City plans for next year’s road work, hears request from Glenhaven

GLENWOOD CITY—The city council approved the planning stage for city street work for next year. They also heard a request from Glenhaven’s administrator about construction plans that the local nursing home has.

Looking at street improvements for next year, the council debated on spending just over $360,000 for needed repairs to several streets within the city.

Public Works Director Doug Doornink questioned the council about having Cedar Corporation move ahead with planning and mapping the proposed improvements. The city has several grants for street improvements, which have sunset time limits on using the grant funds.

At question are improvements on Third Street from Oak to Elm and then on Elm east to its dead end. Also under grant monies is Glenview Drive and Limberg Court, which Doornink stated was in the worst shape of all the streets under consideration, as there is no curb and gutter on those two streets.

The Third and Elm Street project is estimated at just over $300,000 because of city utilities and storm sewer in the street, which needs to be addressed. The Glenview Drive and Limberg Court Street repair is estimated at $58,000. The city has just over $31,560 in grant funds available for these two projects. Mayor John Larson looked over what the city has for funds in the roadwork account and estimated that the city would need to borrow just over two hundred thousand to complete all the work.

As the council was debating the issue, Doornink’s report indicated the costs of just doing one of the projects, but councilmember Steve Lee indicated that he was in favor of doing all the work. The Mayor questioned Kevin Oium of Cedar Corporation about the savings if all the work was done at one time, as a contractor would only have to move equipment once. The mayor was told approximately $7,000.

After much discussion, the council agreed to have Cedar start the fieldwork this year before winter sets in and then the plans will be ready for the future and the council can decide later on how they would like to proceed with the street improvements.

Glenhaven

Dave Prissel, Glenhaven’s administrator addressed the council during its meeting Monday night to explain their plans for building a new 50,000 square foot nursing home and remodeling the present home into more assisted living units.

The plan calls for building four new two story wings to the west of the present building with eleven one-person rooms in each wing. There will be offices and future childcare and future therapy suits in the new addition.

Prissel explained to the council that all the new rooms would be single patient rooms and that is what is asked for the most when people are seeking to be admitted to the nursing home. He explained that at present, Glenhaven has only two private rooms. The new facility, Prissel explained, will be the state of the art facility and should serve the area for the next fifty years.

The present Glenhaven building, which is now fifty years old will be remolded into eight one-bedroom apartments and eight efficiency units for assisted living.

Prissel explained that construction should start next spring and be completed in one year and then, after all the Glenhaven residences are moved into the new facility, remodeling for the present building will take another six to eight months.

But, what Prissel was requesting of the city council, was that the city formally abandon that part of sixth street north of Oak Street. At present the street is one block long and dead-ends in the hillside to the north of Glenhaven. The council took no action on the request and will have it on the agenda at next month’s meeting and it was discussed that it may require a public hearing to take action on this matter.

At the end of the presentation, Mayor Larson indicated that he would like to play the “Devil’s Advocate” in this matter. He related it to the people who have opposed the proposed sand mining in the area. “The new facility will be directly across the street from my home,” the mayor said. “I will lose the nice hillside view.”

“I will take the view of the anti-frac sand opponents, my beautiful view has been blocked.” But in a more serious thought, the mayor said,” it’s a wonderful project for the city and just like the sand mine will bring more jobs to the community.” He concluded that with more jobs that should improve the property values of the city.

Prissel was questioned about the number of employees at present at Glenhaven and he noted that there are 90 staff members now and he expects that number to grow to 100 to 105 after construction is completed.

Pay By Credit Card

The council listened to a presentation from a firm called “GOVPAYNET” which has the equipment to allow the city to accept credit or debit cards for payment of city bills, like taxes, traffic fines, and utility bills. The only difference in their operation is that the person using the card to pay city bills will be charged a three percent fee and the city would receive the entire amount owed. Unlike using cards at a business firm, the firm stands the cost of the card user. The council took no action but will be studying it. The clerk of the municipal court spoke in favor of the idea and indicated that traffic fines could be collected directly from out-of-towners.

Other Business

In other business the council was asked by Police Chief Robert Darwin about disposing of two old video cameras that were mounted in the police cars. Darwin noted that his department had purchased two new cameras with grant monies and the old cameras do not meet the requirements for evidence. Darwin asked the council to declare those cameras surplus and then he could donate them to the school and suggested that they could be used in school buses.

Council member Nancy Hover presented a short report about the library, which indicated that library staff had attended the Blood Borne Pathogens class held at the fire hall in September. It was noted that the library would be updating their First Aid Kit. Hover also stated that the library board was discussing about the directors back pay and that it was going to be paid.

The council also approved an operator license for Michael A. Voeltz.