Feb 22 Council meeting

Had a smaller attendance at the council last night. CM Varley was out of town for work, and CM Johnson was also out of town, but was able to attend via phone.

Here are some highlights:

We got an update from our city attorney regarding the abandoned house on the 200th block of S Cottonwood. We have a court date set up for late April which hopefully will result in the city taking possession of the house. If that were to happen, the city would be tearing it down. It is an eyesore, but it takes awhile to work thru the legal system, with lienholders, and the bank that has the mortgage, and all that.

We got an update from the library board. We saw the drawings of the 221 N Main location. Looked pretty good. Also some samples of the material to be used for carpet, walls, chairs, and such. The council also approved Bruce Gauley to the library board.

We have hired a water/wastewater operator. It is Nathan Hovick. We had 17 applicants, none with water/wastewater certifications. Three got interviews based on their work experience, and all had some valuable skills to offer. The council decided to go with Nathan, who had previously done part-time work for the city, and shown himself to be a capable worker.

The council did weigh one consideration with Nathan, that being that he is the son of our Streets Superintendent Harold Hovick. We investigated whether that is a nepotism issue, and it is determined that it is not, as they will both be department heads, with neither reporting to the other. Also neither is in control of the city's purse strings, which if that had been the case, they could be problematic, but again, that was not the case here.

So Nathan will be attending training to get his certification for pool, water, and wastewater. He already has his CDL, so he can use our big truck to move snow after our next snowstorm that I am sure we will get. He starts next week, so a big welcome (If that is necessary, as he has lived in Roland longer than me) to Nathan Hovick.