Lone Tree Reporter, IA
06-08-06
City waste fees to stay the same
By: Ray Weikal
Refuse, recycling and yard waste fees in Lone Tree will not increase, at least for
now.
During a quick, efficient meeting on June 5, the city council voted to hold the line
on fees for bi-monthly recycling. The measure ended in a 2-2 tie, with Kice Brown
and Helen Lemley voting to approve and Sandy Brown and Rick Ogren against.
Council member David McMahon is traveling in Russia on a work-related trip.
No comments from the public or the council were offered before or after the
vote.
In a related matter, the council approved a resolution to award a garbage and
solid waste contract for Lone Tree to Johnson County Refuse, Inc.
Fees were set at $4.50 per household a month for recycling and $1 per garbage
sticker.
Following the recycling fee vote, the council approved a resolution clarifying job
descriptions for two city employees. Duties for the public works director and
streets and parks superintendent were spelled out.
Oversight of the cemetery was officially added to the public works position.
Current director Steve Flake expressed his worry that the job would now be too
much for one employee to hand.
"We're adding things to my schedule that I don't adequately feel I can do," he
said, adding that cemetery duties mean hundreds of extra work hours over the
course of a year.
Under the revised job description, the public works director will mark, dig and
cover graves; fill and reseed graves; keep records of deaths and graves; care for
cemetery trees; remove snow from cemetery roads and grave sites; and maintain
and clean the cemetery storage shed.
"I honestly don't feel that I can continue to do the cemetery justice," Flake said.
"There's going to be a shift in the way the cemetery is probably run."
City workers are supposed to work together to ensure that all jobs get done,
Mayor Eldon Slaughter replied.
"You've got to do it," he said. "Everybody's got to assist each other."
The job descriptions are written so the employees are both supposed to be able
to cover jobs in the streets and public works positions.
The council also dealt with a concern raised by Ogren about the Finley
subdivision being constructed on the town's northwest side.
Ogren voiced his belief that one of the development's main roads was too
narrow. Jackie Drive is 25-feet wide, which may cause trouble for fire trucks,
snow plows and other large vehicles, Ogren suggested.
"I really think it needs to be a 31-foot street," he said, citing his experience living
on a narrow street. "Just from living on a 25-foot street, I think that was a
mistake."
The current stretch of the street in question will not be impacted by Ogren's
suggested since the concrete has already been poured and the road meets the
city requirements, developer Glen Meisner explained.
"It's just going to drive up the cost of your lots," he said.
Slaughter, though, agreed with Ogren that wider streets should be considered for
future portions of the subdivision.
"That's a good idea," Slaughter said. "That's a safety deal."
Meisner wanted to know if the city would ever issue building permits for sites in
plats that haven't received final approval from the city.
Some people who are planning homes in future portions of the subdivision are
anxious to start work, he explained.
The city has never issued building permits without an approved final plat,
according to Flake.
Slaughter felt the city should stick by its current procedures. If the plat was
changed and holes were already being dug, everyone would suffer.
"I'd hate to see the town accept it and then something falls through," Slaughter
said.
The debate came down to whether utilities that are city responsibility need to be
in place before the building permit would be provided.
"I would feel that the city and builder and homeowner are in a better position if
the utilities are done," city attorney Stephen Greenleaf said.
Slaughter agreed.
"If you have all our infrastructure taken care of, I don't have a problem with it," he
said. "I personally would feel better if the sewer and water were all tested and
done."
In one of their last pieces of business for the night, council members agreed to let
the Lone Tree Living Roadways Visioning Committee use the city hall for a
community meeting on June 21.
The committee is the result of grants recently won by local organizers to beautify
and improve the town. As part of the project's first phase, volunteers and experts
are determining what work is desired and creating a plan to carry out those
goals.
Following a community wide survey conducted by Iowa State University, the
committee met June 4.
"One of the things that we did at this last meeting was come up with some
priorities for things we'd like them to come up with designs for," councilmember
Kice Brown said, referring to professional landscape architects who are working
on the project.
Improvements to the town's north entranceway was the top priority set by the
committee.
On June 21, the committee along with Meg Flenker of Flenker Land Architects
and four ISU interns will conduct "an intensive all day process" in Lone Tree.
The group will tour locations discussed at previous meetings, then gather at the
community building for lunch and a discussion with the senior dining group.
That's when the group will actually begin creating concept designs.
In the evening, the committee, architect and interns will move to city hall for a
presentation of their preliminary designs. This presentation will also be broadcast
over the community television station.
The committee plans to have a final product available to the community during
the upcoming Fall Festival.