Monday, May 31, 2010

Memorial Day Parade and Program




It is not elaborate, but Roland was fortunate to have a beautiful day for the Memorial Day parade and program at the Roland Cemetery. I've been to the parade pretty much every year I have lived here, but this is the first time that I have gone out to the cemetery to watch the program there.

The flags gently flapping in the breeze, with simple presentations by the RMS band and various speakers, made for a relaxing, reflective morning, as people lounged and milled about the cemetery. The featured speaker, Commander Brick Imerman of Guthrie Center, now retired, and nephew of Vale and Dorothy Peter of Roland, gave a great talk.

Imerman's resume is a mile long, with his efforts in the US Navy. But his talk was about the sacrifices of those in his family. He talked about how those common people did extraordinary things in time of war. I don't imagine it was the greatest speech of all time, but the stories really captured my attention. It made me reflect on all those Americans that have served in the military, and how their efforts are giving me a shot to grill hamburgers and wash my pickup on a beautiful Iowa day.

So if you missed it this year, I endorse at least making it to the parade next year.

Garbage Day Saturday This Week

Because of the Memorial Day holiday, our trash company gets backed up by a day. So just a reminder that trash will be picked up this week on Saturday, June 5, instead of the typical Friday.

Friday, May 28, 2010

The Pool opens Saturday. Yay!

Nothing much more to post than the title. For a town our size, it is a nice facility to have. Hope you can take advantage of it.

LED on the Water Tower

Ok, admittedly this is not the most exciting news in the history of Roland. But I do like posting on stuff that goes on that is new or different.

So if some night you are out walking or driving into town, and look up at our water tower, you will see the red lights on top. The FAA requires obstruction lights on structures like that, and so we are required to maintain the lights.

Well, what has been up there is your typical incandescent light bulb, with a red globe, to give the red light. They burn out somewhat frequently, causing a cost to the water department to hire somebody to shimmy up there and change it out.

With my main job at US Cellular, we are starting to change to LED sidelights on our towers. They are a little more expensive, but they last a long time, and they draw way less electricity. The need to change out the lights less is the big cost savings. It may cost a couple hundred bucks to get somebody deployed to change 2 dollars in light bulbs.

So by my estimate, the city will save maybe 10 cents a day in electricity costs ($35 a year), but in the long run, we should hopefully save a few multi-hundred dollar tower climbing bills. The LED light and fixture cost $317. Kind of expensive, but it has to go through FAA certification, and all that.

So if you look up at it, it is two globes, with several tiny LED lights that give the appearance of a "bulb". It is amazing what they can do with those things, and as evidenced with Innovative Lighting right here in Roland, with their various LED lighting products.

So when you look up at night, cast your eyes to the Light Emitting Diodes!

Here is a pic of it, from ITL in Nashville, TN.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Community Center Roof Project

Just bought a coupon card from the RADC for a fund raiser for roof repairs at the Community Center. It is for $$$ off at Papa Murphys. So if anybody inquires at your house, I hope you consider helping out with that. If you like Papa Murphy's, it is a great deal.

And just a reminder that the Community Center is a great place for group functions. If you need some space for an event, contact City Hall for details.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Cleaning out the inbox

Have another bit of info about our public safety calls for 2009 and previously. The county tracks the callouts of our fire and ems first responders. These people often get forgotten about all the times they have to drop what they are doing in their personal lives to go out and take care of fire and medical issues. I'm certainly appreciative of their efforts.

So anyway in 2009, our fire department had 31 callouts in 2009, as opposed to 17 in 2008. As for the EMS first responders, they got called out 53 times, up from 47 in 2008.

I do get the reports of our police type calls that the sheriff responds to in Roland. They are not broken out in this particular report tho. If you want to see the entire document, going back about 10 years, and see all the agencies in Story County HERE is where you can see it. Kinda interesting stuff.

Britson Park

Had this document for awhile, and hadn't posted it. It is a map of a POTENTIAL layout of Britson Park in west Roland. This particular layout is not a done deal, but is close to what is being pondered, including a road tying Arthur and Bryan Drives. It has been out and about, but I just wanted to post it on here.

The Park Board is working on this, as well as the city council. Of course we will need funding to complete the project, and for now, it appears it will move forward in phases. But once up and going, this will be a great thing for Roland.

So here is one possible layout of Britson Park.

Appliance drop off

If you have unused appliances to get rid of, there is a free drop off at 20th Century Lanes in Ames on Saturday June 5, from 8AM to 2PM. There is a charge for computer monitors and TVs. There is no charge for washers, dryers, fridges, and things like that. It is open to all Story County residents, and there will be help there for unloading.

So if you have some clutter, here is a good chance to get rid of it for little to no cost.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Politics

The purpose of this blog is mostly to convey info about stuff going on in Roland. However, if you my indulge me, gonna talk a little politics, as that occasionally interests me.

We have a primary coming up on June 8. So if you are registered with the Republicans or Democrats, you can go out and vote.

These other elections do affect what goes in Roland. The people vote for candidates that are buddies with uber-environmentalists, you see water quality standards tighten so much, you will soon see large increases in your sewer rates. Maybe you are worried about the mussels in our streams, and maybe you don't mind paying an extra $50 a month to save them. Maybe you don't give a rip about mussels, and would rather spend the extra $50 on something else. In either case, your vote does affect Roland.

Currently I am registered Republican, though I have been registered Democrat somewhat recently. Mostly I go back and forth to participate in the caucus process, to support a candidate I like. And I think the caucus is one of those fun Iowa things to do. I don't particularly care for either party, as I am of a libertarian bent. But the Libertarian Party doesn't have candidates in many races so I try to go with my perceived next best choice.

So anyway, I still haven't decided what primary to go vote in next month. On our closest local election, Rick Sanders is running unopposed in the Republican primary for County Supervisor. I think he would be a good supervisor, and will be voting for him in the fall. The Republicans have contested races for Governor, and also I believe Treasurer. My guy, Chris Rants, dropped out of the governor race. None of the 3 remaining is particularly appealing to me. If I had to pick, I'd probably go with Rod Roberts.

I will be voting for Eric Cooper for Governor in the fall. He is the Libertarian Party candidate. He's not gonna win, but he is a good guy, and his ideas would be successful at the state level if they could be implemented.

If I flip to go vote in the D primary, I would vote for James Strohman for County Supervisor. He is currently a supervisor, and does a good job of watching your tax dollars down in Nevada.

I think the only other contested race on the D side is for US Senate. The last thing this country needs is another trial attorney in the Senate, I don't care what party they are in. So Roxanne Conlin--no way! Here is her mug shot from her drunk driving arrest in the 90s. I guess I will endorse Bob Krause for US Senate on the D side, because my buddy Chris in Story City likes him.

Political elections are way more fun than American Idol.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Check out the pool

With other activity around town regarding sewer and library and streets, and my focus on those things, it was kinda easy to forget about the pool. But the pool board has done a good job on arranging the repair of the roofs on the pool house and the pump house.

They are a nice blue metal (steel?) roof that should serve us for many years. The color looks good (IMO) for a pool. At budget time, we were able to scrape up some dollars to make that happen now. I think it cost around $5000, without taking the time to go look it up.

So anyway, that is a nice improvement for our pool. Also check out the new basketball court in the pool park. Other improvements are on tap for the playground equipment in that park as well. Our pool board is really doing a great job, and I know they put in a lot of volunteer time to make all those good things happen.

We had some leak issues again with the pool, but a late report today indicates the issue was found, so we should be good to go for the pool here in a couple weeks. When we have a week of highs in the 50s, I haven't thought of swimming yet, but that day is coming. Unless of course the spewing volcano in Iceland blocks out the sun for the next year.

Sandy Arthur


Just wanted to note the passing of Sandy Arthur. Every town has a couple people like Sandy. Sandy, and those like her, are the ones, whenever there is a community event, or a committee needed that is a bunch of thankless work, or help needed for a fundraiser for something, you were sure to find them there.

In Roland's case, Sandy was one of those people, and our town suffered a loss when she passed away. She was active in the Kiwanis, and I always saw her around when Roland events were going on. I personally didn't know her real well, but I knew her enough to know what a great asset she was to the community.

HERE is her obit from the Ames Trib. If you didn't know her, but have lived in Roland any amount of time, I'm sure you saw her around. Sandy Arthur 1952-2010.

Monday, May 10, 2010

May 10 Council meeting

Not many topics on the agenda tonite, but it took a long time. We had a presentation from MIDAS, which is a group that helps out with grants and such. We got some info on potential grants.

Next we had a presentation about our choices on sewer upgrades. If you have been a reader of this blog, you know that Roland needs to upgrade its sewer plant. So we had an engineering firm come up with options, and potential costs. None of our options look very good from a cost perspective.

However, the problem is, regulations from the EPA and DNR are always in a state of flux, and potentially could tighten. So what the council has to decide, is basically coming up with something that is going to serve the community for 20 years or so. We have some cheaper options, but it is possible that 5-10 years from now, that option will not meet the new wastewater guidelines. But we might be ok. So the decision to make is, do we spend 3.5 million bucks on something that might tide us over, but might not, or spend 4-5 million on something that will likely tide us over.

Those numbers are not exact. But ballpark. Here are the options that we have....1. Build a mechanical plant. It is the most expensive up front, and the most expensive to operate. But we would control its operation, and it would likely be able to meet, or easily be modified to meet all regulations over the next 20 years.

#2 is the cheapest to build, and the cheapest to operate, and that is an expanded lagoon system that can hold either 180 or 240 days of our treated sewage, which we would then release at certain times of the year. The downside is we would need about 80 acres of land, and it is the least likely to meet future standards, if they are tightened.

#3 is to work some arrangement with Story City to treat our sewage. It is midrange on the cost. The advantage is we don't have to maintain a mechanical plant. The disadvantage is we give up control of our sewer system. We would also have to pay for some amount of upgrades in Story City. Story City gets some advantage in that for not much added cost to them, they would get more revenue from us, to help operate their plant.

Costs will vary somewhat, but when this all goes down, expect to see your sewer rates to go up by $50 a month.

We are going to amend our permit application in the near term, to show we are working on this. So no decision is going to be made in the near term. We are also still working on cutting down our inflow, via leaky pipes, and sump pumps, and all that. If we can cut that down, we can cut down the size of a future sewer plant, which will lessen the construction cost.

We also had a work session on streets, and coming up with a 5 year plan. No done deal there, but we did direct our Streets Superintendent Harold to work with the city engineer to get costs for the completion of Bryan Ave to Industrial, and a street from Bryan to Arthur Drive, through the new park area. Other than that, no major road construction will take place for now, and repairs will be of the seal coat variety.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Garage sale day

Just a reminder that the city-wide garage sale day is Friday, June 11, and Saturday, June 12. If you would like to participate with publicity for your sale, you need to fill out the form and return to City Hall by May 22.

Here is the link to the info on the city website.

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Roland goes to court

A week ago Friday (Apr 30), the city of Roland went to court. I would say generally it is a good thing that it is a rare event when the city needs legal representation in court. In this case, it was to transfer property to the city.

As you may have noticed, there is an abandoned house on the 200th block of South Cottonwood. It has been abandoned for over two years. The owner stopped refurbishing it, let it go back to the bank. There are back taxes, the bank doesn't want it, and so it sits.

There are legal remedies for the city to take the property, but of course that takes time when going through the legal process. We finally got a court date on April 30, and thought we might get possession then.

However, it turns out there is a new law on the books regarding the proper mechanism to handle the property tax refund of the tax certificate holder. (A 3rd party had purchased the tax certificate). That 3rd party is willing to release that, as long as he gets his money back. Now that has to work through the county treasurer's office, and will take a couple weeks.

So things are progressing. Not as quickly as we like, but of course everybody involved, the city, judge, treasurer, tax certificate holder, and all the attorneys want everything done right. So again, things are looking good, it will just take some more time.

So I, just like the neighbors, are anxiously awaiting the day when that property no longer an eyesore to that neighborhood.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Hydrant flushing

Hydrant flushing is going to be taking place on May 6 and 7 (Thursday and Friday) That might be a good time to put off laundry, if you need an excuse.

Monday, May 3, 2010

Slide show of the library move

Here are some pics that Jill Wright took during the library move. I put them in a youtube video, and here it is. If you want to see it larger, you can just go direct to youtube and see it HERE

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Older Americans Month

We are going to have a ceremonial signing of my proclamation declaring May as Older Americans Month. It will be at City Hall at 1PM on Tuesday, May 4. We will have representatives from Heartland Senior Services there. Anybody, and in particular, those over 60 years old, are welcome to attend.

I'm not going to pretend its going to be the world's greatest party. Smile, take pictures, and chit chat a little bit. That's about it. But if you have nothing going on, come on down. Maybe I need to do that thing like presidents and governors do, where they use about 50 pens to sign a proclamation.

And to spruce up the blog, I'll put in pictures of my Grandparents.

Great Effort on Saturday!



What a great turnout for library moving day! We had around 120 volunteers show up to move the books across the street to the new library on Saturday. Pleasant weather and pleasant people made for fun times. Got a little exercise in the effort too.

In case you didn't attend, a "fire brigade" was set up across Main Street as people just handed books to each other, usually about 4 at a time, depending on the size of the book. There were enough people that most didn't even have to move their feet, just swing their arms from right to left (or left to right, depending on how they were standing.

As of Sunday, I'm not sore, but when the books got really moving, I was starting to feel it, so it was some good exercise too. Not sure how many pounds of books we moved, but I'm sure it was a lot. Some visitors from Norway got to see it too. Those folks just happened to be passing by, and got to see Roland hard at work.

And it wasn't just Roland people. Also saw some from out of town, mostly Story City. Some high school kids were working for community hours towards their graduation requirements. And there were older folks--north of 60 I'm sure, and kids south of age 10 helping as well. Just an all around wide swath of the community that came to help out.


Here is some video of the brigade. This is from my cell phone. Never used the video function before on it, and it is sideways. Ooops. But you get the point.

And in this post you can see a couple pics I snapped. Probably will have more on the way on a future blog post, but here is what I have now.