The Lisbon City Council discussed payments to Wendler, Inc. in the amounts of $10,912.50 and $44,086.50.
“This is largely for materials submittals. They send in information for us to review as part of their general services. It also covers part of their bond and a little bit of mobilization. … A lot of this is obviously not on site, but work in the background that’s taking place,” city engineer Dave Schechinger said regarding the first total of $10,912.50.
For the second amount of $44,086.50, Schechinger explained that it was for the same purpose, but had been submitted by Wendler, Inc. later than the first amount; thus, due to timing, it needed to be paid separately.
The council voted unanimously to approve both the $10,912.50 payment and the $44,086.50 payment to Wendler, Inc. for their services.
The City of Lisbon has allocated funds to hire two summer help employees. Evan Coleman, a previous summer help hire, is looking to return to the role once he is back from college for the summer, which leaves one slot open.
Typically, the parks and rec department and public works departments share the summer help hires, so responsibilities will be split between the two departments. Responsibilities will include things like taking care of new grass seed, scraping, painting, park mulch, plants downtown, and assisting with the in-house pouring of concrete at the sports complex.
Since allocating the funds for summer help, the Mediacom Fiber Replacement Project has come up, which will take two city workers 30 to 45 days to mark out all the water lines, water shutoffs, and water mains.
Public Hearings, Ordinances, Resolutions
The Lisbon City Council voted unanimously on Monday to approve a resolution for a 3% increase for utility rates, which, according to Siggins, “keeps us up with the pacing.” They also went on to approve the Fiscal Year 2027 budget, as well as incentive pay for Jake Siggins completing his wastewater certification, as was requested of him at the time of his hiring.
Reports
City Engineer Dave Schechinger shared that a pre-construction meeting over Well 5 had taken place, at which it was discussed that a contractor would be in sometime within the next couple of weeks to start working on the site.
“The schedule is preliminarily for them to work on the building, and the well should follow around June where they would work on trying to get that set into casing and proceed from there. Should see some activity out there in a few weeks,” Schechinger said.
Parks and Rec Director Drayton Kamberling shared recent successful events for the department, including the spring clean-up on March 28 and the Easter event on April 4. Kamberling went on to share news about the current and upcoming sports.
“Spring soccer is in full swing; although, it hasn’t seemed like it, just because of the weather and stuff, but we’re working with it and just trying to make it through, hoping we don’t have to cancel any more games or practices,” Kamberling said.
Registration for summer sports is open, including intro, t-ball, coach pitch, and third through sixth baseball and softball with a deadline of May.
Travel games will be starting at Diamond four in Lisbon, so “there’s going to be a lot of traffic coming through town. … It brings people to town, so it’s a good thing, but just be aware of that,” Kamberling said.
Currently, travel teams pay a flat fee of $150 to be able to use the field for their tournaments, but once the tournaments get moved to the sports complex, the reservation system will likely follow that of Triple Play Park in Cedar Rapids in which teams will pay by the hour for a lower fee.
Elizabeth Hoover de Galvez, director of the Lisbon Public Library, said, “we had applied for a grant from the American Library Association, and we just recently found out we did that that grant, so we’ve got $10,000 to spend on accessibility improvements in the library.”
Such improvements will include things like an automatic door opener and other things that will improve the library’s accessibility for all library visitors.
Alongside getting approved for the grant, the library also received a $1,000 donation from the estate of a Des Moines woman who passed away and had decided to donate her money to hundreds of libraries around the state.
The library has a new board member who has just completed her training, but they will be submitting an application for an additional board seat at the end of May, as they had two board members step down recently due to no longer living within city or county limits.
Hoover de Galvez thanked the public works department for their help in completing various library improvements, including the installation of a fireplace, which is now painted and awaiting a plaque with the names of the donors: Phyllis and Howard Ciha.
Once the plaque is put on the fireplace, the project will be complete, and the library will be hosting a gathering to celebrate the donation and the improvement.
Police chief Jason Blinks shared that the Mount Vernon-Lisbon Police Department will officially be fully staffed once all the incoming officers have completed their training and graduated from the Academy.
Coming up for the Mount Vernon-Lisbon Police Department is a K9 golf outing on June 26.
In a combined Fire Chief and City Administrator Report, Brandon Siggins shared various things, the first being that nearly $10,000 was raised during the St. Patrick’s Day fundraiser for the fire department. The funds will be used to purchase a new air pack. Siggins expressed gratitude to those who donated to make the purchase possible.
The noon whistle is back up and running, which is the first of many improvements to come as the weather warms up. According to Siggins, potential projects like a factory in Industrial Park, and the potential building of two houses on the lots that remain where a house on West Main Street will be demolished are being talked about.
Currently, seeding is being done at the cemetery and anywhere the plows had disturbed the dirt during snow removal over the winter. The seeding window is open through May.
There will be a joint meeting at 6 p.m. between the Lisbon City Council and Lisbon School prior to the regularly scheduled city council meeting on Monday, April 27.
No reports were given by the public works or ambulance directors.