Minutes-4/21/1999

North Liberty signs lease with South Slope By John F. Lohman For the Press-Citizen NORTH LIBERTY — The City of North Liberty granted a five-year lease to South Slope Cooperative Telephone Company for placement of an antenna on the town water tower at the City Council meeting Tuesday night. The lease agreement stipulates that South Slope, the largest independent phone company in Iowa, will pay the city $2,400 each year with a 15 percent increase after five years. The lease can be extended for three additional five-year terms. "It's a great partnership with South Slope and the community," said Mayor Chuck Hippee. "It's nice to work with South Slope. They've done a lot for this community." In other business, the city council approved the first consideration of an ordinance that would increase the municipal infractions from $30 for a first offense to a fine up to $500. With this civil penalty ordinance, violators will get an order to correct the violation as opposed to a criminal penalty, when all the city can do is fine or send the violator to jail, Sueppel said. The most common municipal infractions are improper storage such as junk vehicles, Sueppel said. Tiffin awards sewer contract By John F. Lohman For the Press-Citizen TIFFIN — The Tiffin City Council awarded a $1,476 million contract Wednesday night to Wendler Engineering & Construction Inc. of South Amana for the town's 1999 Wastewater Treatment Project. "Construction should begin within 20 days," said Mike Hart, Tiffin city engineer. "The project is to be completed by May 1, 2000." The council also voted to renew an application for the State of Iowa Revolving Loan Fund for $782,000. The money will be combined with a $922,000 loan previously approved to help pay for the wastewater project. The loan must be paid back within 20 years at 4 percent interest. In other business, the council tentatively scheduled a joint meeting with the North Liberty City Council for July 7 to discuss various boundary issues. "The meeting between the cities is to set up guidelines for city boundary and annexation issues," said Tiffin Mayor Glenn Potter. "The meeting will help both councils and planning and zoning commissions to discuss long-range growth and future city boundaries," said John Soukup, a city councilor from North Liberty who attended the Tiffin City Council meeting. Johnson County 112 acres annexed into North Liberty Nearly 112 acres of land along the west side of Jones Boulevard and the south side of 270th Street are being annexed into North Liberty as part of a voluntary annexation, said Rick Dvorak, Johnson County zoning administrator, during the Tuesday Johnson County Board of Supervisors meeting. The North Liberty City Council will hold a public hearing on the voluntary annexation application at 7 p.m. June 22 at North Liberty City Hall. The land is owned by Erma and Leonard Sentman. Good news for libraries Iowa has been one of just eight states that provide no direct aid to public libraries. That's no longer the case. Urged on by Gov. Tom Vilsack and his wife, the Legislature this year passed a bill that provides $700,000 to town libraries in the coming year.... Librarians wanted more. But it's a start, and there's every reason to think the money will increase. It should increase. For our libraries are town centers. They're where we go to get our homework questions answered, our literary curiosity satisfied, our intellectual hunger sated. The state's librarians will meet in Dubuque in October for their annual gathering, and they plan to celebrate their legislative victory then. The rest of us don't need to wait, though. We can celebrate right away. Ames Tribune