Ledger-Dispatch

By Kelly Scott (kenos@ledger-dispatch.com) =

Amador Water Agency Director John Swift = discusses=20 water pressure with the Ione City Council Tuesday.

Photo by: Kelly=20 Scott
Ione council members went back and = forth=20 Tuesday on whether to put City Hall up as collateral for a loan to build = a new=20 fire station.

In what Councilman Jerry Sherman termed "a recipe = for=20 disaster," council members voted 3-2 in favor of securing the $560,000 = Capital=20 One loan.

"After we had to terminate a loan with Bar Capital and=20 substitute with Capital One, the lender changed the dates to a 20-year = loan as=20 opposed to the original 25-year loan," said city finance manager Mark = Smith, who=20 updated council members on the status of the loan. City staff had been = working=20 with Bar Capital on the financing, but after two missed funding dates, = switched=20 to Capital One. Capital One requires collateral in case construction = costs for=20 the fire station run over or there are building delays. The collateral = must be=20 an asset the city holds outright, said Kerr, which would be the City = Hall=20 building.

"City Hall is in a flood zone and requires insurance," = added=20 City Manager Kim Kerr, explaining that an alternative to providing = collateral=20 was unlikely. "We do not currently carry flood insurance on this = building, so it=20 is something we would have to add."

Council members Sherman, Jim = Ulm and=20 Lee Ard expressed surprise, as they believed the loan was in = place.

"I=20 think we should take this at a point and get out of it," Ulm said. "I = never=20 believed we could afford it anyway, and what with home loans going south = for=20 homeowners, what would happen here? Lose our City Hall?"

Sherman = agreed,=20 saying the city had racked up too much debt in the "last four to five = months."=20 He favored pulling out of the fire station project before it was too=20 late.

While Ard said he agreed, his concern about losing the = opportunity=20 for such a loan convinced him to cast his vote with Mayor Andrea Bonham = and=20 Councilman Skip Schaufel in favor of putting City Hall up as=20 collateral.

A previously approved item that was appearing on the = consent=20 agenda Tuesday was pulled and ultimately sent back to the planning=20 commission.

Resolution 1686, passed earlier this month by council = members, concerns home occupations. A second reading on the consent = agenda is=20 typically just a formality, but Schaufel questioned the measurement of = signs=20 that could be displayed on homes. Currently, the resolution specifies = that signs=20 can measure up to 4 square feet, which Schaufel thought was too large.=20 Discussion on signage and parking played back and forth until it was = finally=20 decided the resolution would be sent "back to the drawing board" for=20 modifications.

"Basically, it will have to be rewritten and sent = back to=20 the planning commission," Kerr explained.

Ulm abstained from=20 voting.

Earlier in the meeting, Kerr was rewarded with a = 5-percent pay=20 increase. Kerr, who joined the city last year, was evaluated during = closed=20 session before the pre-determined raise went before the public for a=20 hearing.

Ard singled Kerr out as having done the "finest job" of = any city=20 manager to date in Ione. "Five percent is fair and still below the = market for a=20 city manager position," he said.

Resident Elmer Rohde voiced his = concern=20 that this was not the "right time" to approve such an increase, saying = the city=20 should suspend wages like the rest of the state. This opinion was echoed = by=20 council members Jerry Sherman and Jim Ulm, who agreed that now was not = the right=20 time for such a pay raise. They were outvoted 3-2.

"I believe = when you=20 have a good employee you reward them and that's how you keep them," said = Bonham,=20 who voted with the majority.

Kelly = Scott