On Monday the Indianola Board of Aldermen gave city department heads an opportunity to submit their fiscal year 2018 budget requests, which included an appeal for four new police vehicles and at least five new pickup trucks for the cemetery, animal shelter, public works and fire departments.
The cost of those vehicle requests — if approved — would be nearly $280,000, based on estimated costs.
The 13 departments submitted several other smaller ticket items, including video conferencing equipment for municipal court, new software for the animal shelter, and re-painting and parking lot work for the recreation centers and some of the parks.
Mayor Steve Rosenthal reminded the board that these were only requests and said he would prepare a revenue projection based on the preliminary figures and present it later.
The aldermen also:
nHeard and received departmental reports from the parks and recreation department, inspection department, the municipal court, which reported $27,081.69 in court collections, and the Hough-Dement Animal Shelter, which announced the implementation of a stricter dog adoption process, which includes home visits.
nIn the police department’s report for June, Chief Edrick Hall reported 1,328 calls, 84 arrests, 193 citations, 49 felony cases and 14 felony arrests with two pending.
nApproved the renewal application for the NPDES Permit, which is for the wastewater treatment process and included approving the contract to hire WL Burley Company to do the work.
nApproved closing the end of Somerset Road from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday for the Indianola Academy softball tournament at Chism Park.
nVoted to change the water tank maintenance company to American Tank Maintenance Company after hearing a report from Brad Manning. He shared how the company he now represents could save the city more than $100,000 over a 10 to 12 year period. “In the first year you would save almost $5,000,” Manning said.
He told the board that if they would go ahead and cancel their current contract and sign with them the coverage would begin immediately but billing would not start until Jan. 1, which would amount to a $15,000 savings for the city in the first quarter.
Manning is a former employee of Utility Service, the previous company, which was bought out by a French company. Manning and other employees left to form the new company. He shared reasons why the city should change even though it had been with the former company since 1995. He assured them that the city’s tanks are in good shape and said that in addition to the monetary savings, service would be the main reason for the switch.
