Riverside will not have Veterans Day ceremony this year

RIVERSIDE ? Councilor Christine Kirkwood announced at Monday?s council meeting that there would be no Veterans Day ceremony in Riverside this year. She said she was unable to find a speaker for the event and enough volunteers. She was asked if she had approached a local pastor about speaking, and Kirkwood said that it is now too late to organize a ceremony for 2011 and that she is focused on organizing a ceremony for 2012.

Kirkwood also said that the parks committee she is on with councilor Kevin Kiene and public works director Brad Herrig decided to apply for a less expensive splash pad than the one discussed in September. The committee decided it should seek a matching grant of nearly $80,000 instead of a grant of $120,000 from the Riverboat Foundation. The project would cost about $160,000, not $240,000, and the city would pay for the other $80,000.

Kirkwood said she learned that the most economical way to run the water through the system was to run it straight through rather than attempt to recycle the water that comes out the fountains or other water accessories. She said running it straight through the system would mean more water usage but less maintenance.

The council voted 4-1 to assess a lien of about $85 in delinquent water bills to an apartment building in the 1000 block of Walnut Avenue that is owned by Richard Means. Councilors Kevin Kiene, Todd Yahnke, Chris Kirkwood and Rodney Waldschmidt voted yes and Ralph Schnoebelen voted no. The resolution stated that the lien will be collected in the same manner as property taxes.

Means addressed the council and said that he had tenants in the apartment for a few months and that they never paid the deposit on the water bill. He asked why the city allowed the tenants to continue to receive water without paying the $100 deposit. He also asked why he was not notified that they had not paid the deposit.

?You let their bill go, and now you?re trying to get me to pay it,? Means said. ?Maybe the city should adopt a policy to have $1 added to every water bill to help people who can?t afford to pay their water bill rather than sticking the property owner.?

Riverside resident Jim Leyden said the water bill is ultimately the property owner?s responsibility. Means said he didn?t believe he had the right to shut off water to one of his tenants. Mayor Brian McDole said the landlord has the right to contact the city to shut off the water.   

Riverside City Clerk Missy Carter said the city tries to work with people who struggle to pay their water bill. She said the tenants had paid their water bill for December 2010 in January, and that the city had a practice of continuing to provide water if the tenants were making an effort to pay their bills.

Schnoebelen said the city should adopt a policy of withholding water and other utilities to a residence until the water deposit is paid.

Carter said the city adopted a policy that anyone who signs up for utilities after Jan. 1 must give his Social Security number on the application. This allows the city to collect outstanding bills through the person?s taxes. She said this policy does not apply to the tenants in question because they applied for their utilities in 2010.

Waldschmidt said the landlord, not the city, should be responsible for the water deposits. Kirkwood told Means that he may want to look into performing a credit check on his potential tenants before he rents to them to see how likely they are to pay their bills.

Means asked the council to waive the $85 lien against his property. Kiene said the council could not waive the lien.

?We have to go with the rules we have now,? Kiene said.

The council agreed to have a work session on its water policies before the next meeting.

Riverside resident and mayoral candidate Bill Poch spoke about the digital sign planned for the eastern edge of town. At its Oct. 3 meeting, the council voted to purchase 2,400 square feet of land east of town for a welcome sign. Poch said the sign should be double- or perhaps even triple-sided. He also said the sign should be primarily for traffic on Highway 22.  

?It could be used for all kinds of things such as athletic events for school, church events, community celebrations and the list goes on,? Poch said.

Leyden said the sign could not be used for several of those things and that only city-sponsored events could go on it.