Citywide cleanup canceled again
Citing personnel shortages, Holyoke City Council members at their April 6 meeting voted to cancel citywide cleanup for the second year in a row.
City Superintendent Mark Brown told council members that city crews are currently short three employees. He said he will continue to try to fill the vacancies, especially with the number of projects on the docket.
Contribution to Phillips County Economic Development increased
Council members voted to increase the annual contribution to Phillips County Economic Development by $2,325 for the remainder of the year for a contribution of $13,225. They will look at the budget this fall regarding the amount moving forward.
Tom Bennett and Shauna Strecker were at the meeting on behalf of Economic Development. Bennett spoke of Trisha Herman’s role as director of Economic Development and the many accomplishments she’s had.
Mayor Orville Tonsing pointed out that Herman is very active in the organization of northeast Colorado economic development directors and that she is very well thought of by the other directors.
“I think she does a very good job and I think it would be a disaster to lose her,” Tonsing continued.
“She has done a ton of work for this community — this county — this year, and to lose her, if we lost her because of just a little bit of money would be a sad, sad thing,” council member Kevin Scott said.
Emphasizing that Herman has served in a role supporting functions for Holyoke, Haxtun and Phillips County in general, Bennett said they’ve reviewed salaries of directors of economic development in neighboring counties and feel that Herman’s salary needs to be adjusted.
Bennett reviewed the details of how Herman’s position is structured. It was set up as a countywide position, in which the county pays about 61% of the contribution toward the overall costs, the city of Holyoke contributes about 25% and the town of Haxtun about 13%.
Bennett said Herman’s salary was increased effective April 1. The increase is currently being paid out of Economic Development reserves, which he noted can’t continue forever and asked for the adjustment to be reflected in the amounts contributed by the three entities.
He said the city of Holyoke’s contribution is currently $10,900 per year and asked for an adjustment of $3,100 to increase it to $14,000. Since Herman’s salary was increased April 1, the council approved the prorated increase of $2,325 on top of the normal $10,900 contribution to cover the remaining three quarters of 2021.
“She wears a lot of hats,” Bennett said regarding Herman’s various roles. “She’s working hard for our child care. She’s working hard to keep housing moving.” He said he felt the money was well spent considering Herman’s accomplishments this past year and what she can do in the future.
Pool open to public; summer swim club changes leagues
With Phillips County being in Level Green on the state’s COVID-19 dial and therefore no state regulations on either indoor or outdoor pools, council members voted to open Holyoke Swimming Pool to the general public.
Summer swim coaches Brenda Krueger, Aly Brinkema and Adria Colver attended the meeting to discuss scheduling and changes coming this summer. Pool manager Karla Pargas was also present to talk about scheduling.
Krueger said this summer swimmers will be in the Plains Tsunami Swim League instead of the Northwest Kansas Swim League.
“It’s a great opportunity for our swimmers not to swim against the same eight teams every weekend,” Krueger said. “Now there are 35-40 teams out there up and down the interstate of Nebraska, a bunch of small towns like us, up to McCook, North Platte, Kearney. So we have a lot of opportunity for our kids.”
Krueger continued, pointing out that it’s important for the kids to start practicing. She said summer league swimmers have always been willing to practice at various times, but this causes wear and tear on the equipment when it has to removed from the pool so frequently.
She said their goal is to work together to find a block of time they could use for practice at the pool, mentioning that an 11 a.m.-2 p.m time slot would work very well.
Pargas said swimming lessons are from 9:45 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Brown asked if the summer swim team could be accommodated with a block of time, and council member Steve Moore said he thought both sides could give to make something work. Pargas said she will work with the summer swim coaches to find a solution.
Brinkema said that meets are now designed to be smaller and asked about the possibility of hosting a meet in Holyoke.
“We’ve got the blocks, we’ve got the lanes, we’ve got a 25-yard pool,” Brinkema noted. “So many little towns can’t boast that, so it’d be great to be able to host a meet this summer but also do it within the safety measures the city gets from the state.”
Both Krueger and Brown acknowledged that having a swim meet in Holyoke would bring a lot of people to town and be good for community businesses.
Colver pointed out another change in this summer’s meets. “These are morning meets,” she said. “It gives these children a chance to have a normal summer and do other activities as well. I like that very much.”
Krueger said that their new league is set up a little differently from their prior league. Swimmers can swim in June only and be done, or if they want to go to a qualifying meet and potentially on to a state meet, they could swim in July too.
To that end, they asked for two swim team passes this year, one for five weeks and one for seven weeks.
Request for funding help for 501(c)(3) creation tabled
Holyoke Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Holly Ferguson spoke to council members about trying to form a Holyoke community foundation for the purpose of facilitating the funding of community projects focused on assisting the long-term sustainability of Holyoke.
In their discussion, council members were unsure if the request would qualify for funding with COVID-19 relief money. The council tabled the matter until Ferguson and attorney Tammy Kelley, who was at the meeting with Ferguson and who has assisted with research, can return to speak to council members more at a future meeting.
The foundation activities would include projects like downtown revitalization and storefront updates, among others. Ferguson said the foundation would be there for unforeseeable funding needs for any future community catastrophes.
She pointed out that over the past year, the chamber did not qualify for many grant opportunities due to its 501(c)(6) designation and that having a community foundation set up as a 501(c)(3) would open up more funding opportunities.
Acknowledging that the process of creating a 501(c)(3) is a long one with extensive paperwork, Ferguson said she found a company that does this type of work specifically. They complete all the necessary documents, create bylaws and file the necessary paperwork with a guarantee of acceptance, which she feels would be more effective than potentially having to file more than once.
The cost of this service is $1,699, but Ferguson asked for assistance in getting $2,500 for potential unforeseen costs. Part of this cost also includes filing fees.
She said she was working to create a board of volunteers from different industries and that she as executive director of the chamber would oversee the foundation and likely be the president of the board at the start.
She said there’s a possibility that certain projects would potentially need a paid project manager, but she said she has spoken to some organizations that give grant money specifically for that purpose.
Council tables purchase of new phone system
City Clerk/Treasurer Kathy Olofson told council members that the current phone system at the city office can no longer be serviced by PC Telcom if it goes down since they would be unable to get the parts. The council tabled purchase approval until the costs are finalized.
Olofson said the process of looking into phone system changes started before COVID-19 hit. The quote at the time included a one-time cost of $19,439. She said the monthly amount is based on the number of primer, preferred and premium sets the city chooses to have. The monthly amount quoted for one premium, 18 preferred and three primers came out to be $458 per month.
She said she had contacted PC Telcom to see if there would likely be any substantial changes since receipt of that quote, and while they’re in the process of contacting vendors, she said PC Telcom didn’t envision the cost of materials changing dramatically.
She told the council that PC Telcom estimated it could take around 30 days to get the necessary materials and would take two to three weeks to install.
Olofson said one of the big highlights of the new phone system is that it allows phone calls to the city to be handled from other locations, which would be useful if working from home ever becomes necessary.
Council hears reports
Brown reported on an extensive power outage that happened Monday, March 29, at about 5:45 p.m. and affected the whole town.
He said he suspects the high winds blew part of the roof of the old power plant building in the 100 block of North Baxter Avenue into the main power line. Power was restored at about 6:30 p.m.
He informed council members that a freight truck hit a power pole at the north end of the alley between the 100 blocks of North Baxter Avenue and North Interocean Avenue.
The incident did not cause a power outage, but the pole was broken. City personnel held the pole in place with a digger truck until repairs could be done. Because the pole serves a large portion of downtown Holyoke, repairs were scheduled to start at 9 p.m. Thursday night, April 8, to keep the effect on businesses to a minimum.
Brown reported that the roof of the old power plant has been repaired by Spelts Roofing Company at the cost of $9,274.50, which CIRSA will cover and the city will pay a $2,500 deductible.
He said the conversion of city wells from chlorine gas disinfection to a liquid chlorine disinfectant solution was completed March 31.
Street crews have begun filling the cracks in the streets in preparation for seal coating work this summer. Brown said county crews have been assisting with the process and are working on County Road 41.
“That’s what I like about a community that can help each other and get things done,” said Brown.
The pump in the pit on Highway 385 near Cobblestone Inn & Suites has been repaired, Brown reported, but another problem was found.
He said there is a rusty pipe that leaks, and when the pumps run, water runs back in through the walls of the wet well. He anticipates the leak getting worse, so he said crews will work to replace it once they get a new pipe.
Brown reported on an April 5 cemetery board meeting in which a quote from Hodges Rock and Landscape was approved to install the sprinkler system for the cemetery expansion project at a cost of $19,900. Brown said the city will buy the materials and the company will complete the installation. Additionally, Brown reported that 16 trees were purchased at Boxelder Tree Farm for the expansion project.
Police Chief Doug Bergstrom reported that Holyoke Police Department handled or generated 80 calls for service from March 11-April 1, including five animal complaints, one municipal code violation and one dog at large under code enforcement. He also informed council members that Officer Mary Winterrowd resigned effective March 31.
Other business
In other business at the April 6 meeting, council members:
— Made a $30,000 contribution to Holyoke Golf Club for repairs and maintenance.
— Approved Task Order C for the Airport Electrical Improvements grant for changing the runway lights at the airport to LED, allowing Tonsing to sign.
— Donated $1,500 to Holyoke Volunteer Fire Department for education and training.
— Voted to purchase two big-screen TVs for the council chamber in the amount of $1,000 to be used for presentations. An amount over $1,000 will come out of utility administration.
— Accepted a bid from Nick Ferguson for rock hauling for seal coating at $10 per yard.
— Approved a partial payment to Koellner Enterprises for the crushing of concrete at the sewer lagoons in the amount of $12,195.
— Approved the professional services agreement for the Heginbotham Library project, in which the library is getting a grant from the state historical society and getting an assessment from Scheuber & Darden architects regarding the work that needs to be done.
— Approved special events permits for the Phillips County Fair Board to serve alcohol at the 2021 races and waive the local fees.
— Set a hearing date of May 4 for a new liquor license for Sara’s Cuisine LLC, which is a restaurant that is scheduled to open at the former KarDale’s location at 142 N. Interocean Ave.