2008 Year in Review

Council Approves Lights for Sports Complex

by Ben Wolf

The ballpark/football trail areas and the parking lot will have decorative and functional lighting as approved by the council last week. All of the poles will also have GFCI outlets located high on the poles. The 36 total light poles will cost $105,260. The council considered upgrading the poles with more efficient, LED light fixtures. The cost for these fixtures was $800/pc, and the payback for electricity savings was approximately 39 years. Thus, the council decided on the metal halide fixtures. City administrator, Tim Long said that the price of LED fixtures is, and will continue to fall, and may make sense retrofitting the fixtures in the future.

Lumec Corporation makes these poles, and have been found to be the best value for the money. Thus, the council voted to waive the bidding requirement for this item. Long also mentioned that there is grass seed on the ground and the irrigation system should be ready to run by early September.

Tim Slavin presented two items for consideration for the council. One was the addition of signs to mark the historic district in Morrison. The three decorative signs cost a total of $4,380, and would be placed by Rock Creek Bridge, on IL Rt. 78 near Dr. Jenning’s office and in the residential block near Casey’s. The council approved purchase of the signs and authorized Gary Tresenriter (superintendent of public works) to supervise and assist in their installation.

Slavin also went over the agreement between members of the fire department and the veterans/American Legion members representing the Veterans’ Memorial. The two groups decided to place a firemen’s monument where the birdbath currently stands at Veterans’ Memorial Park, and move the birdbath to another appropriate place, perhaps near the fountain. The council was agreeable to the suggestion, and will decide on the matter at the next meeting due to the matter not being listed on the meeting agenda. The two groups agreed to share the cost of moving the birdbath, and there is no cost to the city for the memorial. Gary Tresenriter will supervise the birdbath move and memorial installation. It was decided by the council to dispose of five to six desktop personal computers, printers and monitors by allowing City employees with school aged children to obtain them by lottery if necessary, and the remaining ones going to City employees at no charge. The computers were outdated for city use and have been in storage for over six months.

Nancy Andersen spoke during the public forum in support of keeping Robert Wood for helping with moving MAPPING items and others forward. “Thank you for extending his contract. I recommend keeping him in that position. He has served in just about every committee that came about from MAPPING, and there are a lot of us who respect what he has done.”

John Dyke also spoke about the proposed bike/walk path to the sports complex. He said that the planned path runs along a natural waterway, and would be a mess for everyone. He said that the conservation department agrees, and John suggested another location. City Attorney, Lester Weinstein said that the property owners for the suggested location have been contacted and the city is waiting to hear back from them. Most agreed that the route proposed by Dyke is better.

by  Editor, theCity1.com
September 3, 2008