Council moves to reduce speeds

    The Washington City Council talked about the speed limit on South Iowa Avenue at its meeting Wednesday night in the former library. The council approved the second reading of an ordinance to change the speed limit on South Iowa Avenue from 55 mph to 45 mph from Lincoln Street to the city limits.

    Councilor Merlin Hagie said the city has communicated with the county about the speed limit on South Iowa beyond the city limits, where it is known as the Wayland Road. The county requested that the council approve the speed limit change in the city, after which the county would consider lowering the speed limit in the countryside. The council formally approved a resolution notifying the county of the council?s desire to change the speed limit. 

    Councilor Bob Shepherd said the change in the speed limit was brought up by those who travel on South Iowa. He said residents reported that vehicles from the south were traveling too fast in town, and that lowering the speed limit is a way to correct that. 

    Councilor Fred Stark said it was a problematic road for three reasons.

    ?It?s narrow, it?s winding and there are hills up and down it,? he said.

    Stark said it was probably an Indian trail at one time.

    The council passed a resolution approving the cable committee?s request of $40,000 from the Riverboat Foundation, with a $10,000 city match. At the Oct. 6 council meeting, cable committee member Roger Adams informed the council that the committee wants to expand programming on Public Access Channel 18, and that it wants to create a production studio in the basement of the new library to film such programming. The channel is currently used as a ?bulletin board? that displays text messages about upcoming council meetings and those of other municipal bodies. 

    Chad Wiltz of Alliant Energy addressed the council about issues the company has had lately. Wiltz said he spoke with Hagie about improving the way in which Alliant responds to street light outages. Wiltz said he planned to meet with local Alliant employees to discuss ways to communicate with the city about whether the street light in question is owned by the city or by Alliant.

    Wiltz also mentioned that Alliant is focused on investing in its transmission services to reduce the number of power outages. He said the company is also active in promoting energy efficiency through rebates for energy-conserving devices.

For more, see our Oct. 21 print edition.