New London contemplates the budget

NEW LONDON - With several big ticket items on the to-do list, the New London City Council spent their Monday night contemplating what projects to tackle first.

The council met in the Community Center, as the council chambers are inoperable due to water damage from the roof and walls at city hall. They received several bids for a variety of necessary fixes, ranging from roof replacement to carpet installation.

Council member Kirk Miller, who acted as mayor pro tem as Mayor Ron Sadler was unable to be there, said the bids were not 'apples to apples” and suggested the council seek more bids and table the conversation for next month. The motion was approved 4-0. Council member Tom Davis was absent.

The same rainfall that caused damage to the council building created a total loss for a New London Police Cruiser. At last month's meeting, the council announced they received $27,000 in insurance money from the loss.

City clerk Kasi Howard explained the city already had $43,000 budgeted for a new car, but also committed to several unexpected projects already.

She then said the city has around $400,000 in reserves but due to projects like the paving of the Elm Street intersection, the purchase of a street sweeper and grading the Pine St. subdivision, they already used over $200,000 of that reserve.

'In theory the money is there for that, but there's other things coming up and I don't know how much you want to spend,” she explained.

Miller spoke about his apprehension for the project, saying, 'I would like us to replace it as soon as we can, but I would also like us to be responsible.”

Council member Scott Campbell spoke up in favor, saying he saw the replacing of the car as a need, not a want. 'I kind of look at this like a piece of equipment,” he said. 'If there's a need, we do it.”

However, council member Brad Helmerson did not agree it was necessary to purchase a new car right away because the department recently purchased a new car six months ago. The motion was approved 3-1 with Helmerson opposing.

From public safety to public housing, the conversation then moved to the Pine Street subdivision. At the last meeting, city engineer Matt Walker presented the council with a two-phase plan to develop the area.

The council has decided to split the plan into phases because TIF (tax increment financing) dollars are being used. The TIF money must be paid back within 15 years and the council fears that if they build an entire subdivision at once, they will not be able to pay the money back within the allotted time period.

The council decided to seek prices for laying concrete and sewer for six lots along the front of the subdivision then four along the north side. The council would like to do as much work as possible at one time in order to save on construction costs. The conversation was tabled until the next meeting.

In other business, the council received three bids for the demolition of the old community hall building.

The council approved a bid from Williams Construction, for $1,500 and agreed to pay the landfill fees they estimated would cost around $2,300. Howard announced that the city has a $1,900 credit at the Des Moines County landfill, lowering the overall projected cost.

The next meeting of the public works committee has been moved to Nov. 14 at 6:30 a.m. and the public safety committee meeting to Nov. 14 at 6:30 p.m.

The next meeting of the New London City Council will be Tuesday, Dec. 4, at 6 p.m. in the City Office.