| Waynesville to residents: Don't leave your leaves in the road! |
By: Darrell Todd Maurina
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WAYNESVILLE, Mo. (Nov. 22, 2008) — Councilwoman Adele Nickels has a warning for Waynesville residents about their leaves: bag them, burn them, but don’t rake them into the street.
As chairwoman of the Waynesville Road and Grounds Committee, Nickels said at Thursday night’s council meeting that she realized residents who are raking leaves into the street think they’re disposing of the leaves by having them removed by city street sweepers. However, they’re causing significant problems for city workers.
“That’s really not necessary; you can just bag them up and take them to our leaf dump and dump them out; just don’t leave your bags there,” Nickels said. “And especially don’t burn them on the street … if you do rake the leaves into the ditch in the front of the yard, then just call the fire department and get a burn permit and at least burn then, because if you don’t burn them, then they start clogging up the culverts and then when we do have heavy rains, the water can’t flow and go to where it’s supposed to go.”
Nickels said her committee members are checking into other ordinances of other cities to see how they handle leaf issues.
In other business:
• Councilmen approved a request by Park Board Chairman Roger Olney to add Nathan Carmack to the board.
• Acting on the recommendation of Councilman Alan Clark, who chairs the Planning and Zoning Commission, city council members agreed to allow a group home for infants and children up to age 3.
“At no time will any of the ages of the children exceed three years of age,” Clark said. “The reason for that is I felt that was necessary so it doesn’t evolve into some of the other homes like they’ve got where they’ve got another group home with ages 8 to 18 for boys.”
Responding to questions from Councilwomen Diana Stanford and Twyla Cordry, City Administrator Bruce Harrill said he’s not sure how many other residential care homes Bletel operates but noted there is at least one other home in the Waynesville area and said the infants and children are expected to be moved through the home frequently.
“They normally get adopted out pretty quickly but there is no guarantee of what time that might be or how much time it might take,” Harrill said.
• Aldermen voted unanimously to endorse the new city comprehensive plan previously approve d by the Planning and Zoning Commission. Final copies are expected to be delivered in December, Harrill said.
• Councilmen approved a joint pole agreement with the Embarq telephone company, an ordinance requiring excess flow valves for natural gas service, and an excavation contract for the Pearson Hollow sewer project.
• Councilmen agreed to contribute $5,000 per year for three years to the new Pulaski County Growth Alliance, an economic development organization that is being formed with the intent of hiring an economic developer for the county and its five cities. Responding to questions from Clark, Councilwoman Luge Hardman, who chairs the Waynesville Finance Committee, said the money is being redirected from previous contributions to the Fort Leonard Wood Regional Commerce and Growth Association, and a key part of the job of the economic developer will be to create a county website that includes commercial property listings.
• Councilman Ed Conley, who chairs the police committee, reported recommendations for re-appointment of Waynesville Police Chief Bob Carter and Municipal Judge Don McCulloch, for an agreement with the Waynesville R-VI School District on a security guard for the school, and a donation to the city for training of an officer to handle a police canine that would continue to be city property even if the officer being trained would leave city employment. All recommendations were approved.
• Stanford and Cordry presented a revised agreement for cable public access Channel 12 with the school district that will give priority to city council meetings over student-generated content such as sports coverage, as had been requested by the city’s communication committee.
• Harrill said the Bales family has agreed to sell four lots to the city for $15,000, which is below the appraised value, and will provide future right-of-way to link up city roads with Risky Road for future expansion. Selling below appraised value will provide tax benefits to the Bales family, Harrill said, and councilmen unanimously approved the purchase.
• Harrill reported that $78,000 in grant funds from USDA Rural Development were used for infrastructure projects such as fire hydrants and said an engineer officer basic course recently completed a community service project of winterizing the city animal shelter. |
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