Looking into a grant to help with slip lining sewer lines, looking at an alternative to the Taylor/Hayes sewer extension project, an update on other grant projects, possible summer work help, approval of the proposed 2010-11 budget, roof repair and a tree trimming complaint were all part of a three-hour discussion for the Mount Ayr city council at its meeting Monday night.
I-Jobs sewer work
The new I-Jobs bill has allocated $35 million to go to communities with populations less than 10,000 for water quality and wastewater projects. Jeremy Rounds from the Southern Iowa Council of Governments was on hand to talk about projects the city of Mount Ayr might have they would like to apply for under the program.
The council suggested that the city apply for funds from the program to slip line the sewer lines around the square area.
If the slip lining is done to the sewer lines there, streets and alley would not have to be dug up as much, saving a good deal of time and expense.
It was decided to seek a grant for a $400,000 project that would slip line the sewer lines around the square and a block or more off the square. The work would be done as far as the money would go.
Funds for the program will be based on median household income, estimated user rates as a percentage of household income, per capita debt of the system and the unemployment rate, among other factors.
The amount of grant and loan for the projects has not been determined but the council decided to go ahead and see if they could land the grant from the program, knowing they could reject it if the terms were not what the council wanted. The loan for the program is at 3.25 percent, which is better than the city could bond for.
Council members also asked about seeking a grant under the program to build a new clear well and water storage facility for the city to replace the water treatment plant building at the old reservoir.
If enough information can be gathered before the March 30 application deadline, a submission of a grant for this project may also be made.
Taylor/Hayes sewer extension
Rounds also reported on the sewer project to provide sewer service to North Taylor and North Hayes Streets in Mount Ayr.
After a long delay, the environmental study has been completed and a notice in this week’s Mount Ayr Record-News provides a comment period for the project.
The project has a Community Development Block Grant of $418,000 which would be matched by a loan to the city left over from the loan taken out when the city sewer treatment plant was expanded. The next step in the process would be to take the sewer project to the bid phase.
At the meeting, however, some council members were having second thoughts on spending that much money on gravity flow sewers to serve 19 homes.
“It will take 84 years to pay for the improvements through sewer use charges,” council member Gerald Cannon noted.
City council member Brent Ricker said he thought the city would be better off changing to a system that had grinder pumps at each residence that hooked into a pressurized sewer line that would take the sewage to join up with the city sewer system gravity flow lines.
This would be a system like is used at Sun Valley Lake and in small town sewer projects that the Southern Iowa Rural Water Association is designing for small communities around the area.
“I think it would be a major waste of money to run the gravity flow lines in the area when the homes can be served much more inexpensively,” Ricker said.
Jeremy Rounds said that the alternatives were ones that should have been raised years ago and the option was discussed when the decision to go with the gravity flow lines was made. Low income home owners in the area were promised that they would only have a $500 hook up charge and monthly sewer bills when the lines were placed.
Possibilities of the city purchasing the pumps and then giving them to the property owners or taking on the maintenance of the pumps itself was also discussed briefly.
When council members discussed using a different engineer on the project, Rounds cautioned that changing engineers might mean that the grant would have to be turned back. In any case, changing the plan would mean that a new facility plan would need to be developed and approved by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
Rounds suggested that the council talk with the current engineering firm, Howard R. Greene, about what a rough cost estimate would be for the design, construction and operating costs for 20 years for the alternative plan as compared to the plan currently in place. The council should also ask what the change would do the the facility plan for the project.
The council decided to seek this information from the Howard R. Greene firm and discuss the project further at the March 15 meeting.
That way a determination could be made on whether the project could be completed for less than the $400,000 which would be the city’s share of the larger project now designed and ready to bid.
Grant project updates
Rounds also gave updates on two other grant projects.
He noted that he had been working with the committee that has been raising funds for a new aquatic center at Judge Lewis Park and noted that they were having trouble getting large amounts of funds raised.
He noted that some bills have been presented and will need to be paid. He recommended that engineering work beyond the bathhouse element that the Federal Emergency Management Administration grant has been received for be stopped until the group can come up with the money to pay for it.
The pool house building that will double as an emergency shelter should be able to move ahead if matching funds can be found.
Rounds said that the committee may need to steer the design for the aquatic center so it does not cost so much.
He noted that Corning did their center for about $2 million, which is a good deal less than initial estimates for the Mount Ayr pool.
The work on the housing rehabilitation grant that the city received is moving forward without any hitches, he noted.
Bids for remodeling work on four homes that qualify for the program should be ready soon, he said.
Summer help
Council member Kirk Greenman, city superintendent Chuck Waske, city clerk Pam Poore and mayor Don Solliday had prepared a list of summer projects for the city that they though were feasible with the crew the city has.
They included regular projects like getting the swimming pool ready to a number of street projects as well as some sewer line work.
Poore told the council that she had applied for Summer Youth Training Program help where 18 to 21 year old youth would work on city projects for the summer.
Council member Kirk Greenman also noted that the county has used an I-Jobs program where more experienced people work for a short period without cost to the city.
There was a long discussion about projects, with the council agreeing to seek some SYTP employees and look into some I-Jobs employees to help over the summer.
One of the jobs the SYTP employees would be used for is replacing brick paving with the major job to be done between CGI Foods and Pamada on Fillmore Street.
The council discussed the mowing that is done by the city crew each summer and and decided to keep having city employees do the mowing at the airport, old lake and city properties around town with the big mower but to seek bids for the city property mowing jobs where a smaller mower is needed.
The city will need to purchase a new mower to be able to do these jobs and if bids are inexpensive enough, the city will hire out this mowing to save city crew time for other projects.
The council also will look into the possibility of having some of the summer pool staff help with the painting of the swimming pool which will need to be done this summer -- a project done about every five or six years.
Budget approval
A hearing was held on the Mount Ayr city budget for the 2010-11 fiscal year and the budget was approved.
No one attended the meeting to discuss the budget and no written responses to the budget were received.
The Mount Ayr city budget calls for revenues of $4,059,816 for the year of which $511,037 would come from property taxes. Levy rates would be $15.04 per $1,000 of assessed valuation for regular property and $3 per $1,000 in assessed valuation for ag land in the city limits.
The amount raised by property tax compares to $604,030 raised in 2009 and $501,905 estimated for the current year.
The budget calls for expenditure of $1,075,473 for public safety, the majority of which is for the new bathhouse/storm shelter at Judge Lewis Park in Mount Ayr.
Public works budget is $440,175, culture and recreation budget is $220,486, community and economic development budget is $341,571, the general government expense is $110,275, debt service is $174,183, and capital projects budget is $15,000. Expenditure for business type enterprises is $1,843,157.
The budget calls for expenditures over revenues of $204,950 for the year with the ending fund balance dropping to $891,967 from the current projected $1,096,917 at the beginning of the fiscal year.