At the Council meeting..... Budget accepted, property purchased, bids received for PCSC

The regular meeting of the Postville City Council Monday evening saw no members of the public stepping forward to express concerns during the open forum portion of the meeting.

Dave Schechinger, of Veenstra and Kimm Engineering addressed the renovation of the softball complex and the construction of a small access road which will be used mainly for travel to and from the Postville Farmers Cooperative.

The estimated cost of constructing the road, installing curb and gutter and a guard rail as well as seal coating the surface is $18,000. This estimate was submitted by Terry Szabo of Szabo Construction and the Council asked that Szabo submit a firm bid for the job prior to beginning work.

Schechinger also discussed a water main break on the corner of Greene and Maple Streets. He said the repair will include installing a 12 inch main on the opposite side of the street, repairing the storm intakes and replacing the sanitary sewer manhole. Estimated cost is $78,000. Money for the repairs will come from the water bond project funds. It was noted that the repairs and upgrades should help water pressure all over town.

Two bids were received for the sale of the PCSC building (old hospital) and lots. A bid of $250,000 was received from the Torah Education program for the building and the parking lot.

A bid of $8,500 was received from the Good Samaritan Center for Lot Ten.

Following the opening, Mayor Hyman said the bids will be turned over to City Attorney Matt Erickson and the committee who will come back to Council with their recommendations.

Director of Public Works Gary Simmons, Sr. gave a report for the storm water committee. He said they have been reviewing ordinances and methods of preventing flooding during discharge from residential sump pumps. It was the recommendation of the committee to hire an engineering firm to aid in the decision making process.

Following a public hearing the Council approved the estimated budget for fiscal year 2005-06. Under the budget the taxable rate will be 14.9844 per $1000 of taxable property. City clerk Melissa Hammersland said the rate is 14¢ higher than one year ago but residents will see little or no difference on their taxes due to the state tax roll-back.

Mayor Hyman read a letter from Christina Drahos, chairperson of the holiday lighting committee. In the letter she stated that the committee recommended buying eight menorahs for the poles which are currently not lit during the holiday season. She said the cost will be absorbed by the Jewish community. The committee recommendation was accepted by Council and Mayor Hyman thanked the committee members for their service.

A resolution to purchase property located at 147 N. Lawler (Citizens Community Center) was adopted by the Council following a public hearing. The purchasing price accepted was $118,750. The building will be renovated for city offices. Mayor Hyman said, “We were approached by Citizens State Bank as to our desire to purchase the building. They no longer wanted to own a community center and offered the building to us before putting it on the open market. When renovations are complete, there will be a room available for community use.” It was also noted that members of the community are encouraged to use school facilities for their events. Mention was also made of the possibility of community members stepping forward to construct a community center sometime in the future.

Prior to the meeting, on Monday afternoon, 11 bids were opened for the painting of the water tower. The low bid was from Central Tank Coating, Kelly Koehn of Elgin. His bid of $133.000 was well below the engineer’s estimate and $33,000 lower than the next bid. Council is expected to accept a bid at the March 14 Council meeting.