The City Council is in the process of considering allowing one refuse container to be collected curbside each week and changing the Sanitation fee that we charge to collect solid waste and recyclable materials week to offset that change. Right now Ely residents pay a monthly “sanitation” fee of $7.00 per month, plus $1.00 per container of trash set out at the curb. The $1.00 fee is paid through garbage tags that people can purchase at the Casey’s Store or Cleppe’s Service in Ely, or Ely City Hall. The $7.00/month fee covers the cost for curbside pick-up of residential solid waste (garbage, trash, what have you, I am usually guilty of using 25-cent words too often) and recyclable materials. The $1.00 tag covers the cost of the disposal fee the Linn County Landfill charges per ton. (This is also called a tonnage or tipping fee, if you care.)
The concept being considered is to allow curbside collection of one bag/container of refuse per week and increase the monthly “sanitation” fee from the existing $7.00/month to $11.00/month. The $11/month fee would include collection of one garbage container each week. Reviewing the last few years’ history shows that Ely sells on average right around 4 garbage stickers per account each month. As an average, this should not be read as saying that everyone in Ely averages using 4 tags each month; some people will use more than 4 garbage stickers each month, others will use fewer. We do not have any way to accurately track the number of tags each customer uses, so we cannot know who only puts out a bag of trash every few weeks, and who puts out 4 bags of trash (with tags of course).
Ely basically breaks even between what we pay for garbage and recyclables collection, and the fees collected for the service. That is the main reason for the suggested change in rate, if the change to allow one container each week without a tag is approved. The solid waste activity has operated solely on the money it generates for the last several years, and has not had to rely on money from other sources, like property taxes.
The City Council will hold a public hearing to hear comments about this at the March 10, 2008 City Council meeting. The meeting will convene at 7:00 p.m., and the public hearing would begin very soon after the meeting opens. Ely City Council meetings are held in the Council Chambers on the 2nd floor of the Ely Community Building/City Hall at 1570 Rowley Street. City Council meetings are open to the public, and the public is always invited to attend.
You can comment on this at the City Council meeting, send an email to City Hall at: elycity@southslope.net, send written comments via regular mail to Ely City Hall, PO Box 248, Ely Iowa 52227. Or, just leave a comment on the blog.
Thanks
AA
Before moving to Ely I lived in St Cloud Minnesota for about 5 years, while serving as City Administrator for the City of St Augusta. I was always amazed by the ferocity of the Iowa/Minnesota rivalry when I lived in the St Cloud area. This is not to say that I wasn’t aware of it, I was directly exposed to it while living in Spencer, IA, for a few years in the early ‘90’s and it’s safe to say that I heard my share of Minnesota and Iowa jokes. However, I’ve never noticed any real inter-state rivalry with Minnesota in Iowa once you get south of Buena Vista County (it always seemed pretty muted in BV County). So I was always amazed that people in St Cloud over 100 miles north of the border with Iowa would carry on about it as they did. I “enjoyed” quite a few jokes about the “downsides” of living in Iowa, as the token and so very visible Iowan in the room. And, in my professional capacity, it was usually best to smile and chuckle politely.
While he was Mayor of St Augusta, Ollie Mondloch used to love telling this joke after Iowa had just been covered by a thick new blanket of snow:
“Why does it always snow so much in Iowa? Because God likes to cover his mistakes”.
I suggest the correct answer would actually be:
“Because God is trying to make the people in Minnesota feel better about where they live”.
PS. The Hollywood Writer’s Guild is still on strike, this is just another example of why I’m not a professional joke writer.
Aaron Anderson (AA)
Spring is the season people usually associate with new beginnings, the creation of new things and renewal as the world around us wakes up again. Around City Hall our minds really focus on change and new beginnings in the dead cold of the deepest part of winter. By the time the temperature has dropped through the floor, the summer’s projects are done (or as done as they will be for the year), we’ve cleaned up from autumns winds and rains; and have been dealing with snow and ice for a month or two. Now, during the very coldest portion of the year, is the time to make the plans for the next year, identify what we want to achieve, what we want to improve, how we are going to do all those things and how we’re going to pay for them.
So, you may be asking by now, what’s new in Ely?
Ely has a new Mayor. Jim Doyle took office January 2, 2008 after being elected to Mayor in November. Bill Grove and Stephanie Mai also joined the City Council this year.
We’re working on the budget for the 08-09 fiscal year that begins in July. The budget is likely to include funds for the Sidewalk construction program, street repairs and water system upgrades, along with regular maintenance and operations.
To help get ready for what is sure to be a busy year, the City Council has scheduled a goal-setting workshop for Monday January 28th. This session will help the Council prioritize what to achieve over the next few years. The goal setting session will give us the plan, to begin the exciting work for the next year, and years.
AA
There were 48 “spam” comments when I checked the blog this morning. Okay, so it’s a Monday morning and it appears spammers prefer to work nights and weekends. Still, it’s an annoyance and something that legitimate users and readers should not have to deal with. Especially if the spam comments remain posted. Comments from real people are valued, and one of the main reasons the Ely City Hall blog exists. It’s not intended to be “spam-central-station”.
So, in an effort to combat spam comments, we’ve added that you need to type in your email address and name when you post a comment. The email contact information will not be distributed to any people, organizations or entities. It will just sit quietly in the blog’s administrative section. Have also added that blog comments that include any “hyper-links” to any other website in the post will be held in queue and posted after verifying it’s not spam. Legitimate comments that include links to other sites will be posted as soon as we are sure it’s by a real person, not by some weird algorithm, computer program or other form of comment spam.
Ely is now a (very minor) player in the never-ending fight against spam. I apologize for any inconvenience.
AA
There will be an election for three spots on the City Council and the Mayor’s office Tuesday November 6, 2007. Voting will open at 7:00 a.m., and will close at 8:00 p.m., vote at the community room at the Ely Public Library, 1595 Dows Street in Ely.
These people are running for three seats on the City Council:
These people are running for the office of Mayor:
Absentee Voting: Absentee ballots for the Regular City Election in Linn County on November 6, 2007 are now available from the Linn County Elections Office. Voters must either vote in person at the Elections Office or send in an official absentee ballot request form and a ballot will be mailed. The Linn County Elections Office is open Monday through Friday, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and is physically located on the 2nd floor of the Linn County Administrative Office Building, 930-1st Street SW, Cedar Rapids. Absentee Ballot request forms are available on the County’s website: www.linncounty.org at Elections/Voting. Completed absentee ballot request forms should be mailed to P. O. Box 1328, Cedar Rapids, IA 52406-1328.
Contact the Election’s Office with any questions regarding absentee voting at 892-5300 or e-mail elections@linncounty.org
Register to Vote. If you want to vote in this election, you must be registered to vote in advance. So if you are not already registered, please register to vote soon. You can register at Ely City Hall or the Linn County Auditor’s office. The last day to register to vote for the upcoming City Election is Friday, October 26, 2007.
That’s the last of the update type information for the moment. Please remember to vote November 6.
Take care!
Okay, it’s time to write about a topic that it is likely a lot of people will be very interested in – the State Street Bridge Project.
I was going to give a summary of what has happened to date, but something tells me that the folks reading this don’t really care. I figure you all want to know what the status of the project is and when the bridge will be done and open to traffic. I’m not able to give a confident answer to that question now, because the crucial “pre-cast” components for the bridge have yet to be manufactured.
The bridge that will be installed is very similar to (in fact many people technically consider it) a “box culvert”. If I understand right (I think I do, but I’m not an engineer), a box culvert is basically a shaped concrete structure that looks like a box (hence it’s name) that is open to allow water to flow under it and designed to be able to support traffic. In our case, the “box” structure is to be manufactured, or pre-cast, off-site; and will look pretty much the same as the Main Street Bridge upstream. The pre-cast components are effectively only available from one provider because the design is trademarked, or otherwise limited, for sale by a specific vendor, in this case Contech Bridge Solutions, Inc.
Iowa Department of Transportation (IDOT) regulations require the pre-cast components of a bridge/box culvert that will be used to carry traffic to be manufactured at a facility that is certified by IDOT. The certification, as you would expect, is a quality control measure to make sure the structure is built to specifications and will be safe to use. The pre-cast provider was not ready for and so lost a production slot for a certified facility in Iowa, and was apparently unable to get another slot. So, they are in the process of gaining IDOT certification for a concrete pre-cast facility in Wisconsin. That facility is not yet IDOT certified. There cannot be significant progress until the pre-cast components are manufactured, nor can I give a reliable schedule for when the bridge will be open.
The people representing the State of Iowa and the City of Ely through this project are paying very close attention, and doing what we can to get this project done. Ely has notified all parties involved that we fully intend to act on all of the City’s rights under the construction contract with PCI, including the liquidated damages provisions.
As a closing note, I realized while writing this that the overall name of this blog might be a little incongruous because buildings (like City Hall) seldom write blogs. However I hope and will strive to be as objective as a mere human can be when attempting to share information. AA
Hi
Welcome to the first run at a “City of Ely” blog. This will be a little different than most blogs you see, we will try to focus on stuff that is happening in Ely. Whether it is physical activity like a bridge replacement, policy related like whether the City should prohibit the outdoor burning of residential waste, or planning for the future, we hope to included it on the blog.
We also intend to give you the opportunity to be part of the whole online communication thing. Start by posting comments to the blog. It’s free and open to the public. Please keep in mind that your comments can be read by the entire world, including people who may not be ready for the more “adult” language sometimes seen on the internet.
Have to admit, we’re still working out the details for the blog and forum portion of the website. We plan on having an Ely online forum that will reflect the current blog and support online discussion regarding the blog and other things going on in the Ely area, if things work even kind of close to plan. While we hope you find value in checking the blog, we really hope you will be part of the discussion on the forum. There is a sign-in, but it is free and easy (at least as easy as filling out a form online can be).
So, check the blog, and leave a note if you feel so inclined. Even more important though, please check the Ely Online Forum (once it’s posted) and join the discussion.
Thanks!