Pickering looks for council filings

At the January 6 meeting of the Pickering City Council, City Clerk Milt Sovereign announced one person has filed for alderman and one for mayor.

There are two alderman positions and one mayoral position which will be in the April 7 election. Interested individuals may file for the positions from 9 am to 5:30 pm until Tuesday, January 21, excluding holidays, at the city clerk’s home at 104 South Coleman.

Mayor Charles Smith had once again talked to the resident who has a sewer line running above ground. He obtained an application from FHA which she was unable to fill out. Over the Christmas holidays, she obtained the $500 necessary to pay for the project herself.

The plumber who had given Smith that bid has not returned phone calls. Smith was hoping the repair would be completed while the weather was warm for this time of year. Smith is currently hoping the original plumber will be in touch or he can find someone else to do the project.

Sovereign reviewed the 2019 financial reports on the general, streets and sewer funds with the aldermen. The actual revenue and expense amounts were compared against the 2019 budgeted amounts.

The city paid Pat McKee $100 for work completed in November for hauling gravel and other work on the city streets.

The post office box rental of $64 per year, the bank box of $30 per year and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources 80¢ per sewer hookup were paid.

The New Nodaway Humane Society submitted a bill for five visits from October through December, 2019. Two of the visits were for dogs-at-large calls. Smith said a Nodaway County Sheriff Deputy had accompanied the humane society on one of the visits; they were called again on January 6. By the time all parties, including Smith had arrived, the residents had the dogs inside the house.

Alderman Ramona Pennington, who is also on the Pickering Community Building board, presented the council with the 2019 annual building report. 

One of the storm sirens is not working. Sovereign is working to learn the reason. He was told the purpose of the sirens is so people outside can hear them throughout town. The council agreed the one working siren is accomplishing this. However, the non-working siren is the one on battery backup so it needs to be functional.

Sovereign is convinced lightning plays a part in sewer pump failures. He noted there was no lightning in December and no sewer pump failures. He has plans to remove a pump from a house that has been vacant for several years and place it with other backup pumps.

There were 75 customers who paid an average of $26.95 in November for October sewer usage. The amount was received by the city in December. There were seven unpaid sewer bills.