Elkader Council sets date for special election, debates text messaging service
By Willis Patenaude, Times-Register
Two topics stood out on the March 8 Elkader City Council agenda, one for its impact on the council and the other for the surprising amount of debate surrounding the topic.
For the first, the council approved Resolution 2021-20, “Acknowledging receipt of a verified petition demanding that a special election be set to fill the Council seat vacated by Ed Josten and directing the city administrator/clerk to notify the county auditor/election commissioner of the receipt thereof and requesting that a special election be scheduled for April 20, 2021.”
As previously reported, the petition and resolution were in response to the council’s recent appointment of Tony Hauber and the desire for a more democratic process. Anyone interested in running in the election must file nomination papers with the auditor by 5 p.m. on March 26.
The second issue of note was a spirited discussion regarding an instant messaging system in Resolution 2021-22, which would have approved an agreement with TextMyGov to “boost options to communicate with residents.” Currently, the council relies on Facebook and Instagram.
The service, as described by city administrator Jennifer Cowsert, “allows residents to sign up for notifications. And we can have several areas of notifications such as street construction updates or special events. This also allows people to report problems or send questions via text. So, if they are out and about on a walk and see a street sign down, they can text us right away and don’t need to try to remember to call us when they get home.”
The idea was well-received by council members Hauber and Bob Hendrickson, but also received push-back, mostly from council member Daryl Koehn, who reminded everyone the city is “strapped for cash.” Part of Koehn’s push-back came from being cautious, as the city has recently tied itself to numerous costly projects. This service comes with a two-year contract commitment and a cost of $2,000 for the first year and $1,500 for the second year. Cowsert mentioned the city is asking about a one-year contract.
The push-back came as a surprise to Cowsert, who said in a separate interview, “I was really excited about this and thought anything we can do to engage more residents or be able to increase how we get information out for a relatively low cost was a good thing.”
How the city will pay for the messaging service was at the crux of the debate. One idea mentioned was tying the cost to the construction projects, but it was quickly dismissed by Koehn, who is worried about the overall $3,500 amount ballooning due to the interest rates associated with paying projects back.
“We are paying interest on that money, so that $2,000 grows. I’d feel better if it was a one-year deal” Koehn said.
According to Cowsert, while this is true, “in theory, we are talking about $1,500 out of $655,000, so the amount of interest would be low and interest rates in general are very low right now! But I won’t know what we will get until we sell the bonds.”
She added that the service could be classified as a general fund expense or marketing money could be used, as the service itself, “in a way, it is marketing the city.”
During the discussion over how to pay for the service, Hendrickson said, “We could come up with the money for it out of somewhere,” but did not elaborate further. He went on to state, in a separate interview, that “the jury is still out for me on the text messaging. I’m waiting on more information. I wasn’t ready to make a decision either way with that or the options to pay for it.”
Some of that information was also requested by council member Peggy Lane at the meeting, who questioned who would use the service and how well the service has been received in neighboring cities that have implemented it. In researching this information, Cowsert contacted Manchester, which has a population of 5,179. According to data, they have 1,839 users currently. Cowsert said that four other communities, similar in size to Elkader, also utilize the text messaging service.
Elkader Police Chief Mitch Seitz also indicated to the council that the police department would utilize the service as well, which was something Lane wanted to know.
In a separate interview, Hauber acknowledged the issues surrounding the cost, and seeks to find the most cost-effective way possible of paying for the service, but he also feels the technology has “essential uses.”
“Besides construction project updates, the service could also be used for dangerous weather alerts, city event scheduling reminders and notifications, election news and schedule, utility emergencies and outages and public safety announcements,” he stated. “I’m sure, when implemented, we will be able to find other creative uses for it as well.”
With concern to the current methods of communicating with the public, Hauber finds them inadequate, and said they aren’t akin to the “ubiquitous technology” of text messaging. He made it a point to draw attention to reaching a younger audience.
“It is one of many primary modes of communication for younger people who I believe the city has had trouble reaching with their current platforms…Someone suggested that Facebook already fills this need. I do not believe this is the case. Facebook has an aging active user base. Will our city track and follow trends and get on every social media source to guarantee we are reaching younger and younger generations? Will we get Snapchat? Will we get TikTok? I believe that we should try to use these platforms for outreach as long as it can be done cost effectively, but for communicating with our citizens, it’s best to use an open protocol that is ubiquitous. Facebook’s platform is private and does not make any guarantees about allowing us to reach our audience,” Hauber argued.
The council eventually tabled the resolution until gathering further information about the service’s usefulness, the public’s interest in the service and how it will be paid for.
