A special service area (SSA) will be established for Heartland Fields subdivision as a result of Monday’s City Council meeting.

After holding a public hearing on the Heartland Fields SSA, the city decided to move forward with establishing the SSA so as to avoid further maintenance issues in the neighborhood. The area is need of basic maintenance since the neighborhood does not have a homeowner’s association to provide these services. The main purpose of an SSA is to authorize the city to maintain the area with basic landscaping, storm water basin and sewage care, according to the City Council agenda.

Third ward alderman Kristen Lash was concerned that residents of Heartland Fields, like the ones who spoke at the public hearing on the issue, would not agree with the establishment of the SSA. City Attorney Dean Frieders explained the process of establishing an SSA is time sensitive and citizens have had and still do have the opportunity to oppose the issue.

“There are some statutory limits on the timeline for how the SSA is formed and when we have to take action to record it,” Frieders said. “And to meet those timelines, we would wait to record this until at least 30 days have passed after the public hearing to give the residents an opportunity to file an objection if they wanted to. But after that we would only have a very short window of a week or two that we would have to record this.”

The actual cost of the SSA to residents will not be known until the city knows the cost of maintaining the SSA, but annual taxes cannot be collected exceeding an annual rate of one hundred-hundredths percent of the assessed property value in the SSA, according to the ordinance establishing the terms. The cost will vary annually based on the need for maintenance.

The new police station will have a communications tower capable of providing space to rent to a cellular provider. Since the tower is technically pre-owned, the city is able to purchase it at a discount, said Public Works Director T.J. Moore.

“It was purchased initially by a cell tower provider,” Moore said. “They ended up not needing it, then canceled their agreement to purchase the tower…. Basically the cell provider then had to sell it back to the manufacturer, so that’s why we’re getting it at such a reduced rate.”

The tower will cost the city $86,766, which will be covered by the $12 million fund for the police station.

City Council approved the staff’s recommendation to award the bid for painting of the city’s east water tower to AM-COAT Painting.

Moore said water towers require fresh paint every 20 to 30 years as a part of standard maintenance. The design of the tower is a design that poses some challenges with maintenance and care.

“We have an older design here,” Moore said. “What we’re seeing right now is…some rust, some oxidation, and if we want this tower to continue to last, it is time to paint it…. What we’re doing is to provide a safety coating both inside the tank itself and on the outside to protect it from chemical and physical reactions that occur.”

AM-COAT’s service will cost $695,000.

The city entered into an agreement with Barb City Manor in July 1993 in which the city leases and maintains the Barb City Manor property, effective through June 2013. This agreement means the city s[emds $10,000 maintaining and caring for the property, but in recent years the city has budgeted $100,000 from its TIF 2 fund for the property, said Assistant City Manager Rudy Espiritu. TIF is public financing that can be used for community improvement projects like infrastructure and redevelopment. City Council voted to extend the agreement to last for the remaining life of the TIF district, which will expire in 2019, at which point the city intends to have a contingency plan for the future of the property. The agreement prohibits the city from spending more than $100,000 on the property in a year.

“The amended agreement… would extend the agreement with Barb City until June 30, 2019, or 30 days after the city receives the last payment of incremental revenue from the expiration of TIF 2,” Espiritu said.

Espiritu said it is in the city’s best interest to continue caring for the property since the city owns it.

City Council also voted to authorize the purchase of property directly adjacent to DeKalb Taylor Municipal Airport in an effort to clear all hazards from the area surrounding the airport.