The Manchester City Council met on Monday night, holding a public hearing on a franchise agreement they’re developing with Maquoketa Valley Rural Electric Cooperative.
City Manager Tim Vick explains:
No one spoke for or against the agreement during the public hearing. Vick says if there are no concerns moving forward and the City Council approves the third and final reading, the agreement will go into effect January 1st.
The City Council also held a public hearing on a petition to vacate a plat filed by Jerry Krogmann on the east side of Manchester just east of Main Street Repair.
Vick says this will turn the land back into one parcel instead of thirty-one parcels that was created in the subdivision.
In other Manchester City Council news, the Council took one step closer to increasing the City’s water, sewer and solid waste collection rates. The second reading of an ordinance amending the rates was approved Monday night, which would raise the City’s water rates by five-percent, sewer rates by two-percent and solid waste collection cost to $13.25.
The Council gave the okay for the Manchester Police Department to remodel their hallway. It’s been 25 years since the hallway has been updated. The project will be a couple hundred dollars over the $6,500 budget, but Chief Hauschild says employees in the department will do as much as work themselves as possible – such as painting and trim installation – to help keep the costs down.
The City is also still sorting through options for videotaping the City Council meetings. They hope to finalize the plan and have a proposal ready for the Council to review next month.
And some good news after months of construction – the City is hoping to have East Main Street open to traffic on Friday afternoon.
