City administrator’s report

City administrator Brent Trout’s report to the council:

The department directors working with the Deputy Clerk are going through the City Code and making changes that are necessary to clean up the language and make changes as needed. The changes are related to updates to ensure our language is in line with the way we conduct business and changes that have been made in state law. The update of the City Code as a whole has not been done for over 10 years and will require many changes. The Council will have the opportunity to review the code changes for a good period of time before asked to grant approval. The first formal reading to approve all the changes is scheduled for May 17, 2016.

The Corridor Revitalization Loan program is now available to businesses along the North/South Federal Avenue corridor and the central area of Iowa Highway 122. The information about the loan program was mailed to all property owners in the designated areas. We also included information regarding the Micro Enterprise program in the same mailing. Staff has received numerous calls regarding the program since the mailing.

Staff continues to work on various components of the River City Renaissance project. We are working toward the submission of our final application in February. Development Services staff continue to work on the preparation of closing documents for the NHANS house purchase at 430 1st StreetNE.

The downtown street lighting project is currently out for bid with bids due by January 26,2016. The City Council will consider approval of the bids at the February 2,2016 council meeting. The water tower contractor will return to the job site when weather is favorable for painting of the steel bowl. Water meter installation is stalled at this time due to a severe shortage of personnel in the Water Department.

The City hired a consultant to conduct a value stream mapping event in December for the Operations and Maintenance Department. The event was intended to help the department identify their core operations to make sure they are aware of areas that need improvement. Once the core functions are identified then they can determine what type of processes should have RPI events completed on them. The initial project will be to address the process to deal with the Emerald Ash Borer procedures. The department will be conducting an RPI on this issue to
develop a process to identify and remediate trees that are impacted by the Emerald Ash Borer.

Operations and Maintenance personnel have been using the days without snow to exercise water valves that have not exercised. The process helps to ensure that the valves are in working condition in case they need to be turned off in the event of a water main break. Staff has had to remove snow on a couple of occasions but all has gone well in the process. The streets are in pretty good shape and crews and equipment are ready for the next storm.
Sincerely,

Brent Trout