State Center council, police chief discuss north side intersection
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STATE CENTER -- The State Center City Council held their rescheduled monthly August meeting on Monday, Aug. 21 (originally scheduled for Aug. 15) on a somber note as Mayor Pro-tem Harlan Quick began the meeting asking for a moment of silence in remembrance of Jacob Weuve, who tragically passed away on Aug. 8, while working for the City of State Center.
During the regular meeting agenda, council members along with City Attorney Tom Hillers and State Center Police Chief Jon Thomas discussed the 7th Street and 1st Avenue North intersection. Thomas began the discussion by sharing that he did not feel it was the city's obligation "to stop things" from entering the parsonage yard and that by creating a barrier at that intersection, he felt a liability would be created for the city.
"This is not our financial responsibility," Thomas said. "The church has an obligation."
Hillers had brought to the council for consideration a standard professional services agreement with Snyder & Associates of Ankeny that would provide a traffic engineering review of the aforementioned intersection and the potential mitigation improvements without total reconstruction and for crash barrier guidance. Estimated cost for this service would be $4,500.
Thomas continued that he had a hard time accepting spending that amount for an opinion and further asked if the church plans to keep/repair the home at this location and if they should share the cost of the intersection review.
Councilman Bob Grant responded that he wants to see State Center grow and feels that the city needs to correct the situation. He also wanted to make sure that communications with the St. Paul Lutheran Church personnel were open.
Another council member, Brett Nichols, made the suggestion that additional lighting be added to that intersection. On a unanimous vote, the council approved the professional agreement with Snyder and Associates. The estimated time to complete this review is 30 days.
During Wednesday morning's Marshall County Board of Supervisors meeting, Sheriff Joel Phillips reported that a speed reduction sign has been installed just north of the city limits approaching the aforementioned intersection and has drawn "good feedback" from citizens thus far. It has, however, also spawned rumors of a speed camera being placed there, but in reality, it is a crime stoppers camera.
"That is not a speed camera, so we're not issuing citations. Just want to make sure the board was clear on that if you've gotten any calls or concerns," Phillips said.
He went on to explain that it's typically used for law enforcement investigations of crimes, and Chief Thomas obtained the cameras through a grant with more to come. In a social media post sent out from the SCPD's Facebook page on Wednesday, Thomas sought to clarify the situation.
"It has been brought to our attention with the lowering of the speed limit on Eastman Avenue (on the north side of State Center), many motorists have shared a concern about seeing cameras and if the City of State Center participates in Automated Traffic Enforcement. The answer is no. We have used cameras for the past several years which have been valuable tools to solve burglaries, stolen vehicles, and other calls for service," he wrote. "We do not support Automated Traffic Enforcement, and when presented with an opportunity to participate in a program like this, the city council unanimously expressed no interest in a program of this nature. The camera system in use by the City of State Center is exactly like that of many of our residents. We simply capture pictures and videos of vehicles and persons which we use as needed to resolve calls for service. We hope this message provides some clarification for our community."