Sunday, January 31, 2010

North Story Little League Baseball signups


IT IS BASEBALL SIGNUP TIME! 2010 signups for Roland-Story based teams will be at both the Story City American Legion and Roland Community Center (south of the library) from 2 to 4PM on both Sunday, February 7 and Saturday February 13.

North Story County Little League is for players aged 9-16. Age used is the player's age on April 30, 2010. Eight year olds who are currently in the 3rd grade are also eligible to partipate.

To save time at signup, you can preprint the registration and medical release forms, and bring them with you, along with the $35 registration fee. In person registrations are great for new players, to give an opportunity for players and parents to ask questions about the season. Parents interested in coaching can also leave their name at the registration.

Mail registration is also an option. For Roland-Story based teams, send the completed registration, medical release form, and a check for $35 made out to NSCLL, and mail it to: North Story County Little League, Mike Wilgenbusch, 1316 Fairway Ave., Story City, IA 50248 If you have questions, email northstorybaseball@yahoo.com

Friday, January 29, 2010

Volunteer opportunities

Roland Days 2010 is in peril. The crew that has worked so hard in the past, is ready to step away from that role. They are willing to offer help and pointers to folks who are ready to step up and help get Roland Days going. If you and/or some friends would like to assure Roland Days happens in 2010, give a call to City Hall to get more info.

Another volunteer opportunity is to help gather the cans from the box by Casey's for the fireworks fund. Even if Roland Days doesn't happen, it appears there will still be fireworks this year. If you want to help with collecting the money for the cans, also call City Hall. It is a once a week job I believe. Fireworks are a great community benefit. If you like them, that is a nice way to help keep them going.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Jan 25 council meeting

Had another city council meeting on Monday night. It was shortened up a bit because our out of town guests were unable to attend because of the blizzard. But we still had a big crowd because it was budget night. Board members and city staff made their presentations for their proposed budgets for 2010/11. Lots of times, there are only 1 or 2 citizens at our meetings, but we had maybe 10-15 people there, so that is nice to see.

All the proposed budgets were pretty good. The only major project that got hacked was removing $5000 for a new roof at the pool. The council thought it could get by for another year. The pool board still is getting the rest of their proposal, which includes new equipment at the pool park. Those pool board members have done a great job with that. I've taken advantage of the new basketball court with my son late last fall. It is a great addition to our town.

No other surprise projects popped up. As usual, many departments have a capital set aside for bigger ticket items later on, so we don't get hit bad in the year we need the things. So we aren't getting them this year, but we save up for new mowers for the park, or new fire trucks.

A reminder we still have a job posting for our water/wastewater superintedent. It is closing on Feb 1 I believe. You can get more info at the city's website, www.cityofroland.org.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

2010/2011 Budget

Just got done taking a first gander at the draft budget for 2010/2011. We will be having our initial discussion of it at the council meeting on Monday night.

I thought all departments and boards submitted reasonable numbers, and didn't see any outlandish requests. One nice thing about putting together a city budget vs what they have to do at the federal and state level, is that big increases in spending would be immediately noticed in the pocketbook by the very people that submit the request. That is because our city employees and board members all live here in Roland.

I'm sure the city council will make a few cuts here and there, as they typically do. But prior to any cuts, the proposed tax rate is already 3 cents less per thousand than last year, so that is good.

However, that is offset by a reduced state rollback, which raises the percentage of your property that you are taxed on.

Stay tuned to this spot for more info on the budget....

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Roland Cleanup

I went to a Story County Mayor's Meeting last week. We had a presenter there from Midwest Recovery in Bondurant. The city had them collect appliances/electronics/junk last August. Very interesting in what they do. They recycle all this stuff, and safely dispose/reuse much of it--like capturing freon from refrigerators.

If you are just dying to get rid of something, they will just take it for free, though you do have to pay for TVs and computer monitors. You can check out their website at www.midwestrecoveryofiowa.com.

The owner gave me the Roland stats of what they picked up last August on our city cleanup day. Here are some of the things (but not all). 7 TVs, 4 computer monitors, 5 computers, 7 fridges, 5 stoves, 3 washers, 4 dryers, 4 water heaters, 2 air conditioners, 11 dehumidifiers, 11 lawn mowers, 9 grills, and 5 pieces of exercise equipment (don't give up on exercise Roland!) All total was 7633 pounds of stuff.

All great that it is not cluttering Roland, and also that it is being recycled, and not just going to a landfill. I presume we will have another such day later in 2010, so stay tuned.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Join the city email list

We are going to try an email list for citizens of Roland. The emails will come infrequently, but will get info out in a hurry, or to announce changes in operations. Expected emails will be reminders when the garbage day changes, or if there is water main break, or maybe a new ordinance.

Please sign up and give it a try. You can get on the list by sending an email to Deneen at City Hall at cityhall@cityofroland.org.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Sidewalks cleanup


Think Spring!
I drove around town and noticed there are still a few sidewalks that need snow removed. Just posting to remind you to do the right thing, and clean the snow off your sidewalk if you have yet to do so. There is a city ordinance requiring property owners to do so. But before it gets to that, I ask you to go outside and enjoy the "nice" weather, and get a little exercise in the process.

All in all, I'd rather be cutting grass though.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

First meeting

Had my first council meeting last night as mayor. I've done it before as Mayor Pro Tem, and also during my 2 week stint as Mayor back in about '03 or so, when no one wanted the slot.

A little bit longer meeting than normal, but we had a lot of stuff to go thru. I'll expound on some of the topics in this space soon. One thing that I want to start to get some buzz on is that we will have a temporary opening for helping Harold in the streets department. An ad should be posted soon. But if you know someone who would be interested in reading meters, driving snow plow, helping to take down the Christmas lights, and so on, give them the heads up that an ad is on the way.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Christmas Trees

Just a reminder that a nice thing that the city does for its residents is help dispose of old Christmas trees. If you call City Hall that you have a tree to pick up, and you place the tree out near the street, Harold will swing by sometime at his convenience and pick it up. Unfortunately, Harold is spending a lot of time here lately moving snow off our streets.

So anyway, just wanted to get that reminder out there. I saw a tree in the ditch along E-18 on the way out to the interstate. Not saying it was from one of Roland's fine residents, but if so, there is no reason to dispose of it that way.

So now that the Christmas season is winding down, we can go back to having some of the fittest people around with all the exercise we are getting shoveling snow!

Friday, January 1, 2010

Garbage Day Saturday

A reminder that garbage day is moved to Saturday because of the holiday. Also, they might be picking up a little earlier, because they typically use 2 trucks on Saturday pickups. Happy New Year!