Painting and the City Council

 and then this happened

Yup - like clockwork - EVERY 15 years we paint we have the up stairs painted. 

It's surprising how odd the original color was.  So yellowish brown EVERYWHERE!  It was basically the builders color where they just dip the entire house in one color.  DJ almost cried the first time she saw it.  It was LITERALLY bright yellow  . . . until it dried and we came back the next day - WHEW

Now the ceiling will be white - most of the walls will be "Accessible Beige"  my all time favorite color LOL and some really sweet accent walls.  Jahnke Property Group  who seem to be the go to for everything from landscaping to painting are doing the work.   About a 2 day job!!   

Thay have done amazing jobs.  For instance - we had 14 cubic yards of mulch delivered 2 years ago. The high temp was 102 - Took one day for them to wheel barrow it to the back yard and distribute it.  They work their butts off. 

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Side note - this is blog number 2222 AND oddly RIGHT NOW exactly - 1,123,000 pages have been read. 

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In other Columbus City Council news written by William Garrison from the Columbus Independant.

March 16, 2021. A petition by a Columbus resident to keep chickens and bees at a residential property was the most potentially controversial item on the City Council agenda Tuesday night when the common council met at its biweekly meeting, having faced lengthy discussion at a prior Committee of the Whole meeting before ultimately being moved forward for Council consideration. Mayor Michael Thom called the council meeting to order a little later than the posted meeting time of 6:45 after a closed session meeting of the Committee of the Whole ran long. Mayor Thom called the meeting to order at 7:26 pm and both the agenda and the minutes from the 3/2 meeting were approved unanimously. 

First order of business on the agenda was approval for a Community Development Investment grant proposal. The grant application, Thom noted, will be supported by the city as a pass-through to the developer and would allow the developer to take advantage of grants available through Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) for revitalization projects at 101 E. James Street, 107 E. James Street and 118 S. Ludington Street. The proposal passed unanimously after a motion by Alder Mike McCabe and a second by Alder Ian Gray. This vote will allow the proposal to move forward to seek financial support to boost revitalization at the downtown properties.

Next on the agenda was the petition to keep chickens and bees on a property within the city limits at a residence on Waterloo Street. Mayor Thom noted that the city does not have a standing ordinance for bee keeping and it could pose issues down the road to approve bees as part of the ordinance regarding chickens on a city property, further noting that while the environmental considerations for pollinators were positive, the city should look at putting a specific ordinance on the books for the future. “I certainly don’t want to blame the applicant for the position the city is in right now,” Thom stated, “but I think approving bees on a chicken application is going to cause some problems [for the city] in the future. There really isn’t any specifications for the keeping of bees and this is something the city will need to address further in the future.” The request ultimately passed unanimously on a role call vote with little further discussion except a question on how many chickens are allowed on a city property and how many the petitioner, Hannah Best, planned to keep (the answer to both questions: four) after a motion by Alder Gray and second by Alder Trina Reid.

Conditional use permits for the Columbus Elementary School and Columbus High School were revisited after being tabled at the meeting on March 2 to further study revised plans that had been submitted too late to make the agenda for the earlier meeting. Concern about seasonal flooding brought a question from city resident Chris Roelke. He asked whether storm runoff being newly directed into the Richmond Street storm sewer had been studied. Mayor Thom advised Roelke that the period for public comment had passed, advising him to bring his question to the City Administrator. City Attorney Johnson noted there had been some minor discussion on the turning radius at the High School driveway for emergency vehicle purposes, but it would not affect the permit for conditional use. Both motions passed unanimously.

Other items on the agenda Tuesday included approving dates and an updated fee schedule for the special event electronic appliance recycling dates for 2021. Thom noted that DPW had found a new vendor, Refrigerant Depot, to work with for this program that will allow a wide variety of electronic appliance recycling at a savings to community members. Electronics/appliance recycling event dates for the city will be Saturday, April 24, July 14 and October 16 from 8 am-3 pm. Fees for recycling TVs and projectors will be $30; computer monitors will be $10 and no charge for items on the approved appliance and electronic list. These dates will also be published in the Columbus Water and Light monthly statements for city distribution. Alder Gray moved to approve, and Alder Katie Ryan seconded, the motion passed unanimously on a roll call vote.

The council also voted unanimously to approve the mayoral appointment of Brad Basten to the Water and Light Commission. Basten was appointed to serve the remainder of Commission member Greg Robbins’ term which expires in 2022. Robbins, a 10-year member of the Commission, resigned last June due to retirement and moving outside of the city. “It’s been pretty challenging finding residents to fill these boards, committees and commissions, especially this past year during the pandemic and I believe Brad will be a really good fit for the commission,” Thom advised the group.

Next Columbus City Council meeting will be held on Monday, April 5 at 6:45 pm due to the spring election on the normal meeting day.

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Nuff said - going back into the lower level where life continues.