Oskaloosa City Council 6 August 2012

Oskaloosa City Hall

By R.D. KEEP

Oskaloosa, Iowa – Oskaloosa city councilors met in regular session Monday considering a number of issues. The meeting was relatively routine until one of the last items on the agenda – a resolution to be placed on the November general election ballot increasing the water board from three to six.

Councilor Jason Van Zetten asked if an additional question could be placed on the ballot to determine if the citizens of Oskaloosa would be in favor of dissolving the water board. The request seemed to catch everyone by surprise. The request began a banter regarding the need for a vote and how it would affect the proposed ballot question.

The council is under a deadline of August 29 to provide ballot language to the county auditor. The deadline is set to enable the printing of the ballot question to meet the requirements of announcement and printing of ballots prior to the November election.

Councilors discussed if both questions could be placed or would two questions are confusing. Other council members were unsure there was a need to ask the question. Van Zetten cited a recent building purchase by the board without checking with the city to determine if there were other city space available.

In the end it was determined it would be best to table the issue until the August 20 meeting. It was also decided a work session with an invitation to the water board would be in the best interest. That meeting will be scheduled sometime in the next two weeks to allow councilors to study the ramifications of any changes to the water board.

Jason Glasgow, 1808 South Park, spoke to councilors about a complaint about his chickens. Glasgow stated his family purchased four chickens this spring and has been keeping them. He was notified by fire chief Mark Neff recently that the chickens were a nuisance and needed to be removed. Councilors stated they had received some complaints about the noise from the rooster.

Councilors approved the second reading to change traffic ways in the northwest part of the city. The changes include:

• Converting a three-way stop to a stop only for eastbound approach at Orchard and North Green Street.
• Convert four-way stop to two-way for north and southbound approaches at Orchard Avenue and Santa Clara Street.
• Convert four-way stop to stop only westbound approach at North I Street and M Avenue West
• Convert three-way stop to stop only for northbound approach for northbound approach on North I Street at M Avenue West
• Convert from westbound approach stop to stop only for northbound approach at North H Street and M Avenue West
• Add a stop sign to stop only for eastbound approach at 238th Street and North green/Laveen Avenue

The stop signs near Penn Central Mall for east and westbound traffic will be removed and were added to the above-mentioned locations. The third reading will be at the August 20 meeting.

City manager Michael Schrock brought to councilors’ attention that the city’s Community Block Grant that had been used to develop the Kid’s Corner Child Care project expired on February 29, 2012 and will not be renewed. All invoices for costs were approved.

In other business:

• Held a public hearing on weed cutting assessments. No speakers were on hand and the resolution passed. The assessments will add $2,500 to the sanitary sewer fund.
• Approved scheduling a pubic hearing on the plans, specifications and bid letting for the Mall Storm Sewer project. Cost estimate is $79,120 and is expected to take about 20 working days to complete.
• Approved Dan Karow as a member of the Planning and Zoning Commission. His appointment will expire on April 30, 2017.