November 20 Council Meeting

Had a reasonably short council meeting. We had moved it to Tuesday to let everybody get off to their families on Thanksgiving Eve. CM Sargent was not in attendance, so we had a quorum with the other 3 council members and myself. Got kinda hard to hear, as there was an event on the other half of the community center. I think that got everybody in the mood to take care of biz, and get out.

The council appointed Jerry Balmer to the city council to take the place of Chad Proctor. Jerry has served on the Roland Park Board for a few years, so I will need to find a replacement for him. He has done a nice job of helping out there. As an appointee, Jerry's term will go until after the next city council election is certified in November of 2013.

We discussed the open records policy. We were ready to approve, but after discussion, wanted to insert a deposit clause in there. So we will have that at the next city council election.

We also had a discussion about the pending open records request, and whether to waive some or all of the fee. That still is up in the air, as there still is some discussion as to what is really desired, and to have an attempt to keep the fee down.

There was also a discussion about the proposed donation of the Slagle building to the city. That is the building just to the north of the old library. The council to decided to investigate a DNR grant that may pay for the checking on if the building has asbestos. It is also believed that the building shares a common wall with the old library building, so we discussed the problems with that. The council budgeted to move city hall into the old library building. However, the council is now pondering whether maybe both buildings get torn down, and put a new building in its place. However, the council also wants to know what they are getting with the free building.

If memory holds, the building is assessed at around $10,000. But it is not in good shape, and probably just needs to be torn down. So more to come on that.

Soup supper and tree lighting

The RADC will host a soup supper on Sunday the 25th from 5- 6:30 PM as a fundraiser for the Roland Community Center. There will be various soups and bars. Also rumor has it that Santa may make a trip down from the North Pole for the event.

There will be a lighting of the city Christmas tree and a sing along at 6:30PM. The Christmas tree is right across the street from the post office.

Change in haircuts

There is an open house today at the Legion from 3 to 6 for Paula Wakefield, who is retiring from her barber business on Main Street. However Roland will continue to have hair cutting and more, at that location. Kylie Davis is opening Kylie's Hair Shoppe in December. Kylie will have walk-in cuts and more. Glad to see that spot continued to be filled with a business in downtown Roland.

Not really sure how long Paula has been cutting hair. I know she was there when I moved here 15 years ago. So congrats to Paula on her retirement.

November 7 Council meeting

Had all remaining 4 members of the city council in attendance. We set the plan for replacing Councilmember Proctor. A subcommittee of Canny, Ford, and myself will talk to prospective candidates, and then make a recommendation for appointment at the November 20 council meeting.

As an aside, we moved the Wednesday, November 21 meeting to Tuesday, November 20 so everybody could get over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house for Thanksgiving.

Back to the appointment, citizens can force an election through a petition. I hope that is not the case, because the election will cost us about $1000 or so. Also, this person will only serve through November of 2013.

We had a discussion about the fees for open records requests. We had one recently, and we are trying to get our ducks in a row for now, and for the future on how best to handle any request. Never had one before, so this is a good exercise for us to do the right thing and follow Iowa law, and have appropriate charges for requestors, and so the city doesn't take an unnecessary financial hit.

We got a report on the sump pump inspections. We are going to go forth with dye testing all homes that were "unknown". I think it was around 70 properties in Roland. I would guess most are going to pass. In most of of the cases, it is where there is a direct connection to the storm sewers, which is how a lot of the homes in our newer subdivisions were hooked up. But in a sense of fairness, and a lack of any hard documentation, we are going to test all homes. Also people who still have not responded for any test are going to get a reminder letter. If they still don't respond, they will be charged a $100 a month sump connection fee.

We had another discussion about the sewer system in Roland, and that is about all I remember for this meeting. Again, the next one will be on Tuesday, November 20 at 6PM

Turkey Trot 5K results

Had a great day for a run thru Roland on Saturday. Had 105 runners I think. The Howard Helpers 4-H club also hosted a breakfast at the middle school in conjunction with the run/walk. All the proceeds went to Britson Park construction.

HERE are the results.

Roland election results

In case you don't like digging in the numbers (If you do, go HERE), here is a brief look on how Roland/Howard Township voted:(I also will put a D or R by the winner of the race.)

Roland went with the winners, no matter the party, in all races except President.

Turnout: 1062 of 1350, or just under 79%

Straight ticket: 144 Republicans, 150 Democrats, 13 Libertarians (and I was not one of the straight ticket Libertarian voters, despite my preference for that party)

President: Romney 543, (D)0bama 486, Johnson 13, others 7, write-ins 10.

US House District 4: (R)King 510, Vilsack 500, Monroe 30, write-in 2

State House District 49:(R)Deyoe 602, Ericson 401, write-in 1

County Supervisor:(D)Clinton 531, Olson 285, write-in5

Auditor:(D)Martin 512, Stewart 441, write-in 2

I'll skip the unopposed races and all the judges except the Wiggins vote, which obviously got some statewide attention. In that case it was 471 to retain, and 437 to not retain.

Council seat to fill

PUBLIC NOTICE TO THE CITIZENS OF ROLAND, IOWA

INTENT TO FILL THE VACANT CITY COUNTY SEAT

The City Council of Roland, Iowa intends to fill the vacant council seat of Chad Proctor on the City Council by appointment at the November 21, 2012 meeting at 6:00 PM at the Roland Community Center located at 208 N. Main St. Roland, IA. Anyone interested in the appointment needs to contact Mayor Roger Fritz, Mayor Pro Tem Duane Canny, Councilmembers Larry Ford, Jeri Neely, Doug Sargent or the City Clerk no later than November 16, 2012. The filled council seat will be up for re-election at November 2013. The public has the right to file a petition requiring that the vacancy be filled by a special election. The petition must be filed with the City Administrator/Clerk no later than 4:30 p.m. on the 21st of November 2012.

The above is the official announcement. My two cents: If we hold an election, it will cost the city approximately $1000 in election costs. I'm sure the city council will find an interested, willing, and capable person to fill in for one year until the next election. I would prefer we do not spend the money to hold a special election. Ponder that, if any petition comes around requesting an election.

Election Night Soup Supper

The Friends and Service group always has an election night soup supper. This year is no different. It is a fund raiser for the library. So if you go vote or not, I endorse stopping up at the Legion and get some good soup. I think it is from 5 to 7:30 or so.