A variety of requests will be heard by the Austin City Council on Monday.

Saturday, May 05, 2001

A variety of requests will be heard by the Austin City Council on Monday.

In this time of bulging waterways and millions of gallons spilling over the dams around Austin, it is natural that repairs on those same dams would be necessary. Repairs on the Cedar River and East Side Lake dams totaling $16,300 are set to be approved by the council.

Short Elliott Hendrickson Inc., engineers from St. Paul, have examined the dams and will make the necessary repairs if the city passes the resolution. Public Works Director Jon Erichson intends to apply for funding for the repairs through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. If none can be obtained, the city will have to fund the repairs.

A number of parking issues and issues that previously came before council committees will be discussed at the meeting as well.

After two times before the finance and personnel committee, once before the park and recreation board, the Austin Area Skaters Association finally may receive the $3,397 they are looking for to finish permanent ramps and install bleachers in their skateboarding park.

The skaters have raised $7,000 toward the project and have received $15,000 from the Hormel Foundation and previous funding from the city.

Remember that certified check from Wells Fargo that possibly belongs to the city? Well, at the council meeting the city will decide whether or not to pursue the money, as the finance committee suggested, or do nothing or receive nothing. Loss Prevention Specialists, a firm that finds lost money and contacts those who are owed, will receive 20 percent of the $4,500 check, if they recover the funds for the city.

The city will approve or deny the sale of seven city vehicles, including one pulverizer, two tandem-axle trucks, two single-axle trucks, one motor grader and one pickup. The money from the sale of the vehicles – if the motion is passed by the city – will go to back into the respective vehicle replacement accounts.

Two personnel actions will be heard by the council. A motion to find replacements for senior accountant Merrilyn Berg and a position held by a retiring worker at the wastewater treatment plant will be heard during the meeting.