1. COMMUNITY SURVEY: The top mayor/council priorities are shown below and will be placed in the community survey for citizen input.
• Ash Trees
• Extend downtown building incentive program
• Filling buildings on the square
• Public safety facilities (fire dept needs expansion/PD & staffing)
• Municipal building (fire dept & PD)
2. STEPHENS COURT: Project restoration has been slow and thus far not up to expectations. V&K’s Forrest Aldrich sent a letter (packet) indicating the completion date is April 30 and that any unfinished work would be subtracted from the contract and conducted by the city.
3. WEB PAGE: The City of Indianola website upgrades will be functional on Monday, April 18th. Information Technology Manager Kurt Ripperger has been working with Joyce Godwin, Kathy Kester, Pat Allsup and Thad White to develop a new design, and, the web address will change to www.indianolaiowa.gov . Note that www.cityofindianola.com, www.indianola.lib.ia.us, and www.indianolaparks.com will remain working for the foreseeable future and automatically redirect users to www.indianolaiowa.gov.
The group will continue to develop the site in the next few weeks and will plan for an end of May public announcement once all potential issues are addressed.
Thanks to Kurt, Joyce, Kathy, Pat and Thad for their assistance!
4. INTERN: Chelsea Fulton, recent MPA graduate from Drake University will begin her (unpaid) internship with the City of Indianola on Wednesday, April 20th. Chelsea will work at least one day a week on various special projects including redistricting map for new census numbers, franchise research, grant research, various analytical spreadsheets, surveys, etc.
If time allows I’d also like to have her participate in the upcoming Employee Orientation. I think it would be an excellent introduction to the organization.
5. DRAINAGE: Several homes along the 400 block of South P experienced basement flooding in 2008 and 2010 (two heavy rainfall years). The homeowners indicate the problem is related to the four-plex and duplex built in 2002 and 2004 because the water previously drained west from the Masonic Temple to P Street.
Chuck Burgin and I met with Warren County Fair Board reps and Supervisor Doug Shull on the 13th to discuss an alternate direction of drainage. The Fair Board will discuss the matter and advise of their decision.
6. WALMART SIGNAL: After receiving comments about the signal at Wal Mart going red north and southbound where there is no traffic on the east/west legs, we had Iowa Traffic Control check the computers. The problem lies with the motion detector cameras that shake in the wind or detect shadows.
RoxAnne Hunerdosse is getting quotes to replace the cams with in-pound detector loops which will solve the problem. A recommendation will be brought to council in May.
FYI – The same cams were replaced on 65/69 at Hillcrest a few years ago.
