Where to park... and when to park...trucks on city streets was again debated during Tuesday's meeting of the Wayne City Council.
At issue was Ordinance 2020-11, which would amend the city code on where truck parking would be allowed.
Since its first reading at the last meeting, City Attorney Amy Miller had added language as requested by the council to make the ordinance more concise.
Wayne Police Chief Marlen Chinn said he had spoken to a truck driver who did not voice an opinion on the issue and Mayor Cale Giese said a truck driver he had spoken to indicated he would like to talk to council members during an upcoming retreat.
Council member Dwaine Spieker asked if there was a possibility that a truck driver could contact the city and request overnight parking for special occasions.
Council member Matt Eischied said a truck driver he had spoken to asked "why does the city hate truck drivers?"
"I don't like the way we are forcing truck drivers to park away from their current locations. We don't have 10 trucks causing problems. This is not a problem," Eischied said.
Council member Jennifer Sievers said that the council is "not making a quick decision and is still having discussion. There has to be a solution somewhere."
Following debate, council members voted 4-3 to move the ordinance forward to third reading. Council members Jon Haase, Matt Eischied and Jason Karsky voted against moving the ordinance forward while council members Sievers, Spieker, Jill Broderson and Chris Woehler voted to move the ordinance to third reading.
It will be brought back for additional debate at the next meeting.
In other action, the council approved a resolution that will amend the budget to move more than $34,000 in C-CD-208 grant funds (2019 Nebraska Street Improvement Project) from general administration and construction management into Street Activity to pay costs.
Also related to the 2019 Nebraska Street, a public hearing was held as a requirement for the $475,000 grant. The purpose was to allow for public input on the project and determine if there were any problems with how the grant funds were used.
Council members approved pay application No. 4 in the amount of $98,955.00 to M&B Quality Concrete for the Restoration of Walking Trail Project.
City Administrator Wes Blecke told the council that city staff had done a walk-through on Sept. 4 and found one item that needed to be completed and final payment made. It it anticipated the work will completed this week.
Pay application No. 7 in the amount of $170,851.91 was approved to Robert Woehler & Sons Construction, Inc. for the 2019 Nebraska Street Improvements Project. Most of this amount is for storm sewer work and water mains in the project area.
Two ordinances involved parking, one in the southeast quadrant of the city and one southwest quadrant of the city, were approved on first reading. The areas involved are on East Second Street and South Pearl Street.
City Administrator Blecke presented an update on several city projects.
These included the fact that additional work needs to be done on six concrete panels on the Trail Restoration project. These will be done by city staff at considerably less cost than if done by a contractor. It will delay the opening of the trail for several weeks.
Work on installing new playground equipment in Sunnyview Park is scheduled to take place at the end of this month or early in October.
The footings and poles for the awning on the stage at Bressler Park should be installed in coming weeks. The actual awning will not be put up this fall as it would be impacted by weather. Instead, all the necessary work will be completed to allow for installation next spring.
Council members also encouraged city staff to monitor the water level in the swimming pool to determine if there is any leakage and determine if repairs are needed as soon as possible.
Discussion was also held on the progress of the Nebraska Street Project in regard to the condition of the soil and laying of the concrete streets.
The Wayne City Council will next meet in regular session on Tuesday, Oct. 6 at 5:30 p.m. in council chambers at City Hall.
