Story County Youth Volunteer Awards

I got to attend the Story County Youth Volunteer Awards at ISU on Tuesday night. It was hosted by the Volunteer Center of Story County and the ISU Student Activities Center. Angie Hunt of KCCI was the award presenter. Anyway, it was for grade, middle, high school, and college age young folks who had been nominated for the good work they do in Story County.

I had a vested interest, as my daughter was nominated for her work at the Roland Public Library. But it was neat to see and hear all the other stuff kids had done around the county. Also had quite a few from the Roland-Story area. Thomas Wilgenbusch was nominated for his work at the elementary school in Story City. All there were a bunch of Cub and Boy Scouts from R-S, due to their work as a group.

It got me thinking about volunteers in Roland. Just on city boards and commissions, 1 in 8 residents from Roland is on the city council, or a board/commission. Then we have another 20 or so guys on the fire department, and more that also do the EMT thing. Then of course we have Kiwanis and Friends & Service, and those who are boards at the churches. And of course there the youth sports coaches and plenty of other things I am forgetting about right now.

So I think all that volunteering makes for a healthier community. But back to the program I attended, don't forget, there are kids out there volunteering as well, and making Roland a better place. And it was nice to have a public recognition of that.

April 18 council meeting

About a 75 minute meeting, with the entire council in attendance. We talked about the new sewer trunk line. It is the council's interest to carry on with the project. So the next step is to talk to the property owners on Samson who would have the trunk line pass through their property near the creek. The city engineer and city staff will show where the proposed line would go.

We also talked about a new sewer trunk line down Elm. That discussion is not very far along, and no decision was made on that idea.

We approved the contract for cleaning and painting the water tower. That is going to cost the water department $89000. It will be painted inside and out. This is the first time it has been painted since its installation in 1995.

It will have the same color, except the underside of the bowl will be painted black to hide the mildew. Also, we are going to have the Norsemen head painted on the north side of the tower, hopefully to scare Tigers, Hawks, Cubs, Raiders, and Rams into submission.

We heard that there is a tower company interested in putting up a 150 ft monopole tower in Roland on city owned property. No particular action was taken on it. Potential spots for the tower would be behind the city shed just northeast of the Key Co-op property, in Britson Park, or near the sewer plant. If approved, the city would collect rent from the company for leasing the land.

We got a Ragbrai update. Reminder that there will be a public meeting on Monday, May 14, at 6:30 PM at the community center to discuss all things Ragbrai.

We updated our ordinance on grass cutting. It now says the city may come in and mow the property when the grass/weeds reach 8 inches or more. The landowner will be tagged a minimum of $175 if that happens.

Ragbrai Meeting on Monday, May 14

The Roland RAGBRAI Committee will be hosting a meeting at the Roland Community Center on Monday, May 14, at 6:30PM. They already have the ball rolling, so this will be to talk about booths, and volunteers on the day of, and all the other details that go with having RAGBRAI come to town.

So keep the date free for the meeting, and keep Wednesday, July 25 free when the traveling circus comes to Roland!

April 4 Council Meeting

Had a council meeting just over an hour tonite. Some of the things discussed or mentioned:
Fire hydrants will be flushed on April 12 and 13. So those aren't the best of days to do your white laundry. That can stir up dirt and rust in the water system.

Got a report from the folks that went to the Ragbrai meeting in Webster City over the weekend. They will be looking for more help to pull this off. They have a book of tips and ideas for communities hosting--from bike parking, to shade, to permits for vendors. More to come on this.

Britany Danielsen of the Library Foundation talked to the council about the city taking over maintenance of the lot the Foundation holds, kitty corner from the post office(formerly the Heart of Iowa Co-Op office building was there). Since it was a bare lot, it wouldn't be much, other than keeping the weeds down. The council decided they didn't really want to take that on right now.

The council talked about the trunk line sewer again, and got an update that the proposed route has been surveyed. There was input from the public regarding sewer flows on the east side of Roland, and what was to be done there. If I can restate the consensus of the council--they are aware of issues in many spots in the city. However, they wish to start closest to the sewer plant, and work back. Also, the new sump pump plan will also hopefully get excess water out of the system.

The council also approved the hiring of Doug Gerjets as the new park maintenance employee. He is replacing Ed Nerem, who passed away. Doug will be in charge of mowing at the city parks and maintaining the facilities in the parks. It is a part-time position, with a lot more hours to be done during the heavy grass mowing spring season.

Bleed Red and Black T-Shirts

The Britson Park Committee is selling T-Shirts that say "Bleed Red And Black" and have the Norsemen logo. It is to help get fields going for youth sports here in Roland. If you want one, the closing date is this week.

HERE is the order form.

Lots of visitors to Roland last weekend

First up, on Saturday, 151 people registered and ran or walked in the Spring Training 5K Run/Walk. It was a fundraiser for Britson Park & Athletic Complex. There was also a pancake feed at the Legion at the same time. With runners getting free pancakes, and non-runners able to pay for them.

I was really impressed with the number of runners we had. About 50 were walkups, which I'm sure were waiting to see what the weather was like. And it was really nice.

The course was a nice tour of the city. We couldn't run out west by the park, as there is no safe way to get runners on/off Maple without doing road detours and all that. But I am proud of the all the people that volunteered to help with this, such as the Kiwanis, and there efforts on the pancake part, and the folks who actually set up the race. As a runner, I appreciated the locals who sat out on their sidewalk and encouraged us.

Then on Sunday, about 10 different fire departments came to Roland to participate in the burning down of one of the elevator buildings on the Key Co-Op property. Key wanted the building down, and so it was used as a training opportunity. Off the top of my head, I saw fire trucks from Slater, Huxley, McCallsburg, Colo, Zearing, Nevada, Story City, Radcliffe, Boxholm, Jewell.

I know we had a good crowd on hand to watch. It was a good drill for the fire departments. I know we dammed up the creek, and used the water from the creek for some of the drill. Here is a short video I made of the burn.