By Mari Radtke
Jessica Whitney accepted one of the Primghar City Deputy Clerk positions. At the regular meeting of the council on Wednesday September 13 she was on her own. Without experience and limited training council members are needed to fill shoes to keep the many municipal projects moving forward.
Two agenda items were removed from the agenda. The resolutions to approved the street project bidding and the resolution to approve year-end transfers were placed prematurely on the September agenda.
The LED street lights are no longer available. Staff is looking for replacement parts to repair the lights on the square. The life expectancy of lights is generally 10 years. The insides of the poles are being replaced at a cost of $475 each pole. The replacement also has a 10-year life expectancy.
A broken water line to a vacant lot on the square was brought to the attention of council. The alley between South O’Brien School property and the back of a row of commercial buildings on the square was flooded. At least one building was reported to have been getting water in the basement and the water was reported to have gone near the basketball court of the school playground. Landowner Tracy Lenz attended the meeting to discuss the flood. She is an affected property owner. Her property is low and has water infiltration from concrete poured in the alley to her east.
She also noted that the water on her yard has nowhere to flow off of her property. Some possible fixes were considered with none selected. The issue was not an agenda item.
Several other resolutions were easily passed. A public hearing to set an October 11 public hearing date to propose leasing real estate owned by the city passed to Kids Kampus.
A resolution proposing amendments to water, sewer and electric rates passed. Council also waived the second and third readings of those ordinances. The electric rate increase of .2% is recommended by Missouri River Electric Services (MRES). The water and sewer rates are being increased to be able to cash flow the debt to the State Revolving Loan Fund (SRLF) for the expansion of the city’s lagoons. Finance advisors to the city recommended the rate increase anticipating the cost of the lagoon project to rise dramatically.
A resolution approving the construction contract and bond for the wastewater treatment plant was approved. The resolution is expected to be the last item needed to fulfill all requirements of the SRLF.
By resolution, council also approved Ahlers & Cooney to amend the city’s Urban Revitalization Plan to reflect the changes imposed by state passed legislation, House File 718 that will take effect July 1, 2024.
Council also granted the mayor the authority to approve change orders necessary to keep construction of the wastewater treatment facility moving.
Purchase of a trencher in the amount of $3300 was approved. Replacement parts are expected to still be available in the reasonable future. A discussion of charging customers for the trenching developed. Customers have historically had a private contractor to do the trenching when a meter or other necessary infrastructure was added to a property.
One of the two newly selected deputy clerks declined the job, leaving a second opening. Mary Schmidt attended September 13 to learn more about the position. Schmidt will start immediately as an assistant to Jessica Whitney. Schmidt serves on the ambulance squad and has been a nurse’s aide for 20 years. She is expected to be the lead ambulance driver during business hours.
There was no finance report presented at the meeting, but Mayor Kurt Edwards shared that staff from the City of Sanborn may come assist the new Primghar employees.