Salem residents take exception to letters received from the city

By BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

SALEM ? Salem City council members received an earful Tuesday evening.

A pair of residents expressed anger about receiving letters concerning nuisances from the city.

John Wagner said he received a letter in April telling him that an offensive odor was coming from his property and was given 30 days to resolve the matter. The odor later was identified as animal carcasses.

?The letter was not signed and said it was from the Salem City Council,? Wagner began. ?I talked to two members of the council and they didn?t know anything about it.?

Mayor Dan Patterson said the letter does not have to go through the council, a point Wagner vehemently disagreed with.

?I talked to the Iowa League of Cities and they said such a letter has to be signed by the council, on a council agenda, discussed and voted on at a meeting,? Wagner reported. He claimed that none of the protocol was followed.

Patterson countered Wagner?s remarks by saying city code gives him the authority to tell the city clerk to send the letter.

Not satisfied with the explanation, Wagner went on to allege that some council members had been voting on matters in which they had a conflict of interest (either owned property in matters voted upon by the council or had relatives who owned property). Council members insisted they had abstained from votes in which there might be a perceived conflict of interest.

?You don?t have the right to pick and choose who you send letters to,? Wagner contended. ?You are saying that it (odor) is coming from my residence and that is attacking me and my family. You have to start doing things right.?

Later, another resident claimed he received a nuisance letter concerning ?junked vehicles? on his property. The resident, who asked to be on the agenda for the June council meeting, said vehicles on his lot are all licensed and plated.

?When we get a complaint we send a letter,? explained Councilman Chuck Kramer. ?Don?t feel special because you got a letter, other people also received a letter.?

?I think the intent is that we are trying to get things cleaned up,? noted Councilman Bill Wixom Jr.

?Nobody was picking on you,? Kramer added. ?It (letter) was more of a courtesy.?

Judy Lasswell, who is the city cleaning person, said there are issues at the shelter house in the park and at the community center that need the council?s attention.

?The bathrooms in the shelter house haven?t been painted in 20 years,? Lasswell said. ?The picnic tables also need painting. Go over there and look, it?s crap.?

She also said the restrooms in the community center also have the original toilets. ?We need those replaced and we need handicapped facilities. We have had a lot of problems with the toilets, they won?t flush properly. It is really bad in there.?

Council members voted to purchase new toilets for the community center and inspect the shelter house.

Although the matter was not on the agenda, Salem Fire Chief Steve Nichting said the community?s rescue truck was in need of replacing. ?It just has a lot of issues,? he said, referring to the 1994 vehicle which has been driven 117,000 miles.

?We?ve basically outgrown it,? Nichting said.

The fire chief said he has spotted a 2005 truck for $100,000, adding that a new rescue truck would cost around $160,000.

Nichting also claimed that the council used to allocate money to a capital reserve fund that would provide the capital for such expenses. ?You have not put any money into that account for several years,? he said.

Kramer said money is tight. ?We don?t have the money, we need to find the money.?

Mayor Patterson suggested the topic be discussed again in July as at that time the note on a fire truck will be satisfied.

In other agenda items, the council approved spending $1,000 for landscaping in front of the community center.

Steve Hoyer said he would do the work but he needed sufficient funds and the use of city equipment to finish the task.

?I?m not going to make any plans until I know how much money I have to work with,? Hoyer said. ?I also want to know if I can use city equipment. I don?t see how we can do anything out there for less than $500.?

?I think we need to give Steve a grand to do it,? Kramer said. The council also said Hoyer could use city equipment to do the work.

Council members also voted to increase the water rates for Hillsboro residents. Hillsboro receives its water from Salem and residents now pay $4.22 monthly per 1,000 gallons. The council approved increasing Hillsboro resident?s monthly rate to $4.50 per 1,000 gallons.

In other business, the council:

? Approved the addition of Mike White to the fire department roster. The fire department will have 16 members with White and is authorized 19 members plus the chief.

? Heard a presentation from Matt McAndrew with the Midwest Assistants Program. The program will compile, at no charge, a report on the city?s water and wastewater systems.

? Approved installation of fences at 210 E. Jackson and 302 E. Jackson.

? Accepted Mississippi Valley Pump?s quote of $4,100 for upgrades and repairs to the lift stations.

Salem council members meet again in regular session Tuesday, June 2, at 5:30 p.m. at the community center.