City Council passes 1st reading of snow ordiance
[poll id=”4″]Oskaloosa is one step closer to having a modified snow ordinance. At Monday’s city council meeting, the Oskaloosa City Council voted 4-3 to modify the snow removal ordinance giving residents 48 hours to remove snow and ice from their sidewalks after the storm hits. However, This ordinance did not come without criticism. During the public comment part of the meeting, a local resident spoke out against the proposed action. “I don’t necessarily believe that extending the snow removal deadline will do anything but make the situation worse.” The resident noted Councilmember Aaron VerSteeg’s comments about the proposed change at previous meetings as their reasoning for why they oppose it. “Our current ordinance works fine and I believe that by extending the ordinance, it will do nothing but make a growing problem even worse.” This item has been of concern since the December 2009 blizzard. The proposed change will modify the ordinance to give residents 48 hours after the end of a snowstorm to remove snow from their sidewalks before they can get ticketed. The council now must pass 2 more readings for it to become official. The motion failed at the previous two meetings due tied votes as a result of absent members.
In other business the City Council:
denied a request from Pricella Elam for a reduction in her sanitary sewer charge
Appointed Pam Blomgren, Randy Clark II, Michelle Purdum, and Beth Danowsky to the Enterprise zone commission all for terms ending on June 30th, 2010
Approved an application for IJobs money to be used for North J Street and J Avenue sanitary sewer improvements
Approved a contract with Cunningham Inc to replace the boilers at the Oskaloosa Public Library
Received Annual Reports from Mike Vore, Water Department, and Mike Sytsma, Oskaloosa Public Library
Received a quarterly report from Sherry Vavra, Mahaska Community Recreation Foundation
