Waukon City Council approves April 1 increase in water/sewer rates

by Dwight Jones

The Waukon City Council met in regular session the evening of Monday, March 15 with a full council in attendance. A rather lengthy agenda was addressed.
Under Departmental Reports, Water and Sewer Superintendent Bob Campbell reported that an ongoing problem of basement sewage backup at the property of Mike A’Hearn in northeast Waukon had returned once again. Campbell and the Council will continue to look into the problem.
Moving on to Regular Business, the first item involved the Trickling Filter Repair Project at the Wastewater Treatment Plant. Three bids were received, with the low bid coming from Tschiggfrie Excavating Co. of Dubuque in the amount of $85,233.18. The engineer’s estimate for the job was $93,200. The other two bids were substantially higher and the job was awarded to Tschiggfrie with work to be started later this year.
The Council then once again discussed DRAM and airport insurance coverage issues. It was determined that the Park and Rec board would continue to handle the DRAM insurance, while Bieber Insurance and Leschensky Insurance would each be given an opportunity to quote coverage at the airport.
Chris Dahlstrom with Allamakee County Emergency Management was in attendance to discuss a testing schedule for the outdoor warning sirens within Waukon. It was determined that the first and third Mondays of the month would be adequate, and councilman John Ellingson agreed to run the idea past the Allamakee County Sheriff’s office for input as well.
Additional discussion and work was then addressed for two ongoing issues, the first being some infrastructure work needed near R.W. Pladsen, Inc., officially referred to as the 2010 SW Storm Sewer Improvements Project, and the other for proposed street work near the hospital, referred to as the 2010 Street Improvements project. Both will have bid openings at the April 5 council meeting.
The Council then returned to discussions regarding the proposed purchase of real estate, known as the Lomen Property. City Attorney Jim Garrett suggested that the Council move forward with approving a resolution regarding an “internal loan” from the TIF fund to allow payment for the property to be made. The Council agreed and will continue to move forward with the purchase for the land which is planned to be developed into sports fields.

Returning to talks regarding downtown snow removal, the Council approved the first reading of an ordinance wherein the City would remove snow from businesses zoned B-1 (those without a parking lot and/or an area to pile snow) for a yet-to-be-determined amount.
The Council then approved the third and final readings for ordinances that would allow a one-time, eight-percent increase of water and sewer rates effective, April 1. The Council deemed this increase necessary due to a major loss in revenue within the past year or two.
The Council then approved the hiring of Al Lyon to fill the position of Development Officer, formerly known as “Zoning Administrator”, at the rate of $15,000 per year, effective April 1. Re-appointment of Jim Wadsworth to the airport board for a five-year term was also approved, pending his acceptance.
In the final item on the agenda, Garrett explained that he had not yet received enough information back to move forward with the annexation of the Innovative Ag property. A special meeting may be held in the coming days to address this ongoing issue.