New Code Enforcement Officer Patsy Worthington reported that she had talked to 35 people about cleaning up their properties and that there was good progress being made. She said that most of them had either cleaned up their properties to bring them into compliance with city ordinances or had promised to do so. She said that some of the most frequent issues she dealt with were brush, weeds, abandoned houses, abandoned vehicles, and dogs. "A lot of people were unaware that these were violations or that these posed a hazard for children," she reported. For instance, a kid could get into a trunk of an abandoned car and lock themselves in.
The next cleanup day will be October 18th with brush removal days set for all day on October 16th and until noon on the 17th. Worthington said that she was proud of the community for the work that was done in cleaning up the town and that she would write a letter outlining residents’ responsibilities that will go in the next utility and tax statements.
"This one on one interaction is really helping out," said councilwoman Linda Phipps. "We have to stress the fact that it’s the law that you have to keep your properties clean and that it’s not an option. People don’t realize that it’s the law."
Clerk Ayvonne Morin reported that a lot of people had come in and paid delinquent bills over the last month.
Phipps reported that there was water seeping into the deep end of the pool and that it needed draining. Workers put in some piling in the deep end to hold up the concrete; Public Works Director Carl Staton said that the city would wait until the pool renovation project was done before doing the road behind the pool because of the heavy truck traffic on that road. The city will meet with Auditor David Rowe in order to figure out how to finance the upkeep of the pool and to do budget work for next year.
Staton reported that the city crews were working on the streets and on oiling; he said that the oil cost less than expected and that the city was making progress. He said that the city was nearing the end of the second load of their oil and that they were about to start on their third. He reported that salt had gone from $52 to $60 per ton over last year and that it would cost the city $1,800 more for salt and sand. He said that more sand was needed this year because the rock for the streets was bigger this year.
The council voted to take two old pumps that didn’t work and make them into one pump that did for a cost of $4,900 for the old lagoon. The motor was bad on one and the pump was bad on the other one; Staton said that the alternative was to get a new one for almost twice the cost.
Staton reported that the lagoon permit would not be as bad for the city as expected. The city would have to take five samples for testing at an estimated cost of $185 per month and would have to conduct a wet test that would involve keeping minnows alive for 48 hours for $500.
If the wet test were to fail, the city would have to keep conducting them until they passed two consecutive tests; Staton said the nearest place that would do the test was in Pittsburg, KS. However, Staton said that Brock Pfost was trying to set up one in the area that municipalities could use. Clerk Ayvonne Morin said that a lot of the new mandates that would be coming down the pipe from the EPA would be based on the current round of testing.
Staton said that the city was trying to stretch the oil as much as possible by keeping the edges of the streets from breaking off.
Mayor Debbie Roach reported that she had checked into funding for a possible pool bathhouse/community center grant for the city and that there was a possible 55/45 match for the city on the bathhouse and that the city could take out a guaranteed loan for their share of the match. She said that one possibility was doing the bathhouse first and then the community center two years down the road. Currently, the city is paying off loans on the asphalt, backhoe, and the tractor; the asphalt will be paid off by 2013. Roach said that the city needed to sit down with City Auditor David Rowe in order to figure out how to finance these projects.
Phipps said that the new bathhouse was needed for the pool because the rafters on the current one were rotten and could fall in at any minute. The council took no action on any grants for the bathhouse or community center because Roach and council members said they wanted to meet with Rowe first.
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