City Council, Sept 11 2017

The Rensselaer City Council had its first September meeting on Monday evening. First up was a presentation on the Vietnam Wall that will be visiting Rensselaer on May 24-28 next year. This Wall is scaled-down replica of the Wall monument in Washington DC. There was a booth promoting the Wall at the Little Cousin Jasper Festival and signing up volunteers to help work the event.

A public hearing for the 2018 budget elicited no response from the public and the budget was passed. The Council then repealed a recently-passed ordinance on use of City credit cards by City employees and pass a replacement. The State Board of Accounts had reviewed the original ordinance and thought there should be some minor changes and the repeal and replace made those changes.

The gas tracker was essentially unchanged for September. The Council then discussed pay for seasonal Park supervisors. It was noted both that the pay for some of the positions seemed to translate into very high hourly wages and that it was difficult finding people for these positions. The Council froze the pay for these positions for 2018 with the intention of reviewing them in the next year.

The City electrical utility has dispatched two trucks and four employees to help restore power in Florida. This was part of an IMPA initiative. The crews have arrived in Florida and have started working.

The Washington Street bridge is now closed. Equipment for the work is being positioned on the County lot across from Ayda's.

 Two large excavators are now on the bridge but as of Tuesday evening had not started deconstruction.

 Embers had a humorous take on the situation. (The words "Detour Here" are in the arrow.)