Pictured are (from left) MSN Past President Lisa Oxley, MSN President Evie Peterson, Mayor Brett Barker, City Councilman Dane Nealson, City Administrator Jordan Cook, MSN Director Emily Schaack, and Carol Lilly of Main Street Iowa during a Main Street partner visit to Nevada last week.
It was a quiet, spring-break type of meeting for the Nevada City Council Monday, as council members attended to the business on the agenda.
Some of the highlights during the meeting included the following:
- Council members approved the purchase of land for future water needs, Mayor Brett Barker explained is adjacent to the current City water well field.
- Both the Mayor and City Administrator Jordan Cook commented on the great partner visit from Main Street Iowa’s Carol Lilly to last week. Lily met with Main Street Nevada representatives and toured the downtown. Mayor Barker also commented that the transition of leadership for Main Street Nevada has been successful, as Emily Schaack is doing a nice job in her new role.
- City Administrator Jordan Cook said he recently attended a pre-construction meeting for the Highway 30/S-14 flyover project. He noted this is a three-year project, with dirt work starting this year. Once completed that dirt work must settle for a year before the next phase happens. Cook didn’t think traffic flow on US 30 would be interrupted for this work during the current year.
- Mayor Barker noted that City leaders have been attending meetings with other government leaders and Union Pacific Railroad officials to talk about the frequent occurrence of trains blocking tracks. This has become a concern for leaders in Nevada, Ames, and Story County. Barker said Captain Lennie of the Story County Sheriff’s Office did a nice job of presenting information and examples of how recent blocked roads have resulted in complications for motorists and agencies. “Hopefully we can get some traction on that issue,” he said.
- Sandy Ehrig commented that Nevada’s successful hosting of the rural Iowa leaders for a conference this past fall at Gatherings has led to another opportunity to host a statewide leadership exchange meeting this coming October. She said this is another meeting that will bring in leaders from across the state.
- It was noted that members of the City streets department and other leaders from the City and Schools have been working together on traffic/pedestrian safety measures, which will result in a few new stop signs and other improvements in the near future.
- Streets Superintendent Joe Mousel said the City received another salt delivery, and he’s hopeful NOT to have to use it! Mousel also announced that the schools and City will once again have the “paint the plows” project this coming school year, along with a new “name the plow” program.
- Nevada Police Sgt. Josh Cizmadia noted that the application process for a new police officer has closed, and candidates will test on March 25.
- Deputy City Clerk-Clerk Erin Mousel shared that Central Elementary third graders visited City Hall last week and had a mock city council meeting. She said the experience went very well, and she’d love to see more school classes do this.
–Written by Marlys Barker, City of Nevada
