Waukon City Council discusses ordinances for daycare location and pools of water

by Dwight Jones

The Waukon City Council met in regular session the evening of Monday, March 7 with a full council in attendance. Under Departmental Reports, Chief of Police Clark Bollman updated the Council on the implementation of the vicious dog ordinance, and stated that his department is currently investigating two referrals for situations where the ordinance may not be being followed.
Moving on to Regular Business, the Council approved the proposed annual budgets for both the City and Veterans Memorial Hospital. The Council then approved the first reading of the ordinance that will amend the provisions pertaining to the regulation of daycare centers within the City of Waukon. Under the current ordinance, daycares and daycare centers are allowed only in R-2 and R-3 areas. The change would allow them in all other areas of the city as well with the addition of a conditional use permit. Those operating within R-2 and R-3 would not need the permit.
The Council then again discussed the proposed ordinance changes regarding “pools of water”, which covered both swimming pools and pools of water created for other reasons, including landscaping.  The Council had previously approved the first two readings, with a third (final) reading needing approval to adopt the ordinance. The change was prompted by the tremendous growth in popularity of the “portable” type pools during recent years. The ability for pools, unregulated, to turn into safety hazards was the issue originally addressed, but the changed ordinance grew to include other bodies of standing water as well. The Council questioned whether or not ponds or landscaping pools necessarily needed to be included and tabled the issue with plans to send it back to the Planning and Zoning Board for review, where the suggested changes had originated from.
Next, the Council approved the public works union agreement for July 1, 2011-June 30, 2012. The Council then discussed the possible vacation and sale of a cul-de-sac in the Industrial Park. The Council agreed to proceed and pay for the legal work to have the vacation completed.
The Council then discussed and made some decisions regarding the upcoming 2011 Street Improvement Project, the bulk of which will include the replacement of Third Ave NW. As usual, TeKippe Engineering will be overseeing the project. Adjoining property owners along the street will be assessed a portion of the costs, and will be receiving letters providing them with information on the project, their proposed assessment and meeting details where they will be given an opportunity to ask questions, etc.
Following a few additional “house cleaning”-type issues, the meeting was adjourned.