Peabody city council buys land for sewer project
At the final meeting for the year, the Peabody City Council approved the purchase of 80 acres of land southeast of Peabody. The parcel, purchased for $120,000, will be the site of the new sewer project for Peabody.
The city has been notified that it has been chosen to receive a Community Development Block Grant in the amount of $400,000 for the new sewer. Application will be made to Rural Development in April for the remaining amount of the funding.
Al Reiss of Reiss and Goodness Engineers told council members that if everything fell into place, the project might be completed in six months.
The council approved an order for a survey of the property, soil testing, and aerial photography.
In other business:
Water superintendent Darren Pickens suggested the city purchase a Hach Preventive Maintenance program for the chlorinator for the water system. The program provides operator training, instrument performance certification, maintenance kit parts replacement, and new instrument start-up for a fee of $1,000. The state requires water departments to analyze chlorine in drinking water. The council approved the purchase of the program.
After discussion, the council approved the purchase of a mosquito fogger from Van Diest Supply Co., if financing could be obtained from the Peabody State Bank. The cost of the machine will be $7,950 if purchased by Jan. 10. The city currently pays other cities to do the work each summer. Annual payments on the machine will be less than the cost of paying others to do the job.
On a motion by Councilman Schmill, the group entered an executive session for the purpose of employee evaluations with Jeff Pohlman and Ronnie Harms. The session lasted two hours. No action was taken when they returned to open meeting.
The council also
— approved a 10-year antenna lease agreement with DTN Speednet.
— renewed the refuse contract with Stutzman Refuse Disposal for three years. The recycling program will be continued at the same rate and the 65- and 95-gallon trash containers will continue to be available to customers at a reduced rate.
— approved cereal malt beverage licenses for Jim's Jack & Jill, Peabody Lanes, the American Legion, Peabody Investments d/b/a Phillips 66, and the Coneburg Inn.
— released the properties owned by Archie Riggs at 804 and 806 N. Olive from the nuisance property list.
— approved a 2% cost of living increase for all employees except those in the police department (the police department has an increase built into its budget for the year.)
— heard that the city had been awarded $15,000 from the state to develop a strategic plan.
Adiscussion of budget cuts by the state, health insurance for city employees, personnel guidelines, and selection of a document management system was tabled until a future meeting.
