At the Pickering City Council meeting on April 6, City Clerk Milt Sovereign swore in Roberta Boyd as alderman.

Boyd, who has served on the city council in the past, gave the city enough aldermen to have a quorum to handle the city’s business. The city is awaiting the results of the write-ins on the April 4 election ballot to determine who the fourth alderman will be.

Past alderman Ramona Pennington has expressed interest in the position.

“I’d like to see a full council,” she said. “It’s a shame that people don’t want to represent their home at an hour to an hour and a half meeting once a month.”

Mayor Charles Smith will contact KCP&L about a light that remains on all day and another pole which is in the middle of a field. It is hoped that with the one light repaired and the other removed, the electric bill will decrease.

Smith said that a pole bracing a power line at the east end of Fifth Street had finally been removed and the line was now braced by the county barn. The council is hoping that the road can now be straightened and graveled to allow large trucks going north on 148 to bypass the city streets to decrease wear and tear. The council will be talking to the township and the county about this project.

The Pickering Christian Church has given the parsonage to the Union Township Fire Department to use for training with other fire departments in the area. When the fire departments no longer need the building, it will be torn down. Sovereign has removed the sewer pump.

A motion was approved to remove a tube at the end of Sixth Street and to purchase a load of gravel for patching projects.

Discussion was held on replacing the sign posts at the community building. Alderman Brad Judd thought that he could find three wood poles for the project and Sovereign said he would make sure the project was completed.

Smith updated the council on a dog situation. A certified letter sent to the owners of the two dogs had not been picked up. Members of the Humane Society and a sheriff’s deputy had talked to the owners, who are currently keeping the dogs inside. The council voted to have the sheriff’s department deliver the owners an official notice so that if the dogs once again run-at-large, legal steps can be taken.

Judd was awarded the mowing bid for the city. His was the only bid and he will be charging $10 more per mowing than last year.

The council approved Rush Printing to make IDs for the mayor, aldermen and city clerk to use for city business.

Aldermen Kevin Leedom and Judd will reseed the grass at the city park where the brush pile was. Leedom will contact Williams Lawn Seed, Maryville, about buying a seed bag of sweepings to use.