City says ‘buy local’
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The Mount Ayr City Council approved several equipment purchases during a relatively short meeting Monday evening.
It was the consensus of the council to purchase a Bobcat compact excavator from Vetter Equipment in Mount Ayr for $56,005.11. The city also received excavator bids from Titan Machinery of Des Moines ($77,800) and Ziegler Cat ($55,788).
There was some discussion that the Ziegler bid might be better for the city due to service and loaner equipment issues. However, the council determined that they wanted to keep the business local and agreed on the Vetter Equipment bid.
In the same vein, the council approved buying a truck from Glendenning Motor Company for $32,831 which was lower than a bid from Truck Equipment, Inc. from Des Moines.
These discussions came after the council approved a $307,000 General Obligation Equipment Acquisition note.
The council also approved the final payment for the Cleveland Street reconstruction project which was completed last fall. The final payment to Feldhacker Contracting, LLC was for $481,541.92. Several on the council mentioned they were very happy with the way the project turned out.
The council finalized the process for the sale of city property. The city will sell the house and lot at 306 West Monroe Street and will consider bids on the property. Any person interested in submitting an offer to purchase may do so by completing and returning a signed offer to city hall by 3 p.m. on March 1. The offers will be opened at the regular city council meeting that evening.
The city does reserve the right to reject all offers if they feel the price isn’t high enough.
Also approved were the following appointments to boards and commissions.
• Brent Wise, City Administrator
• Amanda Cannon, City Clerk
• Jodie Wurster, Board of Adjustments (5 Year Term)
• Trevor Kayser and Thad Streit, Park Board (3 Year Term)
• James Smith, Low Rent Housing (3 Year Term)
• Kim Greenland, Lynn Rinehart and Rick Stull, Zoning Commission (5 Year Term)
City Administrator Brent Wise led the council on a discussion about street and stormwater projects for 2021. Wise will compile a list of possible projects to be considered.
Also discussed was sewer problems on Sunset Lane. Wise believes that a new sewer main was put in the area years ago, but he doesn’t think any properties are hooked up to it and that houses in the area probably will experience problems in the near future.
The council discussed whether it was the city’s fault that there are sewer problems in the area and that property owners should not have to pay for extensive work done on their properties to solve the sewer problems. They discussed that perhaps the only cost to property owners would be to tap into the main.
Wise also briefly discussed the pool situation. He said he is working with the Ringgold County Development Corporation to see if any grants might be available and a plan and cost analysis is being done with ISG.
