Maquoketa weekly summary February 3rd, 2025 through February 7th, 2025

 

City Manager’s Office:

City Staff dealt with very low staff this week. It wasn’t easy but the front office did a great job of keeping

things afloat while I prepared Council Committee agendas for Monday afternoon. City Council had a

wonderful meeting Monday night and much of the business seemed to focus on Property improvements

throughout town and Brad Koranda’s Quarterly Property Maintenance/Code Enforcement report.

Missy Conner is coming along great and held a strong budget meeting to prepare final documents for City

Council consideration.

Origin Design spent Wednesday morning with me visiting on E Maple Street Drainage Project Plans as well

as visiting the neighboring properties in the area to explain the project and prepare them for temporary

construction easements.

 

Community Development:

City Staff and Stickley Morton Architects released Glovik Community Park plans for construction offers on

Tuesday after City Council approved them on Monday night. It’s been a fun week hearing some of the positive

feedback from big construction names. Again compliments to everyone involved in this many years effort to

plan, fundraise, and build. Bids will be due February 27.

Chamber of Commerce and MAE volunteers held an Arts project meeting that is sponsored by IEDA.

 

Water-Wastewater:

We had a much slower week this week as sickness has hit our guys and or families. We had our safety meeting

over bloodborne pathogens, CPR refresher and driving safely in hazardous conditions. We had our monthly

door hangers and shut-offs. 7 properties were shut off, most have been turned back on as of this writing.

I attended a virtual online training Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 10:30-3:30 each day for 12 hours

of CEU’S towards my water license. Some of the topics were how to set up a hydrant flushing program, which

we have but I am going to tweak it a bit after learning a couple new techniques. Leak detection, understanding

water loss and effective contingency planning were some of the topics.

The construction crew is still working full steam ahead. They installed new telescoping valves on the RAS pit,

started our ambulance garage (camera truck) and started the roof over the bio-p basin valve structure.

 

Police Department:

Today will mark the completion of week five (5) for Officer Rob Blake and his classmates at the Iowa Law

Enforcement Academy. The Iowa Law Enforcement Academy does not just test a recruits physical abilities it

also challenges them mentally. Recruits spend many hours in a classroom learning everything from motor

vehicle & criminal law, to handling a dependent adult abuse investigations. Every couple of weeks recruits

take written tests to see if they’re retaining what they’ve been taught. While only 5 weeks in Blake and his

classmates have already covered a number of the larger classroom blocks like criminal law. Officer Blake has

worked hard this past five (5) weeks and has been successful in both the academic and practical portions of

his training. Keep of the good work!

 

Don’t get spiked. Super Bowl LIX is Sunday, February 9, 2025, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and The Maquoketa Police Department are

teaming up to remind drivers: Fans Don’t Let Fans Drive Drunk. Get ahead of the game and create your plan

now. If you’re going out to a Super Bowl party and you plan to drink alcohol, make sure you plan for a

designated driver to get you home safely at the end of the night. If you’re hosting a party, prepare plenty of

food and non-alcoholic drink options for your guests, especially for the designated drivers. If you’re a

designated driver, you are the night’s MVP.

 

Fire Department:

Things have been quiet around the fire station lately. We held our monthly business meeting Thursday night

and performed our monthly equipment checks to make sure everything is in its proper place and working

condition. On Saturday, February 15th we will have Professional Rescue Innovations come in and put on a ice

rescue class. Last night we were able to review our ice rescue equipment in preparation for the class.

A quick update on our new rural pumper truck that has been ordered. The truck is currently being built and

has had the box installed on the chassis. This is being built by Toyne which is an Iowa company located in

Breda, IA. Our current rural pumper is a 1999 model, and we try and have trucks replaced every 25 years. The

expected time of completion for the new truck is April or May. This will be a great upgrade to our fleet.

 

Library:

In the last week we’ve had 84 people sign up for Blind Date with a Book! Katie is hard at work choosing books

for everyone. If you’re interested in participating, you can find the form

here: https://forms.gle/LPQVQhw8BSHx5p3s6. The Friends of the Library had their monthly board meeting

this week. We worked on finalizing their events calendar for 2025. There are lots of great programs coming

up this year including a Travelogue of Newfoundland and Labrador, a presentation on beekeeping, and a

garden tour this summer.