Hazy days of summer

 City Council meeting

The big news out of the City Council meeting on Monday evening came after the main agenda. Bill Hollerman announced that he was resigning as of July 1 for health reasons so this was his last meeting. Mr Hollerman is 92 years old.

First on the main agenda was an issue that returned from the previous meeting, the request for support from the City for Jasper County Community Services Transit. Again Sharon Colee spoke of the services provided to the Community by the vans and buses that Community Services provides. Community Services has one new van being prepared to enter service and two transits that will be delivered in the fall, and though most of the cost of these vehicles is paid by State grants, Community Services has to pay several thousand dollars as a cash match. The Council passed a motion to put $12,000 in the 2024 budget for transportation services.

The Council had opened bids for the Brick Street Project at a special meeting on the 14th. At Monday's meeting they rejected the bids and decided to rebid the project. The rebidding will delay the project by six to eight weeks. No explanation was given for the rejection, so I asked after the meeting. The problem was not the price but rather that something that should have been included in the bid documents was not included, so the decision was that it was best to redo the process.

For reasons that I do not understand, the City needs a variance to complete Filson Park. The Park Board will be the party that asks for the variance and that process will not be finished until August. The only remaining step to finalizing the annexation of Saint Joseph College is a reply from the State.

The issue of private pool permits and fencing came up at the previous meeting. At this meeting the Council approved a change in the permits, requiring a permit for any permanent pool regardless of depth, and changed the fencing requirement to require a fence for any pool that is left unattended regardless of depth. There are other changes in pool policy that will be addressed by the Plan Commission.

The Mayor declared September 1 as this year's Mayor Holiday. The Police Department does not have the authority to stop fireworks during the designated hours despite the no-burn ban. However, the Fire Department can charge costs if they have to respond to fires caused by fireworks. The Building Inspector said that there will be changes that will allow residential use on second floors and in the back of buildings that are in a business district. (They have always been there but the ordinance did not acknowledge them.)

A truck driving out of the alley between Unique Finds and the closed restaurant hit the Unique Finds building, causing damage to a load-bearing wall that will cost over $4000 to fix. This is the second time the building has been hit and damaged. The suggested solution is to close off the northern part of the alley with bollards.

The north College Avenue closure will last two weeks longer than originally scheduled. Friday August 18 is the date for the City auction. Two quotes were obtained to seal coat several City parking lots and the low bid from Kaufman was approved. This past weekend 25 teams competed in a tournament at Blacker Fields and 16 teams are scheduled for the tournament on July 1-2.

Notes

On Tuesday I noticed that walls were starting to go up on the ambulance building

Also on Tuesday, work on new sidewalks along College Ave began.

On Tuesday and Wednesday the air was hazy from smoke from Canadian fires. I was hoping that the photo above might capture some of the haze, but it does not.

Someone is renovating the old Devon's Restaurant in the College Mall. I have not heard if something new is going into the space.