Matt Mohs of Bolton & Menk attended the January 12 Houston City Council meeting to update the council on upcoming projects in the city. Mohs informed the council that an “awesome application” had been submitted for LRIP (Local Road Improvement Program) grant. A total of 233 applications were submitted for a total requested funding of $277,393,000. The total available funding is $47,000,000.
Houston will now have to wait until March to find out if they were successful in obtaining the grant. Mohs noted that in the past LRIP would inform the applicants how close they were to getting into the “funding zone.”
Mohs informed the council that the city had been approved for a $525,000 grant to be used to replace lead service lines. According to Mohs, this will cover the “vast majority” of what was needed.
The project will be bid over the summer; construction will begin in mid to late fall. A total of 21 properties will have service lines replaced. This will end up as zero out of pocket for the city. It will include a zero percent loan and grant and be a reimbursable program. The city will need to pay the expenses, but will then be reimbursed by the grant. City Administrator Michelle Quinn shared that the city has sufficient cash flow to cover the bills as they come in.
Houston School Variance
The Planning Board held a public hearing on January 5 to consider a variance request submitted by the Houston School District. Following that hearing, the Planning Board recommended the approval of the variance.
This variance will allow the district to construct a secure entrance at the elementary. A 600 to 700 square foot entry will be constructed with an administrative area. Visitors will be buzzed in to the area when they arrive and will not have access to the rest of the building until they check in at the office.
Superintendent Mary Morem assured the council that the new entrance will have a “pleasing architectural style” in keeping with the rest of the historic building.
The council approved the variance. Other nearby buildings extend beyond the set back from the street; the addition to the school will not extend beyond those.
Ambulance On-Call Rates
The council decided to raise the on-call rates for the ambulance crew. Rates had not increased since 2014. Effective January 1, new rates for weekday on-call increased from $2 to $4 per hour; rates for weekend days increased from $2.25 to $4.50 per hour.
Quinn commented, “We understand what they are giving up when they commit to being on-call.” She noted, however, that difficulties continue in scheduling for ambulance on-call. A consideration is that the city may need to get commitments from ambulance crew members to be on-call a certain number of hours/days a week.
Quinn pointed out that the city spends money training the staff and needs to get something for that expense.
In other business regarding the ambulance, the council accepted the resignation of Tom Hill who is retiring from the crew after 20 years of service. A letter of thanks was signed by the council members.
The ambulance recently received additional funding from the state in the amount of $783.
Other Business
In other business the council:
- Granted an exempt permit (gambling) for Sheldon Valley Sportsman’s Association for an event to be held at the Community Center on. March 28;
- Heard that a letter of understanding had been received for the upcoming audit; after a company merger, the staff working with the city of Houston will remain the same as in the past;
- Decided committee appointments for the year: Zeb Baumann will be the acting mayor when needed;
- Chose the Fillmore County Journal as the official newspaper and Rushford State Bank as the official depository;
- Changed Police Officer Curtis Chapel from probationary to regular police officer and moved him to step 2 on the wage scale;
- Hired the same summer staff for the city as last year;
- Accepted donations totalling $67,229; Quinn noted that the donation list was longer than usual and tallied higher.
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