Friday, January 13, 2012

News Items - January 17, 2012

1. Y/WELLNESS CENTER: Project Manager Bob Sodders, Community Development Director Chuck Burgin and I met with a construction documentation company on the 11th to review the service for the Y. The company has been hired by Simpson for their Kent Student Center and have also been employed by the City of Des Moines and Cedar Rapids.

The documentation system creates a comprehensive photograph record of the entire construction project that is indexed by time and location. The service can be very valuable for resolving a variety of construction issues including schedule delays, change orders and legal claims. Based on initial review, the service can very well pay for itself.

A recommendation will be on the February 6 council agenda.

2. ELECTRIC OUTAGE: According to General Manager Todd Kielkopf the 30 minute electric outage on January 11 was caused when a cable (one phase of a 13.2 feeder) that feeds the downtown plant 4 substation blew. That tripped breakers and other devices designed to protect the system so major parts of town lost power.

The Clerk’s Office received in excess of a hundred calls.

3. GROWARRENOW: The kick-off of Warren County Economic Development’s GroWARRENow is January 31 from 5:00 to 7:00 pm at the Summerset Winery. Governor Branstad and Economic Development Authority Director Debi Durham will be there to help celebrate the event.

Also, we received a request (packet) from WCEDC to make a five-year pledge of $250,000 ($50,000/year) that will be placed in the budget for council consideration. Our current contribution is $33,000 annually, however, the WCEDC request is to council and trustees.

4. SNOW REMOVAL: We’ve been receiving a lot of questions about how much savings there are this year given the weather. The response has been that the savings will actually be spread over two years because the Street Dept already purchased its winter materials earlier in the year. So, the savings will result next year when there is less material to purchase.

We are, however, spending less (nearly $8,000 compared to last year) on labor this year.

5. BRUSH FACILITY: About 20 trees were dropped off at the brush site over the last couple weeks.

6. WARREN COUNTY: Carlisle, Indianola and Norwalk elected/appointed officials met with supervisors and other staff to discuss Emergency Management and E 911 organizational issues on the 10th. Another meeting is scheduled for later this month to continue the dialogue. The intended goal is to improve efficiency and meet technology needs in the next year (narrow-banding) and beyond (digital transition). Reports will be provided periodically to council.