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Maquoketa council tables ordinance change that would let a utility trustee live outside city limits
Summary
The Maquoketa City Council on July 27 tabled two related ordinance amendments — one to allow a Utility Board trustee to live outside city limits within Jackson County and another on terms of office for the Utility Board — citing unanswered residency and customer-status questions; the motions carried 5-0.
Mayor Tom Messerli called a special session of the Maquoketa City Council to order on July 27, and the council quickly moved to table two ordinance changes affecting boards and the Utility Board of Trustees.
City Manager Joshua Boldt said the first amendment "was requested to allow for one member of the Utility Board of Trustees to reside outside of City limits, but still within Jackson County," noting the utility's service area extends beyond city limits. Councilmember Lyon asked whether a potential appointee would reside inside the MMEU service area; Boldt did not have that information. Councilmember Rickerl said board members should be MMEU customers and/or reside within city limits and that he could not support the change without more information. Both tabling motions carried 5-0.
The second motion similarly tabled a proposed amendment related to Terms of Office for the Utility Board of Trustees; the council offered no further details on the substance of the proposed term changes during the session. By tabling both first readings, councilmembers left the proposals for future consideration after staff provides the requested clarifications about residency and customer status.
Next steps indicated by staff include gathering additional information about the residency and service-area status of any proposed trustee candidates before returning the items for further action.
