City discusses police vacancy, 5th officer
Holyoke City Council members approved the hiring of someone new in the police department at their May 4 meeting after Officer Mary Winterrowd resigned March 31.
The new hire will start at $12.32 per hour plus benefits to start field training and will be put on salary after graduating from the police academy.
Police Chief Doug Bergstrom said he wanted to see what council members’ thoughts were on hiring a fifth officer, pointing out they have had one in the past.
He added that in the past year there were times when two of the four officers were out and that the department has been running short for quite a while.
Bergstrom said he has asked Peace Officers Standards and Training for two scholarships, but he won’t know the results of those requests until June. He said there has been one applicant for the vacancy so far.
After some discussion, council members tabled the decision of hiring a fifth police officer.
COVID relief funds used
Council members voted to have Phil Wirges build a division wall at the city office at the cost of $36,634.17. The city will be reimbursed by COVID relief funds.
They also elected to contribute $1,500 in COVID relief to help the senior meal plan continue in Sedgwick and Phillips counties.
New phone system purchased
Council members approved the purchase of a new phone system from PC Telcom for the city office at a one-time cost of $19,461.02.
Monthly charges will depend on the number of primer, preferred and premium sets the city chooses to have, and they will determine what each phone needs as the system is set up.
Council hears reports
City Superintendent Mark Brown reported that a power outage occurred at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, April 20, when a goose clipped a power line and took out a fuse on Johnson Street near Evans Avenue.
He provided an update on the power pole at the north end of the alley between the 100 blocks of North Baxter Avenue and North Interocean Avenue that was hit by a freight truck.
To keep the effect on businesses to a minimum, crews began work at 9 p.m. on Thursday night, April 8, and had everything repaired by about 5 a.m. the following morning after working through the night.
City personnel replaced a light pole on East Gordon Street that was damaged in a motor vehicle accident, and Brown added that the roof of the old power plant building in the 100 block of North Baxter Avenue has been repaired.
He reported that crews will be working at Phillips County Fairgrounds to bury a power line on the west side of the Bank of Colorado Pavilion to eliminate the risk of anything hitting the pole or the line.
In working with Holyoke Mobile Home Park, city crews eliminated two travel trailer spots at the north end of the park and are working to convert them to mobile home spaces, and the electricity that supplies the two spaces will have to be redone.
As the weather permits, street crews have been filling the cracks in the streets in preparation for seal coating work this summer. He added that the dugout fences at the baseball/softball field have been raised to 10 feet.
He informed council members that there is a pre-construction meeting Wednesday, May 19, regarding the airport lighting project for this summer and fall prior to opening it up for bids. The project entails changing the runway lights to LED.
Brown specifically expressed his thanks to Holyoke High School junior Correy Koellner for writing the grant that allowed $2,000 to be used toward the purchase of trees that were recently planted at Holyoke Cemetery. He added a big thank-you to the high school students who helped with the project for the CTE Day of Service on Wednesday, April 21.
“It was a great deal,” Brown said, “a nice school project. We got some trees in the cemetery, so a big thank-you to them.”
Bergstrom reported that Holyoke Police Department handled or generated 157 calls for service from April 2-29, including 10 animal complaints, one municipal code violation and four dogs at large under code enforcement.
He also reported that a vehicle backed into his patrol car, causing about $3,500 of damage. He said he is currently working with the insurance company regarding when the vehicle can be fixed.
City Clerk/Treasurer Kathy Olofson said she has received the first draft of the city’s 2020 audit as well as the first-quarter Conservation Trust Fund lottery proceeds in the amount of $6,297.62.
Recreation director Victoria Dunker reported a successful meeting with Ripley Design in which community members provided input on various park master plan options, and the Ripley Design team will get their revised plans completed in the next couple of weeks.
She said 130 kids participated in the soccer program. She told council members that summer baseball is starting in June and that she will have recommendations for coaches’ salaries at the next meeting, May 18.
Other business
In other business at the May 4 meeting, council members:
— Allowed Mayor Orville Tonsing to sign a letter supporting the northeast Colorado economic directors in pursuing the road to recovery grant.
— Waived building permit fees on reroofing projects for the courthouse, comm center, social services building, museum and courthouse maintenance garage.
— Issued a continuance for a new liquor license hearing for Sara’s Cuisine LLC until paperwork discrepancies are resolved.
— Approved the liquor license renewal for Los Parra’s.