meeting was called to review and approve quotes for a LG Sonic industrial line, SUBS water billing software, cellular water meters, and bids for sidewalk and street repairs.

The LG Sonic industrial line will help clear the algae in the lagoons and get the pH level where it needs to be. The aldermen voted unanimously to approve $12,000 toward the line and for extra expenses that will occur.

SUBS water billing would help cut down water expenses yearly and would give Fairfax residents the option to receive their water bills by mail, text or email. SUBS uses Stripe for credit card payments and residents would be able to use their debit/credit card, Apple Pay, Venmo, or PayPal to make their payments online as well as cash or check. The aldermen voted to change to SUBS.

Water meter batteries are dying and a discussion was made whether to purchase more in bulk and continue mobile readings or switch to cellular readings. For mobile readings city workers would continue to do drive-by readings once a month. With cellular, readings would come in every 15 minutes to the computer at city hall. It would also notify of any leaks or damage to meters. The aldermen voted to go to cellular reading.

The next discussion for cellular water meters was funding. Tabitha Wintz mentioned using ARPA money as it needs to be used soon. John Brown also suggested using money from savings. The quote for cellular meters was $125,400.00. There is currently $87,128 in the ARPA account and $17,000 in savings. About $25,000 would be financed to complete the expenses. The aldermen voted to approve the amounts spent.

There were three bids for sidewalk repair on Broadway Street. After some discussion the aldermen voted to go with Jim Smith from Nebraska.

Street repair for Sly Street was discussed. The bid for the whole street was over budget. The north end of Sly would need to be milled down before any repairs begin. The aldermen decided to do four blocks on South Sly and one block on North Sly. If there is money left in the budget then another block will be added.

John Brown, Water Superintendent, mentioned a spot in the gutters on city hall that needs to be repaired. The cost of repair and to add a snow guard would be $1,616. That expense was approved.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:00 p.m.

The next meeting is Thursday, June 27, 2024, at 6:00 p.m.