Edgewater City Council Recap: April 16th, 2024

The Edgewater City Council met Tuesday, April 16th, 2024 for their bi-monthly business meeting. Unfortunately, the city website was having technical difficulties that affected the usual landing page for City Council, leaving this reporter unable to find the agenda and using a bad link to the virtual meeting. Eventually, with the help of city staff, I was able to find the correct link. Unfortunately, the meeting was already on Item 10, which is where the reporting will have to start.

Item 10, Resolution 2024-07, would amend the city’s compensation plan to include additional police officers as well as new administrative flex positions, giving the Edgewater Police Department more flexibility in filling open positions as well as in covering long term absences. There was little discussion on the resolution from the council though Councilperson Gay Keao did take a moment to explain why she would be voting ‘yes’. Gay Keao said since she’s been on the council the Edgewater Police Department has been severely understaffed (and overworked), because of that she would be voting for the resolution. However, she also expressed concerns over the impact policing may have on underserved communities. A vote was then taken, and the resolution passed unanimously.

Next came the first reading of Ordinance 2024-04, an ordinance amending the city code to eliminate the requirement that the city compensation plan specify the number of part-time employee positions. This ordinance would strike a small section of language in the compensation plan, allowing the city more flexibility in what types of hires it makes. A vote was taken, and the first reading of the ordinance passed unanimously.

The next agenda item was second reading of Ordinance 2024-03, the purchase of 2447 Benton by the City of Edgewater. The ordinance passed unanimously, meaning the city will have another new property among its real estate holdings.

The General Business portion of the meeting followed. Tonight, the only item of business was a grant request from the Action Center. The meeting was turned over to Action Center CEO Pam Brier, who gave a broad overview of what the Action Center does telling the council and public they provide “an immediate and passionate response to those experiencing hardship.” Pre-Covid, the Action Center was seeing around 80 households a day, today they see closer to 200 and sometimes as many as 300 households a day. Some of the help the Action Center provides is food, clothing, rent assistance, and emergency bill pay. Ms. Brier told council the Action Center has helped around 80 Edgewater families, including helping several local families avoid eviction. The Action Center is grant dependent and is asking the City of Edgewater for around $3000. The request was approved unanimously, and the funds will come from money already earmarked in the city budget for affordable housing.

The meeting wound down with Mayor and Council comments. The general theme of the comments was thanks to both Gold Crown (who presented before I found the proper link) and the Action Center for the great work they do. There were also several comments about looking forward to further discussing the grocery tax. Councilperson Janda had glowing praise for the city brochure, that should have recently arrived in mailboxes. Councilperson Thompsen said how great it was to see more people partaking in public comment.

After a short discussion about future agenda items, the business meeting was adjourned. Edgewater City Council generally meets the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays of the month. Meetings start at 6:30 and can be attended either in person at the Civic Center or virtually through the link provided in the meeting agenda.