May 23 council meeting

We cut it close at the council meeting. We did not have a quorum at 6PM, but got it at 6:04, so we were able to have the meeting. Here are some highlights....

We had the public hearing, and approved the sale of the land from the park area on the east side of Arthur Drive. Still some more legal stuff to do, but getting closer to being done, so that is good.

We also approved the sale of the lot the city acquired on Cottonwood. We had 2 bids for the parcel, for $2100 and for $6000. Not what we wanted, and less than what we paid to have the rat trap demolished and all that. But hopefully we can get a dwelling on there, and paying taxes, so that will be good. Still awhile for all the legal hoops for the city selling something, but we have started the process.

We approved the continuation of having the Story County Sheriff's Dept be our police department for Roland. Our other options are to restart our own police dept, contract with someone else, or form our own jointly with some other communities. Though occasionally there is some idle chatter about one of the other options, but for now, we are staying with Story County.

We got a report on the opening of Bryan and Arthur. The barricades are down, feel free to drive on it. No official ribbon cutting. Still need some minor work, so there could be temporary closures, but we are good to go. Our citizens have noticed. I'm seeing a lot more walkers going by my house now, as they can complete the loop around Bryan and Arthur.

We asked our city guys to get an inspector up to check out our old library for soundness. We want to make some effort towards moving City Hall into that building, if it is sound. Not a done deal, but certainly interest in getting City Hall out of the water plant, and into a building on Main Street.

We talked about unmowed properties in Roland. The city can send a notice, and then bill the landowner. About half of the problem homes are in foreclosure though. Getting contact with the bank is tough, so we can just apply the bill to the taxes.

Lastly, we decided to go forth with applying for the mitigation grant regarding flooding. Still not too late to turn in copies of your receipts if you haven't, but time is close. Folks did not turn in as much as we expected, due to various reasons. That may limit what project we can attempt. But we are going to start the process, and hopefully that goes well. If it does, we might expect to receive $200,000 or so that we can use towards projects to help prevent flooding/sewer backups.