Monthly Departmental Reports
The City Council discussed how to spend the remaining $600,000 in federal COVID funds from the American Rescue Plan Act at its March 13 meeting as the deadline approaches to spend the money or lose it. “Over this next month, let’s work together … and come up with a list of what we think we will need with that balance, ” Mayor Rue Rogers told the Council. The Council voted to purchase two ground-penetrating radar devices and hire a technician to map the City’s underground utilities with some of the funds. They considered a hydraulic pipe cutter, new tires for the wastewater truck, and whether to upgrade the City’s current two-wheel-drive backhoe to a four-wheel-drive model. Mayor Tom Parker urged Public Works Director Michael Jacoba to also prioritize equipment needed for maintaining the City’s alleys to ease a changeover from residential dumpsters to single-family poly carts, which are to be picked up in the alleys. Mr. Jacoba asked for a lease for a track hoe and a roller. “I don’t know what size - but small enough to fit in the alleys,” Mr. Jacoba said.