The residents of the City of Alberta should have received a letter with instructions to set up an appointment for the installation of the new water meter in their home. The letters were sent out last week and should arrive at homes by the end of that week.
The letter gives a phone number to call to set up an appointment for the installation of the new water meter that the city recently approved. The new system will allow the meters to be read through a simple drive-by method. The appointments will begin at the end of September and if all can be set up during that time, should be complete within a few weeks. If you did not receive a letter, contact the city office.
The Alberta City Council met on September 14 and received this update from City Clerk Kim Johnson. She told the council members that the sale of the city land would be complete by the end of the week and the check for $10,000 would be coming into the city account
Mayor April Tomoson mentioned that she had been contacted by Cory and Lori Jaccobson about a water repair that left a large pile of dirt near their home. They wondered if this could be cleaned up or leveled off.
Maintenance Director Bob Brown said that the repair was pretty extensive so it resulted in a large work area. When digging to find the break, water was coming in from both sides so digging had to be done in two directions. The break was on city property so the city is responsible for returning the land to how it was prior to the repair.
However, the city council members felt that the dirt in the area needed to have time to settle after the break was repaired. If they leveled it now, there could be settling in the future.
The Jacobson’s had received a quote from a company to haul away the clay and bring in loads of black dirt. The quote was for $3,585. The area would need about 4 loads of black dirt and a large amount of clay hauled out. There would then need to be leveling and seeding.
The council really wants to allow the dirt to settle before investing a large amount of money into the repair work. They tabled action on the bid and decided to see if they can find someone with a loader to level it out to some extent and then allow the dirt to settle over the winter.
The council also learned that there is a dog in town which has reportedly bitten two people. The sheriff’s office has been contacted but they need to talk to the two people that the dog bit. There is a law that addresses a two bite limit before action needs to be taken but the people will need to file a formal complaint with the sheriff’s office. The council is concerned that this dog could bite others before the situation is taken care of.
The tax levy was discussed and a preliminary levy was set with a 7% increase. This increase can still be lowered after the final budget numbers are determined. Johnson is waiting for the funds from the land sale and the FEMA application before completing the budget. The council will approve the final levy amount in December when the budget is finalized.
Brown was asked if he could clean the eave troughs on the city office. Councilman Don Kill offered to bring a loader to help him with this project. He was instructed to not do the work without someone with him.
