Weather outside is frightful

It’s no secret that the recent cold spell has been causing some difficulties, and City Superintendent Mark Brown summed it up succinctly at the Feb. 16 Holyoke City Council meeting.

“Mother Nature is being really tough on us,” he said.

He reported no power outages at the meeting, but he spoke of the efforts being made to conserve energy in the extremely cold conditions.

He said he had been contacting amenities in Holyoke and that the county conducted a reverse 911 campaign to let as many people as possible know the importance of conserving energy in this type of weather.

The stretch of freezing temperatures kept the street department busy moving snow, and water and sewer crews had numerous calls for frozen water lines in houses, many times having to go back to the same location for the same problem the next day.

Brown said the bearings in the aerators at the sewer lagoons also went out and parts will be ordered to get them fixed. However, he said they won’t be able to get them back into place until the water is thawed.

He informed council members that he has been working with Engineered Controls, the company that recently finished updating Holyoke Swimming Pool’s control system.

The weather has made it difficult to control the temperature and humidity within the pool building. The air-to-air heat exchanger is taking in outside air that’s so cold that it freezes and there isn’t any air movement.

He said there is a plan in place to rectify the problem with the installation of a double set of louvers, and once he has cost estimates from Engineered Controls, he will present them to the council.

Grant received for runway lights

Brown said a grant was received from the Federal Aviation Administration and the Colorado Division of Aeronautics for changing the runway lights at the airport to LED. The grant amount is $346,500 with a local match by the city of $38,500. Council members accepted the grant, and the change to LED is expected to start this summer.

Council hears reports

Brown informed the council of an accident in the early morning hours of Feb. 14 in which a vehicle hit a guy wire in the 100 block of East Gordon Street, damaging the electric pole. He said they expect to start pot-holing it out Monday, Feb. 22.

Council member Gene Bittner reported that he met with Ryan Brackhan to discuss switches and lights for the new fire station, overlaying the plan on Misty Hielscher’s floor plan for the water lines and heating system.

Police Chief Doug Bergstrom reported that Holyoke Police Department handled or generated 63 calls for service from Jan. 28-Feb. 11, including one animal complaint and two municipal code violations under code enforcement.

Other business

In other business at the Feb. 16 meeting, council members:

— Approved payment requests for the Showdown on the Plains cattle show, including $1,587.70 for backpacks, $17,000 for cash payouts, $10,400 for top 20 winner checks, $1,500 for pavilion rental and $2,379.41 for banners.

— Approved new airport hangar leases effective Jan. 1, 2021-Dec. 31, 2040, at the rate of $0.20 per square foot per year.

— Waived local liquor license fees for one year, following Senate Bill 20B-001, which waived state liquor license fees.

— Approved a liquor license application for Iceberg Enterprises LLC dba Brewed Awakening Coffee & Bake Shop.

— Approved a tastings permit application renewal for Red’s Liquors LLC.

­— Discussed FFA/FCCLA/FBLA CTE Day of Service scheduled for Wednesday, April 21. Council members will be thinking of potential projects for that day.