YODER – The Yoder Town Council meeting was held on Monday, August 12 in the community building. 

Mayor Norm Feagler called the meeting to order promptly at 7 p.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance. Present at the meeting were town maintenance supervisor, Rod Weyrich, clerk/treasurer Lillian Green, council members Amanda Fogle, Bob Oaks and Jenna Krul. Colby Sturgeon, city attorney, appeared via Zoom. Council member Haffner was absent, and the emergency management coordinator Justin Burkart was absent.

The council quickly moved on to the second item of the agenda, approval of the August agenda. Fogle made a motion to approve the agenda which was seconded by Oaks. The motion carried and the August agenda was approved. 

Moving on to item number three, the council moved to approve the July 2024 meeting minutes which was made by Fogle and seconded by Oaks.

A motion was then made by Fogle to accept the special board meeting minutes as presented and Krul which was carried for item four of the agenda. 

The council then moved on to a brief discussion on approval of the bills for July which included AFLAC, fair booth fees and a bill from Cool Customs. 

“There’s a question on the Cool Custom’s [bill] I was looking at it and I think, this is a bill from February, so it’s way back. Justin [Burkart] took the vehicle in and had it worked on. Originally, they gave him a price of like $8,300 and I think that bill is like $14,000 or something like that,” Weyrich explained. “What had happened was when they got in there to work on it, they found out Justin [Burkart] had a lot more stuff in there that they had to take apart throughout the whole vehicle so it would be another $6,000 and I don’t if we have ever received, and I was just asking Lillian [Green] if we ever got the other $6,000 because it was a negotiation between the body shop and the insurance company.”

Green was unaware of a $6,000 insurance payment which would cover the Cool Custom bill.

“This came in like last minute in the mail and I had no idea because it was before my time (with the town) so I haven’t even had time to take and search it or not,” Green explained. 

The council decided to wait for more information from Burkart and the past town clerk/treasurer. 

After a brief discussion, a motion was made to approve the bills with the exception of Cool Customs, by Fogle which was seconded by Krul. 

During the public comment portion of the council meeting, a spokesman for Deitzler Construction Company introduced herself to the council. 

“Thank you, Mr. Mayor and councilmembers. I am Cindy DeLancey. I made you the commitment that I was going to be here each month at the town council meeting and I here I am,” DeLancey explained. “I haven’t heard the discussion on one of your agenda items, so I was wondering if I am able to reserve the opportunity to comment after that agenda item comes forward. Council member Fogle, I didn’t have the chance to meet you last time when I was here, but we’ve chatted it little bit over email about Yoder Days. I hope that it was a really successful event and again the Deitzler Companies were happy to be a part of it,” DeLancey said to the council.

Feagler asked DeLancey to relay a “Thank you” to the company owner, Bob Deitzler, regarding the dust.

“What I would like you to do is pass on a kudos to Bob about the dust,” Feagler said. “They have done a marvelous job of cutting the dust way down, so tell him thank you.”

“Thank you, Mr. Mayor, as you know, this is a really important topic for him and the entire team. We are working really hard,” DeLancey explained. “He’s sorry he couldn’t be here tonight. His dad had some surgery, so he needed to go home and help his dad recover.”

In the discussion of new business, the council moved on to a discussion on the ordinance for Lacy Street. 

“Just let me give a brief history of Lacy Street,” Feagler began. “It was designated years ago as a through street because of the elevator of here. Grain trucks were coming up Lacy Street to get to the granary and deposit their wheat and corn well now that the crossing is blocked about 95% of the time and Lacy Street is still designated as a through street. I have talked to Bob Deitlzer about that. We could have that crossing taken out on the UP (Union Pacific Railroad) main line, but I don’t want to do that. Bob would like us to keep that crossing in there for emergency purposes like they did a while back when they moved those railroad cars that were upset.”

Feagler continued to express he wasn’t sure if Lacy Street needed to be kept as a through street if it was going to be used for emergencies. 

Oaks asked for a copy of the ordinance and Green stated she wasn’t able to find one stating Lacy Street was ever a through street. 

After a brief discussion amongst council members and town maintenance personnel, it was agreed, the town would need to revamp the ordinance however there was discussion about where the ordinance appears in the town ordinances. 

“I would make a motion that we find that ordinance and remove the through street designation off of Lacy Street,” Oaks said. 

“Because we have two stop signs on it,” Weyrich said.

“Can I offer comment on this before you take a vote, Mr. Mayor,” DeLancey asked. “This is what I was hoping to discuss with you. As I mentioned, Mr. Deitzler couldn’t be here tonight. He would request that the through street access not be changed from what it is. That is the legal access and egress and ingress to his property.” 

The council confirmed there will be no changes in the usage of Lacy Street, as a through street. 

“The road will stay there, and everything will remain the same as it is today, but we need to say that it is a street just like any other here,” Oaks explained. “To was built up to carry an extra load because of all of the traffic but it is just another street In Yoder, and it will be treated like everything else, and you guys can use it if that’s necessary. We broke our own ordinance by putting up stop signs on a through street. Through streets don’t have stop signs,” Oaks continued. 

The council agreed to research the current ordinance regarding Lacy Street before the next meeting.

The council then moved on to the new business item of a dumpster at Brown’s house.

Fogle spoke to the council about moving dumpsters in the community to help some of the residents who have limited mobility. 

The council agreed to move the dumpster after a brief discussion on town dumpsters and their availability to the community after a discussion with TDS.

Moving on to the next item of new business where the council discussed ordinance 174. 

The council overhauled the ordinance in order to approve truck traffic on the main street. 

Fogle made a motion to update ordinance 174 on the second reading which was seconded by Oaks and the council voted to approve the changes made to ordinance 174 to include semi-truck traffic on the only paved street. 

Under new business, the council moved on to a report on behalf of BenchMark. Weyrich gave the council a brief update and asked Sturgeon for the next step of the town addition. 

“I think we do an action on it and say that’s an official town action on it. We have all of the permissions to essentially add that into the town-platted system,” Sturgeon said. 

The council agreed to wait until someone from BenchMark could attend the council meeting before moving forward. 

Moving on to old business, the town discussed a splash pad and Sturgeon offered some contact information from another community who has a splash pad. 

Weyrich gave a maintenance report to the council, stating business as usual. 

Weyrich did comment he was audited for the community mosquito spraying and he mentioned he will soon be cleaning the sewer lines. 

Moving on to legal items, the mayor called on Sturgeon who he stated he had no legal items to discuss. 

The council skipped over the emergency management coordinator report as Burkart is on vacation. 

Moving on to administrative items, the council had a brief discussion on the propane contract for the town. 

Oaks made a motion to approve the contract with Westco which was seconded. It was approved to contract with Westco for propane delivery. 

Green presented the council a “Thank you” card from GoGoshen after the town donated for the fair ag breakfast. Green mentioned the today office will be closed on Labor Day. 

The meeting was adjourned at 7:53 p.m. with the next council meeting slated for Monday, September 9 at 7 p.m.