Durant City Council

Durant council approves vehicle parade for Durant seniors May 17

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Durant city council members approved a parade route for this year’s Durant High School graduating class at the April 27 meeting. Due to social distancing requirements, seniors will celebrate with a parade in lieu of a traditional commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 17 at 1 p.m.

A more traditional ceremony has been set for July 12, though it’s unknown what social distancing parameters, if any, will be in place.

The parade route May 17 will be similar to the route taken during the Firefighters’’ Festival. It will begin at the high school parking lot, turn onto Fourth Avenue to Sixth Street; from Sixth Street they will travel to 13th Avenue, then turn to Seventh Street and back to the school parking lot.

Due to pandemic restrictions, all participating parties and spectators shall remain in their vehicles. There is to be no gathering of people allowed on the route. Finally, the parade participants will not be allowed to throw candy or other items to the public.

Durant PD to write tickets

from city and state code

At the previous council meeting, officials were asked by Police Chief Orville Randolph to begin allowing city officers to write citations on the state of Iowa code and the city’s code. Randolph presented officials will additional data at Monday’s meeting.

If an officer writes a citation on the state code, 10 percent of the fine is returned. If these cases were to go to court, the county attorney would be responsible for legal representation at no cost to the city. Tickets are currently issued this way.

If officers choose to write on the city code, 90 percent is returned. However, the city attorney would be responsible for legal representation at a cost of around $180 per hour to the city if necessary.

“We’re not appearing in court a lot,” said Randolph, who explained that serious offenses like OWIs and serious misdemeanors would continue to be processed through the county.

Randolph presented data to council for minor traffic infractions that took place between October and December of last year, choosing not to use the past three months as COVID-19 has reduced traffic. In that time, the department earned $358 on tickets issued writing solely on the state code. If these minor tickets had been written on the city code, they could have brought in $3,222.

Officials questioned whether it would be worth the switch, as one case that needed the attorney could become costly and offset the additional revenue. City Clerk Deana Cavin noted that of the cases presented in the data, none had gone to court.

Randolph told council that several neighboring cities also write between the state and city code. He suggested reviewing and monitoring the change to make sure it is financially responsible.

Council unanimously approved the police department to write between the city and state code under the discretion of the officer issuing the ticket.

Engineer report

* Council approved change order No. 1 for the Fourth Street project for an increase of $1,736. Officials also approved the first pay application for the project of $73,184.20.

* The engineer updated council on the 12th Avenue sanitary sewer replacement project. He said they were waiting for the insurance company to obtain approval and access to the railroad right-of-ways.

* Planning and zoning met April 21 and recommended officials go ahead with changing the zoning ordinance of the city’s industrial park from light industry to heavy industry. Per the recommendation, council approved the first of three readings of ordinance amendment 2020-01 updating the zoning.

Miscellany

In other action, council:

* Opened the meeting with the approval of the agenda, approval of city bills and approval of the minutes from the April 13 council meeting.

* Council approved the renewal of alcohol licenses for the Dew Drop Inn and American Legion Post 430 with no objection from the police department.

* Approved a memorandum of understanding between the school and police department for the school resource officer. Officials noted this would be a one-year extension due to uncertainty with COVID-19.

“He does a really good job; we’re grateful to have him there,” said council member Kevin Mundt, who is also a teacher at Durant High School.

* Approved resolution 2020-18, approving May 11 as the date for a public hearing on the FY2020 budget amendment.

* Approved a $1,600 annual contract with River City Engineering for technical support at the wastewater treatment facility for FY2021.

* Approved the purchase of a new locator for water and sewer lines, to replace an existing one that is obsolete, at a cost of $4,527.26.

* Council discussed whether to host a city shred day with a cost of $1,080 to be shared with Liberty Bank & Trust. Some officials were concerned with using taxpayer money for the event, with no way to monitor whether or not only Durant residents would take advantage of the service.

The measure failed on a split decision with council members Diane Quiram, Dan Sterner and Noel Price voting against it and Mundt and Dave Schulz in favor.

* Community center director Dawn Smith has been putting together boxes of food and supplies for those in need during the pandemic. Contact her if you are in need.

All council members and mayor Scott Spengler were present. All action taken was unanimous unless otherwise noted. The next city council meeting will be held on Monday, May 11 at 6 p.m. at City Hall.

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