At the October 7 Pickering City Council meeting, the council approved the replacement of the light bulbs on the highway sign with LEDs.

The city is paying approximately $75 to $80 a month to light the sign. City Clerk Milt Sovereign requested the four floodlights be replaced with LED lights. He’s hoping this will cut the cost by half or more. The next step would be to put a timer on the lights instead of the dusk to dawn switch now used. The problem with a timer would be the need to have it monitored.

Dustun Law has resigned as the sewer repairman for Pickering. Mike Moyer has stepped up and has received training on removing and installing the sewer pumps. Pickering residents can contact Moyer for sewer problems by calling 660.853.1949. He does have a day job so will be available evenings and weekends.

Mayor Charles Smith will contact the fire department to hose out the gutters on both sides of the Pickering Community Building. The gutters have become blocked and the recent rains have overflowed, washing away the mulch around the building.

Smith and Sovereign will look into having someone remove two large limbs which have become lodged in a tube on Coleman Street.

Sovereign was notified the state has approved the 2019 tax levy rate of $1.0338 per $100 assessed valuation on streets and 87¢ per $100 assessed valuation on the general fund.

Alderman Kevin Leedom said Orscheln Farm and Home in Maryville donated 12 bags of mulch, which he spread under the bleachers at the basketball court in the city park. He has contacted Sutherlands in Maryville about donating some lumber for the bleacher seats and steps repair.

A letter will be sent to a Pickering resident about repairs she needs to make to her sewer line between the meter and her house. The letter will give her until November 1 to notify the council on her plan of action for the line.

A letter and a copy of the animal ordinance will be sent to a resident who has 13 dogs. A dog has been roaming around town whose owner lives outside the city limits. Before the New Nodaway Humane Society animal control personnel can pick up the dog, it must be caught.

Discussion was held on the mayor and aldermen keeping an eye on elderly Pickering residents. Many are living by themselves and don’t have a relative close by.