City Council talks city jobs, MASA insurance, baseball season
At the Tuesday, May 16, Holyoke City Council meeting, City Superintendent Jeremy Thompson reported that there have been no power outages since the last meeting. The superintendent placed an ad in the Enterprise for a full-time position in the electric department.
The water and sewer crew has been helping with the storm drains, and have been routing the sewers and some of the storm drains that have been plugged. The street department has been sweeping downtown, and crack-filled the parking lot of the hospital on May 17. They will pay for the materials and labor.
In the refuse department, Thompson hired a new employee who began in the position on May 15. Summertime help will start full time on May 26.
In the period of April 27 through May 11, the police department handled or generated 101 calls for service. There were three animal complaints and one municipal code violation.
City Rec Department Director Victoria Dunker reported that baseball season has started, drawing 180 kids throughout all the age groups, which is the most they have ever had by over 20 kids. They are trying to find more help to coach, and had to buy some more equipment. They have had to buy different uniforms because they didn’t have enough of the ones they had, so they purchased some cheaper temporary ones for this year, and next year will do a big uniform order.
Each uniform costs $65-$70, and they need approximately 70. They will look for sponsors to help pay for that next year. “It’s a good problem to have,” Dunker said, “but we do have a lot of kids.”
Los Parras requested a renewal of their liquor license, and the council moved to approve the request.
The council moved to accept a bid from Chad Huffman at Reliable LLC sprinkler service for $7,910 for new nozzles on two irrigation sprinklers.
A purchase request for a Dolphin Wave pool cleaner priced at $5,300 was tabled for the council’s next meeting. UPS is paying $631.29 to replace the glass on the front door on the south side of the city building, which was damaged during a UPS delivery. The council plans to use the money to replace the glass on the inside door to prevent a similar accident in the future and to install a whole new door outside.
“One positive of putting a new door in is it would be much more ADA compliant,” Thompson said. “Right now we’re pushing the envelope there. It’s tough for some people with different abilities to open a door like that. Something to think about eventually is getting it more accessible to people with different abilities.” Thompson expects it will take another five weeks to finish this repair, including two to three weeks to get the glass. A motion was passed to buy a new front door for $5,300 from Cornhusker Glass.
The council discussed the renewal of Medical Air Service Association memberships for those participating. According to Olofson, the membership had been priced at $99 per year and has now been increased to $160.
“The other thing to consider if you want to continue with it is whether we pay $160 per year per employee, and that covers their family also, or whether to pay that monthly,” Olofson said. “That can be handy for when we have people leaving or gone for a couple months.” It would be an additional $8 per person to pay monthly, so it would either be an annual payment of $160, or $14 per month.
Estimates were made on repairs required for a steel wheel packer; it will need a new engine, brackets built, and the wiring redone. The estimated cost of the repairs is between $5,000 and $6,000. The motion to proceed with the purchase of a new engine carried.