Mayor Stuff Poll

Anybody care to put in a plug for their candidate? Leave a comment/plug for your candidate.

I think Ron Paul is a great choice to fix the economic issues of this country.

Who else cares to make a comment for their candidate????

Hawkeye Caucii

Tuesday night is the big night for Iowa to shine with the caucuses. The Democrats are having one, but you don't hear much about it since the current resident of the White House is a Democrat incumbent. I believe Story County is having a county wide Democratic caucus in Ames.

The Republicans will be having one in each precinct, and Roland/Howard Township is no different. It is at the R-S Middle School. I will be going to vote and voting for Ron Paul. I've got some issues with him, but I think he is the best choice of the group.

I will probably ditch before it is over. After the voting, is the platform plank discussion. That makes me want to pour acid in my ears.

And who can forget this classic caucus moment:

Sewer system meeting

All Roland residents should have received a letter in the mail talking about a public meeting the city council is going to have regarding work on our city's sewer system. Much of the system is approaching 90 years old, and needs some work.

We don't have the money right now to do everything we like, so there are a couple different directions we can go. The "directions" have different benefits.

Option 1 would be to upgrade the sewer main that runs from the pool to the sewer plant. It carries the entire sewage of the city. It was built when the city had about 600 people--does fine most of the time--but when we get big rains it backs up--and sometimes backs up into peoples' basements. The flow is up because people run their sump pumps into the sewer system, and because of the old system elsewhere, ground water leaks into our sewer system. A bigger pipe would hopefully handle the load.
Cost of Option 1 would be $600,000 to $1.2 Million. The low end is if we could run along Bear Creek in the backyards of the folks along Samson. The high end is if we cannot obtain a right of way. We would then have to tear up Samson Street, and bring it underneath that street--and having it closed for a couple months, and then install a new street.


Option 2 is to slip line all the sewer lines in town. That is basically not digging up the sewer lines, but putting a coating around the inside of all the sewer pipe. This would hopefully cut down on ground water leaking into the system. Which would then theoretically cut down the amount of water going down our sewer main. It costs about $20,000 per city block, or about $2.5 Million for the whole city. We wouldn't have to do this project all at once--and we wouldn't have to do the newer sections of sewer pipe either.

So we want to have a community meeting to discuss these issues on February 15 at 7PM at the Community Center. We would like to see what the concerns or questions the citizens of Roland have. So save the date, and if you have any questions ahead of time, please forward them to me or to City Hall.

No snow, yay!

I didn't get a call complaining about a parking ticket at 7:30AM on Christmas Eve this year. Another reason to enjoy a brown Christmas!

Great feature from the Register

The Des Moines Register has put together an interactive map of where all the high school championships have come from. As an Iowa history/trivia buff, and a fan of high school athletics, I found this to be pretty cool.

Roland High School has a couple of championships, as does Roland-Story. Click on Story County to see them.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

HERE it is.

December 12 Council Meeting

I made the first 45 minutes of the meeting before departing for my kids' concert. So I missed the last item and a half. I also missed the post meeting Christmas party for council/employees/board members.

From when I was there...We had a presentation by Mid Iowa Inspection and Consulting. Some towns in Iowa have adapted the state building code, and also use this company to inspect rental housing in the city. All rental housing would have to be to code to receive city services, namely water. The council took no action on the topic.

We also heard a report from the President of the Library Board, Steve Olson, regarding budgeting at the library. The topics were mostly regarding if the council would fund pay raises, and also the possibility of health care insurance being funded. I left towards the end of the discussion. I believe Council Member Ford and I will be meeting with Steve regarding that topic to come up with something to present to council.

After I left, there was a discussion about repairs needed for the old library building if it is to be turned into City Hall. Also the 3 newly elected/re-elected council members were sworn in. (usually they are swore at!--ha ha!). Since I left early, I didn't get sworn in yet, but I suppose I should do that.

As a reminder, future council meetings are moving to the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays at 6PM. As per usual, we will not be having a 2nd council meeting in December.

Britson Park & Athletic Complex Brick Sale

Support the new Britson Park & Athletic Complex with a donation brick. Put your own name, or remember a loved one, with an inscription on a brick for a walkway at Britson Park. 4" by 8" bricks are $100, and 8" by 8" bricks are for donations of $200 or above. Bricks make a great Christmas gift for the parent who has "everything". www.britsonpark.org for more information on the project and how to donate.

Political Season

It is political season again in Iowa. I know most people hate the ads, and hate the calls, and all that. I enjoy it in a sick sorta way. Here is an ad that I get a hoot out of. How many presidential ads mention shitzus and use heavy metal music?

Emergency Management rep

I am potentially looking for a representative for Roland on the Emergency Management Board for Story County. Mayors are typically the person on the Board, but they can appoint someone else to fill in for them. With moving our council meetings to Wednesday, they will overlap with the Emergency Management meetings, so I will not be able to attend without skipping a council meeting.

So if you have an interest in Emergency Management, let me know, and maybe we can work something out.

HERE is their website

New sign

In case you haven't noticed, RADC has got the new message board sign installed just north of Casey's, and easily seen from the corner of Main and Maple. I believe they are still working on programming it. The sign will be used for community messages, and I also believe you will be able to buy messages for the sale of things, or happy birthdays, or whatever. Not sure on the details of that yet, but will post here when I find out. I'll also try to get a photo of it on here as well. Another improvement for Roland. Yay!

Nov 28 Council meeting

Missed this meeting. But something was done to help prevent me missing meetings. Starting in January, council meetings will move to the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays, based on an ordinance that was passed.

I also heard that a discussion was held about having a town meeting for citizen input regarding our sewer system. The council wants input on whether to spend money relining our existing sewer lines, or to spend money putting in a newer, larger main pipe from the pool to the sewer plant. They each have their advantages. More to come on that.

I don't know that anything earth shaking came out of the meeting. December will only have one council meeting per usual. It will be on Monday, December 12.

Gas service is restored

Natural Gas service has been restored to all of Roland. As of 1130AM, 15 homes still do not have gas service, as Alliant has been unable to contact the homeowner. Unlike electric, where they can just turn the power back on, for gas, they had to shutoff at the meters to each house. Then, when contact with the homeowner is made, Alliant will turn on the meter, and then assist in lighting pilot lights. Depending on the device, if the pilot light is not lit, gas would just flow, and obviously cause a really big flame if somebody were to spark something in a house. So that is why each homeowner needs a personal contact.

I had to work last night for my real job. I got back into Roland about 2:30 AM and stopped down at City Hall. A team lead was there keep track of the efforts, and there were 12 Alliant employees helping to restore service to homes. It was a nice thing it was not that cold last night, about 40 degrees at 3AM, so people shouldn't have gotten too cold without their gas service.

All in all, this went pretty well. We had help from the Story City fire department, with the lead by the Roland Fire Department, in securing the area, and notifying residents about the event.

Story County Emergency Management had both employees in town, helping co-ordinate efforts, and make sure the "evacuation shelters" were open.

Just got off the phone with Keith Morgan, Emergency Management Director for Story County. He wanted to emphasize it would really help if we could get ahold of the 15 homeowners. I don't want to list who they are here on a public forum. But if you know someone who is out of town for the holiday, and might not have their gas turned back on yet, please let me know, or have them call Alliant at 800-822-4348. The nice thing is the temperature is not going to drop below freezing until Saturday night, there is still time to find people and get their heat turned back on.

Gas line cut and evacuation

Just the facts....
Ok, here is what I know about the events of Tuesday evening.
A contractor was putting in a new phone cable, and while boring, hit a gas line about 4PM. (key point, this was not Alliant or the City of Roland's fault!) Initially they didn't think it was a big deal. But that proved to be wrong. Alliant was called, and there were no shutoffs in the immediate vicinity, so they needed to shut the gas off of approximately 95 homes.

It was also discovered that natural gas was getting into the sewer system. That obviously could cause an explosion problem, especially into homes that are not plumbed properly, and if the gas could collect inside a house. So the decision was made to shut off electricity to homes in the affected area.

Because of the explosion risk, Alliant and Story County Emergency Management worked together to decide the evacuation area. The community center was opened as a place for those who needed to evacuate to hang out.

The power grid shutdown also affected the east side of Main Street, so the evac location was moved to the American Legion, across the street. The Library was also opened as a bit of a more friendly place for people with kids, than the American Legion.

By 930PM, the gas had been turned off, and Alliant was confident the gas had dissipated enough, that there was no explosion risk, so power was turned back on, and people could return to their homes if they wanted. However, the gas was going to remain off until the line was fixed.

Alliant went to all the homes where gas was turned off, and actually turned the gas off at the meters. When gas service is restored, Alliant will visit all homes and offer to light pilot lights. They will do this as soon as it is fixed, even if it is in the middle of the night. They will be hanging tags on the doors of homes that have been visited.

City Hall is being used as an operations center by Alliant, where they are keeping track of what homes have gas off, and will be checking off the homes that have service restored-and pilot lights lit, when that time comes.

That's pretty much what I have for now. Thanks for your cooperation, for those that had to evacuate. With a couple of exceptions, the reports that I have been given indicate people have been very cooperative, so that was nice to hear. Obviously all the interested agencies want to err on the safe side with the potential "explosive" situation. More details here when I get them.

Chili Cookoff Crew

I was thinking about the core crew that really helped to put together the Chili Cookoff fundraiser. Lots of people helped and had input. But I wanted to especially thank the core crew. Most of us were sitting around at the Legion last night, tipping back some barley pops, and all got to talking where we grew up.

What struck me, is every one of us grew up in small town Iowa. A couple were from Roland, but the rest of us all found Roland one way or another. And though the crew might not be helping the town they grew up in, they are still helping a small town in Iowa think to the future.

Here are the key people that drove this event, and their small town Iowa hometown
Colleen Louw-Roland
Jerry Balmer-Roland
Mindi Balmer-Keota
Josh Greenfield-Burnside
DeAnn Pitman-Eagle Grove
Tony Greene-Pomeroy
Kathy Hovick-North Polk (didn't catch a town, but she went to North Polk)
Roger Fritz-Sanborn

So the event was a lot of hard work. There is still plenty of work to do, to get the park done. But it was fun hanging out at the Legion, watching football, tipping some back, swapping stories, and thinking about what is next to get the park done.

Britson Park & Athletic Complex Chili Cookoff Fundraiser

What a great time, and a great turnout for the Chili Cookoff. When you are part of a team working to put something like this together, you never really know what you will get. Will anybody enter chili? Will we get a crowd to show up?

The answer was yes and yes. We had 19 entries of chili. We don't have an exact count on attendance, because we got extra donations on the price of admission, but we are guessing north of 150 people.

Since we knew we were getting plenty of chili, I moved from cooker of chili to judge. That was fun. The judges were The Roland Rocket himself, Gary Thompson; Roland-Story Middle School Principal John Sheahan; Iowa State Head Softball Coach Stacy Gemeinhardt-Cesler; and me as Mayor. A picture of the judges is on this post.

I had never met Gary Thompson before. I've seen him at ISU events, and was excited to meet the guy that put Roland on the map. What a great guy. Got to talk to him for about 15 minutes, and talk about Roland then and now.

We made around $3000 on the silent auction. Thanks to all the businesses that supported our event. All together, we got around $5000, so that is a nice kickoff to getting the park built.

As for the winners:
Specialty: (which is a soup that is not chili). We had 2 entries and the winner was Adam Pitman with Cheeseburger Soup.
Mild had 13 entries, and the winner was Kelly Popp with PoppaK's Chili. He told me it was a last minute entry as a whim.
Hot had 4 entries, and the winner piled on with the cool name: Roland Rocket Fuel by Audra and Larry Ford
The winner of The People's Choice (People could vote for their favorite chili by dropping money in a container by the chili--with the money going to the park) and Adam Pitman took home his 2nd trophy of the night, with the win there as well.

The crowd hung around, the games in the gyms kept the kids busy, we even had one of the Britson daughters come all the way from Chicago for the event. A fun night all around.

As a reminder, if you want to help with the park, you can purchase a brick for the park, and get your name on it. 4x8 bricks for a $100 donation, and 8x8 bricks for a $200 donation. You can go to www.britsonpark.org for more info.

Nov 14 Council Meeting

Lot of stuff on the docket tonite.
Wasn't an agenda item, but heard about a car getting keyed the other night. If you know any details, or anyone else who may have been keyed, please contact the Sheriff's Dept.

We talked a little bit about moving City Hall into the old Library building. We are going to move forward on those efforts. We have a potential layout, the building passed the structural, and the electric is good, minus some minor cleanup issues. It is not 100% done deal, but like I said, we are moving forward on that. I think it will be nice to get City Hall on Main Street. Also to have a more professional office space.

I was in City Hall Sunday afternoon to sign some things. When nobody has been in there in over a day, with the water plant there, and nobody opening doors and such, it reeks badly. I realize the existing location has served us for 75 years, but I think a change would be good.

In other activities, we talked with Brandon Hansen, President of the Park Board, about a replacement for Ed Nerem for park maintenance. The city council was pondering if a city employee might be a better route, and have that person also do snow removal, and other odd jobs for the city. For now, we thought continuing on the same path would be best, with a summer park employee, and contracting snow removal.

We passed ordinances regarding water shutoffs for failure to pay the bill, and also for a stop sign on Progressive Avenue.

We also ended efforts on getting the hazardous mitigation grant. With the expected cost of the project, along with an inability to get enough receipts from citizens showing flood damage, we were told that getting the grant was highly unlikely. So the council had a discussion about what to do next. Anything we do is going to be on us for now. So we could go forth with the new trunk line. The estimate from the engineer on that is $600,000 to $1,100,000 depending on the route we took. Or we may try to line our sewer lines elsewhere in the city. So it will be on the docket for future council meetings, but for now, no definite plans are in the works.

Based on the election, and the desires of the council and myself, we are going to move council meetings from the 2nd and 4th Monday to the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of the month. That will start the first of the year, or at least that is our plan. We will keep the meetings at the community center, and they will stay at 6PM. Mondays are starting to become problematic for us, so we are going to give Wednesdays a whirl.

Lastly, we appointed our new city clerk to replace Deneen Frost. And that person is Jodi Meredith. Jodi served as our temporary clerk while Deneen was out of the office. Jodi brings experience in being a city clerk. Besides her efforts in Roland for the past few months, she was also the city clerk of Kelley. She will also continue in that role, as that is a part-time position.

We got some very good and directly qualified resumes in. I wasn't sure what we would get, but we were fortunate in having several good potential choices.

We need chili!

Just a reminder about the Chili Cookoff on the 19th as a fundraiser for the new Britson Park and Athletic Complex. We want to make sure we have enough Chili, so we want entries. Give it a whirl!

If not, come eat, and check out the silent auction. We have lots of stuff.

Saturday the 19th from 5 to 8PM at the Roland Middle School. Games for the kids too.

HERE is the link to more info on the park, and the Chili entry form.

I'm Back!

My reign of terror in Roland is back for another 2 years. Wasn't really that interested in being mayor again, but since nobody else was either, I'll give it another go, and do it to the best of my ability in the time I have available. It also helps that Larry Ford is coming back with me too. Larry does a good job on the council.

I will take that the lack of interested candidates is because the citizens are reasonably happy with what is going on. I may be clueless, but I'm gonna go with that.

So I will hit some details later in this blog about my plans and goals for the next 2 years, but for now, I guess we will carry on.

Part of the deal about me returning is that the council meetings need to move to Wednesday nights from Monday. That topic is on the agenda for the council meeting this coming Monday.

Also HERE is the link to the election results and all the write in candidates in Roland. Kinda fun reading.

Good Article in the Rag

HERE is an article in the DSM Register about the lack of candidates in Elkhart. It pretty much applies to Roland too. I thought it was a good discussion of the situation in finding candidates, and what they do, in small town Iowa.

Ok, if you want me, I'll do it

If you have been a reader of my blog, you know that I chose not to run for re-election. And you also know that no one filed for the spot, so it will be filled by write-in.

I have been asking around if there is any interest in the position, and no one has stepped up to do so, as far as I know.

Council member Larry Ford holds the same thought as me for his position. He did not file, and we have an open spot to be filled by write-in.

Lacking any knowledge of other candidates, we have both decided if we are both elected via write-in, we will both accept our respective positions, if the council meetings are moved to Wednesday nights. I appreciate Larry's efforts on the council, and I would say we see eye to eye on most subjects. And not that I have any issue with any of the current councilmembers, I would say I have worked more closely with Larry than any other council member in my time as mayor.

So if you or someone you know is interested in running for Mayor, or the 3rd council spot, let us know. But lacking that, if you want to see me back as Mayor, AND Larry Ford back on city council, vote for us both as write-ins. We are a tag team, neither of us will go without the other.

And if you think we suck, well, that's ok too. We both like Roland, and will just put our efforts into other things in the community. But if elected, I will continue to give my best effort, in my available personal time, to do the best I can for Roland.

So there ya go, the election is next Tuesday from 7AM to 8PM.

New Creations Fitness

Had a good time on Saturday at the open house at New Creations Fitness on Main Street in Roland. In case you were not aware, we have a new business on Main Street that can get you in shape. There are classes of various types, to get you in shape, improve your flexibility, or to burn some calories. I got to add some calories at the open house, by downing some hot dogs and chips.

The next set of classes start on November 7. Email owner Katie Helgeson for more details katie.newcreationsfitness@yahoo.com

Story on Britson Park Athletic Complex

A chili cookoff fundraiser is the kickoff for the start of the construction of the new Britson Park & Athletic Complex in west Roland. The Roland Park Board has developed plans for the new park which will provide a venue for fun and competition for years to come.
Britson Park was born in 2009 when the Britson family sold seven acres of land to the City of Roland for $13,000, which is substantially below the market value of seven acres of farmland. With that deal, the park was to be named for the Britson family. The park is just to the west of Britson Circle and to the southeast of the Roland Industrial Park.
The Britson family has been a part of Roland since before Roland was even a town. The Sjur Britson family was one of the original 12 families that settled what is now Roland back in 1856.
Jump ahead 155 years, and the Roland and Story City communities have seen a large interest in adult softball, and youth baseball, softball, soccer and football. Existing fields in the two communities have seen a large uptick in usage, and so the Roland Park Board decided to put the new Britson Park to use in relieving the strain on field time.
Initial conversations between the Roland Park Board and Roland City Council involved first using and grading the land to help prevent localized flooding during rain events. The City Council also authorized a new road through the southwest side of the park, which will provide quick access to the park, as well as providing an alternate outlet for the Logan Street neighborhood. In the spring of 2011, the land for the park was flattened, with a slope to a drainage swale.
In the meantime, the Park Board worked on the layout for the fields and playground equipment. Initially, the park will have two youth baseball/softball fields, as well as flat fields for use for soccer or football. There is also a concession stand/restroom and playground area. There will be parking for 25-30 cars on the north side of the park, with an entrance off Maple Street, and an additional parking area with an entrance off Arthur Drive.
The park will have two youth baseball/softball fields initially on the west side of the park, and there is room for a third, should usage continue to grow. With the two fields in Erickson Park on the east side of town, this also opens up the possibility of holding larger youth tournaments, and the crowds that accompany them.
The youth groups that will be using the fields have various amounts of money to help with completion of the park. The Park Board is also hopeful to obtain various grants to apply toward park infrastructure. But for the remainder, reaching out for donations and doing fundraising will finish off the job.
The Park Board hopes to start on parking lot work yet this fall, with field construction beginning in the spring of 2012. This will lead to availability of soccer and football practice in the fall of 2012, and baseball/softball in the spring of 2013.
To finish the project, from all sources will need about $150,000, with a lesser amount needed with volunteer labor for construction of the concession stand, dugouts, and landscaping. Donors contributing $100 or more can get a 4x8” brick with their name on it, to be placed on a walkway near the concession stand. $200 or more donors can get a 8x8” brick.
The kickoff fundraiser will be a Chili Cookoff on Saturday, November 19, from 5 to 8PM at the Roland Middle School. Confirmed celebrity judges are the Roland Rocket himself, Gary Thompson, Iowa State Head Softball Coach Stacy Gemeinhardt-Cesler, and Roland-Story Middle School Principal John Sheahan.
You can come to sample chili, or even better, enter your own in the contest. There will also be a silent auction, and sports related games and contests for the kids.
For more details on the Britson Park & Athletic Complex, how to donate, or details on entering your favorite chili, go to britsonpark.org.

Water trivia

Just got done reading the DNR report on our water system. Mostly a lot of blah, blah blah, but something interesting, at least to me. From January 2009 to August 2011 Roland averaged XXXXX gallons of water usage a day. Wanna guess?

93,000 gallons per day average. That was a relatively wet time period, so I'm guessing we are down a little bit. Previously we had been over 100,000. I think I dumped 2,000 gallons a day on my lawn in August of this year when our drought started.

BTW, that is about 72 gallons of water a day per person. I looked on the net, and mostly saw numbers for US residents from 80-100 gallons per day. A couple theories by me--we are dirty people that don't flush. Or, more likely, we are a big commuter town, and Roland really empties out during the day, so we are flushing other towns' water supplies for a good portion of our waking hours.

We still have plenty of water, so drink up!

Britson Park Athletic Complex Chili Cookoff

The Roland Park Board will be hosting a Chili Cookoff fundraiser on Saturday, November 19 from 5 to 8PM at the Roland Middle School. The money raised is for construction of the Britson Park Athletic Complex in west Roland.

The BPAC will have 2 softball/baseball fields, fields for soccer and youth football, as well as a playground area. Primary users of the athletic fields will be the youth softball program, North Story County Little League, Roland Youth Sports, and for now, practice space for the Chargers football program.

There will be five celebrity judges of the chili. Confirmed so far are the Roland Rocket himself, Gary Thomspon, along with Iowa State Head Softball Coach Stacy Gemeinhardt-Cesler and Iowa State Assistant Football Coach Bill Bleil.

More information will be forthcoming on how to enter. But even if you aren't a contestant, you can still come eat chili (or hot dogs if you aren't a chili fan), participate in various games in the gym, or put a bid down on the silent auction.

Besides the food, games, and auction, there will be information on how you can donate to the Britson Park Athletic Complex. With larger amounts, you can receive a brick with your name on it to be placed near the concession stand.

HERE is a link to a drawing of a layout of the park. The initial phase will be to build only the 2 fields to the west. The 3rd field to the northeast could be built if there becomes a need. For now it will be flat land for soccer or football.

So don't forget, come to compete, or just eat, on Saturday, November 19. Watch for more details on how to enter.

Council Meeting October 10

I didn't do an update for the October 10 council meeting because I wasn't there. But I heard it took 11 minutes. There are never 11 minute council meetings when I am there.

Ed Nerem

Just wanted to mention, in case you were not aware, of the passing of Ed Nerem. Ed was our city's main park employee, and he was tasked with keeping our parks looking good. And they certainly did. Ed is also one of those people that lived pretty much his whole life in Roland. Those folks are important to keep the ties to the past, and telling the stories of Roland from days gone by.

HERE is his obituary from the Tribune.

Roland from the air

Here is a pic of Roland taken from the air late this summer. It was taken by Justin Hanson and forwarded to me by Steve Hanson. Nice to see Roland in summer green!

Click on the pic to see it in larger format.

Britson Park fundraiser

Details still be worked on, but save the evening of Saturday November 19 for a Britson Park fundraiser. It is going to be a chili cookoff competition, with some sports games and a silent auction planned as well. So if you like cooking chili, keep that in mind.

The money raised will be used for development of the park. Again, the planning is in the early stages, but save the date!

Job Opening for Roland City Clerk

The City of Roland (population 1284) seeks a full-time City Clerk. CMC or CMFO and 5 years municipal experience preferred. Possess all aspects of city records management and government accounting & budgeting. Send resumes to Mayor Roger Fritz, City of Roland, 202 E Ash Street, Roland, Iowa 50236. Visit www.cityofroland.org for city information and job description. Applications due 10/31/11.

HERE is the job description.

Deneen's Retirement Party

The City of Roland is having an Appreciation Day for retiring city clerk Deneen Frost on Thursday, October 6 at the Community Center on Main Street from 3 to 6 p.m.

This in honor of the 16 dedicated years she has given the city in her position as City Clerk. The public is invited to come and celebrate her service to the community. If you wish to send a card, please send it to City Hall, 202 E. Ash St, Roland, IA 50236.

Burn Ban

If it hasn't already, Story County will shortly be issuing a burn ban. There was a big fire by Story City yesterday, and with the winds and dry conditions, ending intentional outdoor fires is a good choice I think. Here is a statement from the National Weather Service. Sorry for the caps, that's how they do it.

DRY CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE OVER THE REGION FOR THE NEXT 7 DAYS. WINDS

WILL ONCE AGAIN MIX OVER THE EAST TODAY...BUT ONLY TO 20 TO 30 MPH

AT TIMES. RELATIVE HUMIDITY WILL DROP TO NEAR 30% OVER THE REGION BY

THIS AFTERNOON. BURNING IS STILL DISCOURAGED DUE TO THE RELATIVELY DRY

CONDITIONS AND POTENTIAL FOR FIRE SPREADING IN WINDS OF 20 TO 30 MPH.

CONSULT THE INDIVIDUAL WIND FORECASTS FOR YOUR AREA BELOW.

Halloween Proclamation

I hereby proclaim Sunday night, October 30 from 6 to 8PM as Beggars Night. School conferences are the next night on Halloween, that makes it tough for folks with youngins. So Sunday night it is.

Candidates for Mayor and Council

Here is the info from the county website of the candidates for our municipal election.

CITY OF ROLAND
Roland Mayor (Vote for 1) (2-year)
No Candidates


Roland Council At Large (Vote for 3)
Chad Proctor
313 S. Samson Street
Roland, IA 50236
515.388.4013
chadpro@yahoo.com

Douglas L. Sargent
113 East Street
Roland, IA 50236
515.231.4298
pokyone@hotmail.com

So that means we have no one running for mayor. So what will happen is that the top write-in vote getter will win the election. If that person declines, it will go to the 2nd top vote getter. If that person declines, the city council has the power to appoint someone.

For council, we have 2 people running for 3 slots. Assuming the two on the ballot win (not a given, but likely), then the same deal for the 3rd council slot. The top write in vote getter will get the nod, then if that person declines, it will go to the runner-up in write ins. If that person declines, the remaining city council members will appoint someone.

So if you are interested in either position, start getting your name out there, and you can probably get written in. It is certainly interesting being on the council. It takes as much time as you want to put into it. There is a meeting every other week for about an hour or so. Then there are occasional other meetings, as well as time spent interacting with the public and city employees. You certainly learn a lot of how a city operates.

If you are interested in running as a write in, let me know, and I can publicize it in this space.

More tax money to Roland, without raising your taxes

Had a citizen point something out to me as a way to get a little bit more money to Roland. He moved to Iowa from Missouri. At some time later, he noted that even though his address had changed, his cellphone company (Sprint) was still taking our Missouri tax. (and not Iowa tax)

He called them, had them change it. He reports that his bill actually went down because the Iowa/local tax was lower than the tax in Missouri. So if you have moved to Roland in the past couple years, that is something you might check on your bill. (and not just for cellphones, it might be anything) No need to send your money to Missouri, when it can stay here!

Election Paperwork due Thursday

If you have an interest in running for mayor or city council, if you want to be on the ballot, the paperwork needs to be turned into City Hall by 5PM Thursday. There are 3 open slots for the council, and 1 for the mayor. So far, only one council member has turned in paperwork, incumbent Doug Sargent.

As noted in a previous post, I am not running for mayor. Here is your chance to help the city!

Tally Ho!

Just wanted to mention I have seen a fox running around the Britson Park area in the evenings. I've seen it cross Arthur from east to west, and then on Industrial from the open field into the corn. (might be two foxes, as I saw them on different nights)

So not sure what it is up to, but kinda neat and interesting to see a fox running around.

I believe there was a den (or whatever it is called) of foxes recorded behind the homes on the north side of Cottonwood. (and do I recall that the library has a video of it?).

Anyway, you are to shout "Tally Ho!" when on a fox hunt, and you see a fox. I'm not hunting them, but I'll give a Tally Ho anyway!

Story County Tax Rates

If you are like me, and got your property tax sheet from the county, you will notice that your property tax bill took a jump, namely on a percentage basis for the City of Roland. I was kinda surprised to see that as well, so I did some digging. The reason for my surprise, was that I know the city council has pretty much held the line on general city expenditures. The past two years, the budget has not changed much for the operations of Roland.

However, after the digging, the jump is due to payments for the bond the city got for the installation of the new streets/extension of Bryan and Arthur. The city chose to add those for a couple of reasons. That would be for help in development of Britson Park, having more development land in the industrial park, and to provide an alternative outlet for Logan Street, which was previously a dead end, but had about 1/9 of the city's population.

Anyway, I didn't think that payment would hit in this year's taxes but it did. And with that, we still have one more year of payment for our well project of 10 years ago, so next year, we will have a reduction in taxes for not having to make that payment (probably around $40k, but I don't guarantee that number)

Property taxes in Iowa are kinda squirly, as they have a rollback and all that, so you currently pay taxes on only about 1/2 the value of your property. Currently state law limits city councils to charging only $8.10 per thousand of assessed valuation. But you can also charge extra levies for insurance, orchestras (not us!), emergency services, and debt service. We charge the $8.10, plus .86 for insurances, and now $1.42 for debt service. Last year our debt service was 33 cents--which was for the wells, which should go away next year.

So with that, this year, the City of Roland will take 31% of your total property taxes. The school takes 48%, plus adds a 10% income tax surcharge to you as well. The rest goes to the county, and DMACC, and some other agencies.

Back to cities themselves, here is how Roland stacks up with other towns in the county. Roland takes $10.38 for every thousand of assessed valuation after the rollback which is 48%. So if you have a house assessed at $100,000, it is taxed on $48,000, which means you pay $10.38 for 48 thousand=tax to the city only, is $498.

Now remember, each city has money borrowed for different things, and has different levels of services provided--for example, we have a pool, and Gilbert doesn't. That is an expenditure we have that Gilbert doesn't. Some towns have police forces that cost more than contracting with county sheriff, like we do. Businesses pay higher taxes than an equal valued house, so more businesses mean more incoming tax revenue, and so on. So this isn't totally apples to apples, but it shows what all the towns have chosen to do.

And not to pick on Zearing, but somebody with a $100,000 house in Zearing would pay $21 a year less in city only property taxes than someone in Roland. Does a Roland homeowner get $21 a year more value from their city government than someone from Zearing? I guess that is for them to decide.

Roland $10.38
Ames $10.84
Cambridge $8.10
Collins $10.97
Colo $12.92
Gilbert $10.90
Huxley $10.51
Maxwell $8.97
Kelley $8.10
Nevada $15.00
Slater $14.35
Story City $8.50
Zearing $9.95

Mayor Plans

Since all the politicians do it, I figured I would too. I just announced on Facebook and Twitter, and here as well, that I will not be seeking re-election as Mayor.

I mostly enjoy being Mayor, but it comes down to a time issue. I am working 10-15 hours more a week in my real job, than I was when elected. I also see that continuing at least another 6 months to a year. To that, I feel my attention to mayor stuff has slipped a little, as when I "lose" 10 hours, something has to fall off the plate; sleep, family time, internet time--I often chose mayor time.

The next issue is my son is currently a freshman. I expect him to be playing various JV sports over the next couple years, and those events are typically on Monday nights, when our council meetings are. I would much prefer going to his games than a council meeting.

There is still one more week of filing for mayor or city council. If you are interested, there is a link on the city website to getting the paperwork you need to run. You only need 10 signatures!

Maple Water Main Project

If you have attempted to drive through Roland during normal business hours over the past week, you will have noticed that Maple/E18 has been closed in west Roland, with a detour down Logan/Bryan/Industrial. What is going on is the addition of a new water main. This is the completion of a project started a couple years ago. We have kinda been on a pay-as-you-go for getting that done. Going way back, it got done to Green, then to Bear Creek and Logan, and now all the way out to the Cenex station.

So we had set aside enough money in capital reserves to finish that project. Being able to close the street saved us money and time by getting it done faster. It is nice to have the alternate route through town now open, instead of having to route everyone up gravel and over R77/E15, and 590th.

Last I heard, Wednesday the 14th is the last day for closure.

Housing Grants

Another thing discussed in our council meeting was that we still have the possibility of 1 or 2 houses receiving funding for a grant for fixing up homes. You can call City Hall for the details, but it is pretty much if you have an average to below average income, are a home owner, plan to live in your house for another couple years, and your home has a need for some kind of structural or appearance repairs, you may be eligible for a grant towards a fixup.

The city helps administer the grant, and it is good for the city, as it helps fix up homes in the city. It can be things like getting new windows, or fixing a roof or a porch. Again call City Hall if you or you know someone who might benefit.

September 12 Council meeting

A bigger crowd and a longer meeting than most recent meetings. But we got a lot discussed and accomplished.

Some of the highlights as I recall them.....CM Larry Ford and I will are heading up the search for a new City Clerk. We will be figuring out how to word the ad, and where to post it. The nice thing is, we have Jodi lined up until the end of the year whether she becomes our city clerk or not. We had a minor discussion of what to look for, with some of the key points being prior city government experience, grant writing experience, and an interest to live in Roland.

We discussed the results of our meeting regarding a new sewer main along the back side of Samson Street. Since that has run into some roadblocks, we are going to check with our city engineer on other recommendations to get help us reduce the flow and potential for backups.

The council approved road projects of around $77000. The key one is repaving the street on the east side of the school on up to Maple. That is a good one, it has a bunch of holes, and it needs a fix.

We approved the location for a new LED message sign on the lot north of Casey's. RADC is working on that. It will be a color board, and will be for community messages and such. For now, it appears that the library will be the place for adding the messages. It will likely have messages for sale/rent be they for commercial organizations or simply "Happy Birthday Roger!" More details to come on that, but they hope to have it installed within a month. So that will be a neat thing for our Main Street. They are still looking for donations to finish the project. I know Innovative Lighting has and will be assisting with the project.

School election today

Don't forget, the school board election is today. Roland residents can vote at the Community Center from Noon to 8. Four candidates for 3 slots. That is somewhat unusual that a school board has a contested race. I don't think it is contentious, it was just 4 people who were interested in helping out. Being on the school board is a volunteer position, so thanks to those folks who stepped up to go on the ballot.

Samson Street meeting

Last Wednesday I attended a meeting at the community center along with our city engineer and our department heads. We invited residents along the west side of Samson Street to have a discussion about the possibility of running a new sewer trunk line through their back yards.

We were working towards getting a hazard mitigation grant, and the council thought that would be an effective use of money, namely a newer, larger sewer trunk line, that would help prevent sewer backups in various parts of the city.

We wanted to gauge the mood of those residents, who would have to grant an easement to the city for the project, and also to see if they had any ideas. It was a good meeting, and we had a very informational back and forth discussion.

One thing we did learn, is that in some of their backyards is the former city dump. That raised all sorts of red flags, because with getting money for the grant, we would have to do environmental studies. And if we starting digging through a dump, that is not going to go well in regards to environmental impact.

So, in our council meeting last night, we have pretty much nixed that idea. So if we want to pursue a new main sewer trunk, we have a couple other options. One is to replace the existing trunk. And that means going right down the middle of Samson. That street would be out of commission for a couple months, and would likely cost near 1 Million dollars, after every thing is done. I don't like that.

Another is to go in the "parking" along the west side of Samson, with a forced sewer main. That would involve putting a generator near the pool, and forcing the sewage down a new pipe. Currently the sewage is all gravity flow. We can't go through those front yards and get the right elevations for gravity. So it has to be physically forced through with pumps. Not sure on the cost on that, but that is likely a half million dollar project.

Or we may decide to just really work on cleaning up inflow to the sewer system around town. Trying to find leaks, and relining sewer pipes.

So in a hold right now. In any case, an expensive proposition.

New Business on Main Street

I got a heads up on this a week ago, but we have a new business going on Main Street in the former Cyclone Windows building. Below you will find some details that I swiped off Facebook. Actually stopped in last night during a walk with my wife. They were busy painting, and getting the building fixed up. So if you want to lose some lbs and get toned up a little bit, this sounds like the thing to do. The Mayor endorses fit Rolanders!


Come join the fun at New Creations Fitness! Come see our new fitness studio. It's currently a work in progress, so we ask for patience as we continue to make your workout environment as great as possible. We're very excited to share this new adventure with you.

We're offering another week of FREE classes (Sept. 6th-9th) to give everyone a taste of the new location and time. We are located at 203 N. Main in Roland (the old Cyclone Window and Door Store on Main St). Please come check us out and share this event with friends.

We are starting up a new session of classes Monday, Sept 12th at 5:15am (it says 5am in the time because it doesn't have 5:15am as an option). We'll be offering Boot Camp on Mon, Wed, and Fridays and Interval, Strength and Stretch on Tue/Thurs. Each session will run 8-weeks long. You can attend 2 classes a week for $45 or 3 classes a week for $70. If you want unlimited classes it's $100 for the 8-week session.

We also offer personal training and group training sessions. Ask us for details if you're interested. You can contact me, Katie Helgeson, by calling 515-460-5055 or e-mailing me at katie.newcreationsfitness@yahoo.com

I look forward to working out with you, Katie

Losing our City Clerk

Got an email from our City Clerk Deneen Frost this past week. Deneen has been out on sick leave/disability since January. She has been fighting cancer for 20 some years I think, and most recently really fighting it, with trips to the Mayo Clinic and taking up residency at Mary Greeley Hospital more than Roland.

But in the fight, Deneen keeps winning. But I know it has taken a lot out of her, and she has decided to resign. Too bad for her obviously, but bad for the city as well. Deneen has been working in City Hall since 1995 I believe. She has done a great job keeping our books, and doing the administrative things that keep a city rolling.

We have had a temporary City Clerk, Jodi Meredith, since about April, and she will be with the city through the end of the year. We had set that up, figuring Deneen would need some time before being able to come back at full time.

Haven't talked with the council about the process yet, but I'm sure we will go forth to hire a new city clerk. I'll post it here when we decide to go about filling the job.

Here is the text of Deneen's resignation letter.





August 26, 2011

Honorable Mayor Roger Fritz and Council members Duane Canny, Larry Ford, Corey Johnson, Jeri Neely & Doug Sargent
City of Roland
202 E Ash St., PO Box 288
Roland, IA 50236

Dear Honorable Mayor Roger Fritz and Council members Duane Canny, Larry Ford, Corey Johnson, Jeri Neely & Doug Sargent:

It is with a heavy heart and deep regret that I resign my position as the City Clerk of Roland effective September 30, 2011, due to health issues. I will attempt to be available to work a limited number of hours during the month of September. If this should create problems, please let me know, for I wish a smooth and successful transition to occur.

I will be available to assist Janet and the new City Clerk if they should need my assistance in the future.

I wish all of you good luck and continued success.

Sincerely,
Deneen Frost, MMC
City Clerk

Aug 22 Council meeting

Some random thoughts and comments from the council meeting:
The pool is closed, however, the water is going to remain in it til Sept 11. The fire department is going to be overseeing the burn down of the south elevator on the Co-op property. That will need some amount of water to extinguish the embers at the end of the burn. So instead of letting the pool water down the drain, the fire department is going to pump it out of the pool to keep their tanker truck full. So that is nice "recycling".

RADC is having a final push to raise money for a new LED message board sign. They have raised over half the money, thanks to some local groups and individuals. I think they still need another $6000. The plan is that it is going up on the lot just north of Casey's.

There is going to be a meeting for homeowners on the west side of Samson Street at 7PM on Wednesday September 7. It is going to be a discussion of the city's interest in running a new sewer main down their back property lines. Not a done deal, but if we are to get a flood mitigation grant, that is likely how the city would intend to help the most folks in Roland. So the meeting is simply informational, and also seeking feedback and comments from those homeowners.

The council had a discussion of water and sewer rates. One year ago we had a pretty good jump, but it was needed, so we can match expenses with revenues. The city doesn't run water and sewer for profit, our goal is to charge the amount simply to pay the bills and set aside for capital improvements. Over the past fiscal year, it we came in pretty good. We had a little bit of a surplus on the water side, and a little bit of a deficit on the sewer side. The upcoming fiscal year budget shows pretty much the same thing, so we decided to hold the rates the same, at least for another 6 months, and likely until at least July of next year. So that is good news for all of us.

I made an appointment to the Library Board and Park Board (Cheryl Larson and Jerry Balmer respectively) so thanks to them. Had all the spots full, but due to someone moving, it looks like we now have an opening on the Pool Board, so let me know if you are interested.

We approved the annual contract with Story County Animal Control for the city's animal issues.

You may have noticed Manatts in town working on Maple Street, and fixing up the road, so we are down to one lane. That is always good to have better streets.

We also have added a water shutoff notice fee of $20, and a higher reconnect fee of $85. Our city staff does a good job of letting people know their bills aren't paid, with letters and phone calls. So if city staff has to actually go out to a house and post the notice, that is going to cost the homeowner $20.

It's a 5 Monday month, so 3 weeks til the next council meeting. Yay!

Samson Street Sewer Project

Samson Street is being torn up today for a sewer project. What is being done is a straightening/bypass for the city sewer main that passes there. It had a poor design, and in high flow times, the sewage would start flowing up East Samson, instead of going to the sewer plant. This caused backups in the homes along the east/west part of Samson. So while not a guaranteed fix for high water events, it should help matters for those folks.

Old Heart of Iowa Co-op Administration building coming down

The former Heart of Iowa Co-op Administration building on Main Street is being torn down (or is down by now, haven't been on Main Street since Monday night). My understanding is that it was a barber shop way back when, and then it was expanded upon, and eventually became the admin office for the Co-op.

The building was donated to the Roland Library Foundation, but it was determined by various parties that it would not be suitable as a long term home for the library. So the Foundation continues to hold the parcel of land as a future home for a library should Roland be in a position for that to happen.

Disaster Declaration in Story County

For the most part, Roland was spared from the storm on July 11, as southern Story County really got hammered. But I know there was some damage in Roland. If you had issues because of the storm, there may be money available to help with the damages. HERE is a press release from Story County if you are interested.

Aug 8 Council Meeting

The meeting took about an hour, and we got some good stuff covered. One of the bigger items was hiring Jodi Meredith as city clerk on a contract basis through the rest of the year. Jodi will be increasing her hours, and helping get some paperwork knocked out, that needs to be done. We were hoping City Clerk Deneen Frost would be back on August 1, but she ran into some more medical issues, and her return is again delayed. So to make sure we stay on top of the financial issues of the City, we have secured the services of Jodi, through the remainder of the year.

We also have started the process of assessing a notice fee for delivered warnings of water shutoffs. We have had some customers in the city who have been habitually late in paying their water/sewer bills. Currently for late bills, we put a notice on the next months bill, they get a reminder call, they get a letter, another reminder call, then a knock on the door, and if no one is home, a notice posted. The next, the water will be shut off.

That is a lot of labor for our staff, especially when a water/sewer bill is not a surprise. So many cities are issuing a fee for the home visit final warning. If you simply accidentally forget to pay for a month, and respond to our notice, you should not ever see this fee.

I also made some appointments to various boards and commissions in Roland. Thanks to these folks for stepping up to help Roland.
Mike Risdal Board of Adjustments term expiring 6-30-16
Uri Levine Planning and Zoning Board term expiring 6-30-13 (filling expired term of Doug Sargent)
Marvin Wright Planning and Zoning Board term expiring 6-30-16
Jennifer Sikes Library Board term expiring 6-30-14
Jason Ellsberry Library Board term expiring 6-30-14
Jen Jackson Pool Board term expiring 6-30-14

Pool Park playground equipment help needed

The Pool Board, which oversees the park adjacent to the pool, has purchased new playground equipment for that park. However, they need some help with installation. It will likely be on an upcoming weekend. No specific date, but be pondering that. If you have an interest in helping, please contact City Hall. If you know of a service group that would be interested in tackling that project, also call City Hall with that info.

Swimming pool close date

I learned at the city council meeting on Monday that the Roland Pool is slated to close on Wednesday, August 17. Due to the inability to secure lifeguards on the following weekends, the pool will have to close for the season.

Council and Mayor seats open

Just an FYI if you are interested in running for City Council or Mayor, there are some spots up for election in November.

You need to turn in your candidacy paperwork between August 29 and September 22. you will need to get 10 signatures of Roland adults to be placed on the ballot.

There are 3 city council spots open, which are for 4 year terms. They are the spots currently held by Larry Ford, Corey Johnson, and Doug Sargent. There is also the mayor spot held by yours truly, and the mayor is a 2 year term.

I still have a Park Board and Library Board position open, if you are interested, let me know. Those would be great if you don't want to be in an election, but would still like to help Roland.

I was thinking about the Roland, and our council and board positions. There are approximately 33 of those positions. And there are approximately 800 adults 18 and over in Roland. If you just go with 2 adults in each household, about 1 house out of every 12 in Roland needs somebody on a city board of some kind.

Gonna give my props to my homies here on Arthur Drive. There are 17 houses on Arthur Drive and 7 of those homes have a person on one of the boards.

Ames Straw Poll

Who is going to the Ames Straw Poll next Saturday? I like political stuff, and so I am excited to see an event like this with national implications a mere 20 minutes from downtown Roland.

As you probably know, the Roland mayor and council positions are non-partisan. But that doesn't mean we can't have political opinions. And living in Iowa, we have the opportunity to participate in some unique political opportunities.

I'd be interested if anybody from Roland is going, if so, chime in below. I'm going, and will be voting for Ron Paul. I don't agree with everything of his, but I think his economic policy ideas are right on the mark. There are a couple other candidates that I find acceptable as well, but I think Ron Paul is the best of the bunch.

I gave the "speech" for Ron Paul at the 2008 Iowa Caucuses in the Roland/Howard Township precinct. We finished in a 2nd place tie with Romney locally, with Huckabee winning our precinct.

So who else is going to Ames next Saturday?

City Clerk Deneen Frost

Hate to have to go back to back with posts about people with cancer, but I have another one. Our City Clerk Deneen Frost was all set to come back to work today. She has been out on medical leave pretty much all year. But after some trips to Rochester, things seemed to get straightened out, and she was going to come back to work today part time.

However, things went south on Friday with some infection or something, and she ended up in Mary Greeley. And things really started going south. There is a website called Caring Bridge where her husband has been giving updates through all her medical procedures. This one got posted last night, and doesn't sound too promising. But I wanted to share it here, to let people know the seriousness of the situation.

Very Critical - Still FightingDeneen is in very critical condition. The doctor told me it was time to call the boys and tell them to come home. Deneen is on a ventilator and is to weak to breathe on her own. She has a very severe intestinal infection and is severely dehydrated. But she is fighting this with everything she has and is hanging on like a trooper. They are going to do some catscans and ultrasound tests in the morning.

The doctor told me it was highly probable that Deneen would not make it. Talk about a kick in the gut! But he doesn't know my wife like I do. If anyone can beat this, she can. We are remaining as positive as we can.

All prayers and kind thoughts and favors from the man upstairs are greatly appreciated! They have her sedated right now and are continuing to give her fluids and antibiotics.

MayGod bless you all, and all the cancer patients in the world!

Braland Benefit

Just wanted to share the info for the Steve Braland benefit coming up on August 6. Steve has colon cancer, and a benefit is being held to help his family with medical costs, and travel costs to Mayo Clinic. His kids go to Roland-Story, and obviously a tough time for the family. HERE is a flyer for the event.

July 25 council meeting

Pretty short meeting. Only myself, 3 of our 5 council members, 2 city employees, and our city attorney in attendance. Biggie was doing the paperwork to transfer the property on Cottonwood to its new owner. It is nice for the city to be rid of the property, and hopefully the new owner will be putting a house up there.

Alliant has been informed to install new street lights on Bryan and Arthur. We also have the street signs up to guide wayward travelers in west Roland.

We found out that our city clerk, Deneen Frost will be returning to work on a part time basis on August 1. She has been out since January with medical issues. So it will be great to see her back in City Hall. Janet Olson, our billing clerk has done a great job picking up the slack in the office, along with our temporary clerk, Jodi Meredith. Librarian Laura Urbanek has also been a great help with working on payroll for the city.

Eighteen minute meeting, which was a quickie. Those are always nice to have.

July 11 Council meeting

I missed the council meeting on July 11. Not sure when I missed the last one. Planned on being there, but was diverted due to my real job. I was toting generators around Story and Marshall Counties to cell towers that lost power due to the early Monday morning storms. Wow, there was quite the damage to corn fields in Marshall County. As I write this Tuesday evening, 40 hours after the storm, Alliant still has 15000 customers without power.

I was in Slater, Sheldahl, and Alleman this morning. They really got pasted too. Pretty much every house had a pile of branches in their front yard to be picked up. They still had trees in the streets in Sheldahl, and Hiway 69 between Huxley and Alleman was still closed this morning due to a major power line being down. We sure dodged a bullet. Roland's only power outage was along the north side of Maple from Bergen Church to Bear Creek. I think they were without power for about 10 hours or so.

As for the meeting, got some word of what all went on. The key thing was approving final payment for our new street.

As mentioned in earlier posts, I still have some city board positions to fill. If you have an interest, let me know...

Street Dance Saturday

Street Dance on Main Street in front of the Legion from 8 to Midnight. Live music by The Likely Suspects. Burgers and Brats served from 5:30 to 7:30. And here is my favorite video in front of the Legion.

Hit me up with events and news

Seems a little slow on the blog lately. I know there are events and such going on around town. If you would like me to publicize them here, I'd be happy to do so.

June 27 Council meeting

Not a lot on the docket, but we continue to move forward on a couple things.

Found out the electrical in the old library building is in reasonably good shape. So we continue to go forward in potentially moving City Hall into that building.

Also we are going forward with the hazard mitigation grant. Not a done deal that we will get it. But if we do, we would like to update the sewer main from Maple all the way to the sewer plant. This will help backups all over town. We need to be somewhat in a hurry, because it is possible some money could be redirected to the flooding along the Missouri. But we are looking at getting about a $300,000 grant. That would be nice, needless to say.

With the new fiscal year approaching, the city council approved a 3% pay raise for the staff working out of City Hall.

Fireworks on July 3

Fireworks will be around 10PM on Sunday July 3. For now, slight chance of showers, so hopefully we will be good to go.

Boards and Commission openings

Some terms are expiring on June 30 for the various boards and commissions in Roland. If you have an interest in any (Library, Pool, Planning and Zoning, Park, Board of Adjustments) let me know. Also if you care to volunteer someone else's name, that would be good too.

June 13 Council Meeting

Been busier than a one-armed paper hanger lately with my real job, and baseball umpiring. So posting here moved down the food chain. So a bit late, but here is a run down of the June 13 council meeting.

We are going to get some work done on the approach to the bridge over Bear Creek on Maple here coming up soon. That will involve some brief traffic disruptions.

We have budgeted for a new truck for the water department. That will be arriving soon. We are also selling our old S-10 on trade in. Got more that we expected, so that is nice.

We finalized the sale of the property near Britson Park. We also moved forward with the sale of the property on Cottonwood. It takes a long time to move property when government is involved. Probably a good thing to avoid corrupt stuff, but still a little painful that it takes so long. Having City Clerk Deneen out of the office doesn't help matters either. We are still missing her knowledge and experience in such matters.

We got a good report back on the structural on the old library building. The council is still moving forward with the possibility of moving City Hall into that building. We are getting the electrical checked next.

We approved a resolution closing Main Street for a street dance on July 2.

And we are still moving forward with the mitigation grant to help us cover improvements to the sewer system, which will hopefully help prevent sewer backups, and the damages that go with that, in high rainfall times.

We had a few other administrative things, but those are the highlights.

Another census stat

I was looking at the census stats some more, and one really came out and hit me. And I think it is a reason we have the lowest crime rate per capita in Story County. 94% of the housing units in Roland are owner-occupied. The people that live here have a vested financial interest in this community, and want to make sure it is a great and safe place to live. That's awesome.


I just as well post the info. HERE it is.

Roland census stats

Was looking thru some of the census stats for Roland that were recently released. High level stuff of note:
1284 people, 192 aged 60 and over, 317 aged 14 and under
629 males, 655 females
Median age 35.9 (this means half are older, half are younger)
98.4 of people are white
503 total occupied households, 308 of those households have a husband/wife type family, 191 of the occupied households have a child living in the house

City Wide Garage Sales

On Friday the 10th, and Saturday the 11th is Garage Sale Day in Roland. I picked up a flyer in City Hall listing the locations of the sales. Also the Kiwanis Club will be selling hamburgers, hot dogs, chips and drinks on Friday from 4-7, and Saturday from 10 to 3 at the corner of Cottonwood and Maple.

HERE is a link to the locations, and what is for sale--from the city website.

Pool update

Replacement parts for the failed pump at the pool are coming from California. The hope is that they arrive on Thursday, and they will be worked on that day. If the chlorine levels can be adjusted to normal overnight, the pool may be opened on Friday of this week. That is the hope and the plan.

Pool Temporarily Closed

The pool is going to have to be temporarily closed. Here is an email I got on the topic....

The impeller on the circulating pump at the pool kind of exploded, in a way, over night (apparently 10 years of chlorine eats away at metal). This means that the pool is closed until the pump gets fixed. It is on its way to DM now, but will probably not be back until Monday afternoon but more likely Tuesday. They have to tear it apart to see how many parts broke before they order new parts, so they will probably not get ordered until tomorrow and have them arrive Monday. I told them to have them shipped overnight to get them here ASAP.

Memorial Day Parade

Don't forget, the Roland Memorial Day Parade starts at 10AM on Monday at the Legion. Then it takes a pause at the Bear Creek bridge. Then everybody will head to the cemetery for a program. I think I have gone every year since I have lived here. A very simple parade and event, but very appropriate in remembrance of our veterans.

Pool's open!

The pool opens on Saturday. Yay! Pools are expensive, and they have a lot of stuff to break, and have leaks, and all that. But our Pool Board has done a great job on the prep work, and our city staff has done a great job keeping everything working. I know in years past we have had delays, due to late issues popping up. But no problems this year. So grab the suntan lotion, and enjoy our pool.

May 23 council meeting

We cut it close at the council meeting. We did not have a quorum at 6PM, but got it at 6:04, so we were able to have the meeting. Here are some highlights....

We had the public hearing, and approved the sale of the land from the park area on the east side of Arthur Drive. Still some more legal stuff to do, but getting closer to being done, so that is good.

We also approved the sale of the lot the city acquired on Cottonwood. We had 2 bids for the parcel, for $2100 and for $6000. Not what we wanted, and less than what we paid to have the rat trap demolished and all that. But hopefully we can get a dwelling on there, and paying taxes, so that will be good. Still awhile for all the legal hoops for the city selling something, but we have started the process.

We approved the continuation of having the Story County Sheriff's Dept be our police department for Roland. Our other options are to restart our own police dept, contract with someone else, or form our own jointly with some other communities. Though occasionally there is some idle chatter about one of the other options, but for now, we are staying with Story County.

We got a report on the opening of Bryan and Arthur. The barricades are down, feel free to drive on it. No official ribbon cutting. Still need some minor work, so there could be temporary closures, but we are good to go. Our citizens have noticed. I'm seeing a lot more walkers going by my house now, as they can complete the loop around Bryan and Arthur.

We asked our city guys to get an inspector up to check out our old library for soundness. We want to make some effort towards moving City Hall into that building, if it is sound. Not a done deal, but certainly interest in getting City Hall out of the water plant, and into a building on Main Street.

We talked about unmowed properties in Roland. The city can send a notice, and then bill the landowner. About half of the problem homes are in foreclosure though. Getting contact with the bank is tough, so we can just apply the bill to the taxes.

Lastly, we decided to go forth with applying for the mitigation grant regarding flooding. Still not too late to turn in copies of your receipts if you haven't, but time is close. Folks did not turn in as much as we expected, due to various reasons. That may limit what project we can attempt. But we are going to start the process, and hopefully that goes well. If it does, we might expect to receive $200,000 or so that we can use towards projects to help prevent flooding/sewer backups.

Tour of Innovative Lighting

After the council meeting Monday, I was invited to go on a tour of the Innovative Lighting plant on the west side of town. A group of REC folks were in Des Moines for some conference, and they took a field trip to Roland to see the plant, with some eating at our community center just prior.

I had not been in the plant for a couple years. Very impressive, and interesting what they are doing with making industrial lighting. Very bright, and very energy efficient. LED technology continues to improve, and we have something on the leading edge right here in Roland.

They split the group up into 7 different groups of about 8 people. One of the gentlemen in the group was from Georgia, and was on his first trip to Iowa. He was very complimentary of our state and our town. That is always nice to hear. Of course it was sunny and 75. I told him it was like that all the time here. I don't think he believed me.

Did my goal a week or so ago

In an earlier post I said my goal was to bike down every alley in Roland. Finally did that a week or so ago. Biggest excitement was stopping to talk to someone, and then causing a giant dog fight/circus. Dogs barking, and chasing, and just a lot of general commotion.

As for the alley tour, it is interesting to see another side of Roland that you don't normally see. I highly recommend trying the same thing.

Monday May 23 Council Meeting at City Hall

We are going old school, and moving the council meeting back to City Hall tomorrow night. The Community Center is booked with a group coming up to tour the Innovative Lighting facility, and they are having a meal at the Community Center.

So if you are attending the meeting, go to City Hall.

Housing Rehabilitation Grants

NEWS RELEASE

The City of Roland still has funding available to process approximately two more houses under the Housing Rehabilitation Program. This Program is a grant through the State of Iowa to help pay for the cost of rehabilitating single-family, residential structures located within the City limits.

The purpose of the Program is to assist low to moderate income persons to rehabilitate their homes in compliance with Iowa’s Minimum Housing Rehabilitation Standards. Typical repairs may include re-roofing, foundation repair, window repair and/or replacement, painting, re-siding, electrical, heating and plumbing work.

The City can provide assistance to made needed repairs for qualified applicants in the form of a deferred payment loan. If the owner occupies, and there is no sale or transfer of the house for five years, there will be no repayment obligation on the deferred loan portion. A sale prior to the five years would likely require at least a partial repayment of the grant funds. A mortgage and promissory note (lien against the property) will be executed and recorded. The amount of the assistance will be based on value of property and amount of work needed.

The home must be a single-family structure. The applicant must be the owner-occupant and must have resided in the dwelling for at least six months prior to application, and the household gross income must be below the following guidelines:

1 person and the total household income is below - $41,450

2 persons and the total household income is below - $47,400

3 persons and the total household income is below - $53,300

4 persons and the total household income is below - $59,200

5 persons and the total household income is below - $63,950

6 persons and the total household income is below - $68,700

7 persons and the total household income is below - $73,450

8+ persons and the total household income is below - $78,150

Other eligibility requirements include verification that property taxes, special assessments and mortgage payments are current, and the condition and type of property. Properties being purchased under Contract Sales or mobile homes are not eligible.

Applications are honored on a first-come, first-qualified basis. Applications are available to pick up at City Hall, or by contacting Simmering-Cory, Inc. (the City’s Program Administrators) at 641-357-7554. Questions can be answered by calling Melanie Mitchell at Simmering-Cory, Inc. at 641-357-7554. Equal Housing Opportunity

May 9 council meeting

Not a lot on the docket for this meeting. We moved forward on getting some property sold along Arthur Drive, and discussed the procedures for selling the property on Cottonwood. Bids are due this week by the way.

We talked about our mitigation grant application, and what it was going to take, and how many receipts are turned in. We don't have quite the expected amount of receipts yet. So if you have any from flooding, please turn in copies, it will help the city.

We approved a payment for a housing rehabilitation grant. We heard about that some concrete trucks did a washout at the end of a dead end street off Bryan. And we heard about pool cleanup and opening, which I think is around May 26.

Lastly, I asked about fireworks, and they are going to be on the night of July 3, with a rain date of July 5. And that is about it, as mentioned, a pretty light load.

While I'm ranting...

I have my previous post, and since I am in the spirit of ranting about stuff in Des Moines, here is another one.

Republicans are all about cutting the size of government. Right? Bzzzzt, wrong answer.

The Governor pushed for a new government agency, and the legislature OKed it. This agency (for now!) is going to cost $150,000 a year. It is to levy fines and punish local officials who knowingly break open meetings laws.

Ok, I'm not coming down on the side of breaking open meetings laws. But we already have the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board. Besides making sure candidates do the right thing at elections, they also investigate issues with city councils and school boards who skirt the open meetings law. We don't need another government agency to handle this, when we already have one doing essentially the same thing.

This all started with the shysters at the Iowa Association of School Boards who pocketed a bunch of money. So apparently the solution is more government.

My 2 cents on the unintended consequences of this. It serves as a disincentive for the vast, vast majority of people across this state who honestly and diligently serve on city councils and school boards--people who are just trying to help their community.

Most of these elections are uncontested. It is not like people are widely clamoring for these jobs. So now, if some citizen gets all honked off at the city council, they can call this new agency, and we potentially could get dinged with a fine for breaking an open meetings law or some other issue.

Not that we try to, but in the case of Roland, with Deneen, our city clerk out of the office, the council and I have been taking on a lot more things. Speaking for myself only, I am not proficient on all of the rules and such of city procedure. I try to do the right thing, but I don't want to end up with a fine for an honest mistake.

The Iowa Ethics board in the past has done a good job of keeping on the line of wagging the finger with an education component to help government officials across the state. I would say that state agency took the appropriate measures to help people do the right thing.

So another state agency. Rejoice! {sarcasm off}

Property taxes

There is a bill being proposed by Governor Branstad that will change how property taxes are paid in the state of Iowa. In theory, it is ok, in that the goal is to make Iowa more competitive when it comes to attracting businesses.

However, make no mistake about it. It is going to shift the property tax burden from commercial enterprises to homeowners. There are no spending cuts with this. It is all about who is paying the bill.

This is what really honks me off about what goes in Des Moines. And it comes from both parties. There are no spending cuts, but the legislators often talk about cutting property taxes and blah blah blah. Well, the deal is, that is not their revenue stream. Their main revenue stream is income tax. But if they were to cut that, then they would have to make the hard choices about cutting spending and such.

But if they dink with the property tax system, then the city councils and school boards across Iowa have to make those tough choices. And in this particular case, if we want to maintain our current services in Roland, we more than likely are going to have to bump property tax rates up for homeowners. And then we are the bad guys.

I would like to see the governor and the state legislature try attracting businesses by cutting personal and corporate income taxes. Wealthy business owners would be more likely to come here, if their personal tax burden were lessened, and their corporations would be paying less taxes. But of course, that would involve making tough spending decisions in Des Moines.

The good news for Roland, if this passes, is that we are not highly dependent on commercial property taxes. We have our businesses, but it is a small percentage of where we get our property tax. We are not a major retail or industrial hub. Cities like Ames are going to get hammered--with all their businesses, and shopping areas.

Potpourri

I was down at City Hall tonite signing the Poppy Proclamation, and saw some flyers of the Fire Department selling a truck and a heater/furnace of some kind. It was kinda dark, so didn't get all the details. But check out the bulletin board in front of City Hall if you are interested.

Don't forget, the city is still accepting bids for the lot on South Cottonwood.

And if you are down looking at the bulletin board, also check out the info for Garage Sale Day in Roland on June 10 and 11. Information is also on the front page of the city's website www.cityofroland.org

And lastly, there is a fund raiser for an electronic sign at the Community Center on May 5 from 5-7. RADC is putting that on. There is a free will donation for some eats. Sounds like a good time.

Poppy Proclamation

I signed a Proclamation tonite declaring May as Poppy Month. The American Legion Auxiliary will be around Roland distributing poppies. Always a good cause with those folks, so keep you eye out for that.

Giant bird spotted in Roland

You never know what you might see.

Click HERE

Apr 25 City council meeting part 2

As mentioned in the post below, a lot of stuff at the meeting, so here is part 2. We talked about Bryan Ave. If the weather ever gets nice, the crews can come in and finish paving the street. Looks like there will have to be some additional tile added.

I did a separate post on our discussions around the Mitigation Survey, just below.

We paid for the work done so far in Britson Park. Again, if it ever stops raining, the crew will get in here to do the grass seeding.

We also paid for the work on North Cottonwood ditches.

I guess that is pretty simple, since I gave the Mitigation Survey its own post.

I've also got a rant coming up about $4000 that we need to spend in the water department. But I'll save that for another day.

Mitigation grant

At the city council meeting Monday, the council and I divided up the names of all the people that responded to the city survey regarding flood or water damage, and had indicated they had damage. So far that was 60 some people.

We are calling those folks, and asking them if we can get copies of receipts to repair the damage, or receipts for expenditures to prevent future damage.

I talked to 8 different people tonite, and was really pleased by their willingness to help. Here's how they are helping, and how you can help if you did not respond to that survey, but had water damage of some kind.

The city, if we can verify enough damage, or expenditures to prevent damage, can use that towards receiving a grant for funds to help us prevent future issues. If we receive the grant, it will be a 1/1 match of receipts. So if we can prove $250,000 worth of damage/mitigation, we can get a grant for $250,000. We then have to use that money where it can help the most people in Roland, though the city would have to kick in an additional 15% of the cost of whatever we do.

We have not decided yet on what we will do, as we don't know how much money we can get yet. The thing we would love to do is build a new sewer trunk line to the treatment plant, which would help prevent backups around the city.

So if you have receipts, or insurance statements, or you did any work to fix up a basement after flooding, we'd love to get a copy of that receipt, and use that in our grant application. Please contact me or City Hall if you have any questions.

Oh yeah, if you responded in the affirmative already, you should be getting a call from me or one of the city council folks in the next couple days.

US Cellular invasion

If you happened to drive down Main Street on Monday, you would have seen about 9 US Cellular trucks by the Community Center. US Cellular is my employer, and I rented the Community Center for a meeting with our techs in Central Iowa. My cohorts were impressed with the facility, and it was a nice meeting spot.

I bring this up, just as a reminder that the Community Center is available for rental for meetings and get togethers, and all that. I am also renting it for my daughter's confirmation party this Sunday.

If you have a gathering, and need space, call City Hall for rental details. Also check on Linda Oppedal's brunch on Sundays at the Community Center. Good food, and no gasoline bill to drive out of town to eat.

Volunteers needed

Two volunteer opportunities that I am aware of. I need to appoint someone to the Planning and Zoning board. If that is something that interests you, let me know.

Also, help is needed in picking up the cans for the fireworks fund at the collection spot by Casey's. I think you are it for a week, or maybe a month, not really sure. But your job would be to pick them up occasionally, and bring them to the city shed. City council members Duane Canny and Larry Ford know more about it. Contact them, or let me know, and I can get you in touch with them, if that is a way you would like to help Roland.

City Council meeting April 25 part 1

I think we had the most agenda items for a meeting since I have been mayor--17. Though we got done in 75 minutes, so that is good. A lot of interesting stuff, so I'm gonna hit the high points, not sure I will get to it all tonite, but I will start.

We took care of some financial biz, for who is taking care of our bond. Deneen normally handles that, but with her out of the office, we have deferred the task of assuring payment to a bank. We also got an easement squared away for improving the sewer line for the E-W part of Samson Street.

As for that one, we are going to change how the Samson sewer line comes to the main trunk. When flows get high, it can backup down Samson pretty easily, on how the hook up is. It will be changed so the water would have to back up into Samson, instead of flowing directly into it. This fix is not guaranteeing no more problems, but it should cut down on them quite a bit, in the high flow times.

We also approved a produce stand, from a farmer south of Roland, to set up this summer on the city's lot north of Casey's. Sounds like this will be on Saturday mornings, and a nice feature for Roland residents to get some local vegetables and such.

I made a proclamation for May as Older Americans Month in Roland. We had a bunch of our active senior citizens come to the meeting, with a discussion of all the volunteer work they do in conjunction with Heartland Senior Services. Quite an impressive list of things these folks do in our community.

Lynn Schulte of RADC stopped by to talk about their efforts to get an electronic message sign for Roland. They probably want to put it near Casey's. It is going to cost at least $10,000, and RADC is trying to raise funds and get grants for that. There is going to be a fundraiser meal for this coming up on the 5th. Stayed tuned to this spot, I'll pimp it, when I confirm that. I do know it will be at the community center.

That's enough on the meeting for now. I'll add more later.

Lot for sale

Don't forget about the home building lot for sale by the City of Roland. It is on the west side of Cottonwood Street, in an established neighborhood. More details can be found on the city's website www.cityofroland.org

Ames/Story County Seed Capital Fund

I posted below about the start of a Seed Capital Fund for outlying areas of Story County. While it doesn't guarantee anything for Roland, it has the possibility of getting and helping businesses in our area of the county. If you are interested in investing in such a thing, I would recommend contacting the principals listed in the article that the Trib had today about the announcement meeting. The article does a good job with an explanation, so check it out HERE.

April 11 council meeting

Well the biggie of the meeting was approving our 2011-12 budget. We were delayed with that due to the issues of having Deneen out of the office. So glad to get that to the county auditor, and the state, and published, so we are good to go.

A lot of issues in regards to streets as well. We will be getting some cold patch on the spots on the streets that didn't fare too well over the winter. That will happen soon on a good weather day.

We heard about Bryan Ave. It turns out a subcontractor of our street contractor did not get the subdrain in deep enough. So when we dug up the street, we had standing water in the pipe, which likely led to the cracking of the new pavement, due to not getting water in the subbase to drain properly. So we are expecting the cost of repair will not be borne by the city. The contractor is also in town to fix the issues on the new section of Arthur Drive. Can't wait...I wanna drive down that new street!

We also got a report on the surveys the citizens returned about flood issues in their homes. As a council, we need to decide whether to go forth with this. We will need to ask those who had issues if they could give us copies of their damage receipts. If we can get those, we can get a grant for flood mitigation issues.

The biggie the city council wants to do is get a new sewer main to the treatment plant. Pretty much the entire town passes by the pool, and down Samson Street to get to the plant. And it is the same pipe from years and years ago, when the city had 700 people. So when we have big rain, it can get backed up with water from people who have sump pumps illegally running into the sewer, and from inflow from bad sewer pipes around town.

However a new main is going to cost big bucks--possibly in the neighborhood of $300,000. However, we could get an 85% match of receipts for flood damage in the past few years. It looks like we have upwards of $100,000 of damage receipts possibly from the survey. If that is the case, that would be $85,000 towards this project that would hopefully cure most, if not all, sewer backup problems that people in the Logan and Samson area are having with sewer backups due to high flows.

From our conversations over the past year, that is the one project that would benefit the most people. It would help a lot of people with sewer backups, and it would help the whole town by just having a better sewer system. So more details to come with that.

It is not a done deal by any means tho. Just want to reiterate that. To get the money, we would have to get actual receipt copies from people who had issues. So we will be having a special meeting to determine if we think we can get those receipts from folks and how to go about that. But those receipts would not have to be those with sewer backups, it could be from flood damage elsewhere in the town.

In other sewer stuff, we are gathering prices for a sewer main repair at the end of Samson Street. A connection from the E/W part of Samson to the main is not designed very well, so that causes sewage to want to flow the wrong way, to the east down Samson instead of south to the treatment plant during high flow times.

The council also approved a grant of $49000 to the Roland Area Development Corp to pay off the existing loan for the purchase of the building that houses the Roland Community Center. Don't forget about the Sunday brunch at the Community Center, and that the building is available for rent for parties and such. I've got it rented for a confirmation party coming up.

The council also set the date for the sale of a parcel of land on the east side of the Britson Park area to the adjoining land owners. The land is an island from the park, and the money from the sale will be used for park improvements.

For actual minutes of the meeting, just a reminder that you can read them at the City's website http://www.cityofroland.org

Library Clean Up this weekend

Got this email from Marvin Wright, president of the Library Board. I will be missing the fun, as I have baseball on Saturday (if the weather is ok). But if you, my loyal blog reader, can take my place, that would be awesome.

At Wednesday's meeting the Library Board set a clean up day for April 16 at 9:30. I have invited the City Council and the RADC to join us in cleaning up the remains of winter all along Main Street. We set April 30th as a rain date. I will pick up 2 bags of mulch for the front of the Library. Other projects include washing windows, dusting, removing the vines on the South wall, and hanging the blind in the furnace room. Other suggestions are welcome.