City Council dissolves Ironhorse Special Service Area

 By Kendra Hennis 
The Tuscola City Council met for their second monthly meeting on February 22 at 7:30 p.m. with all members present. 

During their reports, Mayor Dan Kleiss thanked city workers for their extra work with all of the snow last week. Treasurer Alta Long then notified the council that the Tuscola Tourism report was available for 2020. The report showed a decrease in activity in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however that also led to less money being spent over the year, meaning they will have some funds to start out with for this year.

The council then approved an ordinance for the dissolving of the Ironhouse Special Service Area due to the costs being too high. The city had been working on the project over the past couple of months but due to too many unknowns, they were not able to receive a bid within their budget. They also approved software upgrades with Civic Systems for upgrades to all of the various modules of the clarify platform to the connes platform at a cost of $14,275. This cost was already budgeted by the city and will upgrade the utility billing, payroll, general ledger, accounts payable, ect. This upgrade will also be part software change to more of a service than an upgrade–meaning that the system will now be updated as often as needed and the city will instead pay a maintenance fee. 

The council ended discussing property damage to the pole building at the end of South Central Avenue, which was formerly the Street Department, due to a significant amount of snow causing the roof to collapse. An insurance claim has been filed, but they won’t know the full extent of the damage and the best route to repair/replace the structure until the following meeting. 

The council also:
* Approved the minutes of the February 8 city council meeting.

* Approved the January 2021 financial report.

* Approved the payment of bills in the amount of $108,035.55.

* Adjourned at 7:53 p.m. until the March 8 council meeting at 7:30 p.m.