The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
The La Harpe City Council met on Monday, June 13th for the first meeting of the month. The minutes and treasurers report and paying of all bills from May were approved.
In old business, Eric Moe addressed the council saying he had talked to Trish Yaeger from Rural Development and she said La Harpe is eligible to receive the grant money that the city is going to use for the Archer Street Lift Station area sewer study.
Rural development only has $17,000 available of the $24,000 requested. The city will need to contribute the remaining $7,000.
This will take the cities total cost to $15,000. The motion was made and approved to do this project.
The city is doing this study because they are having problems with ground water and the possibility of peoples eaves, troughs, and vents being hooked into the system that shouldn't be.
Three suggestions were prepared for review for the drain improvement project down by the Park Lane and the clubhouse. The storm system will be televised to see if there is anything else hooked to it causing the problems, and the results and estimates will be brought back to the council.
In new business, resident Chuck Cecil brought up his concerns about semi parking on Main street, and about U-turns being made on Main street.
Parking for semis is allowed on the north side of the highway but not on the south side of the highway or the park.
This is because the road by the park will not withstand the weight of the semi and it causes a safety issue to park them on the south side of the highway. No reefer parking is allowed.
There are several No U-Turns signs on Main street.
He also mentioned the amount of skateboarders on the sidewalks of Main Street.
An update to the Weed Control Ordinance was passed. The ordinance was rewritten to todays standards.
If the property owner is told to mow their grass once, if it gets over 8 inches again, there will be an automatic fine.
Also, from the West end of town at the city limits to the East end of town at the city limits, it is against the ordinance to throw grass on to the highway. This is a main issue with the storm drain system.
The Prevailing Wage Ordinance was passed.
Council got good comments on how nice the cemetery looked for Memorial Day weekend.
The council received two bids for the re-roofing of the buildings at the sewer plant.
The bid was awarded to Shores Construction of La Harpe for brown metal roofing.
Central Tank Coatings put in a bid to paint the water tower building and the lime building for $6200. This motion was passed.
The black squad car was hit with overspray from painting the water tower.
Mayor Brown was notified of this just recently although it was too late for it to be taken off.
Eric Moe will be contacting the company that painted the water tower to see what can be done.
The council passed a motion to hire Tanner Smith to trap, check out and transport and release the foxes on Main street out of the city limits to the timber. He will be paid $25 per fox and mileage.
A motion was passed to send letters from the city attorney to the business/building owners on Main street to secure their buildings so animals cannot inhabit them.
There will be " no parking" signs put up at the Ayerco corner. Vehicles have been parking on the sidewalk and thus block view of the traffic.
Not to mention, people have to walk out onto the highway or into the parking lot to get around them. Signs are being purchased for this purpose.
The Sunday school class at La Harpe Christian Church has asked if they could work at the cemetery and fix and set up old headstones. This was approved.
Mayor Brown also noted that the city maintenance sheds need painted, and we need to keep the weeds, etc . trimmed and get rid of the extra steel laying around.
He said, "We cannot ask people to take care of theirs, if we don't take care of our own."
The old Dollar General building is up for sale or lease.
There are signs posted in the windows at the building.
There is some interest in new businesses possibly coming to town.
Council was also asked about the possibility of putting a sidewalk out to the new Dollar General.
Mayor Brown said he will look into it and grants are available to help with this.
They are also looking into extending the 35mph zone out to the new Dollar General.
The fencing has all arrived for the split rail fence to be put up in front of the Lincoln Trail and the old cornerstone of the school at the city park.
Those in attendance at Mondays meeting were Mayor Ken Brown, Alderman Brian Lovell, Darryl Kraft, Mike Bennett , Vicki Burford and Marcia Stiller. Councilman Todd Irish was absent. Also present were City Treasurer Marcia Neff and City clerk Lucretia McPeak, City employees David Little, Wayne Humphrey, Willo and Daniel Carpenter and Dean Spangler.
City Attorney Kurt Dittmer, Eric Moe, Doug Endres, Chuck Cecil and Christy Kienast were in attendance as well.
The next city council meeting will be June 27th at 7:00pm at the City Hall.