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City seeking help in letter campaign to Congressional delegation |
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Wednesday, 24 January 2007 |
By Buck Traxler — I-O Editor
Due to the loss of a $750,000 STAG grant (State Tribal Assistance Grant) earmarked to help with the upgrading of the city’s wastewater facility, it was announced at the Tuesday council meeting the city would embark on a letter campaign of citizen support to the congressional delegation for support of the grant.
The STAG grant was to be used to upgrade the wastewater treatment system located off of I-15, just north of Conrad.
Readers will recall that as a result of unfunded federal mandates, the city (local taxpayer) will be responsible for paying the bill on the treatment facility with a sewer use increase of up to 25 percent.
While the city has been awarded, and still has it, a TSEP grant (Treasure State Endowment Program) for $500,000 and has set aside some funding, the project still carries a price tag of over $1.4 million.
Mayor John Shevlin commented, “The upgrade of our treatment plant is due to the increasing testing requirements mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). Unfortunately when they implement these new mandates, how a community is going to finance them is of no concern to them.”
The city is asking for help from local taxpayers in the form of a letter campaign.
The city has prepared letters to all three members of the congressional delegation. All you have to do is stop by city hall and sign them. The city will put them all into a packet and forward them on to our senators and representative. You don’t even have to pay for a stamp.
If you would prefer to write your own personal letter, you may still bring the original in and the city will include it in the package with the other letters.
The mayor went on to say, “It is important we show overwhelming support for the wastewater project. We need to let them know that the residents of Conrad are willing to comply with their unfunded mandated testing, but we need help financially to accomplish this.”
For more information, contact Mayor John Shevlin or Finance Officer Agnes Fowler at 271-3623 or your council representative, Sandy Syvertson, Gary Brown, Wendy Judisch or Wally McHenry.
In other business with the council, it was noted that officer Mike Galloway will be leaving the city police force to become a deputy with the county sheriff’s department. Chief Gary Dent noted that the main reason for leaving was that the county has a 20 year retirement versus a 30 year retirement for the city. The city is in search of a new police officer. Galloway is slated to begin working with the country in February,
The city will be advertising for bids for mosquito control.
Fowler noted that the recent cat and dog registration went well and that auditors will be in town the week of Jan. 22 to begin going over the books.
In a related matter, the city opened three packets from firms for audit services. Six requests for bid proposals were sent out.
One firm sent a letter saying they were too busy to bid at the present time.
A firm out of Hamilton bid $13,050 for 2007, $13,250 for 2008, and $13,450 for 2009.
The city’s present auditor, Denning, Downey and Associates had a total bid of $8,000 for the coming year.
The bids were taken under advisement until the next meeting so references could be checked.
Additional appointments were made to committees held over from the last meeting. Richard Anderson, McHenry and Fowler will serve on the accident committee and Fowler, Judisch and Syvertson will be on the CDBG loan committee.
There was more discussion with Monica Huffman and council members on the Juvenile Community Service Program.
Brown was uncomfortable with the $500 flat fee to be paid Huffman and was not sure where the money would come from.
McHenry offered to volunteer his time and Syvertson felt there should be a fee charged on top of fines to help pay for the community service program.
It was noted as well, that any excess money collected, such as a fee on top of a fine, could not be used until the next budget cycle.
The council will make a decision on the juvenile program at the second meeting in February,
The next regular meeting of the city council will be on Feb. 5, 7:30 p.m., 411-½ S. Main.
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