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Starting next week on Aug. 4, I will start having regular office hours on Tuesday mornings from 8:30 until noon and Thursday afternoons from 1:00 until 4:30 at City Hall. Want to chat or have something bugging you? Stop in, no appointment needed.
The railing on the Center Street has taken on a life of its own the past month. I thought the whole bridge repair was straightforward. But rail discussions about repair or replace, what type of replacement and design turned into its own animal. City Engineer Heather Thomas gave some options that would require further discussions and time. One option offered was to separate the railing from the overall project and just focus on getting the bridge surface open to traffic.
The Council wisely took the last option. The Center Street bridge is due to be opened back up in November.
Main Street East is getting to the "exciting" stage. The bed surface is being prepared for concrete with all of the 100 year old water and sewer lines replaced. Thank goodness that we only need to do this every 100 years. Heather Thomas has been a rock star guiding the complicated removal and replacement of all of the components. What people don't notice at first is the quality of the work that Heather insists on for the taxpayers.
Do you know anyone who has peeling paint on their house interior or exterior? The City of Marshalltown (through the Lead Paint Abatement Grant Program) are actively looking for houses to fix with these problems. This is at no cost to the owners if they stay in the property for 5 years. If you or someone you know might be interested, call the Marshalltown Housing Department at (641) 754-5756. Ask for Jackie Pippin.
Do you like our parks in town and would like to see more "fun stuff?" You might want to think about making a donation straight to the Marshalltown Parks and Recreation Donation Fund. Can you have too much fun? I don't think so!
These past 2 weeks I have had an interesting meeting with the Mexican Consulate that is regularly located in Omaha. They come to Marshalltown once or twice a year to help anyone that is having problems with paperwork on passports, legal immigration and other issues that arise. This is a big help to Marshalltown residents as much of this type of paperwork can be very confusing and complicated.
Lastly, this past week I was honored to welcome some Japanese students and chaperones who will be spending some time with us as part of the Marshalltown Sister Cities. Kris Alman does an excellent job as Exchange Director for Marshalltown. Minami Alps City Japan has had a long term relationship with Marshalltown, and the students looked to be having a grand time here visiting all the sights. We did promise them that it wasn't this hot all the time!
"Fall seven times, get up eight"
Japanese Proverb