Friday, June 29, 2012

News Items July 2, 2012


1.     STREET PROJECT:

·       Buxton was open Wednesday
·       North “E” is paved past Buxton Hall and open. Sternquist will start paving the remainder Saturday and anticipates opening it up to traffic July 3. Opera people will be routed down “D” Street until complete. Karol Nickel, Executive Director called Tuesday and was very appreciative of Sternquist’s and the city’s efforts in working with them.
·       South Howard Street is scheduled to be paved next and will be closed Monday morning.

2.     IPADS: I spoke with John Hoyman regarding IPAD usage and if council should be allowed to purchase them. Ownership takes out the monitoring aspect and allows personal use. It was suggested the dollar amount to purchase them should be $250 or half of the value. This is equal to about $5.21 per month over a four year mayor/council term. This would be strictly optional and individuals not interested in purchasing and only using them for city business could return them at the end of a term. Please let me know your thoughts.

3.     POLICE ACADEMY: Attached is a picture of those who completed the junior police academy class. Congrats to the juniors and Officers Brad Metcalf and Mesha Wagner for another successful class!

4.     CLEANING SERVICES: The city sent out RFPs for cleaning services. The current contractor indicated they will not submit a proposal and will provide services through July 31. Therefore, a temporary person and/or company will need to be hired until the new contract is approved.

5.     28E AGREEMENTS: The draft 28E agreements with Simpson and the schools are complete and ready for John Hoyman’s review next week. Agreements will then be sent to each organization for their review.

6.     NORTH “C” STREET: Council will set the public hearing July 2, 2012 for July 16, 2012 for a request from Simpson College to vacate North “C” Street from Clinton to Girard.


Friday, June 15, 2012

News Items - June 18, 2012


1.     WAY FINDING SIGNS: The Tourism Committee met with the engineer this week and approved colors/design and ordered signs. They will be delivered in 4-6 weeks.

2.     POLICE CHIEF PROCESS: Staff is in the process of developing a timeline for replacement as well as a recommendation for process. Will place on the July 9 committee agenda.

3.     SIDEWALKS: Chuck is working with Iowa Health (301 East Hillcrest) to install a 10’ wide sidewalk/trail on North Jefferson on the west side of their property. There are three other properties along the corridor in between Wal-Mart and Iowa Health that currently do not have sidewalks; Glascock Floors, Circle B and Destiny Church. To be consistent the city ordinance requires these sidewalks/trails to be installed. Due to the 10’width trail requirement vs a 4’ sidewalk the city will pay the difference.

4.     DMMO: Sternquist reports they will pave North “E” Monday (weather permitting) which will allow the Opera to have an open street prior to the start of their first performance June 22. Many people worked hard to make this happen in particular the contractor and the Opera is very appreciative.

5.     I&I: A request to extend the private (residential) I&I program will be submitted to the IDNR next Thursday, June 21. A copy of the request will be sent to you when complete.

6.     STREET PROJECT:

·       Buxton is almost complete and should be open late next week. IMU needs to install streetlights and Century Link has to raise a vault to finalize.
·       North “E” will be paved June 18 and open the 22nd as indicated above.  

7.     YMCA: An on-site pre-construction meeting was held Thursday, June 14. Larson & Larson submitted a preliminary construction schedule indicating substantial completion date of July 2013.

8.     MOATS SHELTER: Glen received competitive quotes on the Moats shelter expansion/improvement project. This was part of the FY13 capital budget and was approved for $22,000. This will be placed on the July 2 council agenda.

9.     ILOC: The Iowa League of Cities annual meeting will be held September 26-28, 2012 in Sioux City. Information is in your packet. Please let Diana or I know if you plan to attend.  

Friday, June 8, 2012


NEWS ITEMS

TO:                 Mayor and Council
FROM:           Jean
DATE:            June 8, 2012

1.     VISION IOWA: The city received the grant agreement this week and will have 45 days to return required paperwork. I am working on finalizing agreements with all the relevant groups.

2.     WELLNESS CENTER: Jeff Larson, Larson & Larson Construction indicates work on the wellness center will commence June 11th.

3.     DUST CONTROL: 26 residents participated in the dust control program. The city pays 50% for a calcium chloride application for those that live on gravel roads within the city limits. The city’s portion was approximately $3,400.

4.     POOL: Glen reports there are issues with the pool slide installation and the dept is working with Global Specialty (contractor) to get resolved. We have paid them less than half of the contract amount and will hold any additional payments at this time.

5.     WCEDC: I am asking John Hoyman to review the draft agreement developed by staff and will forward to you as soon as received.

6.     STREET PROJECT: The sanitary sewer services are being completed along the North/South D Street corridor. The West 1/2 of South Buxton has been completed. We anticipate the remaining portion to be complete the week of June 11th. North E Street subgrade prep revealed a gas main conflict. We are working through the issue and hope to have it resolved by early next week. The conflict may prevent the street from being completed prior to the Opera season.

Friday, June 1, 2012

News Items June 4, 2012


1.     PICKARD SEWER: The contractor is set to start work next Monday, June 4 and indicates they should be done by the 8th (weather permitting) prior to the weekend tournament schedule.

2.     POOL: The pool opened last Sunday, May 27th and had record attendance!!

3.     SEWER: Staff met this week to discuss information that will be compiled for the requests to the IDNR to extend the city’s I&I program. We will also be discussing the plant upgrade and related requirements. A meeting will be held Wednesday, June 13 to review our information and presented to the IDNR on the 20th (date yet to be confirmed).

4.     IMU BOARD: The Trustees will attend the June 11 study committee meeting to provide an update on their various projects including underground conversion, telecommunications and a master facility plan.

5.     WELLNESS CENTER: Jeff Larson, Larson & Larson Construction indicates work on the wellness center will commence June 11th.  A preconstruction meeting is being scheduled. We will keep you informed of that date when it is set.

6.     2012 STREET REPLACEMENT PROJECT:  D Street south of Ashland Avenue has been removed.  Buxton Street south of Salem Avenue has been removed and E Street from Girard Avenue to Detroit Avenue has been removed.  Vanderpool Construction is replacing the sanitary sewer services under the streets to the edge of curb in these areas.  We anticipate repaving in the next week or so.

7.     NUISANCE COMPLIANCE HEARING:  Community Development Department is working with the city attorney for compliance of several properties in town.  To date, the court has upheld both municipal infractions.  Court costs have been assessed to the properties.