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Charles City’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade canceled

  • Charles City Council members stagger their seating at Monday's regular meeting in response to the recommended social distancing efforts to mitigate spread of the novel coronavirus. Press photo by Kelly Terpstra

  • City Clerk Trudy O'Donnell and City Attorney Brad Sloter stagger their seating at Monday's regular City Council meeting in response to efforts to mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus. Press photo by Kelly Terpstra

  • Mayor Dean Andrews (left), council member DeLaine Freeseman (middle) and council member Keith Starr (right) sit farther apart than normal at Monday's City Council meeting in response to the coronavirus. Press photo by Kelly Terpstra

By Kelly Terpstra, kterpstra@charlescitypress.com

There may be green beer flowing and corned beef and cabbage consumed this week, but there won’t be a St. Patrick’s Day Parade this year in Charles City.

Amid concerns of spreading the coronavirus, Mayor Dean Andrews announced organizers have scrapped the yearly parade that strolls down Main Street and has been a tradition in Charles City for 26 years.

It would have been the “27th Annual First Ever St. Patrick’s Day Parade” this Saturday, but the request to approve a parade permit was not voted on as Andrews said no parade would take place.

“I had a discussion with John Morris around noon and we’ve decided that we probably will not have the parade. I think since it’s an outdoor event and people are kind of spread out it probably wouldn’t be a problem, but as one mayor said on my mayor’s hotline, ‘It’s better to wonder if we overprepared than to be underprepared then find out we were underprepared,” said Andrews.

“The St. Patrick’s Day Parade is always a fun event, but it’s one that as Councilman (Keith) Starr said, ‘We’ll have the St. Patrick’s Day Fourth of July Parade,’” Andrews joked.

Four council members – Jerry Joerger was not in attendance – and Mayor Andrews, along with other city leaders, staggered their seating by more than five feet.

“As you can see we’re practicing social distancing at the council meetings,” said Andrews.

There was also talk of holding future City Council meetings by remote access.

“If that’s something we find that might be beneficial, tonight might be our chance to practice and do that and make sure it works,” said City Administrator Steve Diers about learning how to log in to computers to conduct meetings online.

Diers said members of the public could still attend an online meeting in the Council Chambers as there would be at least one city staff member present to oversee the remote connection. He said it could also be possible an internet link could be shared with the public to view an online meeting.

“You could set parameters there for level of participation,” Diers added.

Diers said the city’s monthly department head meeting will take place today (Tuesday) and a large portion of that discussion will center on what steps will be taken to keep the novel coronavirus at bay.

“We’re just trying to do what we can to be prepared and get the right information out there,” said Diers. “We’re kind of just taking things a step at a time and talking to all the different departments where we’re looking at different ways to limit contact and addressing this as it comes along.”

Also at the meeting, a rate increase was approved by a 3-1 margin to raise the monthly price city residents pay Jendro for its recycling/garbage service. Council member Phillip Knighten voted against the resolution that amends the city contract with Jendro.

Alan Powell, president of Jendro Sanitation, requested a 2.3% cost-of-living rate increase at a City Council planning session held last Wednesday evening, as is allowed in his contract with the city.

Knighten questioned whether rates could be lowered.

“Is there anything built into this that there’s a decrease – that that price decrease happens as well?” Knighten asked Diers.

Diers said there is no provision built into the city’s contract with Jendro that would decrease rates for residential consumers that use the service. Diers also said Powell can make a request for an increase, but the city doesn’t have to approve it.

“We could say no. We’re not obligated. We’re obligated to review it,” Diers said.

Diers said the rate increase would take effect on April 1 and be reflected on Charles City residents’ May 10 utility bill.

Plans were approved for the Corporate Drive Water Tower painting project. The city has approximately $260,000 budgeted for the project and Dixon Engineering has estimated the price tag on repairs and paint work to be $237,000.

A mockup design of the proposed paint job was presented to the City Council at last week’s planning workshop.

A public hearing will be held regarding the tower’s paint and repair work at an April 6 meeting.

The council also approved an estimate from Dixon Engineering for $14,570 to do a Risk and Resilience Assessment along with an Emergency Response Plan for the water department. Water Superintendent Cory Spieker said those steps need to be taken and certified by June 2021. The work is done by the Environmental Protection Agency and is part of the American Water Infrastructure Act of 2018.

A supplemental agreement with the city and Calhoun Burns and Associates to provide on-site observation of the Main Street Bridge project was approved. The cost of that work would be $55,000 and also include field testing to make sure the contractor is performing the work in accordance with the plans and specifications.

The contract was awarded to Jasper Construction, Newton, for a base bid of $280,000 earlier this month.

Work will focus on fixing cracks and lifting the road surface of the 1910-built bridge.

A proposal from the Iowa Soybean Association to provide technical assistance to the newly hired watershed coordinator, Doug Johnson, was also reviewed. That assistance would include the testing of water samples collected by the coordinator.

For those services, the city would pay the ISA $10,400 annually for a five-year term total of $52,000.

The funds to pay for the testing were received through the Iowa Partners in Conservation Grant.

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