April 18 council meeting

About a 75 minute meeting, with the entire council in attendance. We talked about the new sewer trunk line. It is the council's interest to carry on with the project. So the next step is to talk to the property owners on Samson who would have the trunk line pass through their property near the creek. The city engineer and city staff will show where the proposed line would go.

We also talked about a new sewer trunk line down Elm. That discussion is not very far along, and no decision was made on that idea.

We approved the contract for cleaning and painting the water tower. That is going to cost the water department $89000. It will be painted inside and out. This is the first time it has been painted since its installation in 1995.

It will have the same color, except the underside of the bowl will be painted black to hide the mildew. Also, we are going to have the Norsemen head painted on the north side of the tower, hopefully to scare Tigers, Hawks, Cubs, Raiders, and Rams into submission.

We heard that there is a tower company interested in putting up a 150 ft monopole tower in Roland on city owned property. No particular action was taken on it. Potential spots for the tower would be behind the city shed just northeast of the Key Co-op property, in Britson Park, or near the sewer plant. If approved, the city would collect rent from the company for leasing the land.

We got a Ragbrai update. Reminder that there will be a public meeting on Monday, May 14, at 6:30 PM at the community center to discuss all things Ragbrai.

We updated our ordinance on grass cutting. It now says the city may come in and mow the property when the grass/weeds reach 8 inches or more. The landowner will be tagged a minimum of $175 if that happens.