— Daily Freeman-Journal photo by Anne Blankenship City Clerk Karyl Bonjour administers the oath of office to Megan McFarland, newly appointed city council member. She will fill the unexpired term of Katelin Hartmann who resigned in September.

Webster City resident Megan McFarland was appointed to the City Council Monday night to fill an unexpired term on the council.

McFarland was given the oath of office at the close of the business meeting by City Clerk Karyl Bonjour and immediately joined her fellow council members in a closed session.

An oncology nurse for the McFarland Clinic Fort Dodge office, McFarland and her husband have two children. She said she recently got involved with the Webster City Daycare Board.

“They needed some help and I was glad to get involved to offer a mom’s perspective,” she said. She learned of the opening on the council and decided to take the opportunity to get more involved in the community.

McFarland will fill the unexpired term that occurred with the resignation of Katelin Hartmann in September. Hartmann resigned after she purchased a home and moved outside of the city limits.

McFarland’s term will run through Dec. 31, 2023.

Council members held interviews in closed session prior to Monday’s meeting with McFarland and one other candidate.

“We had two really good candidates that we met with,” said Councilman Logan Welch. “Serving on the council is one of those jobs that really puts you out there in the community.”

He thanked the other candidate, Tom Green for his interest in the position.

“It’s pretty impressive to see a person move to our community and want to get involved so early. It’s really impressive,” Welch said. He encouraged Green to get involved with one of the city commissions or boards, or the council in the future.

Chamber update

Jen Peterman, executive director of the Webster City Area Chamber of Commerce presented an update to the council and talked about the events from the past year.

She told the council that Junquefest 2021, held at the Webster City Fairgrounds, attracted 2,900 visitors. Peterman said that by charging a small admission fee, the chamber was able to track how many attended the event.

Additionally, she said there were 72 vendors involved in Junquefest and 62 of the vendors were not local.

“We had outdoor exhibits and indoor exhibits in two of the buildings,” she said. “And we were full inside.”

The 2022 Junquefest will return to the fairgrounds, based on comments and responses from vendors and a poll of those attending this year’s event.

The chamber is talking about adding other events to Junquefest next year, including a city-wide garage sale and activities in the downtown and area parks.

Peterman said Ladies Night Out is coming up at the end of October, and Christmas in the City is planned for the first weekend in December.

Later this month, Peterman said the Merchants’ Trick or Treating event will be held Oct. 29.

Currently, there are 179 chamber members. Peterman also announced that the Chamber Board had recently hired Candace Ruby to serve as the membership director.

Other business

The council approved the first reading of an ordinance that would place two stop signs at the intersection of Webster Street and Sparboe Court. The traffic committee approved the recommendation which originated with a local resident. The resident raised concerns about the volume of traffic and rate of speed for vehicles on Webster Street. The intersection is about three blocks southeast of Sunset Elementary School. The measure will face two more readings before being finalized.

In a parking matter, expanded no parking zones around the Middle School and Pleasant View Elementary School were approved. The traffic committee approved the request from the school district and brought the request before the council.

The council also:

— approved a resolution adopting policies and procedures regarding the municipal securities disclosures;

— approved a resolution approving a confidentiality agreement between MidAmerican Energy Company and the City of Webster City regarding information about Unit 4 George Neal Generating Station;

— passed a resolution accepting the work, authorizing the final payment of $16,067.28 and the release of retainage in the amount of $8,277.13 to Nels Pederson Company of Badger for completion of the 2020 Sewer Rehabilitation and Repair Project.