Updates on projects given at city council [The Oskaloosa Herald, Iowa]

June 04--OSKALOOSA -- Oskaloosa City Manager Michael Schrock Jr. provided updates on numerous projects at Monday's Oskaloosa City Council meeting.

Schrock noted that infrastructure development and maintenance has been a priority for the city council, citing the Pavement Preservation Program.

He brought up recent road projects such as Highway 432, the east mall parking lot and others as examples of infrastructure projects.

Schrock also said there are a lot of planning and redevelopment projects that the city can be working on.

The work done by the East Central Iowa Transportation Coalition was also discussed by Schrock at Monday's meeting. He said they were making "fantastic progress" to address improvements to Highway 63 and pointed to their numerous visits to Washington, D.C., and Des Moines, as well as hosting meetings with the Iowa Department of Transportation. A potential bypass project around Oskaloosa was also mentioned by Schrock Monday, noting that the idea is to have the bypass within the next five to seven years.

Schrock also mentioned that the South Central Regional Airport Agency selected Site A at their most recent meeting. He said the next step here is an 18- to 24-month study period.

The Blue Zones project was also touched upon by Schrock at Monday's meeting. He said the demonstration site portion of this starts in 2014.

Shared services analysis with the city and the Oskaloosa Water Board was also brought up by Schrock. He said a meeting is possible in June and that progress is expected.

A number of consent agenda items also earned some discussion at Monday's regular meeting of the Oskaloosa City Council.

The first of these items concerned considering a resolution authorizing the use of public funds to aid economic development. This item was eventually approved after some discussion.

Next, an item about considering a motion approving Pay Request No. 1 to Norris Asphalt Paving Co. in the amount of $157,100.50 for work completed on the South 7th Street Pavement Rehabilitation Project was discussed and approved.

After that, an item about considering a resolution approving 28E agreements for law enforcement personnel during RAGBRAI 2013 garnered some discussion before being approved.

Another item, which was discussed and approved by the city council, focused on considering a resolution accepting the quit claim deed from Lisa Evans for real property generally located at 1212 and 1214 1st Ave. W.

The city council also discussed and then approved an item concerning considering a resolution approving a purchase agreement for real estate located at 902 A Ave. W.

In other business, the council:

--Approved the third reading of an ordinance amending the zoning ordinance of the city of Oskaloosa by rezoning the property at 202 S. 11th St. from R-2, Urban Family Residential, to CC, Community Commercial District.

--Approved a resolution adopting the proposal for employee life insurance from National Insurance Services, Health Insurance from Sun Life Financial with First Administrators Inc. as administrator and Select First PPO and the flex plan administrated by First Administrators Inc. for Fiscal Year 2014.

--Approved a resolution adopting the city of Oskaloosa employee handbook.

Herald City Editor Andy Goodell can be reached at [email protected].

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