Karen McIlvain spoke on behalf of several downtown businesses about their concern of snow removal with winter approaching.
“I’ve been in business here for 38 years and the last two — three years have been the worst snow removal I’ve ever seen,” said McIlvain.
She indicated that the post office and her office, among others, are getting neglected when it comes to snow removal and if the city isn’t going to take care of it they need to get on someone’s list to take care of it for them when the time comes.
“Several businesses have had to hire people for snow removal in front of their downtown businesses, and we think it would be more appropriate for the city to take care of this given the fact that we pay taxes,” explained McIlvain.
Council member Earl Murphy said that they make it a priority to clean off in front of the post office, Senior Center, ABZ and funeral home. McIlvain questioned why some businesses were getting preferential treatment over others. Murphy said that was his fault and those businesses were the ones he’s indicated need to be taken care of first.
He indicated that ABZ had semis that needed to get in and out all day long in order for their business to operate. McIlvain explained that she, too, has customers and some have had to walk through snow drifts in the road to get to her sidewalk. She also indicated that churches on Sunday have had to have some of the congregation out in the road scooping snow so that people can get out of their cars.
It had been mentioned that they can’t safely plow the downtown area because of cars sitting in the way. Mayor Paul Dean stepped in and said that maybe the city should prepare letters to those residing downtown that when a substantial snowstorm is coming that they need to move their vehicles so that the streets can be plowed, and snow removed away from the curbs in front of businesses. Dean said that they would make it a priority to do better.
In other business, McIlvain also expressed her concern about the building next to her that is owned by the city that has been gutted. When it gets bitterly cold the sewer line freezes and backs up into her office. Dean indicated they would work on resolving the issue as they didn’t think the sewer line was buried very deep and hopefully could be remedied easily.
In other business Stuart Porter from Schwab-Eaton was present to discuss the condition of McCurry, Grant and 3rd Street and how they needed to go about repairing them. There were questions about what was mixed with the concrete and if that possibly was a reason why the concrete wasn’t holding up.
The city did not have the records of when those streets were redone many years ago, so they are going to reach out to KDOT to get the spec sheets, so they know what material they are working with. Once they have more information, Porter indicated he would work on a cost estimate and recommendations on how best to fix the problems. He feels that it is more than normal wear and tear and the damage to the streets is very spotty so he feels like it’s more of a reaction with some of the materials that were used in the concrete.
Mayor Dean applauded City Clerk Victoria Stewart on her recent graduation from Municipal Clerk Certification Institute.
Stewart updated the council that the sewer lining project would start this week along Lincoln Street and hope to finish up next week.
Dean also reported that he has wanted for years to restore the old Madison marquee sign that used to be on the theatre years ago, but it was beyond repair. He has gotten a quote to replicate the sign and would like to place it on City Hall. The estimate comes in around $35,000. He felt like there would be some room in the budget for the city to finance some of it but would be looking for interested residents or alumni who might want to donate money to go towards making this happen as well. Donations would go through The Verdigris Valley Community Foundation and would be tax deductible. Should anyone want to make a donation, stop by City Hall for more details.
They read a demolition request for a house only at 202 Garfield, but no motion was made on the request at this time.
Lastly, the council approved to accept the grant money recently awarded to make some repairs on Lincoln Street headed east on Highway 58 that was given by KDOT.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:33 p.m.
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