Durham City Council: City receives approval to purchase used brush cutter
Contributing writer
Gary Unruh presided Jan. 3 at the Durham City Council meeting since Mayor Glennon Crowther was absent due to illness.
Unruh told the council there was an opportunity to buy a used brush cutter for $135. "Would that be good to use at the sewer ponds?" he asked. Verlin Sommerfeld and Mike Sorenson both expressed the opinion that it would be useful.
"My opinion is we ought to buy it," said Sommerfeld.
After a brief discussion, Steve Miller moved to buy the implement. On a second from Sommerfeld the motion carried.
Unruh also called attention to a problem of tree limbs hanging low over the street and obstructing the view. There was a consensus that these branches should be trimmed to eliminate a traffic hazard.
Other business was related to the water system. "Everything at the pump house is working for a change," Sommerfeld remarked. It had been necessary to replace the vacuum pump and to have electricians repair the mechanism which shuts the pump on and off.
"When we worked on the pump, we replaced one of the floats," Sommerfeld reported. "I think we should replace it so we'll have two in reserve. I had to replace a chlorine tube with one we had on hand, and I'll need to replace that. I think I'll get two while I'm at it, because that one lasted less than a year."
The water supervisor also mentioned the need to use more chlorine than usual recently to maintain the desired concentration and wondered about replacing the wheel in the chlorine tester to assure accuracy. The council authorized him to use his discretion in the matter.
There were 334,200 gallons of water pumped in December with a loss of 23.39 percent. The lift pumps ran 59 hours, which is considerably more than usual.
Bills approved for payment included $50 for dues to the Kansas Mayors Association and $608 for the vacuum pump. Utility bills had not yet been received. Sommerfeld noted the bill was not yet in for labor of electricians on the pump.
