Parker council declines hiring firm for codes enforcement

Journal staff report

PARKER – For more than a year, the city of Parker has been looking for someone to act as codes officer in addressing code violations in the city. At its meeting on Thursday, Oct. 8, another option was crossed off the list.

The council met with Kendall Pierce of Pro Code Compliance via teleconference to explore the possibility of hiring a company to perform codes inspections and the necessary paperwork. Pierce explained the services offered by the company and the associated costs.

Councilmember Carrie Sewell noted that the council is still working on updating the city codes and expressed interest in meeting with the potential candidate for the code enforcement position. She also questioned whether contracting with an outside company at a considerable expense was necessary when the mayor has the ability to issue violation notices to residents.

Following the discussion, the council was in consensus that contracting with the firm would be too expensive. The council also agreed to follow a lead for a code enforcement candidate before making any further decisions.

The council discussed widening Park Street and Short Street. Although several side streets in Parker are narrow, those streets are essentially one-way only.

City Clerk Lisa Leach shared copies of the surveys received from the Linn County Register of Deeds for Park Street.  There was no information regarding easements on North Short Street. The council agreed to focus on Park Street first, as it may resolve more than one issue.

There was discussion about how to proceed, and the consensus was that a survey was needed.  City Attorney Lindsey Kolisch was asked whether or not the project needed to be put out for bids.  She agreed to look into the matter and report back.

The city of Mound City has been using Ottawa-based Killough Construction on their annual street repaving projects, and La Cygne is also looking at hiring the company to do limited projects there

Public works employee James Hazelet initiated a discussion regarding streets and repaving. He shared his concern about waiting for assistance from the county, and that other cities in Linn County are working with Killough.

He said that the company has been willing to work within municipal budget limitations.  Mayor Webber shared his concerns about county assistance and said the city may need to reach out and have a representative come look at Parker.

In other business, the council:

• Approved sending Leach to the City Clerk and Municipal Financial Officer Institute and Academy in November.  La Cygne had purchased registration at a discounted rate of $485 but no longer had a person to attend.  The council discussed the advantages and agreed it would be good training.  The council agreed to cover up to $150 per day for lodging and meals, plus fuel or mileage, in addition to the $485 registration fee from LaCygne..

  
  

• Discussed using TextMyGov and Everbridge as notification systems for Parker residents. Everbridge is already operating in Linn County and could be accessed by the city for free. The council asked Leach to get further information about Everbridge.

  
  

• Approved closing a section of Main Street from 1:30 to 3 p.m. on Halloween (Oct. 31) for trunk-or-treat.

  
  

• Approved donating $1,000 to the community Christmas meal and Santa visit to Parker in December. That was same amount donated last year.

City Clerk Lisa Leach contributed to reporting for this article.