Shafer Council starting on budget; beautifies city, Hwy. 8 detour starts soon

Shafer City Council met for a regular meeting July 17. No audience members were present and council member Matt Dunham was absent. The council quickly moved on a motion by council member Patty Mattson to consent agenda by a vote of 4-0 in favor. In discussion, Mayor Kyle Johnson added to the EDA minutes that he would like to see solar lights installed on the two new signs welcoming people to Shafer. Council member Jessey Keeney assured Johnson that was the intent. The council then moved on a motion by Keeney to pay the bills. The motion passed 4-0. In other new business, the counil discussed the August 7 meeting and National Night Out. They both fall on the same night, so the council agreed to move the council meeting to August 8 at 7 p.m. The council then discussed the next budget meeting. Shafer Financial Advisor Richard Hill told the council he didn’t think the budget discussion warranted an entire meeting. Hill suggested the council either come early or stay late after a regular meeting and work on the budget. The council agreed to stay late on August 8 and go over the budget. In the engineer’s report, City Engineer Jon Herdegen told the council that he and the maintenance crew had been out inspecting the streets inspecting their condition. Overall, they were pleased with the exception of the sidewalk close to well house number 3. They agreed to look into fixing it before a citizen gets hurt. That would entail about 20 feet of curbing and six to eight sidewalk panels. Herdegen told the council the start date for Highway 8 construction is set for July 30. Mayor Johnson then told the council the Threshing Show Tractor Caravan would again be coming through Shafer on August 5. The tractors are scheduled around noon and could number 80 to 100 tractors. Council Member Jesse Keeney then updated the council on the newly planted trees from Meehan Brothers Nursery. Keeney said they look great and could use volunteers for watering.