BIG warm up AFTER the totally sucky weekend. Upper 80's by Tuesday
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I see the city has taken down the link to the towns ordinances which to me says that we can do anything we want now since it's not posted :-)
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There are FREE wood chips (good for landscaping) available at the Recycling Center, new hours are: Wednesday 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm and Saturday 8:00am to 3:00 pm. Brush pickup started April 1st. And here is a link to DPW Calendar for brush pickup and so forth
FROM COLUMBUS REC DEPT
Columbus Recreation, Columbus Community Hospital and the Columbus Police Department will be hosting a Bike Rodeo on May 18th from 9:00am - 12:00pm. It will take place at the Columbus Elementary School parking lot.
Bike
Rodeos are a great way for kids and their parents to learn about biking
safety with practice. Kids bring their bikes and practice and develop
safety skills that will help them to become better bicyclists and avoid
typical crashes.
- Madison BMX will be there teaching the kids safety techniques while biking. GREAT with summer ahead.
- Ride your bikes around town with the Columbus Police Department
- FREE helmet give-aways
- Register your bikes in case they get stolen :(
- Much more.......an event you should not miss.
CITY WIDE GARAGE SALE
As some of you may already know Columbus is having their City Wide garage sale this weekend May 10th - May 13th.
The
City of Columbus will have SURPLUS ITEMS FOR SALE at the pavilion on
Saturday from 8am - 2pm. Some of the items we have are listed below:
$1.00 each / basketballs / good condition
$.50 - $1.00 soccer balls / good condition
$1.00 each / Misc. cleats for softball, baseball, football and soccer
$5 each / Paper shredders / great condition
$ 5 each / Shelving / great condition
$5 each / 8' rectangular tables / heavy duty / good condition
MANY OTHER ITEMS.......
THE TABLES CAN BE PURCHASED PRIOR TO THE SALE IF YOU NEED THEM FOR YOUR OWN GARAGE SALE :)
CITY COUNCIL MEETING 5/7/13
The meeting last Tuesday was . . . shall we say . . .tedious. Approving purchases of a plow and a wing for a snow tractor, repairs on sludge trucks, storm water management agreements and street closing for parades.
If I was on the city council they would not be so tedious as I actually find some of these things interesting. I would LOVE to see a sludge truck (seriously, I would).
Then the new business was all about "taking actions". Drain water problems continue to plague the Public Safety Building and will cost oodles of money to fix. My one question is "were these problems NOT known before the city purchased the building"? I mean really, you would think an inspector would have noticed water problems THIS bad before the building was purchased. And if he did, did we get a deal on the building?
Nepotism language was discussed for city hiring policy but I am not privy to that wording at the moment.
The vortex slide continues to move forward for the swimming pool.
The big debate was about the Public Library's request for a new parking lot beside the library in that open space and who should pay for it.
I actually have mixed feelings and so does the council. There is no one RIGHT and WRONG. The city should pay for it I feel. The library had been saving money for years thinking they were getting an addition and not doing repairs, but when that fell through they used the collected funds (most of which came from my over due books I believe) were used on a new furnace, carpeting paining and so forth.
Dave Bomcamp has a good view of it stating that the parking lot is a good idea BUT, let's put it in the budget for NEXT year. I sort of agree with Dave on one level.
Jenny Perkins is all for the proposal but she is on the library board and I wonder if she will have to recuse herself from voting.
Aaron Adams I BELIEVE is for the lot but spending the $16,000 this year as opposed to next year was his worry.
Not sure where Michale Thom stands as either I missed any comments or he did not have any.
Davidson is/was totally against the lot but softened his tone saying let's put it off until next year.
Paula was dead set against (I believe) and stated a plethora of "why's" which some were very relevant and some were not. I respect Paula (and all the council members) but have to disagree with her on a number of her "why's" even though many made perfect sense.
** The Mayor was pro parking lot!!!
Oddly I receive a number of phone calls on city related things (no really, it is odd - I have two call backs on other city matters with building permits because they can not get answers from other aldermen - why is it I can get answers on day one but the people in government ignore calls). (BTW - I WISH people would call City Hall and ask about the removal of the ordinances 920-623-5900). Seems the city website has become a deadbeat site as nothing is being updated - - - - only taken away. I believe we have a new city council and Mayor, I'm not sure though.
Back on topic.
"As
a mother of three small children who frequents the library and just
made it through a long winter of crossing the road from the city lot to
get to the library, so I didn't have to park on the highway, I would
definitely argue that it's needed. In the
very LEAST they need a crosswalk (complete with those red flags people
can grab and wave while crossing) from the city lot over to the front of
the library. Crossing there with kids can be scary".
A couple of Paula's ideas were improving ways to get across the street and better snow plowing on the highway. Hopefully when the video comes out I can list the multiple "why's" as it was impressive to say the least.
OK - my thinking points.
Building a new parking lots will cost the city $16,000 this year and if we wait it will probably cost the same next year, MAYBE, more but not less. We can piggy back the construction on other things next year just like this year.
HOWEVER - the city will need to plow the parking lot in winters so the $16,000 NOW will balloon over it's lifetime and also create more $$ with future repairs (I HOPE there will be a few trees planted) and as everybody knows - the city totally SUCKS at plowing city parking lots (not my words but I agree). The parking lot next to Jodie-o's and my daughters former house was horrible this winter. The lot on the other side of the street was pretty poor also.
HOWEVER - safety is an issue. With last years snow, cars were forced to park a few more feet away from the curb and further out onto the highway (this was a big problem in my part of town which has no sidewalks and people had to share the road with vehicles, I was almost hit walking twice).
The mother above is correct - there IS a safety problem with crossing the highway.
My personal opinion (if anybody cares) is to put this in next years budget. It's a compromise. As long as it gets done. I'm normally am against putting things off but it's a chunk of change which is not in this years budget. Let's write it in NEXT years to do list and get it done.
With the auditorium's insurance problems behind us the "old girl", once she is active, will need more parking anyway and 13 spaces will help a lot with bigger functions.
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NOTE - seems the city took down the link to ordinances - hope it's just a glitch! Seems there is one that makes it REALLY hard to put a new pool in and is out of line with 99% of the rest of America. When an aldermen does not help call Rod LOL.
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hmmm - sorry - lost my train of thought here with the above problem.
Just the fact of losing green space in town rubs me the wrong way also. It is sad but people have to remember that Columbus is looking towards the future. All towns can not stay stagnant and this is one of those painful growth things. We do need more plant life downtown but that is a different topic.
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I hope all are watching Enerpac construction - WOW! If you have not seen it, take a ride out to 73/151 and be amazed at the terra forming - I'll get some shots this afternoon of progress.
Also discussed was the bi-yearly survey which I believe has been used wrongly in the past years.
The survey should be used as a tool, not as a bible for what has to be done. Remember the people who fill out the survey do not have the entire city to think about, just their personal opinions and we (the Council, not me) should take it for what it is, a snapshot of one point in time by people that do not have all the information available. It's a wish list.
I plan on putting the upcoming agendas online as requested.
OK - that is all - I need to prepare for the 6th grade art class presentation.
Rod
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