Nov 22 council meeting

I missed the council meeting on the 22nd. Didn't miss much apparently, as it was reported to me that it took 20 minutes. Wasn't a lot on the docket, so I expected a short meeting.

The main things that came from the meeting were to approve the contract for the ditch cleaning on North Cottonwood, and ground reshaping in Britson Park. Both will hopefully help redirect heavy rainwater away from some houses.

The council approved my appointement of Jennifer Sikes to the Library Board, to replace Kristi Anderson, who has moved outside the city limits.

Also, the council approved the elimination of the December 27 council meeting, so we will only have one council meeting in December. We typically do that, as things usually slow down somewhat in December. We give approval to Deneen to pay the usual and customary bills, such as electric bills, and then officially approve them later.

On another note, our Water/Wastewater Superintendent Nathan Hovick passed his Wastewater Grade I license test from the DNR. That licensing is necessary for operation of our sewer plant.

With the retirement of our previous operator, the city has been operating its sewer plant with a contracted licensed operator. That need will go away as Nathan advances in his licensing for water and wastewater. So good job by Nathan for passing on his first attempt.

Congrats to Deneen

Just wanted to pass along an email I got regarding our City Clerk, Deneen Frost. I've had the opportunity to work with Deneen while Mayor or City Council member for the last 11 years, and I know she treats her job and her clerk duties very seriously. Contining Education is a part of that, and I'm glad to see that she works to continue learning, which helps our city, with the various city issues that come up.

So again, congrats to Deneen!


Roger Fritz
Mayor

Dear Roger Fritz,
Deneen M. Frost, MMC of City of Roland, has earned the designation of Master Municipal Clerk (MMC), which is awarded by the International Institute of Municipal Clerks (IIMC), Inc.
IIMC grants the MMC designation only to those municipal clerks who complete demanding education requirements; and who have a record of significant contributions to their local government, their community and state.
The International Institute of Municipal Clerks, founded in 1947, has 10,300 members throughout the United States, Canada and 15 other countries, and the mission of this global non-profit corporation is to enhance the education opportunities and professional development of its diverse membership.
In light of the speed and drastic nature of change these days, lifelong learning is not only desirable, it is necessary for all in local government to keep pace with growing demands and changing needs of the citizens we serve. Your City can take immense pride in Deneen’s educational accomplishments and achievement of this milestone.
On behalf of the IIMC Board of Directors, I am honored to endorse the conferring of MMC to Deneen M. Frost, MMC of City of Roland. We share your pride in this achievement and we applaud your support of the role Deneen plays in your city.
Sincerely,


Sharon Cassler, MMC
IIMC President
Sent by: Emily Maggard
Verification Specialist
IIMC Education Department

Garbage pickup

Just a reminder that due to the Thanksgiving holiday, garbage pick up will be Saturday, November 27th this week.

Lock the cars

Just when I made a post a couple below about crime free Roland, I have to report some car break-ins. Well, not really break-ins, because some folks left their doors unlocked overnight, and got stuff swiped, nothing was broken as far as I know.

So if you have any tips on the culprits, please contact the Sheriff's Department. And I know it is good ol' safe Roland, but if you have any valuables in your car, 'tis probably a good idea to lock your car overnight.

What else the mayor does

As the Mayor of Roland, I am on the Story County 911 board. I attended our quarterly meeting last week. One of the big topics is we are starting the process for a new communications system in Story County. Currently our police, fire, and EMS, use a system that uses radio equipment from the early 1980s.

Kinda funny, because when I see pictures of it, it was equipment I worked on in my previous job in West Virginia 14 years ago. And that stuff in West Virginia was not necessarily cutting edge at the time. It was made by Motorola, and they no longer make the equipment, so our vendor, to maintain it, buys parts off Ebay and equivalent sites to replace bad parts.

We will have some amount of funding stream for it, with the 911 surcharge on your phone bill. But in any case, it will be pricy. We are still a couple years off, but that is something we will need to be doing in the future.

So going back to what else I do as a mayor, being on boards like that is what a mayor has to do, and attend meetings down in Nevada. I have the 911 Board, the Emergency Management Board, meetings with other towns that contract with the Sheriff for police protection, and then just the general Story County Mayors Association.

So since I mentioned 911, just for fun, here is a video with some strange 911 calls.

Advice from other elected officials

I get a magazine from the Iowa League of Cities, which Roland is a member of that organization. At their annual conference, they had elected officials (namely mayors and city council persons) write on a card with advice and tips to other elected officials. The magazine had an article with a bunch of the tips collected. Some are some pretty good advice. Some are a bit quirky. And some are good for anybody, not just elected officials. Thought I'd share some here.

The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas.
It is best to return emails and calls to persons you may not like, they still may respect you.
At some point you will have to pick between thinking about the next election or thinking about the next generation.
Seek out opposing opinions.
Once the vote is taken around the table, the issue is over.
Move on.
Support employees and treat the city staff with respect.
It's so simple to be wise in public life. Just think of something stupid to say and then don't say it.
You don't have to attend every argument you're invited to.
No surprises!
When someone hassles or attacks you during a council meeting, just smile, wait 5 days and then let the air out of two tires on their vehicle.
Sometimes it is not necessary to explain your vote. Your allies don't need it and your enemies won't believe it.
Make sure the city plow doesn't come down your street first.
Always read your council packet before the meeting.
Because something has always been done that way is not a good reason to keep doing it.
Chronic complainers are not the voice of the people.
You're not going to make everyone happy. Get over it.
Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criicize them, you're a mile away, and you have their shoes.
Often the public feels they don't know what is going on at city hall;work to communicate your decisions and information to the public.
Return all of your calls.
Ethical behavior is not an option.
Pick your battles, then come with armor.
Be careful not to make a decision based on one person or a very small group of people, you're a voice for all citizens.

Do you have advice for our city council (and mayor!)?. Post it here!

Snow removal bids

Looking for some work, or know somebody who does? The city is accepting bids for snow removal on city sidewalks. HERE is the link to the notice on the city website.

Nov 8 council meeting

Well we seem to be getting settled into our new "Council Chambers" of the community center. I like that there is a lot more room, and I like that some of the council members no longer have to have their backs to the crowd.

Anyway, first up we chose a new city council member to replace Erin Varley who is moving away. And that new member is Doug Sargent. I think he will do a fine job, and I appreciate his interest in helping the community in this way. His term will be up on Dec 31, 2011, so I guess he gets a chance to see if he likes it, as he will have to file for re-election next fall.

Not a lot on the docket. Here are some of the highlights. We approved a direction for the city engineer to start determining a plan and getting bids for cleaning the ditch on North Cottonwood, and regrading Britson Park, to hopefully help with storm water runoff. As for Britson Park, once that is done, the Park Board will be able to get grass seed in the park next spring, and get some green grass growing there.

We had a bit of discussion about tree trimming. The council decided to waive the billing on some properties that did not request trees to be trimmed. That is something we as a council need to work on--communicating proper direction of work for city employees, and making a better effort on notification of how and what needs to be trimmed in homeowners yards. Hopefully next year will go more smoothly. We did note the huge pile of limbs and branches at our tree dump.

We approved a pay request for much of the new streets in west Roland. I walked out there tonite, and other than some work around manholes, and the intersection of Bryan and Industrial, we are looking close to done.

Also we found out that the collapsed sewer line on Logan Street is not as bad as previously mentioned. There is just one spot that is a bit troublesome, not a length of it as first reported with the first televising crew we hired. They had some outdated and oversized equipment that didn't work well. Nice to know we haven't paid them yet. A more modern company was hired, videoed the sewer, and we are in pretty good shape. Good news for the sewer rate payers of Roland.

And at the council meeting, we approved the 09/10 financial report. The city finished the fiscal year $9000 to the black, so that is a good thing. Yay!

Library Chair Auction

If you haven't been down to the library in awhile, you should just to check out the chairs. Here is a story I swiped from the Library Facebook page.

This summer, youth at the Roland Public Library brought some of their favorite children’s literature characters to life with many layers of acrylic paint.



The library’s chair project was a collaboration between middle school and high school youth, library staff and Tempest Kuykendall, retired Roland-Story art instructor and current library board member.



In May, the Roland Public Library moved into its new location, at 221 N. Main Street and in June, the library had a large garage sale at the old location to get rid of outdated furniture and miscellaneous items. “Leftover were a number of old wooden chairs from the library’s attic,” Kuykendall said. “Instead of throwing them out, we decided to have our teen program participants paint the chairs, then sell them in the fall as a fundraiser for the library.”



Children's Librarian Kim Auld and Kuykendall had youth pick out their favorite book, then sketch out an idea before they began to paint. “Each student chose a chair, sanded off the varnish and gave their chair a coat of white gesso paint, then we showed them how to sketch their idea (in pencil) on the chair,” Kuykendall said. After those first initial steps, youth applied acrylic paint. When they finished, Kuykendall showed them out to use a fine-tipped permanent marker to add detail.



Madison Aukes, an eighth grader at Roland-Story, created two chairs based on the books “Where the Wild Things Are” and “Olivia.” “I chose those books because they were read to me when I was younger and I really like them,” Aukes said. She said the “Olivia” chair, which features the quirky little pig and black and red paint splatters, took her only 10 minutes to create, but that she spent more time on Max and the Wild Things. Aukes got involved in the project because she loves art. “It was a lot of fun, I hope they have more projects (in the future) that involve art.”



Fifteen youth were involved in the project and 19 chairs will be put up for auction. Kuykendall, Auld and Roland Public Library Director Laura Urbanek all created chairs for the silent auction. “It was a big challenge for all, but a very fun and rewarding project. I think some of the participants may have even found out how much they like painting,” Kuykendall said. “The chairs are on display in the front entrance at the library. Come check them out!”



The silent auction will take place from Nov. 1 – Nov. 24, bidding for each chair starts at $20. All proceeds will benefit the library's teen program and collection. To place a bid, or for more information, contact the library at 515-388-4086 or via email at rolandlib@globalccs.net.



Silent Auction participants:

Chelsea Steward – “Barbie Fairytopia”

Zach Steward – “Twlight”

Jacob Kalkwarf – “Bones”

Shayla Danielson - “Hunger Games”

Mia Soderstrum – “Scooby Doo”

Shelby Hickman & Carly Bright – “Winnie the Pooh”

Madison Aukes – “Where the Wild Things Are”

Madison Aukes – “Olivia”

Simon Phelps - “Calvin and Hobbes”

Caleb Jordison – “Garfield Makes it Big”

Riley Auld – “101 Dalmatians”

Tess Urbanek – “The Going to Bed Book”

Megan Van Brocklin – “Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do You See?”

Anna Humphrey – “Little Critters”

Maddie Urbanek – “The Legend of Zelda”

Children’s Librarian Kim Auld – “Jack and the Bean Stalk”

Library Director Laura Urbanek – “I Spy the Library”

Library Board Member Tempest Kuykendall - “My Crayons Talk” & “No, David!”

Wednesday Nov 3 planning meeting

We had a planning meeting on Wednesday. Not a typical council meeting, this was more to just ponder what we were going to do with various projects. We also got updates on the situation on various infrastructure issues.

For storm sewer/rain run off issues, here is where we are going. For Ryan, we are going to wait and see what the work in the field to the east will do for us. We are hoping it will drain better, and prevent water going into Ryan Circle. We are also investigating the legal issues regarding items in the drainage easement.

For N Cottonwood, we are working with our engineer to immediately (before Spring springs) clean out the east ditch along Cottonwood, and longer term investigate new pipes or culverts to drain the area to the west.

For Britson Circle, we are going to haver our engineer work a plan to grade the Britson Park area, and have the runoff from that area drain to the west, and hopefully keep the rain water from that area going into Britson Circle. This will also start the process for prepping Britson Park. This also needs to be done before Spring springs, so the Park Board can get grass planted in there.

As for Sanitary Sewer, videoing has determined that the sewer line on the 100th block of Logan(north block) is somewhat crushed. The video company did not have a camera to get through the section. We are going to attempt to get another one, to see if it is like that the length of the street, or just at each end where the crushing is. If it is just at those spots, we may be able to dig out those areas, and replace the pipe. If it is the whole way, it will be digging up the sewer on the entire first block of Logan. And by the way, it is directly under the street, so that will mean digging up the entire street. Good thing we have an alternate route about to open!

Or, depending on what the engineer says, we may run a new sewer line to the south to the treatment facility from Logan, and the houses just on north Logan might be fine with the crushed line (it is not completely crushed by the way, just compacted somewhat that reduces capacity.) The advantage of running a new line to the south out of Logan, is that it takes the Logan/Arthur/Bryan load off the main line that serves most all of the town that runs by the pool and goes south. That will help the rest of the town in high capacity situations. So stand by on that. Not gonna be cheap no matter what.

A relatively inexpensive fix that will help around 10 homes in the Samson area is to redo a manhole where Samson turns from East/West to North/South. The way it currently is engineered, causes sewage backup on the line to the east in peak flow times. Changing how the pipes run and connect, will cause sewage to flow more directly to the treatment plant.

Another joint storm sewer/sanitary sewer project would be to redo the service lines from the Vine Street area to the creek/sanitary main. Not much headway with that one tho. That will be rather disruptive, as it will need to tear up some streets for a couple blocks. No price tag yet, as that is an early discussion, but it will be big, should we decide to go ahead with that. The advantage is it would help ground level flooding in that area, all the way down to Casey's. And it would help relieve the sanitary sewer system in general for the city.

We also discussed a storm water utility to help pay for this. We decided it wasn't necessary at this time.

We had some discussion of sidewalks. We are sticking with our policy of requiring them on all new construction in the city. Not perfect, but hopefully will help out a city council 40 years from now.

We are announcing the sale of the property at 209 S Cottonwood. We will be accepting bids on that lot. More details to come. Same thing for the old library at 218 N Main.

We had a review of the tree trimming letters and process. We could have done better. We did think it was important for everyone to follow the ordinance, and keep the trees and such cleaned up. But the process of notification could have gone a little more smoothly.

Gonna drop into all opinion here. This is one where I have heard some grouching. I would hope the council and employees are given some thought from citizens of our positive intent. We often catch grief about the town not looking its best. Here is a case where we did some notifications to make an improvement. When it is the other guy, the council often gets slammed for sitting on our collective thumbs. When it gets close to home, literaly, we get slammed for being overbearing. Again, not saying the process was perfect, but the staff, through the direction of the council was trying to get things to done to clean up the town a bit.

And speaking of cleaning up the town, we also discussed what to do about properties that are in a state of clutter. This is something that always seems to be with us. And based on legal opinion, we often can't do anything about it. But in some cases we can. The thing is, it costs money for attorneys to fully prosecute such things. In the recent past, we have tried the sugar instead of the vinegar, because it is cheaper to send a pleasant letter, asking, not telling, someone to clean up their property. And in many cases, we have had good luck with that. Doesn't happen all the time. So in this meeting, we have started the process to find out what it takes to bring the "vinegar".

Couple other minor things too, that you can read about in the minutes I'm sure. All in all, a productive meeting, and a way to get some goals and priorities laid out.

Half full, half empty

Just got the latest report from the Sheriff's Department. It also includes the cost for our contract rate with the Sheriff's department for our police coverage. This fiscal year, we pay the Sheriff's department $43.75 per capita. Starting July 1, it will go to $47.00, and the next two years after that will go to $49.50. As an aside, July 1, 2012 we will start using our 2010 census figures. Currently we use the 2000 census figure of 1324 residents. So doing the math, we pay Story County Sheriff's Department $57,925 for our police protection.

Now here is where I start to waver on whether to go glass half full, or glass half empty, when comparing to the other 8 towns in Story County that get their police protection via the Sheriff's Dept. (Ames, Nevada, Huxley, and Story City have their own, and Cambridge contracts with Huxley PD).

We are the largest of the 9 cities that contract with the Sheriff's Dept. Here they are with population: Roland 1324, Slater 1306, Gilbert 987, Colo 868, Maxwell 807, Zearing 617, Collins 499, McCallsburg 318, Kelley 300.

Here's the glass half full part. Despite being the largest of the 9, on calls for service time so far this year, we are in 5th place. For clarification, this is time spent responding to calls by citizens, not counting routine patrol time. So to me, this means Roland is a safe, low crime, low problem town. And that is something to be proud about.

Service time hours through August were 145 hours. Here is how they go top to bottom. Colo 256, Maxwell 227, Slater 227, Gilbert 180, Roland 145, Collins 129, Zearing 118, Kelley 68, McCallsburg 47.

So Slater is the city closest to us in size, and they have 50% more time spent on calls. Or you can say we are twice as big as Collins, and we are in the neighborhood of the same amount of time spent on calls. Again, kudos to the citizens of Roland for having a troublefree town when it comes to law enforcement calls.

However, on my glass half empty side, I can look at the patrol hours. This is time spent by the Sheriff's Dept. just cruising around town, running radar, doing door checks, and the like. Again, we are the largest town, but we are in 5th place in total hours. In that sense, we are not getting our comparative buck, when looking at other towns in the county. We are paying 18% of the bill, but getting 11% of the coverage hours. Again, that can go back to the relative safety and low crime of our city, but it is something to consider.

Here are the patrol hours spent in each town through August. Maxwell 480, Colo 435, Gilbert 425, Slater 416, Roland 357, Kelley 338 (Kelley has 300 people, we have 1324, grrrr.....), Collins 310, Zearing 242, McCallsburg 204.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with our police protection via the Sheriff's Department. I know Ellsworth, Jewell, and Stanhope have a combined police force. I sometimes wonder if we could have improved coverage with a Roland, McCallsburg, Zearing police force. Not saying I want to do that, but that is something I have pondered.

So anyway, just wanted to pass this along. Keep up your good citizen ways Roland!

The Election

As I have mentioned before, the primary purpose of this blog is to comment on stuff going on in Roland. But I have an interest in politics, so I am going to take one last opportunity to comment on the election.

If you read a previous post or two on the election, you can figure what my political preference is. But this is from a straight neutral observer perspective.

I cannot figure out Iowans. And in particular, their love affair with incumbents. With the exception of the flip of the Secretary of State from D to R, and incumbent Culver losing the Governor race (however to Branstad who bascially ran as an incumbent), all the incumbents were re-elected.

What has Iowa's Secreatary of Ag done for anybody? He's an R, and he mopped the floor with his opponent. What has the Attorney General done for anybody? He is a D an mopped the floor with his opponent.

Then in Congressional District 1 thru 3, Iowans elected Congressmen who range from a flaming liberal to a moderate Dem, but in each district voted for conservative Grassley by a huge margin. I don't get why anyone would cast their ballot in such a way, but apparently lots of people did.

The only advantage of all of this is split control of government means gridlock. And despite many pundits all up in arms about it, I love it. Gridlock gums up the works of an overbearing government, and that is a good thing. (ok, getting away from my neutral observer comments on that)

Another note about the election, that I am not quite sure what to make of Iowa voters and their dislike of female candidates. As you've probably heard, I think Iowa is only one of two states to never have had a female represent some or all of the state in DC. That held this time again.

Conlin the D got trounced in US Senate. Miller-Meeks the R lost again in CD 2 when a large tide of Republican flips were taking over the country. The really odd results to me is Brenna Findley getting crushed by Tom Miller in the Attorney General race.

That race you can compare to the state Treasurer race. Both the AG and the Treasurer are both held by long time incumbent Democrats. Finley, running for AG, raised way more cash than Jamison running for Treas. She had a better campaign organization, more yard signs, more ads than Jamison against his opponent. But still Jamison came closer to his opponent than Findley. Was Findley being a woman the simple reason why? And can you hang that on Republican voters?

I looked at the numbers for Sioux County, probably the most R county in the state. Here are the Republican percentages. Grassley 91%, Steve King 87%, Branstad 88%, Schultz 87%, Vaudt 89%, Jamison 86%, Northey 91 %, Finley 81%. I cannot figure out why her percentages would drop so much, other than the woman thing.

It's not like she is an unlikeable person. (people might not like her policies, but again she doesn't seem unlikeable) It's not like Tom Miller is loved in Sioux County (probably couldn't even find it on a map). When I heard her on the radio, she did sound like she was about 20 years old, which may not have helped. Anyway, just found that result strange.

Lastly about the judge vote. Gonna get a little out of my neutrality here, with some opinion thrown in with my casual political observer status. I voted no on all the judges, as I always do. I do it out of a stir up the political establishment, especially in regards to a bunch of lawyers. Unfortunately, I get lumped in with goobers like Vander Plaats.

A judge like Ternus in particular needed to be dumped for her weasling out of the giant underage beer bust at her estate. "I didn't know it was going on, blah blah blah." Words like lying sack of crap come to mind.

But I think the reason the judges got dumped can be laid at the feet of the Democratic leadership of this state. Some amount of the no votes came from folks like me, who vote no on judges out of the principle of the thing, out of a dislike of the whole legal establishment.

But I think the reason this time around the judges got dumped because it was the Democratic politicians, Gronstal in particular, who didn't want to have to stand up and go on record for or against gay marriage, and not even allow a vote to have it put on the ballot.

That topic is of major interest to a sizeable amount of people, and since the voters couldn't hold any politician's feet to the fire, the judges got thrown in the fire. I don't think those judges would have got punished, if there had been a ballot issue on gay marriage at this election.

So there was only one place for that segment of voters to take their wrath, and bing it was on the judges.

Wow, that's a lot. Don't expect that much commentary on the Roland Municipal elections next year. I'll probably vote against the incumbents there too.

Get some eats

Don't forget Friends 'n Service is serving a delicious Election Night Soup Supper on Tuesday, Nov. 2 from 5-7:30 p.m. at the Legion. Proceeds will benefit the library.

Bergen Church has their shindig this Saturday as well. Don't know all the details, but if you look around town, there are some flyers on that.

Both are a good opportunity to support positive groups in Roland.