Library Move Party

9AM on Saturday. Main Street Roland. Be there or be square. Time for Library 2.0, as Roland's library is moving across the street. And bodies are needed to help move the books across the street. If you can carry books, your help is needed and appreciated.

I stopped in the library today, and there is already a good group of people that have signed up to help. You don't have to do that, but it helps in arranging some grub for the workers, and knowing an expected head count of helpers.

I found out some of the stuff is being moved already. But the big project is moving the books. So the library will be "closed" on Saturday and Sunday for the move. So if you need a book or movie, best to stop in on Friday, and take one last look at the facility that has served our community for the past 25 years or so.

You don't have to work all day. My family will be working only in the morning, as we are off to play baseball in the afternoon. So any bit of help will be useful.

Here are pictures of the children's area, the computer desks, the front sitting area, and what you would see upon entering.

April 26 Council Meeting

Not a lot on the docket tonite. Some expected news, but always good to hear. We got a report from our auditors, and they found everything to be in good shape in regards to the city's finances. Basically all the money is where it should be, so that is good.

We had a brief discussion about street projects. The streets committee is going to meet with Streets Superintendent Harold and work out a plan, and get it written down, as to where we want to go with street improvements over future years. After the next council meeting, we are going to have a special streets meeting, to nail it down with the whole council's approval hopefully. Then we can go forward with what we want to do with streets.

This will help get the ball rolling. We do have streets that need work, and if we aren't going to be able to do major upgrades, we are going to have to seal coat them, to tide us over. I'm not real keen about that.

We talked about an idea to put a 4 (3) way stop sign by the pool during the summer. There is concern about speed and traffic along there. The council gave it some good consideration, but decided against it, due to the road being narrow, and getting the sign hit, also the noise from decelerating and accelerating vehicles, and if it truly would be valuable to protect kids. The council decided to look into alternating warning lights that could be lit when the pool is open. Not a done deal, but Harold will be looking at prices. One I can think of to compare is on US 30 in front of United School, if you have ever been by there.

We did some other administrative stuff-paid the bills and so on. Also set the date for public viewings of our new code of ordinances. Not much of a change there, but they have to be codified. Come into City Hall if you want to see "The Law of Roland"!

The Proclaimer

One thing the Mayor gets to do is make proclamations. Generally they are of a ceremonial nature, though one that actually applies to what we do is proclaiming what night is "Beggar's Night"

I made two ceremonial ones for May though. I have proclaimed May to be Poppy Month. That is a long standing tradition to remember and honor our vets. That was done in conjunction with the American Legion Auxiliary.

I have also proclaimed May to be Older Americans Month. My proclamation talks about the value that our older citizens give to our community. I have worked with Heartland Senior Services for that one. Our city supports that organization, and based on what they have reported to me, 20 citizens of Roland volunteer to help our senior citizens through that organization.

So since I am the Proclaimer, I give you the Proclaimers....Though I hope I am not as dorky as these two.

Streets meeting

I mentioned I was going to post and comment on our meeting on street improvements. Got busy with other stuff, but better late than never.

We had a nice sized crowd, and it was nice to have a facility like the community center to handle a crowd like that. It would not have worked in City Hall.

Our city engineer talked about the proposed street improvements--the first block of Logan, and the street north of the school. These are streets that currently need repairs, and were tagged as having traffic loads that are worthy of upgrades.

Back when I was on the city council, we worked on upgrades, by asphalting all streets in Roland that have curb and gutter on both sides of the street, that were previously seal coat. Examples are East, Ryan Circle, Britson Circle, the south part of Logan, Main Street, and so on.

So we are at a point now of making a decision on what to do with our seal coated streets that don't have curb and gutter. The previous council tagged that first block of Logan and the street north of the school.

So the council, with estimates provided by our city engineer, sent out notices of the likelihood of property owners on those streets being billed for the cost of the curb only. The city was going to be paying for the street portion. That amount was $22 per linear foot.

That number is the worst case, and if the cost came in lower, the amount billed would be lower. We did hear that Story City property owners got a notice that for a project they have going on, it would be about $16.50 per linear foot.

The citizens at the meeting, asked a few questions, offered some feedback, and all in all, I found it very productive. We also noted some email comments that I and the city had received from people unable to attend the meeting.

One of the big takeaways I got from the folks present, was the need for another outlet to Logan. There was a big concern for the amount of traffic going by. By my estimates, 1/9 of Roland's population lives down Logan, or one of its sidestreets. That is a concern, as there is no alternative way out.

We are going to talk about this a little more at our city council meeting Monday night. I am supportive of coming up with an alternative way out, even if it means just making a gravel road out Bryan to Industrial.

However, I am also supportive of curb and guttering those two streets that we were initially talking about. We are not going to get better prices than we are right now. I also am aware of the added burden to the property owners. But I think roads are an improvement to the town that helps appearance, long term property values, and with a good road, cuts down on long term maintenance expense to the city.

However, no decisions have been made yet. Further discussion will take place on the council, and we shall see where that goes.

From the Mayor Inbox

If you have ever wondered what to do with expired prescription medicine...here ya go. This is typical of stuff I get mailed, or emailed to me as mayor. It looks like the pharmacies in Story City and Nevada, as well as many in Ames participate in this. So anyway, here is a press release I received.

Iowa is the first in the nation to launch TakeAway™ a statewide prescription drug disposal program. TakeAway Environmental Return System allows consumers to safely dispose of unused or expired medications through the convenience of drop off boxes in their community pharmacies.

“We care about patient safety and protecting our environment,” said Kate Gainer, Vice President of the Iowa Pharmacy Association. “This easy-to-use consumer take back program will reduce contamination in our waterways and help to prevent prescription drug abuse.”

TakeAway is a new solution to an old, yet urgent problem. “Every day patients ask their pharmacists what to do with expired drugs,” said Gainer who is also a pharmacist. “Before TakeAway, we did not have an easy or practical solution.”

When unused drugs get in the wrong hands, the potential for danger is significant. The Office of National Drug Control reports that prescription drugs are the drug of choice among 12- and 13-year olds, while a third of all new abusers of prescription drugs are between the ages of 12 and 17. People who throw away or flush unused drugs down the drain are also creating dangerous situations by polluting our water supplies and landfills. Plus, prescription medicines thrown in the trash may be picked up by children or pets.

“As members of the community, pharmacists are in a prime position to ensure the safe and proper handling of medications, from dispensing to disposal,” said Gainer. “By working together, pharmacists across the state of Iowa hope to make a difference for the environment and their communities through TakeAway.”

Visit www.iarx.org/takeaway/ to locate a participating pharmacy in your community and please review the list of acceptable and unacceptable items.

Get paid to exercise

Just wanted to pass along a note from my other gig, that being the Umpire-in-Chief of the North Story County Little League. I am in search of individuals willing to be plate umpires for Little League games in Roland and Story City.

The league pays $25 a game for the plate, and most games take 1.5 to 2 hours. Weeknight games are at 6PM, and on Saturdays, can be anytime from 10 to 4. So if you like baseball, and getting some exercise, and making some dough, this is a good gig for you. I can get you some training too, if you are concerned about that.

Contact me at northstorybaseball@yahoo.com and for more information on the league, go to www.eteamz.com/nscll




On another city note, the city is accepting applications for lifeguards. See the city website for more info
www.cityofroland.org

Monday April 12 Council Meeting

Had a good council meeting tonite. Heard some unfortunate stuff tho too. We heard about vandalism to the basketball hoops at the new court in the pool park. Too bad that had to happen. That is a nice addition to the town, and has been pretty popular for a hang out.

The Pool Board also got an ok to go ahead with roof replacement at the pool and pump house. Looks like they will be going ahead with a metal roof.

Probably the weekend of April 24/25 will be a pool area cleanup weekend. Get in touch with City Hall if you would like to help. I'll try to add details here if I get them.

I also signed the Poppy Proclamation, declaring May as Poppy Month. You might see some folks going around in May with their Poppies. I believe they are put together over in the Vets Home in Marshalltown. Tis a nice little thing to remember our vets.

At the close of our council meeting, we had a special meeting regarding street improvements, with maybe 15-20 residents in attendance. I thought it was a productive meeting, with a lot of good conversation about how to move Roland foward. No decisions were made, per the layout of the meeting. Getting late, I will expound on this more in a future post.

More library pics

I stopped by the new library this morning to peek in the windows, but found it unlocked, and Bruce Gauley hard at work putting together shelves. Those things are beasts! So here are some pics of how it is looking as of this morning.

There is a nice oak protector put in front of the main window, which you can see in one of the pics, though it is hard to see with the bright sunlight shining in. The carpet is down, though still some electrical to go in the SW corner of the building. The bathrooms are taking shape, with still some work to go.

Tentative move date is May 1st. We will be making a motion at tomorrow night's city council meeting to close Main Street on the 1st, to facilitate movement of books. Lotsa hands make light work, so plan on coming down that morning.

Voting location changed

We won't have an election until June (primaries), but just a note that the voting location for Roland/Howard Township has moved to the Community Center. That was something I was pushing for, and thanks to Deneen at City Hall, and with the Auditor's Office (I think it is that county office), the pre-work was done to make this happen.

You probably got a voter's registration card in the mail. I was wondering why I got that, as I had changed nothing on my registration, but as I looked more closely, I found the voting location listed as at the Community Center. However, I think the address still has the Fire Station address on Ash Street. So anyway when you vote, go to the Community Center on Main Street.

Using the Community Center for voting is a great thing for Roland. #1, those types of things are why we have a building like that. #2, it gets people in the building to create awareness to the public, for renting the facility. #3 It might drive traffic to one of Roland's small businesses, The Lunch Box right in the same building, and #4, we don't pester the fire department as much.

The Fire Department has been very good in the past about using the station as the voting location. However, it is an inconvenience for those folks. The trucks have to get backed out. And not sure if there has ever been a fire while the vote is going on, but that certainly could be a disruption, if there were.

The Community Center was approved, as it has handicapped access, and has plenty of room to set up the voting booths. So anyway, another change for the good in Roland.

Backup water supply

I get various newsletters and things in my mayor mailbox. One that I recently got was a newsletter from the Central Iowa Water Association. They are a rural water group based out of Newton.

Anyway, and I knew this from my stint on the city council, but I wanted to pass this along, as it might not be widely known. Our city water supply has a hookup to Central Iowa Water. So if we ever had a massive failure in our town's water supply, or had a big fire, and needed more water, we could turn on the valve, and get supplied from Central Iowa Water.

Some of our neighbors already use them as their water supply, such as McCallsburg, Zearing, and Colo, along with probably 30 other towns. Fifteen towns have hookups for emergency supply only just like us, the closest being State Center and Union.

So no plans here to switch, our wells are doing well! But I think it was a good decision by some past council to get us a hookup to them, in case we were to have an emergency.

Curb and Gutter assessment

Some folks in Roland should have gotten a letter about a proposed assessment to their property regarding the addition of curb and gutter to the street in front of their house.

The city council is pondering a streets project that involves paving and adding curb and gutter to the 100th block of Logan (the part north of the curve, all the way to Maple), and one block of Elm Street, north of the Middle School.

There is a public meeting regarding this project at 7PM on Monday April 12 in the Community Center. The regularly scheduled council meeting will take place at 6PM, with the council meeting being moved from City Hall to the Community Center, so we can just roll into the public meeting after the council meeting.

Just some notes on all this....First, no decisions have been made on this project, including whether to even do the project. The letters sent out give an estimated cost of the assessment for the curb and gutter part of the project, if the city were to go through with the plan.

No decisions will be made regarding this project on Monday night. The meeting will have our city engineer present to give information about the project. The meeting will also be an opportunity for citizens to ask questions, and give comments for or against the project.

If you would like to comment on the proposed project, but are unable to attend the meeting, please email or call City Hall with your input, so we can offer that at this meeting.

The plan that we have so far would have the city paying for all the street and storm sewer work. The part of the project that would be assessed to property owners would be the cost of the curb and gutter. This cost could be paid for all at once, or prorated out for some amount of years, to be decided by the city council.

Some of the drivers for the necessity of this project include upgrading the infrastructure of the city, simply for maintenance, as well as general appearance. Those two streets have been identified as streets currently needing repair, and having heavier traffic loads.

The council is also considering impact on individual property owners, and the taxpayers of the City of Roland as a whole. So the council has to consider an appropriate balance between what to spend, and how to keep Roland in good shape, and how not to overly burden taxpayers, while making improvements.

So next Monday is a step in all of that. In general, I am supportive of the plan, but we don't have specifics yet, so my mood may change, depending on what is all worked out. So feel free to come to the meeting on Monday to offer your input.