Pickering council approves mowing bid

With the Pickering City Council unable to meet in March, the April 1 meeting was spent catching up on city business.

The March bills were retroactively approved for payment, along with the April bills.

Approval was given for the mowing bid advertisement which City Clerk Milt Sovereign had placed. He didn’t believe the city mowing could be put off until after the May 6 city council meeting.

The deadline for mowing bids was April 1. Sovereign had received one bid from Brad Judd who has done the city mowing for the last few years. The council approved the bid at the same rate as the previous year for mowing services.

The council moved to pursue a vicious dog situation. Mayor Charles Smith was bitten by the dog of a new Pickering resident. Smith was explaining the city’s dog ordinances when the incident happened.

He reported it to the Nodaway County Sheriff’s Department and the dog is now in quarantine. City Attorney David Baird is pursuing legal matters on behalf of the city.

The aldermen had several complaints about abused dogs and the handling of the situations by the New Nodaway Humane Society.

Other complaints included the condition of properties with bricks and concrete rubble left by the United Fiber installation. Sovereign said the company would return in the spring to finish the installation and to clean up the rubble.

Concern was expressed on several wet spots around town and whether or not these were water leaks.

Sovereign, in the sewer report, explained pumps left installed at unoccupied residents almost never work when turned back on. He said as the system ages, the pumps are in need of more expensive repairs, starting with bearings, seals and electrical problems.

Last fall, the city had received an estimate for city-wide street repairs of $72,000. Winter weather has made the conditions worse. The city does not have the funds. At the April meeting, the city had $11,648.40 in the street fund account. Smith will talk with Mid America Road Builders of Platte City about patching costs.

The City of Pickering’s electric bills have received a credit because of the KCP&L merger with Westar. Three of the four meters had no bill.