October 16 Council Meeting

Had everybody for the meeting. Kind of a light load, so it went rather quickly.

During Citizen's Comments we heard a request from the Roland Area Development Corp for around $2000 for a sign along I-35 to tout the lots in our industrial park. Since it was not on the agenda, no action could be taken, and it will be discussed at the next council meeting. The RADC meets at Homestead Housing on the 3rd Monday at 6:30 PM, if anyone is interested in attending their meetings.

We got an update on the sidewalks in Britson Park. The sidewalk along the street is being installed, as well as the driveways to the parking lot.

The council authorized me to sign the contract with Veenstra and Kimm for Engineering work for our sanitary and storm sewer work. I said I would, pending approval from our city attorney. (As an aside, got the ok yesterday, and I signed the contract). The contract is to get V&K to start doing the actual engineering work, and not just the estimate work that was done previously. We also had a little discussion of how to pay for the sewer work;property tax, straight fee on sewer, usage fee or a combination of that. No decision was made. My preference is a straight line item on the sewer bill, across the board for everybody. I don't think it should go on property tax.

Lastly, we had a brief discussion about the billing clerk hiring process. As of the meeting date, we had 8 applications. I was at City Hall yesterday, and we are at about double that now. CM Balmer and Canny and myself, along with City Clerk Meredith will be reviewing the apps, and choosing candidates to interview.