Roland's Community Center got to show off a little tonite, when we had a huge crowd for our a Joint agency meeting tonite. There were reps from the Roland-Story School (Board and Superintendent), Roland Area Development Corp, Story City Council, Mayor, and City Administration, Story City Economic Development, Story City Chamber, Story County Supervisors, and Roland City Council, Administration, and me, the mayor.
These groups get together to talk about what is going on, in their group/board about once a year. The City of Roland was the host this year. Everybody was saying it was the most well attended that they could remember. I should have counted, but there was about 25 people there I'm guessing.
And it was a great meeting, because everybody got to tell their story of all the good stuff going on. I should have taken notes, but some of the things we learned were about the school being about ready to unveil their new website, and a report about the Roland Community Center, and Story City getting some grants for a new bridge over the Skunk for a trail, and the new businesses in Story City and grants to help micro-businesses, and some of the good designations for health and welfare that Story County is getting, and I got to talk about our new library, and new park, and new sewer plant that are all on the way. (the previous paragraph was the express version of what was talked about)
All in all, just a good way to get a bunch of different groups together, and talk about all the good stuff going on around here. We each have our own little zone of influence, and it is easy to forget all the work people are doing, much of it volunteer, to make our communities a better place to live.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Visitors at last council meeting
I touched on it in an earlier post, but didn't have time to expound. But I do now. Just wanted to mention the visit we had from the Ames Resource Recovery Plant, and from the Metro Waste Authority.
In case you weren't aware, the City of Roland's official disposal location for our garbage is at the Ames Resource Recovery Plant. It is the big black building on East Lincoln Way in Ames. (I have a picture of it in an earlier post). Anyway, they mix garbage with coal, to fire the power plant in Ames.
One thing that doesn't burn is glass. It causes problems in the furnace, and it just ends up in the Boone County Landfill anyway. They do like it if you can recycle your glass, and put it in drop off containers. They have big yellow dumpsters around for your glass---I think there is one at Harlan's in Story City. For sure there is one at the downtown Ames Fareway, and at Cub Foods, as well as at the Resource Recovery Plant.
HERE is their website. Kinda interesting how it all works. The garbage recovered from us, Ames, and everybody else in Story County is enough to provide heat for 4600 homes each year.
Also in the visit was a gentleman from the Metro Waste Authority in Bondurant. They are our collection center for hazardous waste, like batteries, and paint, and stuff like that. They have collection days in Ames occasionally, and we sometimes organize such things in Roland as well. HERE is a link to their website, if you are looking for a way to clean up some stuff around your home.
In case you weren't aware, the City of Roland's official disposal location for our garbage is at the Ames Resource Recovery Plant. It is the big black building on East Lincoln Way in Ames. (I have a picture of it in an earlier post). Anyway, they mix garbage with coal, to fire the power plant in Ames.
One thing that doesn't burn is glass. It causes problems in the furnace, and it just ends up in the Boone County Landfill anyway. They do like it if you can recycle your glass, and put it in drop off containers. They have big yellow dumpsters around for your glass---I think there is one at Harlan's in Story City. For sure there is one at the downtown Ames Fareway, and at Cub Foods, as well as at the Resource Recovery Plant.
HERE is their website. Kinda interesting how it all works. The garbage recovered from us, Ames, and everybody else in Story County is enough to provide heat for 4600 homes each year.
Also in the visit was a gentleman from the Metro Waste Authority in Bondurant. They are our collection center for hazardous waste, like batteries, and paint, and stuff like that. They have collection days in Ames occasionally, and we sometimes organize such things in Roland as well. HERE is a link to their website, if you are looking for a way to clean up some stuff around your home.
Roland and Story City Joint Meeting Monday
Monday night the 29th at the Community Center, at 7PM, I, and the City of Roland will be hosting a joint meeting of various entities in Roland and Story City. About once a year, the Roland City Council, the Roland Area Development Corp, the Roland-Story School Board, the Story City City Council, Story City Chamber, Story City Economic Development Group, and the Story County Board of Supervisors all get together to chit chat.
No decisions are made at the meeting. It is a formal way to get together, and communicate to the other groups what is going on in their organizations. It also is a way to network a little bit, meet some people, and build relationships that help in our common interests. And these groups all do have a common interest, with in my opinion, the main tie we have is being all in the same school district.
The public is certainly invited to listen in, and join in the socialization.
No decisions are made at the meeting. It is a formal way to get together, and communicate to the other groups what is going on in their organizations. It also is a way to network a little bit, meet some people, and build relationships that help in our common interests. And these groups all do have a common interest, with in my opinion, the main tie we have is being all in the same school district.
The public is certainly invited to listen in, and join in the socialization.
Sump pump ordinance
We will be soon moving forward with implementation of our sump pump ordinance. This will involve inspection of all residences in Roland, to make sure ground/rain water is not entering the sanitary sewer system. It has already begun, in regards to houses that are to be sold.
Our ordinance does not allow sump water, or water from gutters to enter the sanitary sewer system. This places a large strain on our sanitary sewer system. And with a newer sewer system on the way, we want to make it as small as possible, to reduce the costs for all taxpayers in Roland. And the easiest, cheapest way to reduce plant size, is to reduce all the inflow that comes from sump pumps and gutters that is directed into our sanitary system.
HERE is a link to Clear Lake's sump policy and website.
Our operation will be very similar. NOT EXACTLY THO! I want to reiterate that--ours is not exactly like Clear Lake's, but it is similar. I include this merely to give you some of the what fors, and whys, and all that.
I'm expecting to get some tentative numbers on our new sewer options this week, so I can't give exact numbers right now. But getting the sump water out of our sanitary will have a large payback in reduction of future sewer bills for everyone in town.
Our ordinance does not allow sump water, or water from gutters to enter the sanitary sewer system. This places a large strain on our sanitary sewer system. And with a newer sewer system on the way, we want to make it as small as possible, to reduce the costs for all taxpayers in Roland. And the easiest, cheapest way to reduce plant size, is to reduce all the inflow that comes from sump pumps and gutters that is directed into our sanitary system.
HERE is a link to Clear Lake's sump policy and website.
Our operation will be very similar. NOT EXACTLY THO! I want to reiterate that--ours is not exactly like Clear Lake's, but it is similar. I include this merely to give you some of the what fors, and whys, and all that.
I'm expecting to get some tentative numbers on our new sewer options this week, so I can't give exact numbers right now. But getting the sump water out of our sanitary will have a large payback in reduction of future sewer bills for everyone in town.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Council meeting 3-22 part 1
An update from the council meeting on Monday night, and stuff that was discussed. A reminder for y'all to contact City Hall to get on the City email distro list. It will be used for community bulletins--maybe about water issues, or reminders about garbage day changes. It is a very low volume thing, if that is a concern. But a good way for you to get a note about some event in town.
We had a big discussion/presentation about proposed street upgrades to Elm Street, just north of the middle school, and the 100th block of Logan Street. The council is going to have an informational meeting on that topic on Monday, April 12 at 7PM in the Community Center. We will have our regular city council meeting at 6PM, just prior. The city council meeting that night will move to the Community Center as well, so we can jump right into the streets meeting, after our council meeting. I will have more info in my blog on this topic, at a later date.
We got an update on the library construction. Walls are painted, the ceiling is good to go. Bookshelves are soon to arrive. The council approved an appropriation for the purchase of some of the interior furnishings. The move date is now looking like it might be on Saturday, April 24.
We also had a visit from the Ames Resource Recovery plant, as well the regional recycling facility in Bondurant. I'll have more details on that in a future blog post.
I will be attending a meeting on April 1, where we get an initial report on ideas for our sewer upgrade. So that elephant has been in the back yard for awhile, but it will soon be moving front and center.
We had a big discussion/presentation about proposed street upgrades to Elm Street, just north of the middle school, and the 100th block of Logan Street. The council is going to have an informational meeting on that topic on Monday, April 12 at 7PM in the Community Center. We will have our regular city council meeting at 6PM, just prior. The city council meeting that night will move to the Community Center as well, so we can jump right into the streets meeting, after our council meeting. I will have more info in my blog on this topic, at a later date.
We got an update on the library construction. Walls are painted, the ceiling is good to go. Bookshelves are soon to arrive. The council approved an appropriation for the purchase of some of the interior furnishings. The move date is now looking like it might be on Saturday, April 24.
We also had a visit from the Ames Resource Recovery plant, as well the regional recycling facility in Bondurant. I'll have more details on that in a future blog post.
I will be attending a meeting on April 1, where we get an initial report on ideas for our sewer upgrade. So that elephant has been in the back yard for awhile, but it will soon be moving front and center.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
What else does the mayor do?
I often get asked, "So what does the mayor do?" One of the things that the mayor does is being the Roland representative on various county boards.
Just this past week I attended the meeting of the Story County E911 board. We heard about the Code Red test call from a week ago. Did any of you get that? I don't recall it, but it was a countywide test of an emergency update system via phone. You have to be in the system to get it. The report was that it caused some concern with some elderly folks. Code Red is the brand name of the product. The call stated something to the effect of "this is a test call of Code Red", and people heard the Code Red, thought of Homeland Security red, and got all freaked out. The system is a good one though, for getting out quick info, if there was a chemical, terrorist, or some other disaster/issue going on in all our parts of the county.
As for other boards, the county mayors are all on a board that helps set the assessor's budget. We don't do anything about assessing, but we do have the purse strings on his budget.
The county mayors also set the per capita rate charged by the sheriff for police protection. That will stay the same this year. Don't have the number in front of me, but it is something like $46 a person.
Which puts me on another tangent. Filling out the census form...A higher population costs us money, and it gets us money. We pay and receive money based on our 2000 population of 1324. So we pay the sheriff that $46 times 1324 each year for police protection. We pay our garbage contractor a rate times 1324 people. So if our population goes down in 2010, we will pay less to those entities for the next 10 years.
However, the higher our population, we get more money from the road use tax fund (which comes from our gas taxes). So if we end up with fewer people, we will get less money for use on our streets.
It all pretty much evens out. So get your nose counted. Best guess is we might go down about 20 people or so. Maybe we should have a pool on the Roland census count....
Just this past week I attended the meeting of the Story County E911 board. We heard about the Code Red test call from a week ago. Did any of you get that? I don't recall it, but it was a countywide test of an emergency update system via phone. You have to be in the system to get it. The report was that it caused some concern with some elderly folks. Code Red is the brand name of the product. The call stated something to the effect of "this is a test call of Code Red", and people heard the Code Red, thought of Homeland Security red, and got all freaked out. The system is a good one though, for getting out quick info, if there was a chemical, terrorist, or some other disaster/issue going on in all our parts of the county.
As for other boards, the county mayors are all on a board that helps set the assessor's budget. We don't do anything about assessing, but we do have the purse strings on his budget.
The county mayors also set the per capita rate charged by the sheriff for police protection. That will stay the same this year. Don't have the number in front of me, but it is something like $46 a person.
Which puts me on another tangent. Filling out the census form...A higher population costs us money, and it gets us money. We pay and receive money based on our 2000 population of 1324. So we pay the sheriff that $46 times 1324 each year for police protection. We pay our garbage contractor a rate times 1324 people. So if our population goes down in 2010, we will pay less to those entities for the next 10 years.
However, the higher our population, we get more money from the road use tax fund (which comes from our gas taxes). So if we end up with fewer people, we will get less money for use on our streets.
It all pretty much evens out. So get your nose counted. Best guess is we might go down about 20 people or so. Maybe we should have a pool on the Roland census count....
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Library update
I can take no claim to it, but 18 people showed up this morning to help paint the new library interior. Coat 2 goes on tomorrow if you care to help out, around Noon, I believe. The front windows also got washed, so you can see in and out a lot better. Take a peek in, the next time you are downtown.
The handicapped accessible emergency exit ramp to the rear has also been completed. The main entrance will also be handicapped accessible obviously, but just in case something happens in the front, the rear has a ramp going out. However typically that entrance/exit will not be used.
Moving day is still tentatively set for Saturday, April 17, assuming all funding sources come through, and furnishings arrive on time. In this post are some pics I snapped today, after the painting.
Summer jobs
Just a reminder that the pool board is accepting applications for managers and lifeguards for the pool this summer. The ad, with more details, can be found in the Story City Herald, or linked on the city's website www.cityofroland.org
Monday, March 8, 2010
Council Meeting 3-8
Not a lot on the docket tonite. During public input we had a comment from the Sheriff's Dept, like we usually do. Nothing of note going on, from their department. Had a report from a citizen about a person that was previously on the sex offender registry that has moved close to the middle school.
On the agenda items, we approved the 10/11 budget, heard an offer to rehabilitate the dilapidated house on the 200th block of South Cottonwood, but took no action on that. We also took no action on appointing someone to the Central Iowa Regional Housing Authority--saw no point in it. And we approved the payment on some of the house rehab going on at 518 Cottonwood.
We also heard an update on the library move. There is a painting party going on this coming Saturday at 9AM, if you would like to help out. The drywall is up, and the texture put on.
It appears the construction budget is going to come in at the allotted amount of $50000. Furnishings are going to take another $32000. They can be moved into a new library building if one is constructed on the co-op property. That $32000 is going to come from $10000 from the library foundation, $13000 from the library trust fund, potentially some amount from a donation from Kiwanis, and the remainder will come from the city's library capital fund, if approved at the next council meeting.
Tentatively the move in date will be on Saturday, April 17. So keep that date free, to help move books!
On the agenda items, we approved the 10/11 budget, heard an offer to rehabilitate the dilapidated house on the 200th block of South Cottonwood, but took no action on that. We also took no action on appointing someone to the Central Iowa Regional Housing Authority--saw no point in it. And we approved the payment on some of the house rehab going on at 518 Cottonwood.
We also heard an update on the library move. There is a painting party going on this coming Saturday at 9AM, if you would like to help out. The drywall is up, and the texture put on.
It appears the construction budget is going to come in at the allotted amount of $50000. Furnishings are going to take another $32000. They can be moved into a new library building if one is constructed on the co-op property. That $32000 is going to come from $10000 from the library foundation, $13000 from the library trust fund, potentially some amount from a donation from Kiwanis, and the remainder will come from the city's library capital fund, if approved at the next council meeting.
Tentatively the move in date will be on Saturday, April 17. So keep that date free, to help move books!
Sunday, March 7, 2010
City Website updates
If you haven't come to this blog via the city's website, just a reminder that there are two updates to the city's website at www.cityofroland.org. There are links to the layout of the library to be located at 221 N Main, if you haven't seen them yet, as well as a rendition of how it will look. There is also some info on the proposed park on the west side of Roland.
Not a real big agenda for the council meeting on Monday night. We will be doing the final approval of the 2010/2011 budget, as well as hearing a report on the progress of the work at the new library facility.
Not a real big agenda for the council meeting on Monday night. We will be doing the final approval of the 2010/2011 budget, as well as hearing a report on the progress of the work at the new library facility.
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