Wednesday Nov 3 planning meeting

We had a planning meeting on Wednesday. Not a typical council meeting, this was more to just ponder what we were going to do with various projects. We also got updates on the situation on various infrastructure issues.

For storm sewer/rain run off issues, here is where we are going. For Ryan, we are going to wait and see what the work in the field to the east will do for us. We are hoping it will drain better, and prevent water going into Ryan Circle. We are also investigating the legal issues regarding items in the drainage easement.

For N Cottonwood, we are working with our engineer to immediately (before Spring springs) clean out the east ditch along Cottonwood, and longer term investigate new pipes or culverts to drain the area to the west.

For Britson Circle, we are going to haver our engineer work a plan to grade the Britson Park area, and have the runoff from that area drain to the west, and hopefully keep the rain water from that area going into Britson Circle. This will also start the process for prepping Britson Park. This also needs to be done before Spring springs, so the Park Board can get grass planted in there.

As for Sanitary Sewer, videoing has determined that the sewer line on the 100th block of Logan(north block) is somewhat crushed. The video company did not have a camera to get through the section. We are going to attempt to get another one, to see if it is like that the length of the street, or just at each end where the crushing is. If it is just at those spots, we may be able to dig out those areas, and replace the pipe. If it is the whole way, it will be digging up the sewer on the entire first block of Logan. And by the way, it is directly under the street, so that will mean digging up the entire street. Good thing we have an alternate route about to open!

Or, depending on what the engineer says, we may run a new sewer line to the south to the treatment facility from Logan, and the houses just on north Logan might be fine with the crushed line (it is not completely crushed by the way, just compacted somewhat that reduces capacity.) The advantage of running a new line to the south out of Logan, is that it takes the Logan/Arthur/Bryan load off the main line that serves most all of the town that runs by the pool and goes south. That will help the rest of the town in high capacity situations. So stand by on that. Not gonna be cheap no matter what.

A relatively inexpensive fix that will help around 10 homes in the Samson area is to redo a manhole where Samson turns from East/West to North/South. The way it currently is engineered, causes sewage backup on the line to the east in peak flow times. Changing how the pipes run and connect, will cause sewage to flow more directly to the treatment plant.

Another joint storm sewer/sanitary sewer project would be to redo the service lines from the Vine Street area to the creek/sanitary main. Not much headway with that one tho. That will be rather disruptive, as it will need to tear up some streets for a couple blocks. No price tag yet, as that is an early discussion, but it will be big, should we decide to go ahead with that. The advantage is it would help ground level flooding in that area, all the way down to Casey's. And it would help relieve the sanitary sewer system in general for the city.

We also discussed a storm water utility to help pay for this. We decided it wasn't necessary at this time.

We had some discussion of sidewalks. We are sticking with our policy of requiring them on all new construction in the city. Not perfect, but hopefully will help out a city council 40 years from now.

We are announcing the sale of the property at 209 S Cottonwood. We will be accepting bids on that lot. More details to come. Same thing for the old library at 218 N Main.

We had a review of the tree trimming letters and process. We could have done better. We did think it was important for everyone to follow the ordinance, and keep the trees and such cleaned up. But the process of notification could have gone a little more smoothly.

Gonna drop into all opinion here. This is one where I have heard some grouching. I would hope the council and employees are given some thought from citizens of our positive intent. We often catch grief about the town not looking its best. Here is a case where we did some notifications to make an improvement. When it is the other guy, the council often gets slammed for sitting on our collective thumbs. When it gets close to home, literaly, we get slammed for being overbearing. Again, not saying the process was perfect, but the staff, through the direction of the council was trying to get things to done to clean up the town a bit.

And speaking of cleaning up the town, we also discussed what to do about properties that are in a state of clutter. This is something that always seems to be with us. And based on legal opinion, we often can't do anything about it. But in some cases we can. The thing is, it costs money for attorneys to fully prosecute such things. In the recent past, we have tried the sugar instead of the vinegar, because it is cheaper to send a pleasant letter, asking, not telling, someone to clean up their property. And in many cases, we have had good luck with that. Doesn't happen all the time. So in this meeting, we have started the process to find out what it takes to bring the "vinegar".

Couple other minor things too, that you can read about in the minutes I'm sure. All in all, a productive meeting, and a way to get some goals and priorities laid out.