By Casey Jarmes | The News-Review
SIGOURNEY – During the March 4 meeting of the Sigourney City Council, the council approved a contract with CINTAS for two new AEDs, one for the city and one for the pool. Mayor Pro-Tem Connie McLaughlin explained that both of the current AEDs were outdated, with one being obtained in 2008 and the other in 2012. The three-year contract will cost the city $118 per month and have CINTAS come by monthly to check and maintain the AEDs. The containers that hold the AEDs will have alarms. McLaughlin explained that Fire Chief Bill Halleran would provide training in using the AEDs to city employees and pool staff.
Councilman Randy Schultz recapped the Street and Sanitation meeting, explaining that Helmuth Ford had spoken to them about enlarging their building, something they had been required to do by Ford to keep their dealership. This expansion would require building onto East North Street, a seldom-used city owned road that goes between the dealership and their gravel parking lot. Schultz stated that they could vacate a portion of the street to Helmuth and suggested having a public hearing on this during the April 15 meeting.
Schultz also brought up the recycling center south of town, which the city currently pays $1,900 a month to allow Sigourney residents to use. He explained that, if the city was going to terminate this contract, they needed to do so by May 30 at the latest. Schultz noted that there is a private recycling service in town now and stated that, if they discontinued the contract with the center, they may be able to wave the planned increase to sanitation rates. Councilman Jesse Hannam asked if it would be cheaper to have a private garbage company take over the city’s garbage services, noting that other towns in the area got along well with private garbage pickup. Schultz stated that they had discussed this in the past, but that the numbers never seemed to work out, and that they needed to maintain staff levels for plowing snow in the winter. Schultz suggested having a public hearing about the recycling center during the May 6 meeting.
Jerry Wohler from Kiwanis asked the council for permission to place a metal and wire mesh picnic table, with a rubber top, at the pavilion on the square. He explained that Kiwanis thought this would lead to more people using the pavilion and give them a place to eat lunch. Schultz asked if the table would be tied down; Wohler stated it would weigh 120 pounds and that it wouldn’t be the city’s problem if someone tried to steal the table.
The council set the time of a public hearing on the city’s proposed tax rate for April 1, at 6:00 p.m. City Clerk Ashley Fry stated that the rate discussed would be $15.20 per $1,000 of taxable property.
