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03/15/2006: "City council eyes new way to move water through intersection"

The Crofton city council spent some time at its Monday, March 6, meeting rethinking the planned changes to the intersection at Fifth Street and Omaha Street that were made at last month’s meeting.
City employees Leon Wakeley and Larry Stallbaum talked to the council about the problems they have with the corner. City resident Leroy Walter also pointed out concerns he has, as he lives close to the intersection.

Water drainage is the biggest concern but the city workers do not think a culvert will solve the problem as they talked to the councilmen while looking over a city map. The crew believes the situation would be better served by doing dirt work to change the slope of the road as it enters at the intersection. Leaving a spillway for water to drain has been working and they would be willing to attempt this dirt work before sinking a culvert at that intersection. It would save the city money.
The council began a discussion of the CDBG funds but after consulting with city attorney Dale Riesberg, decided to table the discussion until the Housing Board can meet for an update.
When EDM Associates began closing the housing rehab grant program, city engineer Ron Nohr discovered six participants had not signed the promissory note for their completed projects. The other eight projects were signed and in order. But for the residents to sign the notes now would cause a conflict with the wording in the contracts. Riesberg suggested the Housing Board meet to consider the problem and give an approval for Riesberg to make the necessary changes.
Five applications were submitted to the city for the summer pool positions. All five were hired as follows: Tara Schumacher, manager; Jill Leader, assistant manager; and Amanda Harmelink, Jenna Van Heek and Tierney Schumacher as lifeguards.
City clerk Nancy Foxhoven asked the board if they were going to reconsider admission fees at the city pool. Last summer pool employees suggested the city could increase their fees when compared to other area pools. The council advised Foxhoven to check around the area pools and present the pricing at the next meeting.
Councilman Allan Arens mentioned complaints he was receiving about the fencing around the tennis court near the city pool. It is high enough off the ground for balls to roll under it. City workers will look into the problem.
Police chief Mark Krepel talked to the board about the continuing problem of abandoned vehicles sitting around on city streets. One such vehicle was removed after Krepel contacted the owner but two remain. Riesberg and Krepel read over state laws and decided the course of action would be to give notice to the vehicles owners to move the vehicles in question. Then the clock could begin ticking on the process for the city to legally dispose of the vehicle.
Riesberg will make an attempt to give notice to the owners and the council will take appropriate action at the next meeting.
At a recent county meeting which Riesberg attended, Agriculture, Grazing and Timber (AGT) Zones in Knox County were discussed. An AGT zone is an area which has been zoned to restrict certain types of industry from starting in that area. An automatic granting of a building permit will not be allowed until the placement of the business can be studied.
An example was given for a recent request by a farmer living near Rolling Hills Golf Course. The farmer wished to erect several hoop barns for his hog confinement operation on his property in a field directly across from the golf course. This area was listed in the AGT zone and the farmer was required to ask his neighbor and the golf course board permission to place the new confinement area at that spot.
Currently, the AGT zone around Crofton is one mile beyond the city limits and the city controls the zoning ordinances for that area. The councilmen decided to leave the AGT zone as is. Riesberg pointed out this is am important issue for cities who at some time in the future may decide to annex more ground to be included in the city limits.
After closed session, the city decided to offer the two summer maintenance positions to Taylor Schumacher and Nick Hegge. Six applications were received for the positions.