WEDNESDAY • November 25, 2009
Maquoketa River cleanup underway
By DOUGLAS MELVOLD
The City of Maquoketa will undertake some major cleanup work on the Maquoketa River over the next several weeks.
The City Council on Nov. 16 hired Ardo Schmidt Tiling & Excavating Inc. of rural Preston to remove several large trees and other debris from the river that accumulated during the heavy rains
and flooding last year.
Most of the debris is in the stretch of river along Bicentennial Park, Public Works Director David Popp told the council. He said the flooding last year stripped several trees off the riverbank
upstream from the park.
In the year since the flooding, sand and rock have built up around the debris.
The clean-up is estimated to cost $80,000. The entire cost of the project will be paid for by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Popp said.
Although the cost of the project normally would require that the council take bids, City Manager Brian Wagner said the project isn’t considered a public improvement under the Iowa Code and as a
result bids aren’t required.
Work on the project was scheduled to begin last week and to continue for two to three weeks.
In addition, Popp said IIW Engineers & Surveyors Inc. of Dubuque, the city’s engineering firm, is developing plans for a project downstream from the current project to rebuild the
riverbank.
That project also will be paid for with FEMA funds, he said.
In other business, the council awarded a $128,300 contract to Staab Construction Corp. of Marshfield, Wis. to install a fine bubble aeration system at the city’s sewage treatment facility.
Todd Allen of Alliance Water Resources, which operates the city’s water and wastewater utilities, said the improvements will result in a cost savings.
He said the biggest savings will be the elimination of two 50-horsepower electric pump motors that operate continuously around the clock.
Twenty percent of the project will be paid for with federal stimulus funds.
The remainder will be financed through the sale of sewer revenue bonds, to be repaid with sewer fees.
The Staab firm submitted the lower of two bids received for the project.
Jim Schroeder Construction of Bellevue bid $139,269 for the project.
The engineer’s estimate for the project was a range of $130,000 to $150,000, and the low bid was $1,700 under the low end of the engineer’s estimated range.
The council also approved expenditure of $5,000 to replace a roof hatch and remove an internal platform and supporting rods in the city’s east water tower on East Summit Street.
During an interior cleaning and inspection of the 250,000-gallon water tower, inspectors noted that the roof hatch is corroded, has broken parts and does not meet Iowa Department of Natural
Resources code requirements.
The platform and support rods are rusted and severely corroded and are in danger of breaking and falling to the tank floor, risking damage to the tank.
The platform is unsafe and not needed, engineers said.
The work will be done by Central Tank Coatings Inc. of Elgin, Iowa.
In other business, the council approved the expenditure of $5,959 in emergency repairs to the municipal airport’s runway lighting system.
City Manager Brian Wagner said an Iowa Department of Transportation grant will pay $4,171 of the cost and the city will pay the remaining $1,788.
The repairs will be made urgently because of the need to have the runway lighting system operating.
In other business, the council approved tax increment financing rebates for several entities under existing development agreements.
Rebates were approved for Alliance Pipeline, up to $30,000; Maquoketa Housing I, up to $30,000; Sunshine Preschool & Day Care, up to $37,332; Shoreline Development, up to $34,622, and
Hainstock Housing, $44,750.
On another matter, the council was told that negotiations with the Maquoketa Community School Board over the school district possibly acquiring the city’s outdoor pool property will be put on
hold until after the mayor-elect and council members-elect are seated in January.
Subcommittees of the council and school board have discussed the possibility of the school district acquiring the property for Goodenow Field parking and possibly for recreation use.
On another matter, Stacy Driscoll, economic development director, announced that Maquoketa has been selected as the host site for the National Wood Carver’s Association convention next year,
which will be held June 10-21.
The Maquoketa Area Chamber of Commerce and Jackson County Fair Board and staff are working with the group on the arrangements.
Driscoll said the organization is seeking a long-term arrangement for its conventions and said if next year’s event is successful, Maquoketa could serve as the host city for many years to come.
WEDNESDAY • November 18, 2009
Trail construction seen in near future
By DOUGLAS MELVOLD
Construction of Maquoketa’s proposed South Main Street pedestrian trail may begin as early as next year, the City Council was told this week.
The council on Monday night, Nov. 16, approved an $87,496 contract with IIW Engineers & Surveyors of Dubuque to provide engineering services for the trail, which would run along the east side
of South Main Street between the entrance to Horseshoe Pond Park and the northeast corner of Carlisle and South Main streets near the Wal-Mart store.
Councilman Ed Turney voted against the contract. He didn’t comment on his vote, but has said in the past that the city should restrict use of its road-use tax funds to improving and maintaining
city streets.
The 2,300-foot pedestrian-bicycle concrete trail would be eight feet wide with two-foot shoulders. A pedestrian bridge will be built to cross Prairie Creek.
The project is estimated to cost $425,000, City Manager Brian Wagner said. Most of the trail will be paid from a $250,000 federal Surface Transportation Program grant. The remainder will be paid
from the city’s road-use tax revenue received from the state.
The trail would connect with the end of the present South Main Street trail at Horseshoe Pond Park, which links with the city’s other trails.
The council has been interested in developing the trail because of safety concerns for pedestrians walking to and from the Wal-Mart store along the busy South Main Street, including the narrow
Prairie Creek bridge.
Whether the trail is built next year or in 2011 will depend on when the federal grant funds are released to the city, Wagner said. And that will depend on the status of a trail project the City
of Clinton is considering that would be funded under the same federal program.
If Clinton goes ahead with its project, Maquoketa’s trail project would be put off a year, until 2011, Wagner said. He told the council, however, that the most recent information he received is
that the Clinton City Council had reversed an earlier decision and decided not to do the project.
“If it turns out they’re not going to do it, then their vote frees up funding and we can proceed next year,” Wagner said.
Julie Neebel, an engineer with the IIW firm, reviewed the engineering work that is covered by the contract.
Ordinance discussed
Who should pay for unnecessary fire calls?
By DOUGLAS MELVOLD
Jackson County needs to educate rural residents to notify officials when they plan to do open burning of a field or ditch, but the county does not need an ordinance requiring the notice, several
area rural residents told the Board of Supervisors last week.
Approximately 15 rural residents attended a public hearing on Nov. 10 called by the supervisors to gather comments on a proposed ordinance requiring advance notice of open burning.
Most of those addressing the board expressed opposition to the measure, saying that education rather than legislation is the key.
The three-page measure was proposed by the Jackson County Fire Chiefs Association as a way of reducing the instances in which firefighters are dispatched to a fire that they find is a controlled
burn, or a fire deliberately set to burn a pasture, prairie, roadside ditch or large amounts of landscape waste, including dead trees.
Most such unnecessary fire calls result from a passerby seeing flames or smoke and calling 911 with his or her cell telephone to report what they may think is a fire out of control.
For the complete story please read the Nov. 18, 2009 issue of the Maquoketa Sentinel-Press
Election results declared official
By DOUGLAS MELVOLD
The results of Jackson County’s municipal elections were completed last week when the Board of Supervisors canvassed the outcome and used a tie-breaker to decide one race that ended in a
draw.
Sherry Short, a write-in candidate, was chosen for a seat on the Baldwin City Council over Jean Miller, whose name was on the ballot. Both received nine votes to tie for the final seat to be
filled.
Supervisors Chairman Jack Willey drew Short’s name out of a coffee mug during the supervisors meeting on Nov. 10.
For the complete story please read the Nov. 18, 2009 issue of the Maquoketa Sentinel-Press
SATURDAY • November 14, 2009
Portraits exhibited at Smithsonian
Maquoketa artist Rose Frantzen, fourth from left, poses with members of her family in one of the exhibit room at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. at the opening of her “Portrait of Maquoketa” exhibit on Nov. 5. From left are Frantzen’s older brother, John Frantzen of Los Angeles, Calif.; her youngest brother, Army Sgt. First Class Tim Frantzen of Fort Bragg, N.C.; Charles Morris, Rose Frantzen’s husband; Rose Frantzen; her mother, Ellen; her father, Wayne; her younger sister, Joanne Goodwin of South Portland, Maine, and Joanne’s husband, Todd Goodwin. Two of Rose’s brothers were unable to attend the opening because of prior commitments. They were Steven Frantzen of Prague, Czech Republic, and Jerry Frantzen of Chicago.
Many of the Maquoketans who traveled to Washington, D.C. last week for the opening of the “Portrait of Maquoketa” exhibit pose for a group photo on a staircase of the recently-opened visitors center at the U.S. Capitol. Artist Rose Frantzen, her husband, Charles Morris, and her mother, Ellen Frantzen, are in the lower right. The Maquoketa visitors took advantage of their visit to tour the Capitol and many of the memorials, monuments and other attractions in the Washington area.
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