McPherson Street is going to remain a little less bumpy, at least for now.
During the Indianola Board of Aldermen’s year-end meeting last week, the city leaders opted not to install two speed bumps on McPherson Street that were requested by the residents.
Mayor Steve Rosenthal presented a letter from the residents to the board but emphasized, “I don’t have a dog in the hunt.”
The street is a short deadend side road off of Airport Road.
None of the residents showed up for Thursday’s session, however, Rosenthal reminded the aldermen that he was simply presenting a request from the people and that any citizen has a right to request speed bumps.
“It’s y’all’s decision to turn them down, I’m just bringing it to the table,” Rosenthal added.
The aldermen suggested having the police do a study on speeders in that area and the Herman Johnson Street area before installing any speed bumps.
Chief Edrick Hall asked for a 30-day time frame.
Alderman Sam Brock said that installing speed bumps was not the solution but for the police department to be more visible and catch the speeders.
With regard to McPherson Street, Alderman Marvin Elder said there needs to be a sign at the beginning of the street that declares it is not a throughway, although it appears some of the speeding problems are caused by a few of the residents.
Elder mentioned a list of collected names and tag numbers that he presented to Hall. Rosenthal then asked Hall what could legally be done with the list, and Hall said the person who witnessed the infraction has to sign a citation against the accused, which will be served by his officers and the person would have to appear in court.
Hall emphasized that Elder’s list could only serve as intel for them to be on the lookout for those persons, but unless they are caught in the act, there is nothing his officers can do.
Brock added that drivers are also racing in several spots across the city and suggested that the police stake out those areas.
Hall recommended placing an unmarked car in the areas because if the people see a patrol car it would defeat the purpose of trying to catch them in the act.
Elder also raised several concerns and questions about the living conditions of the residents on that street, including garbage and water service.
“Looking at what I see out there, they’ve got some more serious issues than just some speed bumps,” said Elder.
Alderman Gary Fratesi reminded the group that they had recently placed a moratorium on speed bumps because of the cost to the city. He also reemphasized his belief that the city road crew could make the required devices for a lot less than the purchased price “as long as the engineer approves them,” said Fratesi.
A discussion ensued because Rosenthal contends that the speed controllers have to meet certain federal guidelines and added that if they meet those guidelines the city is not legally liable if a person loses control of their vehicle after hitting the device too fast, which is not the case of the ones approved by an individual engineer.
Elder also mentioned the speed bumps in the Sunflower Estates subdivision.
“Those speed bumps, they placed those speed bumps themselves? The city didn’t do it,” Elder said. Rosenthal quickly injected, “And they are illegal, unfortunately since you’ve brought them up now, we’re going to have to address them.”
In other business,
The city lawmakers voted to accept the recommendation of the city’s insurance consultant and sign with the Travelers insurance company. The city officials took the matter under review after it was presented at the Dec. 10 meeting.
According to Rosenthal, the consultant’s first choice for a carrier decided not to support a portion of the coverage that the city is requesting, without an additional upcharge and Travelers was the next best option. The city’s cost for this year’s annual coverage, $142,042 through Travelers, is more than $7,500 less than what the city paid out to One Beacon Insurance Group last year.
Agent Doug Russell said he was in agreement with consultant Lee Rodgers’ recommendation and called it a “win-win situation.” One Beacon submitted an estimate of $163,828 for the upcoming year’s coverage, which was more than $14,000 over their quote for last year and over $21,000 more than the accepted price for this year’s coverage.
The city lawgivers are also a little closer to establishing a uniform policy of issuing tax abatements. Included in the their information packets at Thursday night’s meeting was a proposed policy for their review.
Rosenthal said once the aldermen have examined the guidelines they would be able to vote to put the plan into practice, hopefully by the second meeting in January.
He said if they plan to continue to use it to entice businesses to come then they need to agree on a policy. “As I go out there to try and convince companies to invest millions of dollars in Indianola, I’ll know what tools I have to use because currently we don’t have a fixed policy. This will give us a fixed policy to go by,” he said.
And in executive session, the aldermen discussed and decided to hire four new police officers that will immediately enter the academy for training.
