SIBLEY—An ongoing museum project was the top topic of Sibley City Council meeting on Monday, Nov. 28.
Scott Huisenga, Beth Thole and Steve Voss representing the McCallum Museum and Osceola County Livestock Show attended the meeting to discuss the FARM SHED.
“The museum board is looking for direction on does council want this FARM SHED building to go into the park, or is council more comfortable with them looking for another alternative,” said city manager Susan Sembach. “They have been working with the fair board on the potential to maybe make the pavilion building into the FARM SHED building.”
The project is an acronym for Farm Agriculture Rural Museum Save History Educate Donate.
Sembach added that the museum board would like council’s permission to use the donated funds at the fairgrounds if that is the selected location.
Accessibility would need to extend beyond the week of the fair.
“It’s a great idea to tie it all in together with the fair,” said council member Lynelle Thiner.
Council member LaDonn Hartzell agreed, adding that starting with a building already in place would be beneficial.
Thole said the 98-year-old pavilion is bigger than the new structure proposed and a balcony could be added for more display space. The addition of a meeting room and bathrooms is also possible.
Huisenga voiced that they did not want to lose the city’s support of the museum if the project was completed on county property. The fair board is willing to contribute to the project as well.
The council approved a motion to allow the donated funds to be used at the fairgrounds instead of the park, pending determination of the building’s final location.
Fine details
Sheriff Kevin Wollmuth attended the meeting to address concerns or questions on the changes to the municipal infraction fines.
“Once it’s done, I’m not sure if you’re going to have the same fine for everything,” Wollmuth said. “If they’re going to be different, we have to have them broken down.”
Sembach said law enforcement now issues one written or verbal warning to give the party a chance to correct the violation. Subsequent infractions are cited and fined.
“For the most part, most of the people most of the time, if you give them warning, they’ll take care of it,” Wollmuth said.
Thiner suggested including a notice with the city bill mailing in addition to newspaper and online information. She also encouraged residents to contact the Sheriff’s Office at the time of an incident if they have concerns to report.
The council approved a motion to approve the second reading of the ordinance and move it to a third reading.
Website woes
During the public comments portion of the meeting, resident Mindy Nasers brought up concerns about the city’s website.
“There’s a lot of misinformation, incomplete information, information that’s wrong or information that’s just not on there,” Nasers said.
Sibley resident and business owner Mindy Nasers speaks at the Nov. 28 city council meeting to suggest that the city review its website to change outdated and add more content.
One reason for the lag in updates was the possibility that the website host would not be continuing service.
Nasers also recommended updating the chamber business information and including ordinances on the site to make them more accessible to the public.
Initially the webpage domain was sibleyiowa.net but it was changed to cityofsibley.com. Both addresses land on the same page.
Sembach said she will investigate removing the old site or adding a forward on the old page, making sure the page is up to date and looking at options for software to simplify posting city information online.
