City Notes: Street Department’s summer includes road projects, tests, annual cleanup

By Dirk Uetz, Charles City Street Superintendent

There will be three smaller street projects this summer.

The first will be on Lawler Street. This area will be repaired with a mill-and-fill method, leaving a new surface of 5 inches of asphalt. There will also be a small amount of storm sewer work done with this project.

Next will be a small area on Bunn Avenue getting a new sanitary sewer main. Also, there will be a new water main project on Rolfing Street from First Avenue to the east end of Rolfing Street by the bike trail. There could also be some utility work done this summer.

Please be patient when the work is being done in your neighborhoods. Please watch for future information updates in the Charles City Press or on KCHA Radio.

We will be getting ready to bid Hildreth Street in the fall of 2017 with scheduled reconstruction in the summer of 2018. This project will run from Third Street to Ninth Street.

Please remember, there is not a leaf pickup in the spring of the year, so please do not rake leaves into the streets.

We also ask that you do not blow grass clippings into the streets as this plugs the storm sewer drains, which could cause flooding in the streets. And it also helps keep the water cleaner by not having nitrate runoff going into the river. This also helps the street sweeper by keeping the streets looking their best, as we will have a lot of visitors in town this summer with RAGBRAI.

The Shaw Avenue dump site is open from sunrise to sunset 7 days a week. Residents can haul yard waste and tree trimmings at any time during those hours.

Also there is compost and wood chip mulch for the residents of Charles City to take at no cost for lawns and gardening uses. We have received many compliments on the quality of our compost, and all that is required of residents is loading and hauling.

The brush pickup schedule for this year will be Monday, May 1; Monday, June 19; and the last pickup will be Monday, Oct. 23.

Please remember to stack the branches so the ends face the street. Once again, we will not pick up whole trees that you cut down, or if you decide to landscape your entire yard. This is a service set up for yard trimmings only.

Please be good citizens and keep the trees over the sidewalk trimmed so no one gets injured by overgrown branches. Trees located in the parking lots belong to the city, but the homeowner is responsible for the maintenance.

Please keep the trees trimmed to no lower than 8-feet on the sidewalk and 16-feet on the street side.

If trees are dead or dying, or if you are concerned about the condition of a tree, please contact the Street Department at 641-257-6314 to have a determination made whether they need to be taken down.

Repairs to deteriorating manholes will also be taking place this summer. These repairs are very cost-effective, as they run about a third of the cost to replace the structures, and in most cases traffic tie-ups and detours will not be created.

A mainline sewer lining project is also scheduled for this summer. That project will be on Cleveland Avenue, F Street, E Street, and D Street from 13th Avenue to 16th Avenue; on Cottage Court and Missouri Avenue from 15th Avenue to 16th Avenue; 15th Avenue from Cleveland Avenue to Missouri Avenue; and also the line between Cleveland Avenue and F Street from 16th Avenue to 18th Avenue.

You may be asked to limit your sewer usage when work is being completed in your area.

This project will be completed by Hydro Klean.

There will also be smoke testing done on the sanitary sewers. The purpose of smoke testing is to find potential points of inflow and infiltration in the public and private portions of the sanitary sewer system that could lead to high flows during storm events.

Smoke testing can also help locate buildings that have downspouts, cellar or yard drains, catch basins and parking lot drains; any connections between sanitary sewers and storm drains; or defective sewer connections that could allow sewer gases into a building.

Smoke testing is the most efficient and cost-effective way to locate and identify where there could be problems. The “smoke” is not true smoke. It will not harm your health or leave a stain and will disappear rapidly without leaving an odor.

Spring Cleanup dates will likely be toward the end of April. Please watch for the dates in the Charles City Press and the North Iowa Shopper. The guidelines will be the same as last year:

• Items at each address are limited to one pile no larger than 2-feet wide by 3-feet high by 8-feet long, plus one bulky item such as a couch, mattress and box springs, recliner, etc. For pickup of garbage in excess of these guidelines, call Jendro Sanitation Services at 228-3525. There will be a fee for any additional items.

• We ask that you have your other items set out by 4 a.m. curbside and not in the alleys. This is for worker safety and easier pickup with the loaders due to limited space in the alleys. Please do not park in front of the piles on the normal garbage day and leave at least 25 feet of street space so the workers can pick up the items.

• We are asking you to not place items out until the Saturday before pickup date (to be determined) or you will be charged with a nuisance complaint. Please have items boxed or bagged for easier pickup.

• We ask that all mattresses/box springs or bulky items be placed on the curb by Monday so they can be picked up separately, as these cause problems in the trash compactor boxes.

Again, please watch for the dates in the Charles City Press and North Iowa Shopper.

Thank you in advance and have a great summer!