Crane Board of Aldermen to meet twice monthly starting in Feb.
January 24, 2019
Isaac Estes-Jones
Beginning February 4, the Crane Board of Aldermen will meet twice monthly. The board had been meet- ing once a month since last fall. Mayor Collin Brannan said that it seemed like the city was not able to move fast enough on certain projects with the once per month meeting schedule. “Don’t get me wrong,” he said, “I love once a month, but it might not be often enough to keep us on track.”
The new meetings will be on the first and third Monday of each month at 7 p.m. Should the scheduled meeting day fall on a holiday, the meeting will be held the next business day after the holiday, unless otherwise posted by the board. The next meeting of the Crane Board of Aldermen will be Monday, February 4, at 7 p.m. in Crane City Hall.
Minton appointed to board <- Click Here for Photo
This week’s meeting, held Monday, January 21, was rescheduled several times last week due to conflicts. Doug Minton was appointed to Alderman Ward 1 by Mayor Brannan. This followed the resignation of Tina Reel, who said her schedule was too full to devote the time necessary to the city.
Minton was sworn in early on in the meeting, after the other board members brought the meeting to order and approved the minutes of the last meeting.
Crane Library expansion update
Rebecca Payne, Stone County Library Director, next spoke with the board about the progress of the Crane Library expansion and construction. Last year, the Library purchased the building next door to the current Crane library, in order to expand and better provide for the needs of the community.
“We are working on the façade and front of the building right now,” Payne said. She presented the board with drawings showing the vision for the front of the building once construction is completed.
“We brought the front of the building level with the side walk, so that recessed entryway is gone. In order for us to be ADA compliant, we also are replacing the sidewalk in front of the building, so that it is all on the same grade,” she said.
The project is estimated to be completed in the next two months, Payne reported. “As long as the weather holds out, we should con- tinue making good progress.”
She also gave details on some points of interest for the building as construction continues. “We are putting a book drop next to the door, so people don’t have to go all the way around the corner to return books. This way, the books get inside our building,” she said.
Once the front of the building construction is completed, the Library board will begin holding public meetings about their plans for the library.
“The plan right now is to connect this building with the old one through the shared wall,” Payne told the board. “We are hoping to make around one-third to one-half of the new area into community meeting space. That’s what we really need. In the current building, all of the meeting space is up stairs, which is hard for a lot of people to get to. We need the space something awful. The space we’re in is just too packed,” Payne said.
She also gave some information on the current plans for the interior. “The inside is completely gutted right now. It still has a lot of the tin ceiling tiles, so we want to keep as much of that as possible. They also saved some of the leaded glass window panes that were in the building, we want to use those inside once we start decorating.
“I think it’s going to be really nice when we’re done,” Payne concluded. The board was complimentary of the progress being made on the library. “It looks really great. It’s exciting to watch,” said Alderman Minton.
Demolition grant
The board also continued their discussion about demolishing some problem buildings in the city. The city is pursuing a grant to assist in the voluntary demolition of buildings that are unsafe and have been unoccupied for at least 12 months.
Mayor Brannan reported that the maximum amount of the grant is $250,000. Over the past several months, the board members have compiled list of 33 properties that should fit the requirements of the grant.
For private landowners that want to participate in this program, the cost will be $500, once the city is successful in attaining the grant. For that $500, the building will be re- moved down to dirt and the proper- ty returned to the land owner. “You can’t really get even a dumpster for that,” said Brannan.
The cost for commercial property will be 20% of the actual cost for that building. This came up because one of the buildings being considered is the casket factory building near the railroad tracks.
The board discussed what would be done if someone couldn’t pay the $500 or was unwilling to participate in the program. “I think the city needs to be willing to put some teeth behind this,” Brannan said. Exact details of how that would work were not discussed in the meeting.
Interestingly, of the 33 properties identified by Board members and the mayor, only seven are delinquent on taxes. This fact gives the board hope that the property owners will be willing to participate in the event.
More details on the demolition grant will be shared at a public meeting in February. The exact date for the meeting has not been determined.
Pool worries
Since the end of summer, the board has been making slow progress on fixing the roof and other is- sues facing the pool. With the minimum wage increase passing, Mayor Brannan said it was time for the city to think about whether and how to keep the pool open. “The pool barely breaks even or operates at a loss each year,” Brannan said. “I just want to make sure we are going into this with our eyes open.”
If minimum wage does increase to $12 in a few years, Brannan said the costs of wages for the pool will be around $12,000 alone. “Parks brings in around $9,000 in taxes each year, so that will be a substantial cost.”
There was a discussion about possibly raising admission costs, but no decisions were made. It is unlikely the board will make any determination on the future of the pool until much later.
Other discussions
The board meeting included numerous other discussions and updates.
Chief of Police John Elmore reported, “January is slow as always. Car repairs are down. Everything is going well.”
There are updates in the works for the fire station, with several members planning to do more construction on the upstairs portion this weekend.
The city is still engaged with a back and forth with FEMA over damages from the 2015 Christmas floods. FEMA initially approved a large pay out, but later denied a portion after the city reported it’s insurance would not cover some of the issues. If FEMA denies the application again, the city has one more appeal to protect their interests.
The city is also considering several options with regard to antenna placement on the city’s water towers. There were discussions about placing an antenna from North Stone/ Northeast Barry Fire, relocating the 911 antenna to improve reception, as well as service for T-Mobile.
New swingsets and a slide will be installed in the park in coming months.
A facelift for City Hall was considered further. The board is in agreement that improvements to the front of the building are much needed. They agreed this week to contact contractors to get opinions on various proposals for the building. This does not go so far as hiring a contractor or bidding work on the building. The city wants professional opinions about what proposals would look like from people whose job it is to visualize these things.
Isaac Estes-Jones
Beginning February 4, the Crane Board of Aldermen will meet twice monthly. The board had been meet- ing once a month since last fall. Mayor Collin Brannan said that it seemed like the city was not able to move fast enough on certain projects with the once per month meeting schedule. “Don’t get me wrong,” he said, “I love once a month, but it might not be often enough to keep us on track.”
The new meetings will be on the first and third Monday of each month at 7 p.m. Should the scheduled meeting day fall on a holiday, the meeting will be held the next business day after the holiday, unless otherwise posted by the board. The next meeting of the Crane Board of Aldermen will be Monday, February 4, at 7 p.m. in Crane City Hall.
Minton appointed to board <- Click Here for Photo
This week’s meeting, held Monday, January 21, was rescheduled several times last week due to conflicts. Doug Minton was appointed to Alderman Ward 1 by Mayor Brannan. This followed the resignation of Tina Reel, who said her schedule was too full to devote the time necessary to the city.
Minton was sworn in early on in the meeting, after the other board members brought the meeting to order and approved the minutes of the last meeting.
Crane Library expansion update
Rebecca Payne, Stone County Library Director, next spoke with the board about the progress of the Crane Library expansion and construction. Last year, the Library purchased the building next door to the current Crane library, in order to expand and better provide for the needs of the community.
“We are working on the façade and front of the building right now,” Payne said. She presented the board with drawings showing the vision for the front of the building once construction is completed.
“We brought the front of the building level with the side walk, so that recessed entryway is gone. In order for us to be ADA compliant, we also are replacing the sidewalk in front of the building, so that it is all on the same grade,” she said.
The project is estimated to be completed in the next two months, Payne reported. “As long as the weather holds out, we should con- tinue making good progress.”
She also gave details on some points of interest for the building as construction continues. “We are putting a book drop next to the door, so people don’t have to go all the way around the corner to return books. This way, the books get inside our building,” she said.
Once the front of the building construction is completed, the Library board will begin holding public meetings about their plans for the library.
“The plan right now is to connect this building with the old one through the shared wall,” Payne told the board. “We are hoping to make around one-third to one-half of the new area into community meeting space. That’s what we really need. In the current building, all of the meeting space is up stairs, which is hard for a lot of people to get to. We need the space something awful. The space we’re in is just too packed,” Payne said.
She also gave some information on the current plans for the interior. “The inside is completely gutted right now. It still has a lot of the tin ceiling tiles, so we want to keep as much of that as possible. They also saved some of the leaded glass window panes that were in the building, we want to use those inside once we start decorating.
“I think it’s going to be really nice when we’re done,” Payne concluded. The board was complimentary of the progress being made on the library. “It looks really great. It’s exciting to watch,” said Alderman Minton.
Demolition grant
The board also continued their discussion about demolishing some problem buildings in the city. The city is pursuing a grant to assist in the voluntary demolition of buildings that are unsafe and have been unoccupied for at least 12 months.
Mayor Brannan reported that the maximum amount of the grant is $250,000. Over the past several months, the board members have compiled list of 33 properties that should fit the requirements of the grant.
For private landowners that want to participate in this program, the cost will be $500, once the city is successful in attaining the grant. For that $500, the building will be re- moved down to dirt and the proper- ty returned to the land owner. “You can’t really get even a dumpster for that,” said Brannan.
The cost for commercial property will be 20% of the actual cost for that building. This came up because one of the buildings being considered is the casket factory building near the railroad tracks.
The board discussed what would be done if someone couldn’t pay the $500 or was unwilling to participate in the program. “I think the city needs to be willing to put some teeth behind this,” Brannan said. Exact details of how that would work were not discussed in the meeting.
Interestingly, of the 33 properties identified by Board members and the mayor, only seven are delinquent on taxes. This fact gives the board hope that the property owners will be willing to participate in the event.
More details on the demolition grant will be shared at a public meeting in February. The exact date for the meeting has not been determined.
Pool worries
Since the end of summer, the board has been making slow progress on fixing the roof and other is- sues facing the pool. With the minimum wage increase passing, Mayor Brannan said it was time for the city to think about whether and how to keep the pool open. “The pool barely breaks even or operates at a loss each year,” Brannan said. “I just want to make sure we are going into this with our eyes open.”
If minimum wage does increase to $12 in a few years, Brannan said the costs of wages for the pool will be around $12,000 alone. “Parks brings in around $9,000 in taxes each year, so that will be a substantial cost.”
There was a discussion about possibly raising admission costs, but no decisions were made. It is unlikely the board will make any determination on the future of the pool until much later.
Other discussions
The board meeting included numerous other discussions and updates.
Chief of Police John Elmore reported, “January is slow as always. Car repairs are down. Everything is going well.”
There are updates in the works for the fire station, with several members planning to do more construction on the upstairs portion this weekend.
The city is still engaged with a back and forth with FEMA over damages from the 2015 Christmas floods. FEMA initially approved a large pay out, but later denied a portion after the city reported it’s insurance would not cover some of the issues. If FEMA denies the application again, the city has one more appeal to protect their interests.
The city is also considering several options with regard to antenna placement on the city’s water towers. There were discussions about placing an antenna from North Stone/ Northeast Barry Fire, relocating the 911 antenna to improve reception, as well as service for T-Mobile.
New swingsets and a slide will be installed in the park in coming months.
A facelift for City Hall was considered further. The board is in agreement that improvements to the front of the building are much needed. They agreed this week to contact contractors to get opinions on various proposals for the building. This does not go so far as hiring a contractor or bidding work on the building. The city wants professional opinions about what proposals would look like from people whose job it is to visualize these things.