The City Council decided Jan. 2 to proceed with addressing the landowners’ petition to de-annex several city lots in the proposed Meadow Park subdivision, setting up plans for a public hearing in early February on the proposal.
The motion was passed to de-annex City of Baker Lots 2A and 2B by a unanimous vote of the council.
The City of Baker discussed the second filing of the recent petitioning by the Baker Group regarding the exclusion of an amended plat of Meadows Park. The item, called Resolution
740, is on property located off Sixth Street West, according to Mayor Steve Zachmann. “It goes from the south end of the fire department property not quite to the county road. There is one parcel there just north of the county road. The proposed cul de sac, that property they are proposing to de-annex from the city. We need to set a hearing date…. So the public will have a comment period. Then, that will come back to the city to make a decision,” he added.
According to city attorney Rich Batterman, the move is not only to de-annex but to rescind the subdivision approval when had been previously granted by the city. “The comment period is 20 days from the first publication. It will run twice and after that then we have the hearing at the next public meeting,” he explained. He added that the date would probably fall around the first meeting in February.
Mineral interests
At the first city council meeting of 2023, they also discussed an offer for the purchase of the natural gas well mineral interests by Michael Rost, which broadened into a need for the city to revisit the offers to the mineral and working interests.
According to the mayor, the current gas prices are close to the high mark. “I’m not saying it is the highest it has ever been, but I am wondering if we take an average between the lowest its been and the highest its been and then not going any higher than what Kevin (Dukart) has said – five years,” he told the city council. “We sent out offers when the gas prices looked like they would cover as much as they did.
The mayor said that the length of time should also be factored in the arrangements.
The city council accepted the offer from Rost unanimously.
“I would like to see us establish a formula. I like the idea of a $100 de minimus payment, suggested by Attorney Batterman, so the lowest amounts would just be $100 and the large amounts would obviously follow a similar accepted standard formula of five years revenue. It doesn’t necessarily need to be done immediately – so that we could have some time there,” the mayor said after the vote.
The council also decided unanimously to offer mineral holders who have five year payments of less than $75 will be offered $100.
Changes
The city council also decided to change the probationary period from six months to one year for city employees.
The council also decided unanimously to eliminate the probationary period for health insurance, starting coverage with the first date of hire.
The mayor announced the opening of accepting submissions for the City of Baker 2022 Citizen of the Year. “We will make the decision at the first meeting in February,” he said. The submissions will be due by close of business Jan. 30 in essay or biographical format and can be submitted by email, by hand or by mail.
The council also set up an interview committee for the operator position for the city.
The city also decided to hire Ashley Rost for the Utility Billing Technician position.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.