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.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
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.
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.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
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.
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.
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.
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.
Friday, April 22, 2011
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
Thursday, April 14, 2011
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.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
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
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.
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.
Hydrant flushing on Thursday and Friday
The city will be doing hydrant flushing Thursday and Friday, so some possible discolored water may be in the works. Might want to avoid washing the whites those days if you can.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Almost baseball season-at least in Roland
One of the things near and dear to me is the North Story County Little League. Practices have been going, but opening night is this Thursday in Roland, at the Middle School at 6PM. If you are out walking or biking, take a gander that way in the evenings. Best odds of finding a game are on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday nights, and Saturday middays.
If you have any interest in being an umpire, let me know. Always interested in adding to my stable of "men in blue". Or ladies. Play ball!
If you have any interest in being an umpire, let me know. Always interested in adding to my stable of "men in blue". Or ladies. Play ball!
Roland Home Business Expo
Things I learn on Facebook....The Roland Home Business Expo will be on Saturday, April 30 from 9AM to 2PM at the Roland Community Center.
I swiped this from the Facebook page for the event
Businesses to be represented at the event:
At Home America
Become
Brianne Osborn Photography
Close To My Heart
Creative Memories
Designs by Laura - unique jewelry creations
Dove Chocolate Discoveries
Fire Up Glass Fusion
Mannatech
Scentsy
Tastefully Simple
Thirty One Gifts
Tupperware
Uppercase Living
Watkins
For additional information contact Jeni Johnson at Jeni_Johnson@live.com
I swiped this from the Facebook page for the event
Businesses to be represented at the event:
At Home America
Become
Brianne Osborn Photography
Close To My Heart
Creative Memories
Designs by Laura - unique jewelry creations
Dove Chocolate Discoveries
Fire Up Glass Fusion
Mannatech
Scentsy
Tastefully Simple
Thirty One Gifts
Tupperware
Uppercase Living
Watkins
For additional information contact Jeni Johnson at Jeni_Johnson@live.com
Library Foundation Update
Got an email from Britany Danielson, President of the Roland Library Foundation with an update of what they have going on. Got her ok to share it here.
I just wanted to update you on what we have been working on. This winter we had the asbestos removed from the building {former Heart of Iowa Co-op admin building, across from the fire station-Roger} and last week we received the check from a Iowa DNR grant that paid for half of the cost, about $3,600. At the end of March we applied for another grant that if we get will help cover the cost of demolition which we hope to complete this summer. We are waiting to hear back from that grant.
Just a reminder that the Friends of the Library are having the annual Easter bakesale. The bakesale will be Saturday, April 23.
I just wanted to update you on what we have been working on. This winter we had the asbestos removed from the building {former Heart of Iowa Co-op admin building, across from the fire station-Roger} and last week we received the check from a Iowa DNR grant that paid for half of the cost, about $3,600. At the end of March we applied for another grant that if we get will help cover the cost of demolition which we hope to complete this summer. We are waiting to hear back from that grant.
Just a reminder that the Friends of the Library are having the annual Easter bakesale. The bakesale will be Saturday, April 23.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Downtown Roland
Alright, this isn't Roland at it's finest, but interesting anyway. Somebody sent me this link of some activity in front of the Legion in Roland. The first 30 seconds aren't overly interesting, but stay tuned after that. Tom Bergeron should be showing this on ABC at 6PM on Sundays.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Ames/Story County Seed Capital Fund
There is an effort afoot to get together a seed capital fund for communities in Story County outside of Ames. Ames already has one. It is for private investors, and then it has a board that decides which companies deserve funding.
I have heard the details, and it sounds like a good idea for outlying communities. It does not use any public money, but it is a way to help cities attract businesses.
What they are looking for is private citizens who may be interested in investing with this fund, in the hopes that the seed capital in small companies will offer a positive return.
There is a meeting on this coming up if you are interested. It is in conjunction with an Ames Chamber of Commerce meeting. HERE is a flyer if you are interested.
I have heard the details, and it sounds like a good idea for outlying communities. It does not use any public money, but it is a way to help cities attract businesses.
What they are looking for is private citizens who may be interested in investing with this fund, in the hopes that the seed capital in small companies will offer a positive return.
There is a meeting on this coming up if you are interested. It is in conjunction with an Ames Chamber of Commerce meeting. HERE is a flyer if you are interested.
Burn Ban in Effect
A burn ban has gone into effect for Story County, here is the press release.
Burn Ban Issued for Story County
NEVADA- A Burn Ban has been issued beginning at 5pm Monday April 4th, 2011 for all of Story County.
Due to increasingly dry and windy conditions, the Fire Chief’s of Story County have unanimously requested that a burn ban be placed in effect for all rural and urban areas of Story County until further notice.
Chapter 100.40 of the Iowa Code advises that the State Fire Marshal may prohibit open burning at the request of the local fire departments. Violation of a prohibition issued under this section is a simple misdemeanor.
Open burning in Story County will ONLY be allowed if the Fire Chief of that jurisdiction has issued a permit allowing open burning; or for outdoor fireplaces, barbeque grills, properly supervised landfills, or the burning of trash incinerators or trash burners made of metal, concrete, masonry, or heavy one inch wire mesh with no openings greater than one square inch.
Further information can be found at: http://www.dps.state.ia.us/fm/main/burnbans/index.shtml or at www.storycounty.com/emergencymanagement
Burn Ban Issued for Story County
NEVADA- A Burn Ban has been issued beginning at 5pm Monday April 4th, 2011 for all of Story County.
Due to increasingly dry and windy conditions, the Fire Chief’s of Story County have unanimously requested that a burn ban be placed in effect for all rural and urban areas of Story County until further notice.
Chapter 100.40 of the Iowa Code advises that the State Fire Marshal may prohibit open burning at the request of the local fire departments. Violation of a prohibition issued under this section is a simple misdemeanor.
Open burning in Story County will ONLY be allowed if the Fire Chief of that jurisdiction has issued a permit allowing open burning; or for outdoor fireplaces, barbeque grills, properly supervised landfills, or the burning of trash incinerators or trash burners made of metal, concrete, masonry, or heavy one inch wire mesh with no openings greater than one square inch.
Further information can be found at: http://www.dps.state.ia.us/fm/main/burnbans/index.shtml or at www.storycounty.com/emergencymanagement
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