The Jefferson Street/Water/Sanitation/Sewer Committees met this past Tuesday in regular session.
Most of the meeting was spent with the streets committee. A lengthy discussion took place on making the city a quiet zone. City Engineer with Bolton and Menk Jim Leiding said Union Pacific (UP) changed its process for a city to become a quiet zone and made it more difficult to do so. Part of the changes is that UP requires a $40,000 retainage fee to be under contract for a quiet zone. The city has four railroad crossings left that would need a type of safety measure in place, which Leiding mentioned installing a 100-foot concrete median as the most economical choice. It was also mentioned that there were about 19 trains that travel through town during the day and 19 trains at night. The committee decided to discuss this topic with Ogden and Ames, which have established quiet zones.
The street committee agreed to allow a temporary street closure on Chestnut Street, south of East Lincoln Way to the alleyway for the weekly Greene County Farmers Market; they also heard a request from Bailey Mount about installing a lighted crosswalk on the intersection of Vine Street and East Lincoln Way for safety reasons. She said there are multiple close calls with children crossing that intersection going to and from the library. The committee said they will look into the situation and consider her request. Additionally, the street committee decided to have Building Official and Code Enforcer Chad Stevens re-send notices to residents in the 700 and 800 block of South Chestnut Street to repair problem areas on sidewalks, due to the foot traffic of middle school students.
The water committee reviewed its lead service inventory. It was mentioned that there has not been a final decision made between the Environmental Protection Agency or the Iowa Department of Natural Resources that if a lead water service line is found, who is responsible for replacing it. Water Superintendent Marty Murphy reported that about 600 of 2,000 connections are left to identify what kind of material the water service line is made of. Additionally, the water committee reviewed the city’s water tower painting and it was determined that the structure is good for another 3-5 years before it needs to be repainted.
The sewer committee recommended approval to the city council to forgive two high sewer bills. One was at 605 West Monroe of $435.76 and the other was at 406 Cedar Street for $5,986. Both situations included broken water pipes in crawl spaces, where the water went into the ground.
Finally, the sanitation and recycling committees reviewed the timeline for the single-stream recycling program to start. It was mentioned that the new recycling truck will be available in June or July and the city is still working to establish a contract with Metro Waste Authority to accept recyclables from Jefferson. New ordinances for recycling were also going to be discussed with the recycling committee later in the week.