Sparks once again flew at Monday’s meeting of the Ellsworth City Council.

During the process of making his annual mayoral appointments, Mayor Dan Finnegan received pushback from several city council members when he declined to appoint Dustin Stambaugh as city administrator and Patrick Hoffman as city attorney.

“We need a lot of discussion,” Finnegan said.

Council Member Don Panzer then made a motion that the city continue to have Stambaugh as its city administrator and Hoffman as its city attorney for the next three years.

Council Member Tyler Renard seconded Panzer’s motion.

Renard said all five of the council previously voted in favor of keeping Stambaugh and Hoffman in their positions for the next three years.

“If we vote and approve it, you don’t have to appoint them,” Panzer told Finnegan. “We checked on it.”

Council President Jessica Kootz said while she appreciates what Panzer was saying, she felt it was kind of overkill.

“It doesn’t matter if he appoints them tonight or not,” she said. “We’re still retaining Patrick as our attorney and Dustin as our administrator.”

“But we need to show support for those two,” Panzer said.

Kootz urged the mayor and the council to be more collaborative.

Finnegan agreed with Kootz that a vote on Panzer’s motion would be overkill.

“Maybe you just need to say ‘I support Patrick and Dustin,’” Kootz told Panzer.

A “ceremonial” motion by Panzer to show support for Hoffman and Stambaugh was then seconded and approved.

“I just think this last four months have been a disaster,” Council Member Darcy Hansen said, adding the public is noticing.

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“We’re supposed to be a team, and right now, there is no team. There is part of a team. You (Finnegan) are not trying to be part of our team.”

Hansen said the situation makes the entire council look bad. She also said she has anxiety on Fridays knowing there is a city council meeting on Monday.

“That’s why I don’t come to the meetings anymore,” she added.

Finnegan said he and the city council have got to come together and pull together.

“I think there are some positive things coming,” Finnegan said, “but if we’re like this in October or November, clearly we’ve got to make some changes. I just don’t think we will be. I think we’ve hit a really rough spot. I think if we keep collaborating and working together, we could be a great team.”

Finnegan said he has to do a better job, noting he is a fighter, but he has to contain that and use it in the right way.

“I’m willing to do that,” he said. “Hopefully, my coworkers will see that as an asset. I think we need to look for those ways where we kind of agree and then kind of build on that.”

Suddenly, the subject of taking Finnegan’s pay away because of his performance was brought up out of nowhere.

“You can take my pay away, that’s fine, because you’re not happy with my performance,” Finnegan told the council, “but let me determine where that money gets spent. Fair? I think that is a win-win for everybody. Otherwise, it’s going to seem as a punishment and it’s not collaborative.”

“It’s not a punishment,” Council Member Aaron Johnson said. “There’s stuff that the people who sit up here know that people out there don’t know.”

Finnegan has two weeks to decide where those funds will be directed.

At various times during the discussion, members of the audience shouted “stop” and “decorum.”

In other business:

• After a discussion regarding the implementation of water restrictions in the City of Ellsworth, the city approved a motion to have Stambaugh and Hoffman draft an updated resolution, 2012-24, for the declaration of a water warning.

The resolution will contain the following restrictions: watering times will be from 7 p.m.-7 a.m. for odd addresses Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, with even addresses Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. No watering will be allowed on Sundays. The golf course will be left alone. It will be determined if the splash pad needs repaired.

Stambaugh said according to city ordinance, violation of this chapter shall be a municipal offense and may be prosecuted in municipal court.

The council advised that in terms of enforcement, a warning should be given to the property owner first.

The resolution will become effective upon publication. Hoffman requested Finnegan sign off on the resolution before it becomes effective.

Before the vote, Stambaugh said he brought the topic before the council for two reasons. First, the splash pad in Preisker Park is about to open soon and there could be a leak under one of the fixtures.

“But more importantly than that, I am concerned about our water levels,” he said.

Stambaugh said if you look at graphs from the U.S. Geological Survey as well as the drought monitor, along with two months of very minimal rainfall, it’s going to be a rough summer.

He noted that other cities, such as Russell, have been on water restrictions since last year.

“We’re going into the season where everyone wants to water their lawns and stuff and I’m really concerned about our water levels,” he said, “and the projections, based on everyone I’ve talked to, it’s not going to get any better.”

• Mary Schmidt discussed the two city cemeteries in Ellsworth and the need to have the plots surveyed so the owners of those plots can receive a deed to them.

Noting there are other cemeteries in the county, but not all, that need to be surveyed, Schmidt said it’s going to take everybody in the county working together to get that accomplished.

“This is something that falls under Ellsworth being the county seat,” she said, noting that communities in Ellsworth County look to Ellsworth because of that.

Stambaugh said his staff has been working on this for the last year. He noted the city has been digitizing and auditing its records.

“We’ve made a lot of effort in auditing our records and auditing locations,” he said.

Stambaugh told Schmidt all he has jurisdiction over are the two city cemeteries in Ellsworth.

“But you have to work with everybody else,” Schmidt said.

“But I have to take care of us first,” he said.

Hoffman said the city is allowed to keep its own records.

“The expense of surveying everything is the choice of the city to make,” he said.

Schmidt said this needs to trickle down to everyone in the county.

Hoffman responded that cities, townships and churches have their own cemeteries.

“And we can’t tell them what they have to do, they have to make their own choices,” he said.

• Matt Raney voiced concerns about his interaction with several city officials regarding construction on a home he owns at 124 S. Lincoln.

“For 20 years I have been doing major, major construction on that house,” he said. “I never made any attempt to hide any of that. I never heard a word from the City of Ellsworth, ever, over a period of 20 years.”

On April 25, he was working on a shed he was building when City Building Inspector Delvin Bettenbrock came by and said Raney was to cease construction immediately and get a building permit.

“I had no idea I needed a building permit,” Raney said. “All the properties I’ve ever owned have been out in the country and you don’t need permits out there to do anything.”

Raney then ceased construction and went to city hall and filled out the paperwork for a building permit.

After returning to the site, Raney was told by Bettenbrock that he needed to tear down five days’ of framing work he had done immediately or he would be subject to a $500 per day fine from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Bettenbrock also told Raney that since he was in a flood zone, his chance of getting a permit to build new construction on that property was just about zero.

“I know a little something about how government works,” Raney said, “and that’s not how it works.”

Raney said he knew he needed a survey and an absolute definite elevation of his property.

His cousin, Darren Hall, Great Bend, a licensed surveyor, was called in to survey the property.

Raney then emailed Finnegan, who then called him.

“I will say this about your mayor,” Raney said. “He is extremely helpful. My recommendation to all of you is that you hang on to him.”

However, Raney said Bettenbrock was not helpful. Raney said Bettenbrock gave him erroneous information.

“I spent hundreds of dollars over the last three weeks getting to the point to where I get a building permit based on erroneous information,” Raney said, “because my property surveyed out at 4 feet over the base flood elevation. Therefore, it needs no FEMA waivers at all.”

Raney said he finally got his building permit. He said he met with Stambaugh, first at Ele’s Place and then at city hall the next morning.

“The first words out of his mouth were ‘I can tell you this, you’re not going to be building on that property,’” Raney said.

Raney said while Finnegan came and watched the survey of the property, Stambaugh never contacted him during the last three weeks.

“I don’t know how it is possible that you could have a city administrator who has been on the job for two years, when one-third of the City of Ellsworth is covered by a flood zone and he knows nothing about being in a flood zone or the process of getting waivers. It’s very concerning,” Raney said.

Panzer said he didn’t think Stambaugh was at fault over the situation because he called FEMA and was instructed by them as well as the city ordinance.

Stambaugh cited a portion of the city ordinance, which states a flood plain development permit shall be required for all proposed construction or other development, including the placement of manufactured homes in the areas.

“Not if you are 1 foot over the base flood elevation,” Raney said.

“And that was not determined, Mr. Raney, until you got your survey,” Stambaugh said, adding that according to the current FEMA maps as of 2009, Raney’s property is in the flood zone.

Raney again noted the city caused him to spend a large sum of money over what was a non-issue to start with.

“You don’t see that that’s wrong,” he asked.

Stambaugh said what is going to happen next is Raney is going to do a letter of map revision, meaning that FEMA, over the next 30-60 days, along with the State Department of Water Resources, will sign off on the fact that the property is 4 feet above the flood plain.

“Moving forward, his property will no longer be included,” Stambaugh said, “but he has to go through that process.”

Due to the Memorial Day holiday, the next meeting of the Ellsworth City Council will be at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 28, at city hall.