Council rejects proposal that parks employees clean unkept parkways

Nevada City Manager Bill McGuire has long complained about the grass growing over the curbs and the unkept appearance of some of the homes and businesses along Austin and Osage boulevards, and Tuesday night he tried unsuccessfully to get the city council to approve spending $10,000 from the interest on money in the city's special project fund to have the parks department mow and clean the parkways along those roads one time.

"How will the parks department have time to do this. They can't maintain the city parks to my satisfaction. I think their main concentration should be to maintain the property they should," Council member Jayne Novak said before the council voted 4-1 against the proposed ordinance.

Tim Wells, Mike Hutchens, Jayne Novak and Joyce Wilson voted no and Bill Gillette voted yes.

"We were going to have some part-time people do it," Bill McGuire said.

He told the council that it would take about six weeks to do the work and he planned to have before and after photos taken of the properties and then send copies to the property owners with a letter encouraging them to maintain their property. If they did not maintain the properties in the future they would be turned over to the city's code enforcement.

"I had calls from two yard care companies that want to have a chance to bid on this and they said they would do it for half the price and do it in one week," she said.

"I think our people should spend their time doing the parks," Novak said.

Council member Tim Wells told the McGuire that he felt that it should be handled according to the city codes regulating this.

Tim Wells said that he thought this should be handled according the newly updated city code, which allows the city to charge a resident or property owner and take them to Municipal Court to speed up the process.

"If we are going to spend money on the property, the owner needs to be billed for abating the nuisance," Wells said.

McGuire told the council that the city could do it this way if that is how the council wanted to handle it.

"We want to see it come back to the council in a different form," Wells said.

In other business the council:

* Voted 5-0 to accept the low bid of $5,000 form McLiney and Company as financial advisor for the parks sales tax construction projects.

Ed McLiney told the council that they wanted to give the city a bid that they could not turn down, in response about why their bid was less than half the next lowest bidder submitted.

McLiney's principal agent for this area is Tyson Markham, 1994 Nevada High School graduate.

McLiney told the council that the way they propose to handle the bidding process will let the council know without any question that they will have the best deal available.

"This is a good community. It's very attractive and the bonds will sell very well," he said.

* Voted 4-1 to accept a $7,500 bid from Morrow Sales, Nevada, for a 1990 model Vemeer chipper with 3,723 hours of usage. The city wants to use it to turn limbs and brush into mulch instead of burning them. The mulch will tentatively be available to the public for free. Tim Wells voted no, having a preference for purchasing a similar chipper with 670 hours of usage for a cost of $17,500.

* Voted 5-0 to accept the low bid of $29,215 by Harper Drilling, Clinton, to drill a 500 foot well at the Frank E. Peters Municipal Golf to provide irrigation water for the greens and fairway during dry weather.

* Voted 5-0 to accept a bid of $30,495 for 12,000 gallons of slurry oil from the second lowest bidder, Vance Brothers, Kansas City. Midwest Asphalt Products, Joplin, had the low bid that was accepted by the council, however, when the city called to arrange for delivery of the oil, Midwest told the city that they would honor their bid price because of price increases from their supplier, so the city checked with the next lowest bidder, who agreed to honor their bid price.

* Voted 5-0 to accept the bid of $24 per ton, or a total bid of $14,400 for 600 tons of type 2 slurry rock from the second lowest bidder, Kunshek Chat and Coal, Pittsburg, Kan. Samples of the product from Ash Grove Aggregates, Butler, were unsuitable when they were tested with the slurry oil the city was planning to use. Ash Grove's bid was $18.75 per ton or a total cost of $11,250.

* Voted 5-0 to provide additional police services by the Nevada Police Department at the Fairgrounds Estate and Chapman Estates. The Nevada Housing Authority has U.S. Housing and Urban Development grant that will reimburse up to $25,000 of the cost for the extra police protection for those two developments between July 1, 2008 and June 30, 2009.

* Held a public hearing and voted to pass on first reading a special ordinance setting the city and library personal and real property tax rates for 2008. The rates will remain the same as in 2007, with the city property rate set at 66.96 cents per $100 valuation and the library rate set at 20 cents per $100 valuation.

* Passed on first reading a special ordinance approving an agreement with Vernon County and the Vernon County Treasurer for the Treasurer to collect Nevada's real and personal property taxes.

The Treasurer receives one percent of all current real estate and personal property taxes collected and four percent of all delinquent real estate and personal property taxes collected for Nevada,

* Passed on first reading a special ordinance approving an agreement with Vernon County and the Vernon County Assessor to provide assessment services for Nevada, in exchange for a $200 per month fee.

* Adopted Resolution No. 1233 to update the city's policy of non-discrimination on the basis of disability.

* Adopted Resolution No. 1234 authorizing the city of Nevada to start negotiations with Erwin Construction Inc., for design-build services for the enclosed shelter house at Marmaduke Park.

* Adopted Resolution No. 1235 stating the intent for the city ask the L.F. Richardson Foundation and the Moss Trust for grants to help furnish the Nevada Municipal Airport Terminal Building.

If the city receives any grants for this purpose, the funds are to go into the Airport Fund.