Parking lot in at Britson Park

Rock has been delivered for the south parking lot at Britson Park. It had been just a grass lot before. But fortunately this year has been so dry, anybody could pull in there without sinking in. I think it took 500 tons of rock, and it will hold about 55 cars if everybody parks like in a normal parking lot. We got a nice donation from Martin Marietta to get us the rock at a much reduced rate. It came from the mine just northeast of Ames. Thanks to our city staff for helping us to get it leveled out and such.

Britson Park is not just for baseball/softball either. Roland Youth Soccer is also playing out there now. We also hope to get the concrete for the sidewalks poured here soon.

Here is how the parking lot will lay out.

Google Maps Streetview Car in Town

Or so the rumor is. I didn't see it. Their previous trip only took them down Main Street and Maple and Cottonwood. Anybody see them on streets that aren't the main 3? I've always wanted to moon the Google Maps car. Some people have pulled that one off. Use Google to search "mooning the Google Maps car". There are a few out there. Also search for "weird stuff on Google Street View". Good surfing there. Here is one of my "clean" favorites.

City Election

Well, the filing period for City Council elections has come and gone. In Roland, there are 4 spots up for election--me, for Mayor on a 2 year term. There is a 2 year city council position to be filled, currently held by Jerry Balmer, who was appointed to fill the term of Chad Proctor, who had to move away. Then there are two usual 4 year positions, and currently Duane Canny and Brian Hill fill those positions.

So here is who has filed for those positions....Brian Hill is the only candidate for the two year position on city council. Jerry Balmer filed for re-election in one of the 4 year slots. Duane Canny chose not to run for re-election, but Andrew Webb has also filed for that last open slot. So we have 3 people for 3 slots on the council. So that is good. Not that you can't write in somebody else if you think they would do a better job.

As for mayor, let's ask Lyndon Johnson...

So yeah, I did not file for re-election. Being Mayor has its ups and downs. I really do enjoy helping make Roland a better place. And I'm not going away. I'm still going to help with Britson Park construction, and maybe join a board or commission. But 4 years here is enough (along with 8 on the city council). Gonna attend to family biz for a couple years. I am open to doing it again later on, just not right now. So start thinking of who you think would be a good mayor. Maybe you?!?!?

How it will work is the top write in candidate will get the job, if he/she accepts. If declined, the 2nd place write in candidate will get the job. If that person also turns it down, the city council can appoint whoever they see fit. If you have questions about what being a mayor all involves, let me know.

Sept 18 Council Meeting

Had all council members there for the meeting, it took a little over an hour I think.

We heard that the crack filling project bids were in and we got a reasonable bid from Dennco, so we be starting on that yet this fall. That was pretty much it of note from department heads.

We like to bring our main boards in once a month on a rotating basis to give us a headsup on what is going on with their boards. Library Board president Steve Olson came in and gave a brief report on the library. There is a new Children's Librarian, Sarah Almond, and her programs are doing well. Otherwise it sounded like things at the library were going good.

We had a presentation from the Ames Resource Recovery Plant. That is where all our garbage goes after it is picked up by Stone Sanitation. We have a 20 year contract with them to take our garbage, and it is coming up in 2014. I see no reason why a change is in order. They do a nice job. It is interesting how they mix our garbage with coal to make electricity, and how they use magnets to pull out metals for recycling. That is a place where Roland residents can take used motor oil, and other hazardous materials, such as paints for no charge (at least in small amounts). I encourage you to use that facility. They also take sharps as well. That is the preferred method to dispose of them, if perchance someone in your family has a need to use needles. (Please don't just throw them in the garbage unprotected--for the safety of sanitation workers!)

We had a brief discussion about water/sewer charges for watering yards at new houses. A "policy" is possibly coming on that. We also approved our annual financial report. All was well there.

We finished up with a longer discussion of the sewer trunk line project. We got the estimate for boring it under Cottonwood Street versus Samson Street. They came $60,000 apart, with Cottonwood the higher one. If the council chooses to go forth with this, they have to decide the merits of each route. Going under Cottonwood effectively would divide the town's sewer route, with everything from Cottonwood east using the new line, and everything west of Cottonwood using the existing trunk route. Going under Samson would put the entire town on the same line (like we are doing now, but only with a bigger line)

The other thing pondered, while we were doing this work, and which we have pondered in the whole grand scheme of work, is running a new line east up Elm Street (north of the school). Everything South and East of the school currently goes north all the way up to the bank on Main Street, and then around to the pool. This new construction would give sewage in that area of town a more direct route to the sewer plant, and keep flows down in the NE part of town, where we have had issues with sewer backup. (And again, normally we don't have issues with our sewer, but when we have lots and lots of rain, rain water tends to get in our sanitary sewer system).

Then, while working that way, we also discussed upgrading the storm sewer work in that area, while we have everything tore up.

So still some discussion to figure out what should be done. As always, contact me or a council member if you have questions.

Pretty slow...

Not really sure why, but there doesn't seem to be a lot going in Roland lately. I'd like to update the blog with news or other stuff, but just not sure what it might be. If you have a community event, feel free to pass it along to me, I'd be happy to publicize it here. I also take care of the city Facebook page, so if appropriate, I'd post info there.

For usual city business, not a lot going on now. Just a reminder, I have a couple city board positions to fill, let me know if you are interested in doing something like that.

I do have one community event coming up this Saturday. There is a fund raiser this Saturday at the Middle School. Here is the info lifted from the Facebook page.

Liam is the son of Peter and Libbey Schmitt. He was born on June 17 at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin where he had his first heart surgery. Liam has a congenital heart defect and will require several surgeries. We will have a supper, games, and a live auction. More information will be added as it gets finalized. Mark your calendar now to come and support Peter, Libbey and Liam! HERE is the link to the Facebook page for this event.

Are you a small business owner?

Got this email. FYI if you think this fits you.... Dream Big Grow Here 2013

BY ADMIN, ON AUGUST 27TH, 2013

The Iowa Innovation Gateway is offering an opportunity for entrepreneurs and small business owners to receive a $5,000 cash grant to be used to help start or expand their business.

This grant, called DREAM BIG…GROW HERE, will be given to an entrepreneur or small business owner with 50 or fewer employees and is located in Jasper, Mahaska, Marion, Marshall, Poweshiek, or Story county.

In order to qualify for this DREAM BIG…GROW HERE grant, the entrepreneur must submit a proposal during the time period of September 3 through September 27, 2013. From October 1 through October 15, on-line public voting will be done to identify the top business ideas. The top four vote-getters and one wildcard will be given the opportunity to present their ideas to a panel of judges on November 13, 2013. The panel of judges will make the final decision and will award the DREAM BIG…GROW HERE $5,000 grant to the winner.

DREAM BIG…GROW HERE regional contest winners will be invited to participate in a statewide pitch-off this fall for a $10,000 grand prize judged and awarded at EntreFest.

The DREAM BIG…GROW HERE contest enables IIG to learn more about the region's entrepreneurs while providing them with an opportunity to promote either their proposed business or their dreams for their current business. The DREAM BIG…GROW HERE contest would not be possible without the support of Iowa Banker's Association, Renew Rural Iowa, Delta Dental, Iowa Economic Development Authority, Technology Association of Iowa, and VentureNet Iowa and our local sponsors DMACC Business Resources and Marshall Economic Development Impact Committee (MEDIC).

To submit your dream or learn more about the contest follow this link.

September 4 Council Meeting

Pretty quick meeting, and had everyone there except CM Hill. We talked about future street repairs and updates. The north block of Main Street and the street just east of Casey's going north from Maple will be getting asphalt updates. Then there are various repairs and crack fillings that we will be doing. In the City Clerk report we talked about the County Supervisors meeting Jodi and I attended to make a presentation for our grant request for asbestos abatement at 218 N Main (the old library building). We should know by October or so if we will get that grant ($12,500 we asked for)

A couple of quick resolutions were passed. We awarded the bid for asbestos abatement, and to authorize the Clerk to transfer some funds into savings. On that last part, it was money that was budgeted, but not spent. If the money was set aside for some future project, we simply need to do a resolution for moving it to savings.

We had more discussion on the sewer trunk line project. An idea was proposed by our city staff about changing the route of the line. We had always focused on Samson because we wanted to run down the back yards of those folks. But since that didn't work out, we just planned to go under the street. But after more pondering, if we were going to have to go to the expense of boring under a street, a thought was presented about taking it under Cottonwood. The distance is the same, and we would not have to cross the property (where we already have an easement) of one homeonwer, and one farmer. The existing trunk line would continue to serve pretty much everything west of Cottonwood. The new line would serve everything east, would cut down on 2 blocks of potential sewer line we were going to put in, and be prepped for any growth to the south or east of Roland. Sounded like a pretty good idea. Now we just need to know what the cost difference may be. So the engineer working on this project is going to shoot us an estimate on that, and we should know at the next meeting.

That was pretty much it, and we had a quicky, only 25 minutes. Next meeting is on the 18th.