The Mayor’s Corner 03/14/2018

Maybe the groundhog has decided to give us a little break with the weather. Lots of wind, but it is sure nice to see the sun shine. This weather is getting the gardeners excited about working in their yards and gardens. The City’s Adopt-a-truck program is busy already. This is a free service for residents of the City. If you are doing major clean up, you can make arrangements through the City office to have a dump truck brought to your location and left-over night or over the weekend. This allows debris from yards to be placed in the truck for transport to the transfer site. City crew will deliver the truck and pick it up the next day to be driven to the transfer site and dumped. There are restrictions on what goes into a load as we must follow County regulations on what is dumped there. There may be a cost for dumping of some items such as tires and refrigerators. Trucks are not available to contractors working on projects, they have their own requirements for dumping at the local site. If you are interested in the program call the City office at 208-414-1965 for more information and to reserve a truck. Alley cleanup will start probably after Easter. At that time, the crew will also be doing some alley grading.
With spring just around the corner, the winter debris has also collected along roadways and yards. Our crews are working around the plants and streets to get weeds sprayed and trash picked up. If you have elderly neighbors or those with physical limitations, how about putting together a neighborhood group to help then out in getting their yards and houses cleaned up. This is a great time of the year to come out of our houses and reach out to each other.
The Electric Department hopes to finish up the E. 5th Street Project this week. They have replaced poles and replaced transformers and are working on the replacement of more of the cross arms. At this time no additional scheduled outages are planned. They will continue trimming trees away from lines around town before the new growth begins.
Streets and Parks Department will be moving bleachers to the tennis court area and getting the public restrooms ready and opened over the next week. The parks and pond are already getting lots of use. The pond is expected to be stocked in the next week as well. Remember you do need a license to fish in the Community Pond. State of Idaho regulations do have to be followed. The catch limit at the pond is two so be sure to enjoy the pond but follow the rules.
The Water Department received permission at the City Council meeting to order material for the work that needs to be done in conjunction with the W. 9th Street Project. This is preliminary work before the street is upgraded and the bridge replaced. The Wastewater Department will also be looking at improvements in the area as well as storm water upgrades. The Electric Department did their work this past year. Watch for notice of another public meeting about the project this spring. It is a big project and will include placing sidewalk all along the eastside of W. 9th Street which will be great for our walkers.
St. Patrick’s Day is here so be ready for ‘the wearing of the green’ on Saturday. That means the St. Patrick’s Day dinner will be Sunday at St. Agnes’ Catholic Church. This is always a great dinner with lots of desserts. I’m sure there are still tickets for sale.
Get ready for the Weiser Youth Symphony Classical Concert which will be Thursday, March 22 at 7:30 at the Snake River Heritage Center. Happy Spring Sports season.