By Clara Osten,
clara@wayneherald. com
Considerable time was spent during Tuesday's meeting of the Wayne City Council discussing future electric generation needs for the community.
Paul Davis, Project Manager with DGR Engineering, spoke to the council on the process this firm and the city are working through for the engineering of "The Northeast Substation."
He talked about the parcel of land in the northeast part of Wayne where the substation would be located and told the council "adding a transformer would create reliability."
Davis also spoke on the DGR proposal for engineering the "Proposed Generation Plant Project."
He said the current electrical generation system is aged and also shared information on what is needed to move the process forward.
"We will continue having discussions with the city as we plan for the future of generation for the city of Wayne," he said.
Following his presentation, council members voted unanimously to approve resolutions for both Amendment No. 1 for Task Order No. 4 and Amendment No. 1 for Task Order No. 5 for the substation project and generation project respectively.
Tuesday's meeting began with a mayor proclamation in regard to Arbor Day, which is Friday, April 26.
An update on activities for the Wayne Green Team was given by Sandy Brown.
She told the council the Green Team has been in place in Wayne for 15 years. This year will mark the 10th year the group has been able to show a free Earth Day movie in conjunction with other Earth Day activities.
"There are 21 different types of materials that can be recycled in Wayne and other communities look to us for advice when it comes to recycling," Brown said.
She thanked the city and college for their support of recycling activities and noted that "Earth Day is Everyday."
Following a public hearing, a resolution was passed approving a Class D (beer, wine, distilled spirits, off sale only) liquor license for Wisner West, Inc. d/b/a Wayne East Prime Stop.
Several items on the agenda were connected to the 44th annual Wayne Chicken Show and Henoween.
These included the closing of Main Street from First Street to Fourth Street from 2:30 p.m. to midnight on Friday, July 12, including Second Street from the east alley to the West Alley and Third Street from Pearl Street to the bump-outs by Bloom & Grace and Harder & Ankeny east of Main Street.
The closed areas on Third Street from the alley to Pearl Street will be identified for handicap parking.
Also approved was the closing of 10th Street from Lincoln Street to Douglas Street from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, July 13 for the Chicken Show activities taking place at Bressler Park.
On behalf of the Wayne Kiwanis Club, part of East Second Street will be closed from 6 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. for the annual omelet feed.
Main Street will be closed from First Street to 10th Street and 10th Street from Main Street to Lincoln Street from 9 to 11:30 a.m. (or until the end of the parade).
The final street closure will be Second Street from Main Street to Pearl Street and Pearl Street from Second to Third Street from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. for the Crowing Motors Car Show.
Also in conjunction with the weekend's festivities, approval was given for a fireworks display at the ball field at Prairie Park.
In other action, council members approved Ordinance 2024-3 (2) in regard to speed limits on East 21st Street.
Second reading approval was given to Ordinance 2024-5 and 2024-6 which vacate a portion of Walnut Street from Hillcrest Road north to the south line of 14th Street and transfer ownership of a waterline located along previously vacated 12th Street on the Wayne State College Campus.
An update on the Community Activity Center Relocation Project included information from the townhall meetings held last week in regard to the project and the upcoming sales tax vote.
City Administrator Wes Blecke told the council that approximately 50 citizens, including council members and school board members, were in attendance at the two meeting.
Blecke said there were "lots of good questions, including how to handle kids after school."
He said that the goal between now and the May 14 vote is creating public awareness and getting information to the public.
The Wayne City Council will hold a mini retreat on Tuesday, April 30 at 5:30 p.m. at the Wayne Fire Hall and will next meet in regular session on Tuesday, May 7 at 5:30 p.m. in council chambers.
