The Minonk City Council discussed the options for a community swimming pool at its Monday night meeting, July 2. Mayor Bill Koos said that the Millennia Group has looked into building a swimming pool some years ago and there also has been a couple of ad hoc committees over the past 15 to 20 years.
Koos said before we can really determine what kind of a water activity area we are going to have we need to determine whether we want a swimming pool, a water park area, or a combination of both.
Another decision to be made is where to locate the facility.
Koos added that "We need to ask how we are going to pay for this facility. They are very expensive, but there is grant money out there. Whether we would qualify I do not know."
The Mayor said that paying for a pool is not just paying for the physical structure of it. There is going to be ongoing maintenance every year and we will have to figure how much maintenance money will be available to us as well.
Koos said that he would like those Councilmen who are interested in this project meet with the City Administrator and start the research as to what kind of facility, pool structure, or water activity areas are available to use for a town of 2,300 people and what is affordable and where to put it. Koos added that once this is done then an ad hoc committee can be formed.
Alderman Cunningham said that the beginnings of the ad hoc committee should be members of the Council and if need be add more members of the public to that committee or to one of our existing committees.
Alderman Petersen agreed and said that the ad hoc committee is good and at a later time we can get more members of the community involved. He added "The most important thing was to get it started and for the City to take the lead and not depend on anybody else."
Mayor Koos asked the Council which committee they would like to refer it to and Alderman Petersen responded Public Works Committee and then call in joint meetings later.
The Council assigned the beginnings of the ad hoc committee to the Public Works which is chaired by Alderman Petersen and composed of Aldermen Jenkins and Carls.
Flooding problem at 4th and Locust
Robert Hochecker (338 Locust Street) addressed the City Council about the flooding at the corner of Locust and Fourth Street and said that he had came up to City Hall three years ago and five years ago and was promised that the problem of the flooding would be fixed and it still has not been resolved. He said that he has seen canoes and john boats floating down the street by his house and kids playing in the water after big rains since he moved into his house at that corner.
Hochecker said that the last big rain on Saturday June 26, 2007 was the worst for him. He said that water was six steps from his front door and that when he looked under his crawl space he could hear water running. It was not a trickle, but a steady stream pouring into his crawl space. Also, he had water sitting at the top of both of his toilets and three inches of water backed up into his bathtub. He said that he has had enough and he has only lived in this town for eight years and he wants it fixed, but he knows other people have been dealing with it for many years longer than he has.
Robert Hochecker said that he knows there are many steps to take to solve this problem, but it seems that you would start with the lowest part of the town first instead of other places first. He said that I have just had enough and I want it fixed.
Mayor Koos said that intersection of 4th and Locust is the lowest intersection in town and that the City is looking at several different options to fix the flooding problem at that corner. Koos said "Either way it is going to be very expensive and we have been budgeting money for this project, but none of those plans as of yet have been proven they will work. There has not been enough work done to insure that getting that water out of that corner by just hooking into the storm sewer is going to solve the problem. A lot of our problem exists outside of town where our storm sewer actually discharges."
Alderman Cunningham said that it discharges into a creek a ¼ mile east of town, but then it is forced to go through a very small tile another 1 1/8 miles north and that is where the restriction really is at.
Mayor Koos said that the City has budgeted $34,000 this year for a study to determine whether the City can build its own new retention pond on the north side of town. Koos added, "We have a bond coming up in two years for $300,000 that we are going to be able to extend and Locust Street is the primary concern of that bond. I will be right upfront with you, until we know we can solve the problem we are not going to be throwing money at Locust Street. Money has been set aside in the budget for the last two years. We have planning money, and the bond coming due in two years is going for solving the Locust Street flooding problem."
Alderman Cunningham said that he wanted to stress that the City spent $300,000 on storm sewers eight years ago as well as what has happened to the sewers. He adde that "it is not like we have not spent any money on this problem. That area of town drains a lot faster today because of the improvements that we have done than it used to."
Hochecker said that the City needs to prevent people from driving through the intersection when it is flooded by blocking off the streets to traffic. He said that he was speaking for everybody at that corner.
Mayor Koos said that the City has received numerous complaints about that corner over the years and that we are working as quickly as we can to find a solution to the flooding problem. Koos said, "We may have an alternative that was not available to us before and this is one reason we may be able to get real solutions to that problem. We may be able to solve the problem of all the water having to go east of town with a retention pond north of town. The grades have been shot for this pond to insure that we can get the water diverted so that not all of the water is going east of town. If the grades work and it is viable and we can afford it, it will tremendously speed up the project. We should know this by the middle of September."
Kona Taylor (319 Locust Street) said that she lives in the middle of block and her kids were the ones who had the john boat. She said that she has never seen people boating in other streets in town after rains.
Angela Attig (337 Locust Street) said that she can see outside looking through her foundation in her basement. She also said when she came home from her honeymoon that her deep freeze and washer and dryer were floating in the water in her basement from the flooding. She closed by saying that she was glad that Mayor Koos was able to explain the problem to us in more detail and she knows that it takes time to fix it.
Municpal Bulk Water Sales
Mayor Koos said there have been some questions about bulk water sales. Koos added that bulk water is available at the pump house at a rate of $1.00 per 100 gallons (13.37 cubic feet). Arrangements must be made with the Public Works Department. Bulk water sales from fire hydrants are prohibited.
Koos said that we need to find some clarification here if we are going to allow bulk water sales from the fire hydrants. He added, "If we are, then we need to get Council approval to change this ordinance and if we do we will need to purchase our own fire hoses and other equipment associated with that. We will have to be able to provide for anybody that may have a need for a large water quantity out of a fire hose."
Koos said that if the Council wants a strict interpretation of City Code 13.02.020 Section D, then there is really nothing that has to be done. The section says no bulk water sales out of fire hydrants. Koos said, "Either way, I need some direction as to how the City Council feels about this and what we are going to do about it."
Mayor Koos opened the floor for discussion. There were no comments from the City Council members so Koos said that the ordinance will stand as written and no bulk water sales out of fire hydrants and this requires no action on behalf of the City Council. That means that under any and all circumstances, there is to be no use of the fire hydrants for any kind of use other than fighting fires of flushing of hydrants according to City Codes and things of that nature.
Public Comments
Jolena Catarinicchia (511 Oak Street) addressed the Council about a delinquent water bill at her rental property located at 527 Oak Street which was left by a former tenant. She asked if the City has a collection agency retained to help landlords collect unpaid bills as she has a bill for $756 left by her last tenant at her rental property. She said that the tenant got a written notice from the City in January 2007 that if their bill of $274 was not paid the water would be shut off. The tenant paid only $214 and left an unpaid balance of $60, but the City did not shut off the water as they said they would do in the letter and as a result her tenant ran up an even bigger bill the before the City finally shut off the water on February 5, 2007. She said that if the City would have done what they said they were going to do and shut the water off in January, she would not have been stuck with a bill for $756.
Alderman Cunningham asked what is the policy for partial payment of a water bill and said he did not know if there is one. He said that we need to know the chain of events of what happened.
Mayor Koos told Catarinicchia that he would address this issue tomorrow.
City Council Comments
Alderman Petersen said that the last he heard the bulk fill was down again and it is going to become an issue. Several people have tried and it was down and then was fixed and down again and he was not sure it is back up and running again.
Mayor Koos that no one in this City can ever guarantee that the bulk water sales filler will always work 24/7. Koos asked, "Do we want strict interpretation of this ordinance or if we want to allow some situational or discretional usage of hydrants.
Alderman Cunningham asked why the bulk fill is not working.
Alderman Petersen replied that the City just went this spring to a coin/token operated fill valve and a week after it was installed it went down.
Alderman Cunningham said that he was all for strict interpretation, but did not want to address this as any situational. He said there will not be situations as long as the bulk fill works as it should and we need to make sure that it does work.
Alderman Petersen said that it has been five years since the bulk fill worked right and that the City Works crew had to operate it manually and keep track to the charges.
Alderman Petersen moved to table Municipal Bulk Water Sales until the next meeting and also to allow in an emergency situation to fill out of the fire hydrants at a cost equal to the amount of water that is going into the pool if the bulk fill supply is not in operating form.
Mayor Koos said that if that bulk fill is working, then that means they cannot use a fire hydrant.