February 5 council meeting

Had everybody there for the meeting, which was nice, since we were going thru the budget. Ended up being about a 2 hour meeting.

Nothing much new in the department heads reports. Does sound like a few parking tickets were issued for violators of the snow ordinance.

Two members of the Park Board were in attendance to discuss a proposal to lease the North Softball Diamond in Erickson Park to the school district. I was approached about this awhile back and I think it is a good idea. Here's the deal. The softball program would like to drop some more money for improvements on the varsity/north softball field. But the improvements are more money than the city has available to spend on that project. The school potentially is willing to do so, but they would like to limit access to the field if they are going to spend that kind of money.

That makes sense to me. Occasionally kids go riding bikes on the muddy fields and such. Or people practice on the field, but don't rake out the holes, which lead to a deteriorating surface.

So, since the city is unable to spend the money to really upgrade the field, and the school is able to, they should be able to have some control on the usage of the field. So I think the city wins, but cutting down on the money we spend on the field, which is primarily used by the school. But a varsity sport, with a great tradition, gets to remain in Roland. The school benefits by gaining greater control over a field that they need to conduct game operations.

So anyway, reps from the school met with the Park Board and went over the proposal a couple weeks ago. The Park Board recommended the plan, and passed it on to the city council. And at this meeting tonite, the city council agreed with the concept. So where it is now, is to let the school know that the Roland Park Board and City Council are good with the idea. I presume it will need to go to the school board as well.

As an aside, it will be a similar arrangement as the high school baseball field. That actually is city owned property in Story City. The school leases it for like a $1 a year or something like that. But the baseball program maintains the field and has fences around it to lock it up and prevent usage by the casual user.

Here's what won't happen in Roland tho. The controlled area will only be the north field. The city will retain ownership and maintenance of the concession stand/storage/restroom building as well as the south field. Friends and Service will continue to run concessions as they see fit. Youth softball can continue to use the south field, and the fields at Britson Park (and as an aside, the construction of Britson Park made this possible. Previously, youth softball really needed the north field due to field shortages, now that is not as much of an issue). Youth softball could still use the north field for tournaments and such, if arranged through the HS softball program.

While up to the school, it is my understanding what they would like to do is install new bleachers, install taller fences, add dirt to the infield, and level and improve the outfield and the grass. So anyway, not a done deal yet, but moving in that direction.

Next up for the council to discuss was an ordinance regarding ATVs and snow removal. The council reviewed a similar ordinance from Ely, Iowa. The council generally liked the idea, and directed the City Clerk to draft an ordinance regarding ATVs that permitted their use on city streets when working on snow removal duties, with an attached implement, with a orange flag mounted to the ATV much like mopeds, and that the ATV would require a license from the City of Roland.

The council next discussed a Facade Grant Program that was available thru the county. It would involve funds matched from the property owner, the city, and the county grant program. The council was not aware of any potential businesses, and mentioned that the RADC made some work on this in years past. But if a business owner was interested, they should contact City Hall for potential consideration.

Lastly was the budget discussion. This was an easy budget to review. Even before any changes, we were showing more revenue than proposed expenditures. Lots of times we have to doing some hacking to get a balanced budget. But thanks to the efforts of our department heads and our boards, and the reasonable proposals they put forth, it made it easy for the council. It looks like we will be able to keep our property tax levy the same as last year, or maybe a smidge less. So the council and I went thru all the budget lines and pondered any changes. Some departments/boards had slight proposed changes up or down. We had representation from the Park and Pool Boards to discuss their proposals. That was nice, it is always good talking to them about their plans and what capital improvements they have in mind.

So here's what's next. The council came to a consensus with all the various line items in the budget document. Our City Clerk will tighten it up with the various small tweaks we came with. At the next council meeting, we will give approval to the final numbers and vote to have our official budget hearing on March 5. And then on March 5 the 2014-2015 budget will be official.

I'll have some more commentary on the budget in a later post. But the highlights are that we have a budgeted surplus, and we will be able to maintain or slightly reduce our tax levy rate. (which is already one of the lowest in the county).