1. EQUALIZATION: County equalization orders were issued by the State and Warren County has no “across the board” changes to agricultural, commercial, industrial or residential properties.
2. CORRIDOR STUDY: The city received a proposal from Snyder and Associates for the Hwy 65/69 Corridor Study from Hillcrest to the city limits (A) and to Summerset Road (B). Staff is reviewing the proposal and scope of services with the IDOT and Summercrest developer and will present a recommendation to council in November.
FYI—At the January 5, 2009 meeting, council approved a letter to the IDOT requesting a Hwy 65/69 Corridor Study from Hillcrest to the city limits to help determine whether the highway should be divided versus combined and the number of accesses.
3. SQUARE BUILDINGS: The meeting on September 29 will be continued in 3-4 weeks. The lawsuit is proceeding but may take up to a year. Mayor Kelley and I expressed concern about the vacated building, it’s appearance, safety and affect on business.
Chuck Burgin is getting quotes from an engineer to review the building for safety and determine an economical wall to serve as an exterior. The city may issue a nuisance to abate subject to building condition.
4. LEGISLATORS: Kent Sorenson reports he is not available November 16 to meet with the mayor/council as earlier scheduled. Diana Bowlin is working to reschedule both Staci Appel and Kent for another meeting.
5. W 17TH RADAR: Per the petition received on September 18 from residents on/around W 17th, the PD used radar this past week and ticketed 30 vehicles. It may be interesting to note that 16 of those ticketed signed the petition.
Street Supt Ed Yando installed bigger signs (on 17th) posting the 30 mph speed limit to help lower speeds.
6. ROAD USE TAX REVENUE: Per the I-Jobs Program from the State, Indianola will receive about $137,000 over a two-year period ($62,000 in July ’09 and $75,000 in July ’10) for projects and/or operation/maintenance. Since Indianola’s RUT fund has been decreasing in recent years, I am inclined to leave the I-Jobs revenue in the fund balance and delay the need for a tax increase in the next year or two. If elected officials prefer to use it for a project please advise and it can be placed on a future agenda.
Current RUT fund balance is $207,900 and budgeted expenses exceed revenues by about $150,000. RUT funds pay for 100% of the street operation and maintenance expenses including concrete/asphalt repairs, storm sewer repairs, street cleaning, etc.
7. TWITTER: The City of Indianola is now “tweeting” at http://twitter.com/cityofindianola Technology and Public Information Coordinator Kurt Ripperger secured the page so city staff and elected officials can provide information (to Kurt) that will then be posted and “tweeted” to members. Tweeted information can include street closures, snow ordinance, missing persons, meeting times, etc. Tweets are limited to 140 characters or less so we must be brief!
Kurt will advertise the site in the weekly flyer, Channel 7 and website this week.
The Twitter page will be one more method of communicating with the public on city issues.
8. SHARED SERVICE POLICY: Chuck Burgin, Forrest Aldrich, Dan Miers and I met again this week to finalize a shared sewer service (more than one single family dwelling on a private sewer line) policy that will be brought to council committee in November.
The policy will allow use of shared services until repairs are required. Once repairs are needed, disconnection from the shared service will be mandatory (per the policy).
9. DECK: The deck on the west side of the square will be removed Sunday the 4th.
10. EMPLOYEE BREAKFAST: An employee breakfast co-sponsored by the City Council and Board of Trustees will be October 23rd from 7:00 – 8:30 a.m. at the Indianola Activity Center.
