No-parking ordinance dies due to lack of motion

BY BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

Rarely do no-parking ordinances stall in city council proceedings.

However, Mt. Pleasant?s City Council provided an exception to the rule Wednesday when the second reading of such an ordinance died due to a lack of a motion.

The ordinance established no parking on the east side of the 800 and 900 blocks of North College Avenue. The measure was unanimously passed to a second reading during the council?s Sept. 23 meeting.

This time, however, the path included a blockade.

?It seems like we are doing an awful lot of no parking (ordinances) in town,? remarked Councilman Steve Engberg.

Engberg went on to recount a conversation he had with a resident in the area. The resident told Engberg that the person requesting the parking ban will be moving in six months and other residents on the two blocks are opposed to the ordinance.

?If we would have a no-parking ordinance, they would rather have it on the other side because we are taking away more (parking) spaces on the east side,? Engberg said. ?The guy didn?t think it (ordinance) was needed and if we are doing it for just one person, it doesn?t make sense.?

Sticking to street talk, the council briefly discussed the Mapleleaf Drive reconstruction project, which will be bid on this coming winter and will begin in the summer of 2016. Reconstruction will extend from Lincoln Street eastward to Iris Street.

Included in the project will be new sidewalks from Palm Street to Grand Avenue, replacing the sidewalks from Cherry Street to Grand and curbing along Mapleleaf from Grand to Iris. A recreational trail also will be constructed from Grand to Iris.

?It?s a big project and probably will include a lot of heartache,? Mayor Steve Brimhall said. ?It?s one of those things that may be painful during construction but beautiful when finished.?

In a meeting short on agenda items, City Administrator Brent Scheisman urged residents to fill out their surveys. The city mailed out over 300 surveys in its quest for a $600,000 community development block grant (CDBG) for a large sewer project and needs an 80-percent return. Schleisman said the city is within 40 surveys of reaching its goal.

If you did not receive a survey and wish to fill one out (which is anonymous and takes less than five minutes), surveys may be picked up at city hall, the library, Fellowship Cup and the Chamber of Commerce office.

Other agenda items had the council approving mayoral reappointment of Carol Nemitz and Harvey Ungerman to the Mt. Pleasant Municipal Utilities Board of Directors; reappointment of Roger Beckman and Barb Grimmer to the community development board; and appointment of Amanda Rundquist to the community development board, replacing Dawn Moreira.

Council members accepted the quote from Weiler Builders LLC for metal roofing on building at the wastewater treatment plant. Total cost of the project is $19,900. ?It is really a good bid,? Schleisman noted. ?Hopefully, the new roofing will last 50 years.?

The council was to award the lease of approximately 75 acres of farmground surrounding the municipal airport. However, no bids were received. Chuck Allen currently farms the ground and pays the city $285 per acre.

Schleisman said he would ?negotiate? with Allen to continue farming the ground. If negotiations fail, the city will re-open the bidding process.

The council meets again in regular session on Wednesday, Oct. 28, at 5:30 p.m., in City Hall.