City green lights storm water projects
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By Jeff Snyder
MOUNT AYR, Iowa — The Mount Ayr City Council gave the green light to several storm water projects during its regularly scheduled meeting on Monday night at City Hall.
The council gave the go ahead to start four different storm water improvement projects. The projects were previously put out to bid and the city received six bids to complete the planned improvements. The winning bids were submitted by C&J Conservation, Friday Excavation and Joiner Construction. C&J was awarded two of the four proposed sites.
Bids were solicited on behalf of the city of Mount Ayr by Garden & Associates, LTD a professional engineering firm that specializes in municipal projects such as these. Bids were considered on the basis of the ability of the contractor to perform per the bid specifications and the lowest proposal costs. The projects were split up and assigned a project identification label based on the proposed construction location. Project (s) A and C were given to C&J Conservation. “A” is located on West Street. “C” is at Tyler Street Street. Project “B” was awarded to Friday Excavation and will take place on Webster Street. The last location to be worked on was project “D” to be performed by Joiner Construction out of Plano, Iowa. This work will be performed on Garfield Street.
Since most of the funding was already in place for these projects, work is expected to begin as soon as the calendar turns into August and is targeted for completion by Thanksgiving.
Those impacted in these four location are all too aware of the need for these improvements. Excessive rains in June placed more pressure on the need for these improvements as flooding was excessive during this time. Although the rains during June were unusual for that time of year they did serve to form somewhat of a wake up call to the needs for infrastructure improvements throughout Mount Ayr.
The cost to complete these four projects came in under the expected budget with the total of all four bids was $494,312. Original budgeting was expected to exceed $500,000.
In other council business, newly sworn in City Clerk Emily Uhlenkamp-Ekel discussed the results of a survey the city solicited recently regarding the cities waste disposal procedures. Currently, the city of Mount Ayr provides its own in-house trash and recycling service to its residents. The survey was intended to give the town a chance to voice their opinion regarding possibly switching service to an outside vendor — Waste Management.
Results of the survey produced a mixed bag of responses. Approximately one third of the respondents were in favor of keeping the current services as they are. One third wanted to explore an outside vendor and the remaining third not indicating any preference.
After deliberation the council determined that keeping the trash and recycling service the way they currently are would be the best available option at this time. Trash pickup reliability and flexibility in the service provided by the city was of paramount concern according to the survey.
In other house keeping items on the agenda City Administrator Brent Wise went over the results of the city’s audit performed by the state of Iowa. There are many administrative procedures that each city in the state must adhere to in the day to day operations of any incorporated municipality contained in the state. Wise pointed out that recent changes to in-house personnel, along with ongoing difficulty with the city’s primary administrative partner G-Works, has created a number of challenges to city staff. Each of the deficiencies pointed out in the Iowa Auditor General’s report are being addressed and implemented on a going forward basis.
Wise is confident that the corrections and changes suggested by the state would be fully implemented before the switch over to the city’s new administrative partner Frey Municipal Software company. Having reliable accurate information in the system is critical to a successful switch over to new software.
The council moved on to a discussion regarding a request for bid on new print solutions for the city. In lay person terms, the city needs a new copy machine. Although somewhat of an over simplification, the city does rely on outside vendors for the current data management equipment they use. Bids for replacement equipment have been received and are currently under review by city administration and the council that free up the funding for equipment replacement. Additional research will be undertaken before any final decisions are made regarding this substantial investment.
The council were unanimously in agreement to accept the generous offers made by the community that will allow the Mount Ayr Fire Department to add some much needed equipment to their arsenal.
First was a fundraiser event that enabled the department to garnish enough community support to replace its aging Midwest Dive and Water Rescue Team Trailer. With the necessary funds having been raised, the department ordered a replacement trailer with an expected delivery date some time in early fall. Also, the department was granted the funds to purchase a high tech drone complete with modern infrared cameras and surveillance equipment. Additionally, the fundraising efforts were successful enough to allow for formal training classes and the FAA required licenses needed to operate the drone within legal limits. The department expressed its gratitude to all the donors and the community for the generous outpourings.
The council also reviewed detailed job descriptions that were produced for all city employees. These descriptions were created in an effort to streamline on-boarding of new city employees as well as giving the individual employees a chance to review the city’s description of what they do day-to-day and compare them to the actual responsibilities they perform on the job.
“It gives the employees a clear understanding of the job duties connected to their title,” Wise said.
All agreed it was a good thing to have feedback from the employees on these descriptions.
The council also discussed a specific nuisance property located within the city limits — the old concrete plant located on Columbus Street. The owner had been notified regarding the nuisance status of the property. The owner responded to the city complaint and indicated that the old plant would be demolished within the next 60 days. The city will continue with its nuisance stance until such time the deconstruction is complete.
