Merrill St. bridge project hits a snag, waiting for answers

LIME SPRINGS - Council was all set to move forward with replacing the Merrill St. bridge in Lime Springs, but a sewer main on the south side of the bridge has put that on hold.

Council members learned at the Nov. 2 meeting that redoing the bridge would mean having to do something about a water main, which can be costly. City Engineer Bolton & Menk is working with County Engineer Nick Rissman on finding a solution.

The project will likely be put on hold until the new council takes over in January.

• In other business from Public Works Director Tyler Smith, he reported a problem at the sewer plant with beavers.

The clean water that has made it through the sewer process flows into a pipe. The beavers have built a dam in the pipe to plug the water. They were chased out once, but they did it again.

Smith has someone who has trapped a couple of the rodents, but there are more that need removed. “I really want them gone,” the PWD said.

The City may be getting fluoride treatment for its water. There are trace amounts naturally in water. Lime Springs has 0.48 parts per million. The DNR says there has to be 0.7. Smith noted the cost to get it set up is between $700-800, with a cost of a little over $300 per year for the product.

The City received a letter from the DNR stating it is running through more water than permitted. Lime Springs is permitted to use 30 million gallons per year. It did 30.7 in the past year. Bolton & Menk are determining how much more the City should apply for to have the correct permit. “It’s not a huge deal to upgrade,” Smith noted.

• There was no report for the fire department.

• Eddie Miller updated council on public library happenings. The silent auction is taking place from Nov. 1-30. A new event is a Monday morning coffee group, which started Oct. 11. The library opens at 9:30 on those mornings.

Seven individuals participated in the Halloween cake decorating contest.

The Halloween Magic Show on Oct. 10 was successful, with Mike Prestby entertaining 37 individuals.

Coming up are a girls lock-in on Nov. 23 and an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting on Nov. 27.

The Library served 358 patrons in September.

• Jarry Hughes reported the Community Center was the spot for Christmas in Lime Springs on Dec. 5. Santa is to be there at 3 p.m. “Instead of baskets, the Community Center will have bigger baskets with a raffle to raise funds.”

Council approved a raise for custodian Kim McKenzie.

• Sharla Lieder of Pool & Park Board reported, “Solar lights have been ordered for Brown Park.”

She added the board had a trunk-or-treat event with a Halloween party. “It was not as successful as we had hoped, but the parents who came liked it.” The group will also participate in Christmas in Lime Springs.

• Paperwork has been completed for the City to purchase the Jenkins building adjacent to the Tienter building on Willard St. Council members voted to pay the filing fee, closing costs and back taxes for the Jenkins building rather than waste more time.

• Carolyn Nagele of Spring Ahead Learning Center told council members their insurance person, Darrel Elsbernd of CIA Insurance (the same company the City has), cannot get liability insurance anywhere. So that has to be taken out of the lease agreement.

The lease is on hold for another month until the City can get advice from its attorney.

• The dog that bit a person on East Merrill St. has not been removed after the 30-day notice was given to the owner. Council will take further action with the Sheriff’s Office or the owners of the rental home.

• Council person Jennifer DeVries had added Jackson St. project to the agenda at the beginning of the meeting. She said Geri Burnikel and Patsy Lepa (in agreement with Marsha Wells) came to the June meeting complaining the road has not been fixed after it was torn up 5-6 years ago. At the June 15 meeting, council voted to put a four-way stop sign at the corner of Jackson and Main.

At the July 6 meeting, Brian Malm of Bolton & Menk had given several options on resurfacing the block, with $559,650 used to update water, sewer and resurfacing.

DeVries did not want the council to ignore the motion to proceed with the Jackson St. project and wanted to make sure the engineer is still working on it.

• The annual street financial and annual financial reports for FY2021 were approved.

• Casey’s Liquor License was approved, effective Dec. 20, 2021.

• Council discussed IPERS compliance review results and then went into closed session.

The next council meeting will be Tuesday, Dec. 7 at 7 p.m. at the Community Center.